The Art of Destruction
Throughout the history of art, sculpture has produced some of our culture’s most enduring craftsmanship. With merely a hammer and chisel, artisans have breathed life into a slab of stone or metal. From Michelangelo’s “David” in the Renaissance era to last century’s delicate rock-balancing “Three Cones” by Andy Goldsworthy, sculptors of the ages have crafted superb creations in the name of destroying and reshaping forms. Today, that same skill and precision has evolved into a unique form of general construction called jobsite demolition, but instead of a chisel, these contracting artists use a breaker attachment.
A fully-hydraulic or nitrogen-assisted breaker attachment is a common tool in the skid steer or excavator professional’s repertoire. Just imagine how many Davids Michelangelo could have churned out over three years if he could have used a breaker beating at 1,200 blows per minute (bpm). Yet, the hydraulic breaker’s hammer and chisel isn’t the only tool of choice for construction craftsman.
Manufacturers such as Allied, Ingersoll Rand, Atlas Copco, Bobcat and CE Attachments also offer a number of unsung breaking solutions, including drop hammers, slab busters, underwater kits, debris protection packages and high heat modifications. All of these choices come into play when determining how to break up the jobsite’s concrete, asphalt or rock palette.
Hammer Time
Like Picasso making a bull’s head sculpture out of bicycle parts, oddball breakers such as a drop hammer or slab buster might seem like an unusual solution to a common problem – breaking concrete. When you are staring at a soon-to-be crumbling, 200-ft driveway or a mile of sidewalk, the task can feel daunting when you glance over to the pin-point tip of your hydraulic breaker’s hammer. With a breaker that sends an earthquake-like shockwave through rock, operators will be eager to get the job done.
“If you compare a hydraulic breaker to taking a hammer and chisel to a rock, the breaker’s hammer hits the chisel, which hits the rock. Take the chisel out of that equation and you have a drop hammer. The hammer is the only thing pounding the rock,” says Tom Pinchuk, Ingersoll Rand attachment marketing manager. “Basically, a drop hammer shatters vs. the hydraulic breaker chipping. With a drop hammer, you have a lower velocity, but a higher impact that shatters large concrete and asphalt slabs, driveways and sidewalks. It’s used in urban areas and foundation work because there is generally less noise, vibration and dust compared to other hydraulic breakers.”
Instead of the downward force being powered through hydraulics or nitrogen, drop hammers are commonly powered by gravity. Though the weight inside a drop hammer is raised hydraulically, a drop hammer lets nature take its course and it releases the weight from heights of 4 to 6 ft. Given the slower nature of the drop hammer, it’s no surprise that a drop hammer may strike about 20 times per minute, as opposed to the hydraulic breaker’s 1,200 to 1,700 bpm. However, the impact energy is far greater. Impact energy is the weight of the actual hammer (not the entire unit) multiplied by the number of feet it’s raised. So, if your hammer weighs 1,500 lbs and you raise it 5 ft, your impact energy will be 7,500 ft-lbs, shattering 14- to 18-in. thick slabs, which decimates a light-range hydraulic breaker’s 150 to 500 ft-lbs constant blow energy (cbe).
“In terms of productivity, the lower cycle time allows you to actually move the skid steer between strikes. If you are demolishing a sidewalk or long length of concrete or asphalt, you don’t even have to stop and place the breaker. You can keep driving at a slow speed and break as you go,” says Pinchuk. “The operator must make sure that the skid shoes are on the ground at all times when operating the hammer. If the skid shoes aren’t on the ground and the hammer is fired, there is a physical stop built in so that the hammer doesn’t fall out, and if it hits that, the force goes into the carrier. If you have an operator that doesn’t fully understand that concept, you can slowly destroy the attachment and carrier.”
“Drop hammers can only be operated vertically because they raise a massive weight hydraulically and drop it. The weight and gravity is what powers the drop hammer and it cannot function horizontally because it requires gravity,” adds Al Springer, national sales manager for Allied Construction Products LLC. “A drop hammer should be positioned at a 90-degree angle to the concrete surface to be broken.”
While one hammer might be the perfect brush for one construction site artist, another might need a bit more power than gravity can provide to create his or her masterpiece of destruction. For such an occasion, the operator would turn to a powered slab buster such as Allied’s Hammerhead II. Unlike a gravity-powered drop hammer, a powered slab buster uses a spring set that loads the system with 3,350 psi of hydraulic pressure, which fires a 4-in. impact bar weighing 388 lbs into the concrete with up to 4,000 ft-lbs of impact force. The true strength of these powered slab busters is the ability to use them in both vertical and horizontal orientation.
If you are looking to add a couple of breakers for different jobsite brush strokes, you’ll likely find that drop hammers range from $7,000 to $10,000, while powered slab busters break into the $10,000 to $13,000 range.
Modded Breaker Modernism
In an artist’s eternal quest for creativity and originality, sometimes a splash of color is all a piece needs to give it that “je ne sais quoi” appeal. Often times, a hydraulic breaker operator finds that the solution to a complex jobsite problem is to spice up the hydraulic breaker with a modification kit or package that can send it into uncharted waters – literally. Most manufacturers of hydraulic breakers offer an underwater kit to plunge breakers into the briny deep.
