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Pneumatic drills- what happened them?

  • 12-01-2017 2:19am
    #1
    JupiterKid
    Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators Posts: 13,098 Mod ✭✭✭✭


    I was talking to a friend about roadworks and we both wondered what has happened to the horrible, incredibly noisy pneumatic drills that were ubiquitous in the 1980s when we were in school. Back then, they were all over the place where holes needed to be dug in streets and they must have damaged the hearing of the poor feckers who operated them as well as doing back damage etc.

    Plus the noise they made was awful.:(:mad: They seem to have disappeared in the past 15 or so years. Nowadays, it's all mini excavators/JCBs for roadworks which are much quieter.

    Has anyone else noticed this? Or have you seen a pneumatic drill lately? I say good riddance!!


Comments

  • #2
    Arghus
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 14,858 ✭✭✭✭Arghus


    Ireland is actually finished; all the work has been completed. So there's no need for that kind of machinery anymore.


  • #3
    darkpagandeath
    Closed Accounts Posts: 24,465 ✭✭✭✭darkpagandeath


    Don't they use them for porn now ?


  • #4
    mickdw
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 23,686 ✭✭✭✭mickdw


    They do seem to have gone away now on those road opening jobs you would see.
    I guess it's road saw and then dig it out with mini digger or jcb. There are rock breakers now for even the very small diggers that will knock out a bit of concrete or whatever with a few taps compared to the man operated hammer.


  • #5
    Satriale
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,023 ✭✭✭Satriale


    I remember them but they make much better use of them these days.



  • #6
    foggy_lad
    Closed Accounts Posts: 20,373 ✭✭✭✭foggy_lad


    JupiterKid wrote: »
    I was talking to a friend about roadworks and we both wondered what has happened to the horrible, incredibly noisy pneumatic drills that were ubiquitous in the 1980s when we were in school. Back then, they were all over the place where holes needed to be dug in streets and they must have damaged the hearing of the poor feckers who operated them as well as doing back damage etc.

    Plus the noise they made was awful.:(:mad: They seem to have disappeared in the past 15 or so years. Nowadays, it's all mini excavators/JCBs for roadworks which are much quieter.

    Has anyone else noticed this? Or have you seen a pneumatic drill lately? I say good riddance!!

    Elf N safety may have had a say in the demise of the pneumatic drill but more likely it is the availability of much better and smaller mini-diggers which operate without the need for the heavy noisy compressor that powered the drills and is also capable of doing several other tasks. the drills became obsolete.


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  • #7
    andekwarhola
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,639 ✭✭✭andekwarhola


    My Da let me go 'working' (even gave me some 'pay' in an envelope) with him sometimes during school holidays when I was a kid which included having a go on the drill (with him helping me hold it).

    The golden health and safety era of the construction industry.


  • #8
    Boom_Bap
    Moderators, Music Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 25,734 Mod ✭✭✭✭Boom_Bap


    They attach them to diggers these days...but I think that the Irish Water lads used them for the meters. Maybe all the water bills that were paid were used by the gubberment to buy up all the drills.
    I think I might be on to something here.


  • #9
    gramar
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,045 ✭✭✭✭gramar


    Are they not one of the many 'you may be entitled to compensation' scams campaigns because of the problems caused by the vibrations?


  • #10
    ScrubsfanChris
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,599 ✭✭✭ScrubsfanChris


    Boom_Bap wrote: »
    They attach them to diggers these days...but I think that the Irish Water lads used them for the meters. Maybe all the water bills that were paid were used by the gubberment to buy up all the drills.
    I think I might be on to something here.
    Safer and a lot more multi purpose.

    http://c8.alamy.com/comp/DGH133/france-europe-french-paris-9th-arrondissement-rue-jean-baptiste-pigalle-DGH133.jpg


  • #11
    mikhail
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,862 ✭✭✭mikhail


    gramar wrote: »
    Are they not one of the many 'you may be entitled to compensation' scams campaigns because of the problems caused by the vibrations?
    I don't know about lawsuits, but they can **** up your hands for sure. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vibration_white_finger


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  • #12
    Stigura
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,576 ✭✭✭Stigura


    Horrible bloody things to work with, all round! Weighed a bloody ton too! :eek:

    And, yeah; I'd once spent some real quality time, pecking away at a fallen concrete pillar with one. Humping, grunting and swearing. Then, a full sized JCB, with a point, crawled over. He destroyed that pillar for me in a minute. Probably took him less physical effort than writing this post has me.

    Now, I'd call that welcome progress :)


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