I am doing a lot of fence work recently and like to set my posts in tamped, crushed rock. The tamping is slow and a lot of work. I recently dreamed up the idea of having a “tamper” made to go on an electric jackhammer. The idea is to make a tamper bar and a footplate that fits in place of the jackhammer bit.
Has anyone tried something like this? Does any manufacturer make a commercial power tamper? A miniature “jumping jack” compactor with a long shank would be my idea of perfect. Any comments will be welcome and if anyone has already “invented ” this, I would like to hear from you. Thanks.
Sedna
Replies
Best thing I ever saw for tamping fence posts was home made.
It was a metal bar about 4' long. On the business end of the bar was a crescent-shaped piece of metal about an inch wide and an inch thick. The inside radius of the crescent was a little bigger than the radius of a fence post.
I would think that lugging around an electric tamper would be worse than doing the tamping by hand...
Made something like that when I was in need of a plate compactor last summer. I imagine it would work quite well as you're talking about, with a small plate. Ours was a classic duct tape and baling wire job, along with 4 layers of 3/4" ply for the plate. It did it's job, though.
zak
"so it goes"
Looks like you've got a lot of rock to break there. Better get busy!
If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. --James Madison
This is the rock breaking equipment. It's done now, thank god. rock drills and jackhammers take a toll on the body.zak
"so it goes"
The electric utilities have a tamper they use for poles. It runs off the hydraulics from their bucket truck and looks like a pogo stick. I don't know the manufacturer but somebody may be able to steer you a little closer.
Lefty - Lurker without an attitude or a clue
Zak
You doing time! Figure you must be with all that rock to break.
Doug
No real answer, but I was wondering if a vibrator like they use to get concrete into the corners of forms would work.
Edited 5/19/2006 12:17 pm ET by Danno
I-R, Kent, APT make "Tampers" (I call 'em Powder Puff Compactors) that are light weight (30 Lbs) that are run on air.
They usually have a half round butt 5.75" dia. but 3" butts are available.
They put out 700-1500 blows per minute depending on how operated.
Generally they are utilized to compact material in narrow trenches.
What I like about these is the very light weight design. They have a slender shape that might be able to fit around the post better than a J-hammer.
good luck
Is that what some folks call a "pogo stick"?
If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. --James Madison
Probably!
It's only 3-5" in dia., very slender.
I'd weld a 4" diameter, 1/2" thick steel disk on the end of an 8' long piece of 1" rebar or round bar and have at it. Let the weight of the bar do the work. I replaced the wood handles on my clamshell post hole digger with steel pipe and now it's a lot easier to dig holes - just let the tool do the work.
I like the half moon idea but I don't do posts very often. When I do, I made a tamper with 3/4 inch iron pipe about 5 1/2 feet long and with a 3/4 iron cap on one end. Big enough to do the job but not too large to get into the tight spots around the post base. Still not an easy assignment regardless.