I was installing some new mini PTZ cameras from Eclipse in Miami on Saturday trying to beat the storm named Fay before it hit the southern part of the state! If you have never seen the mini PTZ then I highly recommend them!

I find out that this little strip plaza has poured concrete walls all the way around above the window lines!!

On top of that the outer wall on the walkways where they hang the store signage is poured concrete as well!!

This place is like Fort Knox!!

I called a concrete company to come out and bore the holes for me, but they would not come out until Monday, so I was stuck doing it myself!

I bought a new hammer drill, because I burned out my old dewalt hammer drill on the first set of holes. After buying a new drill I was being rattled to death trying to drill a one inch hole. I switched to a 1/4 in concrete bit, and I noticed that the drill bit was not spinning straight. Just as I realized that the bit was not turning straight the centrificul force grabbed the tip of the drill bit, and bent it 90 degrees!!! I was standing on the top rung of an 8 foot ladder, and I dropped the drill because I did not know if the drill bit was going to detonate, or not, and I did not want to be on the shrapnel end of things!

It turned out that the chuck was not closing correctly leaving the drill bits cockeyed in the hole.


After boring 4 holes from the inside to the outside I was done for the day!!
I then had to go outside and drill two more holes through the poured concrete facia! That is two eight inch walls!

As I was mounting the PTZ the Storm named Fay decided to rain on my little party. It is not fun mounting cameras in the rain, but I wanted to get it done before the eye left Key West and headed our way.

For those of you who have never drilled through poured concrete then I will give you some tips.


You will need a hammer drill that cost more than $500.00. You can use the $99 Dewalt Hammer Drill, or the Milwaukee Hammer Drill that cost about $150.00, but they are not designed to drill one inch holes in solid pour concrete on a daily basis. They are good for a one time use though, just be aware that you get what you pay for!

In the paint department of the hardware stores they have cheap plastic "drop cloths". They are about $4 to $5 a roll. Use a knife to cut them up so that you can cover desks, copy machine, and file cabinet, and what have you.

Buy a wet / dry vac to vacuum up the dust.

Before you start drilling put some cardboard under where you are going to be drilling. This will catch the pile of concrete dust, and make clean up much easier. You can put the cardboard between the "struts" that hold up a drop ceiling.

Before you start drilling one inch holes, or holes of any size make sure your concrete drill bits are sharp! They should have an "A" shape to them.

If they are not pointed then do not use them. They will shake as they drill, and they will wear your arms out real fast, and you will find that you will have to take alot of breaks before you finally pop through the concrete.

If your drill bits are not sharp then what will happen is that the drill bit will wallow out the hole while it is drilling. If it is in real bad shape then it will spend more time wallowing out the hole then drilling the hole deep, and rattling you even more.

Before you drill your holes take an awl, or a nail, and smack it where you want to drill, and start the drill bit at a slow rotation so that it will not travel.

If you are just boring holes to run your wiring then it does not matter so much if the hole is off, or not. If you are drilling your mounting holes for the camera, or equipment then it will matter!

Do not lean on the hammer drill real hard. Let the rotation of the drill bit do all of the work!

Before you drill scratch a vertical, and a horizontal line over the hole you are going to drill. If the drill bit travels then you will see it before you get to far off the mark.

If you are mounting cameras to concrete then I recommend concrete expansion bolts.
http://www.simpsonanchors.com/Catalog/mechanical/sleeve-all/index.html

You need to know the personality of the anchors before you use them. Test them on some concrete at home before you use them. On some of them you need to drill the holes smaller then the anchor size, and then wallow out the hole until the anchor slides in to the hole. Be careful once you stick the anchor in to the hole you may not beable to get them back out. I use my wire cutters to grab the anchor, and then I pry them out like trying to pull a nail out of a board.

If you bore the hole a little bit to large then it may be ok as the back of the anchor will expand as the nut, or screw is tightened. If the hole is too large then put some silicone sealant in to the hole, and spread some on to the anchor. This will not hold a large amount of weight, but it will hold a little bit. Just make sure your other holes are perfect!

The phillip screw head anchors are real difficult to work with. I hold the PTZ up against the wall, and I stick a concrete bolt into the hole, and then I use my wire cutters to hammer in the bolt, and then I use a phillips head screwdriver to tighten it down. If you remove the phillips head then you have a chance that you cannot get it back on to the bolt to pull it out to get the back end of the anchor to expand, and catch in the hole. You will have to put caulk, or silicone in to the hole, and then the screw becomes a decorative piece.


How to Info:
http://www.doityourself.com/stry/h2anchorconcrete


http://www.simpsonanchors.com/Catalog/mechanical/strong-bolt/index.html


http://www.ameribestfasteners.com/expansion_bolts.htm

Rotary Hammer Drills are your friend!!!!!!!


