Drilling concrete

Had to test out my new hammer drill on a job with some concrete that was hard to nail because of previous tackstrip craters. Concrete didn't take nails well enough in one room of the house. It was a different pour and might have been a garage.
I've used this method before and it' works fairly fast.
Drive what nails you can, then drill right through the tackstrip with a bit the size of a large BBQ skewer. Then drive the skewer it into the strip and cut the excess with a sharp chisel........then drive in a nail. It fits so tight it doesn't need glue because the nail acts like a wedge in an ax handle. I use 3-d galvanized box nails for backups and metal.
I have also used a 1/8" bit to drill the concrete then drive in a 1 inch masonry nail. The day that nail gets removed, it's gonna leave a 2 inch crater.

If you noticed the blue tape, it has a pencil mark on it. I mark where the previous nails were located to avoid nailing next to the crater.

I always had small dowel rods in the truck to use that way.

I thinkl you are doing a lot of extra work when drilling tackless using dowels. I use 1/8" bit like you High but there are qluminum pins that are square you can drive in the hole, or what I use is a 3/4" long Maze nail. It is a steel nail that is fluted. Now when you pull tackless with them you have a crater but would take a Mack truck to pull it out. Or my old stand by is tooth picks in the hole and screw nails for metal works good also. Or you can squeeze in some hotmelt from a glue gun and nail into that. Lotza options.

Remember the aluminum DRIVES? I forgot who made them and they came with a carbide bit.

Ernesto said:

Remember the aluminum DRIVES? I forgot who made them and they came with a carbide bit.

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I have used the aluminum drives for years for metals and where there is a french drain so as not bust out the concrete. On metal they work good beccause all you have to do is knock the head off and drive the rest down, no spawls. But I have never gotten drill bits with them.

They were just thrown in with the box with the drives. Solid carbide bits worked amazingly well.

I have heard of the aluminum nails, but never seen one.

Got some in my carpet tool box but too lazy to go shoot a pic. This should do.

https://www.amazon.com/Crain-580-8-Inch-Aluminum-Drives/dp/B00D4WM7IO

I have heard of the aluminum nails

DarisMulkin said:

I thinkl you are doing a lot of extra work when drilling tackless using dowels. I use 1/8" bit like you High but there are qluminum pins that are square you can drive in the hole, or what I use is a 3/4" long Maze nail. It is a steel nail that is fluted. Now when you pull tackless with them you have a crater but would take a Mack truck to pull it out. Or my old stand by is tooth picks in the hole and screw nails for metal works good also. Or you can squeeze in some hotmelt from a glue gun and nail into that. Lotza options.

Click to expand...

Never heard em called a maze nail. We just call em masonry nails. Used to see them in a twisted square profile, but now only the fluted ones.
The way I did the dowels is actually pretty fast because you drill right through the strip instead of using a larger dowel that's set flush with the concrete, which requires marking it's location for it when you put the strip in place.
These skewers are larger than the 1/8" kind. If you used the small ones, then a box nail couldn't be driven in. Even these fit tight enough that some bent over.
I rarely see concrete so that's why I never looked into the aluminum ones.
Most of the rooms drove in real nice with the 5/8 ones that came in the strip. What I did with the skewers was mostly around this 4 by 5 entry and some edges that adjoined tile. I added glue to most of the strip...................... just because.

Ernesto said:

Got some in my carpet tool box but too lazy to go shoot a pic. This should do.

https://www.amazon.com/Crain-580-8-Inch-Aluminum-Drives/dp/B00D4WM7IO

Click to expand...

Wonder if they got em in 3/4"? 5/8 seems a bit short considering the point makes up a lot of it's length.

DarisMulkin said:

I have used the aluminum drives for years for metals and where there is a french drain so as not bust out the concrete. On metal they work good beccause all you have to do is knock the head off and drive the rest down, no spawls. But I have never gotten drill bits with them.

Click to expand...

I don't know how you removed the strip or metals, but I use a CP air chisel with the pressure set fairly low, ....50 to 60 lbs. Unbelievably fast and less or smaller craters since they are vibrated loose.

https://www.craintools.com/carpet/other/tack-strip-tools/078
The other look like for metal. Might have to check those out.

https://www.craintools.com/carpet/other/tack-strip-tools/078
The other looks like for metal. Might have to check those out.
Thanks for reminding me I live in the stone age.

They have 7/8 inch and fatter ones. If you can see the other options. Besides gluing strip down which is time consuming these work great. I've had some concrete that seemed like steel.

Number 6 drill and weld rod for vinyl for a Rawl Plug works well Doesn't matter how deep you drill it as you just cut the weld rod to the correct length once in the hole

DarisMulkin said:

I have used the aluminum drives for years for metals and where there is a french drain so as not bust out the concrete. On metal they work good beccause all y ou have to do is knock the head off and drive the rest down, no spawls. But I have never gotten drill bits with them.

Click to expand...

When I say "solid carbide", I mean solid carbide!!
Daris, did you check under the lid? I'm thinking someone swiped your bit out of the box before you bought it. Hehe
You don't really need a hammer drill with that bit. They are kinda brittle so easy goes it..

I have gone through dozens of cans of aluminum drives, over the years...
I can’t remember ever getting a drill bit in the can.
I believe those bits are about $5 each now.
And you need the bit holder

Back ion the 60's we used those bits but not in a hammer drill, hammer drills weren't the thing yet so it was just a corded drill. I remember when the carbide twist drills came out , my boss at the time was so proud that he got one and handed it to me to try out. Burned the tip off in the first hole. He was po'ed it cost him a dollar.

Well if you look close you can see a bit of wear on the bit. Went through at least a half a can of nails on a very hard slab where I couldn't get it stub to stick.
Maybe they decided the cost was too much to supply free ones.
It seems like making the bit would be expensive to make.
Like I said they are brittle. I have broken some myself.

FYI, that box must be twenty years old. That's about when I stopped doing crapet.