“All breakers, regardless of manufacturer, will need to be fitted with some type of underwater kit that will supply compressed air to the percussion chamber to prevent the breaker from destroying itself. This applies to situations where the breaker is submerged, or even if only the bottom of the breaker box is working in water, mud or other liquid,” says Rich Elliott, hydraulic applications manager for Atlas Copco Construction Tools LLC. “Some breakers can be hooked up to the underwater kit without any modification and some breakers will have to be modified to accept the underwater kit.”
For some manufacturers, an underwater kit is a flange kit that connects to a larger breaker and accepts a 3/4-in. air hose from a 185-cfm air compressor. Other manufacturers offer breakers that readily accept the hoses and flanges. The air hose is plugged into the breaker and the compressor is turned on to pressurize the breaker. By maintaining an air pressure that is greater than the water pressure, water will not be able to enter the hammer. Then, the breaker can be submerged and put to work on concrete footings for a bridge or dock – to a certain degree.
“Like in scuba diving, the deeper air goes into the water, the more it compresses. You don’t want to be putting the entire excavator arm into the water. That pressure can build and cause damage,” says Pinchuk.
Although machine safety is in the forefront of every contractor’s mind, when working your breaker underwater, be sure to only use biodegradable lubricants and fluids to keep the environment safe as well. Don’t forget to increase the lubrication frequency, as the compressor will quickly blow away the lubricant. When working around water, the breaker should be inspected every 30 minutes, which would be a good time to grease those lube points.
At the end of the shift, the air compressor should be left running for at least 15 minutes till the piston and front head dry out; park the breaker vertically to let the water drain out. The hammer should also be completely disassembled after the job’s done to allow any trapped water to dry, according to Springer.
It may seem like a lot of maintenance hassle, but water can severely damage the breaker. If water is left in the breaker’s chambers, the piston could rust in several days if the environment is ripe for rust. It’s also not a good idea to side-step the work and go free-wheelin’ into water without an underwater kit. Aside from rust, water can ruin seals and accumulate in oil, combining two substances that don’t mix. Remember that breakers were designed to keep the oil and nitrogen in; a breaker alone isn’t pressurized to keep the outside out.
Although some underwater kits will only set you back between $300 to $600, others cost upward of $1,800, and you’re also going to need an air compressor that can handle at least 185 cfm. If you are planning on buying a compressor, you’re looking at an extra $10,000, whereas renting is quite a bit cheaper.
Underwater isn’t the only place where bold breakers dare to go. Out of the cool ocean and lake waters, breakers venture into smoldering, lava-like steel foundries, where breakers cut slag out of the smelting pots. For these high-thermal load applications, some breakers will need to be modified by removing any dampers or other plastic components, replacing them with steel or aluminum ones. Other, plastic-free breakers can go straight into high-heat applications. It’s best to contact your distributor or manufacturer before breaking molten magma.
On musty, debris-ridden jobsites, a breaker can be equipped with a dust protection kit that prevents debris from entering into the bushing area and mixing with the breaker’s grease or chisel paste, which forms an abrasive compound that can damage the breaker’s innards.
“These breakers will also have dust suppression, which is an integrated water channel that allows the operator to spray water on the work area to keep the dust down,” Elliott explains. “They may also have an integrated flushing channel for compressed air to protect the internal parts from dust. Like the underwater kit, this requires the use of an air compressor.”
Attachments Ruling Attachments
Like a fantastic tale of an artist’s own creation coming to life to take control of its own existence, breaker attachments are showing signs of self-awareness. While skid steers and mini excavators haven’t succumbed to a “Terminator” future ruled by robots, hell bent on destroying the human race with any number of attachments, the mechanical artists at Ingersoll Rand have created breakers that are so obsessed with productivity that they have created their own attachments.
Scouting a jobsite scattered with an army of breakers, you might do the rare triple-take when you see a mini excavator equipped with an Ingersoll Rand breaker lowering the bit into its own bucket attachment. Be not afraid. This is but one attachment for an attachment offered by Ingersoll Rand.
On the breaker, there is a lip that aligns with the collar of the bucket or tamper (the other offered attachment) when the breaker’s tool is inserted into the attachment. That collar prevents the force from resting on the tool and puts the strain on the hammer cradle. From there, a safety pin is put into place and you’re ready to start digging or smoothing.
“I like to use the example of a broken water main,” says Pinchuk. “You can use the breaker to break through the concrete or asphalt surface, put the bucket on to excavate, clear the debris and get into the pipe. Once the pipe is repaired, you can use the bucket to backfill the ditch, swap the bucket for the tamper and pat down the area, so that it’s ready for the asphalt patch.”
Although the tamper goes to town on surfaces using the breaker’s 1,600 bpm, the bucket attachment isn’t going to provide the breakout force of a standard bucket. Available in sizes ranging from 9 to 18 in. and prices ranging from $600 to $1,300, the bucket is meant for debris clearing and light excavation and backfill work. The tamper, on the other hand, is available in two sizes – 9 by 13 in. and 13 by 20 in. – and costs between $2,000 and $3,000.
Whether you are connecting an attachment, installing a mod kit or buying a whole new breaker, there is a wide world of demolition devices to paint with. Using your equipment like an extension of your own arms, the application will dictate your breaker choice. From there, the demolition canvas is yours to paint – crush rock, pound underwater, break up molten steel or forgo breaking in lieu of digging. Let the artist in each operator drive his creative contracting spirit.
Comments are closed here.