Digger post knocker

[youngsbury]

It deflects  the tension to the bottom of the strainer post. 

[slack ma girdle]

What does the diagonal wire do on the corner?

Box strainer

[drinksloe]

Why do all the photos have box/NZ style stay's??

Is it a new thing or been common for years down south?

 

Also do u just use normal sized fence posts for the 2nd post?

The rare times ive done them it was a small turning strainer, so makes them dear and slow.

 

1st time I'd ever seen or done them was in NZ 20 odd years ago and only ever seen them done by others who have been to kiwi.

1 local fencer does them as standard but again learned in NZ, but no one else uses them locally

 

 

If ur using it for post and rail u'll obviously need to have ur post set up spot on to catch the rails, but is it not a problem with posts twisting?

Can be a bugger to twist straight once post well in.

 

 

Dig Dan, it's instead off a traditional stay, it's anchoring the horizontal high up to base of strainer so strainer top shouldn't move when u start pulling wire.

[Matthew Storrs]

59 minutes ago, drinksloe said:

Why do all the photos have box/NZ style stay's??

Is it a new thing or been common for years down south?

 

Also do u just use normal sized fence posts for the 2nd post?

The rare times ive done them it was a small turning strainer, so makes them dear and slow.

 

1st time I'd ever seen or done them was in NZ 20 odd years ago and only ever seen them done by others who have been to kiwi.

1 local fencer does them as standard but again learned in NZ, but no one else uses them locally

 

 

If ur using it for post and rail u'll obviously need to have ur post set up spot on to catch the rails, but is it not a problem with posts twisting?

Can be a bugger to twist straight once post well in.

 

 

Dig Dan, it's instead off a traditional stay, it's anchoring the horizontal high up to base of strainer so strainer top shouldn't move when u start pulling wire.

I use them if the ground is either very soft/boggy or if the ground is very hard and I can’t get strainers in full depth, the box has less leaverage up on the strainer so less likely to pull out of the ground if in the above conditions. My ‘normal’ strainer is like this... a combination of standard strut but with retaining wire too for added strength- they never move. And yes the 2nd post for the box is usually a small turner post- or a chunky 7ft post driven.

Edited April 2, 2020 by Matthew Storrs

[drinksloe]

Cheers Matthew. Aye that's how I use box stays, once every decade or so, can usually get them tight even hand digging with tie backs/downs or stuff nailed to strainer bottom.

Even in peaty ground I'd rarely need to put a box stay in.

 

Just in a lot off those photos u see on here a lot have box stays wondered if it was an English/regional thing??

With box strainers in the photos they look the same size as the normal fence posts, mibbee a visual illusion thou.

 

Nice height off stays there Matthew, half the stays u see nowadays are doing more harm than good.

There is an old fencer in the next valley up stays are halfway down ur shin, if does look strange but u could play a tune on his fences that tight and tidy.

[youngsbury]

Don’t use gripples or buckle of any sort  just Strain wire give it a little stretch strain again tie it up then using fencing pliers grip it tight then wrap it up 5/10 minutes! . Don’t really like gripples and other hardware expensive and just more stuff to faff about with. 

[woody paul]

Box strainers are a fashion thing never used to see them but now every were until someone starts doing something different. 

I have built them on slopes down hill sections were nothing else would work. 

Old style strainers need long strut and below centre of bit left out of ground. 

[gdh]

13 hours ago, Matthew Storrs said:

Nice setup there. Have you tried  anchoring the post cap to the bottom of the mast with chains- best thing I ever started doing with digger knockers. It makes the whole setup very stable as weight of the knocker is all transferred to the post which stabilises it plus means you can push down a bit on the post which makes the hammer more effective plus you get full drop height from the start of the post knocking. I’d you look closely at my post cap you can see that chains. Simple mod but makes a big difference in my opinion.

 

p.s do you know what the total plated weight of your protech is with the 300kg hammer on it

I remembered the model wrong, it's a p220+ with a 300kg weight but it's 500kg overall.

[Matthew Storrs]

8 hours ago, gdh said:

I remembered the model wrong, it's a p220+ with a 300kg weight but it's 500kg overall.

Cheers GDH. I traveled all over the internet trying to find how much it weighed with a 300kg weight! 500kg should be fine on my 5.5t machine, it’s on wide steel tracks which helps stability/counterweight too. Only trouble I’m having is can’t figure out how to switch machine so that it’s single acting and thus can dump the oil quick enough when the weight falls

[doobin]

Just now, Matthew Storrs said:

Cheers GDH. I traveled all over the internet trying to find how much it weighed with a 300kg weight! 500kg should be fine on my 5.5t machine, it’s on wide steel tracks which helps stability/counterweight too. Only trouble I’m having is can’t figure out how to switch machine so that it’s single acting and thus can dump the oil quick enough when the weight falls

I never bother setting either of my machines to single acting when using the knocker, and both work fine. It's a tiny ram.