electric jackhammers?

gday guys im looking for any info or advice on small jackhammers. the crowbar i used managed to do the job on a few of the holes that had that white concrete but am looking at something that may break this stuff up easier should i get some deeper gold. can anyone recommend anything or let me know where to buy one. i looked in bunnings but that particular one was too large. cheers jason

There's plenty of good ones out there, it's just a pity you are not allowed to use them for digging gold unless it's on a lease

davsgold wrote:There's plenty of good ones out there, it's just a pity you are not allowed to use them for digging gold unless it's on a lease

so does that mean im not meant to use a big crow bar too.

You can use as big a crow bar as you can handle. Just that if you read the reg's to do with your WA miners right, its hand tools only plus a metal detector, if slucing, a pump for moving water as long as a shovel is used to move the dirt, if dryblowing a motorised air pump as long as the dirt is moved by a shovel etc.

To me its not much different to use a rotary hammer drill to break up the hard cemented gravel your talking about than using a motorised water pump etc. but thats what they say.

If it's on a gold lease of yours or a mates then use what ever you like, a big yella detector would be good.

cheers dave

OZITO Rotary Hammer Drill 850 Watt from Bunnings for $80.00 Works well with a 1000W Geni.
Not to many Pro /semi pro in WA wouldn't have one of these or bigger in their kit.
Cheers Greg.

bushranger wrote:OZITO Rotary Hammer Drill 850 Watt from Bunnings for $80.00 Works well with a 1000W Geni.
Not to many Pro /semi pro in WA wouldn't have one of these or bigger in their kit.
Cheers Greg.

thanks very much greg will go back to bunnings for a look

Here's a little jackhammer story.

A couple of years ago a mate and I were dozing a creek.
Most of the nuggets were in the cement on the bottom.
We started by using a crowbar/beadbreaker combo but the nuggets kept coming...
My mate went into Bunnings and bought their $400 Ozito jackhammer.It lasted about a week before grease
started coming out through a crack in the housing above the drill.
We took it back and it was replaced under warranty.
We dug lots of nuggets out of that creek with the new one over the coming months with no trouble.
About 10 months later it started bucking badly so we took it back again but there were none to replace
it with so we got a refund, and as our venture had nearly finished were quite happy to get our money back.

Alan

Alan WA wrote:Here's a little jackhammer story.

A couple of years ago a mate and I were dozing a creek.
Most of the nuggets were in the cement on the bottom.
We started by using a crowbar/beadbreaker combo but the nuggets kept coming...
My mate went into Bunnings and bought their $400 Ozito jackhammer.It lasted about a week before grease
started coming out through a crack in the housing above the drill.
We took it back and it was replaced under warranty.
We dug lots of nuggets out of that creek with the new one over the coming months with no trouble.
About 10 months later it started bucking badly so we took it back again but there were none to replace
it with so we got a refund, and as our venture had nearly finished were quite happy to get our money back.

Alan

bloody hell good story. sounds like they didnt like the cement alan. wonder if the models have improved

Instead of using a generator, you could plug in the electric jackhammer into a vehicle cigarette lighter plug - 12 volt to 1000 Watt or 1500 Watt converter.

Also better to have a dual-battery system in your vehicle with a solar panel charger for them.

But I do not like to use jackhammers as the vibration is not healthy on a persons mind and body.

Hitachi or hilti depending on size,ask about rating ie ft.lb./blow. I use a scandinavian brand which has internal 2 stroke motor but is full size and heavy duty.Takes two just to carry box . As stated before make sure this is on your own lease because Idont think you'd appreciate being caught and having vehicle ,trailer etc also confiscated and sold at auction

Gday


If you want to use an inverter to run one of these 850w ozito rotary hammer drills, you will need to have something in the 1000 to 2000 watt range or even larger, while the 1000 watt will get it going it wont bring it up to to full operating speed, try it on your inverter and then on your 240v power and you will see what I mean.

Attach it to your battery with the engine running with the throttle lock on so that the engine runs at a higher than idle rpm and off you go, also its better to use a short extension lead rather than a long one if possible too, in some materials like calcrete you can use the supplied masonry drills to drill a series of holes and then use the pointed bit to break it up.

Using one of these could be technically wrong in relation to the rules of your miners right, but we are only talking about breaking some tough material with it, in the same way you would use a crowbar, or chisel and gad, its not being used to dig a great huge hole like a backhoe, its only being used to make the going a little easier for you, also it is hand operated so it could also be percieved as a hand tool anyway, it seems to be a bit of a grey area, I think they would more likely be wanting to charge you if you were using a kango hammer and 2000watt generator rather than a small device like a hammer drill.

cheers

stayyerAU

big thanks for all the advice. yeah not looking at digging major holes in the ground just found last trip on occassions some holes took a very long time due to that white stuff and thought bugger the crowbar. ive begun to wonder when all the mining companies are gonna fill in the 5000+ holes in the state of w.a since they closed up their open pit mines after all their raping and pillaging. i dont hear the greenies carrying on too much about that. yet dig a detector hole and the tears flow. pfffff gimmee a break.

hi
i don`t know if this one is any good , but its a good price
cheers
dave

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Pure-Sine-Wave-1000W-2000W-Max-12V-240V-Power-Inverter-/280548208716?pt=AU_Car_Parts_Accessories&hash=item4151f9f04c

Newbie dont you know when the big boys do it ,it becomes a dam and a resource and when you do it it is a puddle which their cattle can break their legs in,regards mark

This thread opens an interesting point which requires further investigation.
A 240V hammer drill is rated as a "hand tool" so it would be interesting to get confirmation if they are legal to use for retrieving gold/gems from holes 1 metre or less in depth?

not legal in Vic. for goodness sake they even say a yabbie pump is illegal

Bushranger I am afraid I absolutely agree with you, I use the large Ozito three years now, just has to be maintained properly.

The small Ozito has a circlip that breaks and then poo's oil/grease.For a quick job in calcreate, or wiluna hardcap you need something heavy.

On a 20 A I would be pretty shy to use one but most miners that let you access their leases on a private agreement don't mind.

BTW, Calcrete can deliver not only gold, once found an old pick six inches in at Sandstone.

Majindi

Old post I know , put searched for the answer with not luck, will it be safe to say that a Honda 2kva Generator will run a 1500 watt jackhammer ? Thanks for any feed back in advance . Dave

G'day Dave,

I'm pretty sure you will have no problems running your jackhammer with the Honda genny. I would say it's a 20i??

Cheers.

Mike.

Thanks Mike , and yes a 20i
Cheers Dave