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Have you ever used an electric jack hammer? They are great machines for breaking up concrete and pavement around the home or at construction sites. However I was really not prepared for the workout that I was going to get when I used this thing. Now most people reading this are probably saying, well yeah, they shake like crazy and after an hour of using one of these machines, every bone in his body was all shook up!

Actually the electric jack hammer I rented was a Bosch 11304 Brute which has a great feature called shock mounted handles. In other words the handles move in relation to the jack hammer and so most of the vibration from the jack hammer is absorbed by the handles and not by the operator. This is absolutely a great feature and reduces the wear and tear on your body significantly.

The Bosch 11304 Brute electric jack hammer features 15.0 amp draw, an impact energy of 43 pounds, weighs 64 pounds and a 1-1/8 inch Hex shank size. The guys at the rental store gave a 5 minute instruction on how to use the electric jack hammer and sent me on my way with a heavy duty extension chord as well. The unit fits easily in the trunk of your car. Be careful when placing the electric jack hammer into your trunk and lifting it out. The unit is heavy and you are lifting from an awkward position. If you can, I would advise getting someone to assist in lifting the electric jack hammer into and out of the car.

Man handling an electric jack hammer that weighs 64 pound with out the drill bit which weighs another 18 pounds for over 2 hours provides a workout that you will never get at the gym. I am no slouch, however I was totally exhausted after 2 hours work, but my slab of concrete was all broken up! I now have a great deal of respect for men who do this on construction sites for many hours every day.

My slab of concrete was the apron around our pool. The electric jack hammer dealt with this easily, however some concrete chips went into the pool. You have to be very careful removing these chips to avoid damaging the vinyl liner. In this particular case as well, one needs to be very careful to maintain your balance. The Bosch 1134 Brute electric jack hammer is top heavy and if you are not careful, you and the electric jack hammer can topple over, in my situation, into the pool. Fortunately this did not happen!

This is an electric jack hammer and draws up to 15 amps which most household outlets will handle. However you do need to use a heavy duty extension chord when using these machines. If not the voltage drop on the extension chord will be too much and  the electric jack hammer will not develop the power needed. I also understand that the motor could overheat as well.

Operation of the Electric Jack Hammer

Operation of the electric jack hammer is relatively straight forward, however the simple trick about using these machines is like many machines. Let the electric jack hammer do the work and you just point it in the right direction. I would place the bit in the location I wanted and pressed the button to start it and watched it drill into the concrete slab I was trying to brake up. No problem except that the first time I let the bit get too deep in the concrete to the point it was almost buried. Of course lifting a 64 pound electric jack hammer up when the bit is buried in concrete is not the easiest thing to do. Eventually I was able to get it out and started another location.

Next thing I learned is that you drill a series of holes along a line and eventually a chunk will break off of the main slab. You may have to break up this chunk into a smaller size so you can carry the pieces of concrete. Once I got the hang of it , jack hammering this concrete slab went fairly smoothly. I was breaking up a concrete slab that was approximately 3 inches to 5 inches thick. The Bosch 11304 Brute electric jack hammer handled this with ease. Just get into a routine of drill into the concrete about 2 inches, lift and move along a line about 3 inches and eventually a slab will break off .

Safety

The rental agency did not discuss any safety related issues with me when I rented the Bosch 11304 Brute electric jack hammer. They made sure I knew how to operate it and that I had a heavy duty extension chord, but that was about it.

I would strongly recommend that you wear a pair of safety boots with a steel shank and a steel toe. You might drop a piece of concrete on your foot, step on re-enforcing wire or let the electric jack hammer fall on your foot. Wearing proper safety gear on your feet will protect you from this type of accident.

Operators should also wear gloves. Handling the electric jack hammer handles will also be tough on your hands so a pair of leather construction gloves is strongly recommended. In addition you will be moving some of the broken concrete to either get them out of the way or for disposal. The leather gloves will protect your hands from cuts and scratches.

Lastly I would suggest a pair of safety goggles. Sometimes the concrete chips from the pressure of the electric jack hammer  fly everywhere. Goggles can be warn over glasses and will protect your eyes and the sides of your face as well.

In summary the electric jack hammer did the job with ease, it is an excellent machine for use around households or construction sites with electrical power near by and it is easily transported. Most equipment rental stores will rent these machines with a small specialized cart made for transporting these electric jack hammers.

Tags: 11304 brute, bosch, electric jack hammer, jack hammer

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