I picked up this cordless one to complete my Makita set. It was worth every penny. Before I used to use my cordless hammer drill to install Tapcons, Redheads, and Hilti anchors. I would take for ever and I would always snap a bit now with the R.H.D it takes no time it eats concrete for lunch.

The cordless is good for small jobs but if you need to drill alot of big holes get a corded one.

http://www.toolbarn.com/product/makita/BHR202Z/

The Bosch 11258VSR Concrete Drill (1.4 foot-pounds of impact force 4.8 amp motor) is my favorite for around the yard but if you are doin bores/core drillin steady on the job we always went with wet (water cool diamond bits) for box work....missed knockouts punch work, anchors, dowels etc on utility duct bank and buried precast.. CS Unitec (http://www.csunitec.com/drills/coredrill.html )has some durable gear....

I would love to do a wet drill, but I have not found a way to keep an office clean afterwards! LOL!

If the Makita is cordless then I would say that is a bargain.

My cordless Dewalt Hammer Drill costs around $350.00 and well worth every penny. It does not "clutch out" like my reg cordless drills. I use it to punch a two inch hole in headers for wiring, or central vac pipes.

Just make sure you buy alot of batteries, and have them on a charger ready to go.

One tip is not to run the Dewalt batteries until they are almost dead. OK I take that back. You do need to run them dead so that they recharge properly, but do not run them down as they get real hot inside. There is a temperature sensor, and when you put them on a charger, and the battery is too hot then the light changes to a different blink pattern, and that means you are not charging! You have to wait till the battery cools, then it will charge. The more you "push" them, then the need to have more batteries on hand.

I am not saying Dewalt is the best, but I tend to go back to them after buying other brands.

I think my problem is that I am buying the "newest and the greatest" drill that is being promoted and the Beta's cannot stand my use/abuse.

Some of the drill brands that I refuse to use are now considered better than Dewalt, and perhaps now that they have been on the market a few years they have "hardened" the drills up some.

Bosch Hammer Drill that retailed for $90.00 or so in 2004 could not drill a 3/8 in hole in every window of a large custom home. All I was doing was drilling for alarm wire. I had about 25 doors and windows and it did not make it past the half way point before the handle area got so hot that I could not hold the drill. It fryed the switch out pretty bad. Every one raves about the Bosch so maybe I need to retest one someday.

Time is money, and I am fearful to test new ones. I have three Dewalt cordless drills, and about 8 batteries. I not rich in this economy and if I had to replace all of this because of age, or wear and tear then I would be in trouble!

We've had great performance from Milwaukee. They're a little on the heavy side but very powerful.

My favorite for cordless is the Rigid 18v hammer/drill, I have had this one for two years and done a lot of 5/8ths holes through brick, concrete and block walls. The nice thing is the charger for this has a cooling fan for highspeed charging of the batteries, will take a drained battery hot off the drill and charge it in 30 to 45 mins. :D

Now that is an awesome feature!!

I might have to trade in the Dewalt's for that option!!

We have our fun with concret on a fairly regular basis

Our bigger dirill are milwaulkees and use a sks type bit. You can also get a core bore bits for them. Depending on model probably around 800.00 ea I Have heard good things about the Hilti line of drills

Get the best concrete hammerdrill bits you can find. More money but more work gets done. You can get the ones rated for masonary but they are designed for plaster or something softer than brick or concret.

we use tapcons a lot for mounting cameras as they take a smaller hole in the concrete and the tapcon is actually cutting threads into the wall.

Use the correct size drill bit for the tapcon or they will not hold correctly.

saftey glasses and hearing protection

Excellent advise for anykind of work!

Nobody is mentioning about the HILTI drills?

They work great in most cases and operate with different size and length drill bits... I have used them for over 20 years and some of these drills that we have are that old and still working great.

The only down fall with Dewalt drills are their batteries. They just don't last long. Now, before you folks flame away on this, im talking the extreme long run.

I have a Porter Cable 14.4v hammer drill that is 10 years old (GASP!) and those batteries JUST crapped out on me 4 months ago. My Dewalt 18v I have had for 3 years, and I have already had to buy 2 new sets of batteries.

You want quality and good hard working hammer drill, Porter Cable all the way!

I would agree! I have to change my batteries at least once a year. I just have to remember where I put my Receipts at for the warranty!

The only problem I've ever had with my Porter-Cable was I wore the drill out not the batteries, and that was after four years of use. I like my Rigid it is still going good and it is three years old, but then I don't do as much drilling as I used too. :D

Ok after being away and no not in prison, I have to put in my $ .02
I have my dewalt hammer drill that i use to use then i went to a hitachi BIG beast 1 3/4 bits use to use that till i was 20ft in the air and the clutch went and i almost broke my jaw. Then i bought a dewalt 24 volt cordless rotary hammer best thing in the world and lite about 8 lbs compared to the 20 lbs hitachi I know you can't compare the 2 but i had to tell you guys this thing is nice also i have had my batteries for years and never had a problem yet not to say i wont have one after writing this.... :cry: