Longer life for your Pneumatic breakers and rock drills

5 tips to extend the lifetime of your handheld breakers or rock drills

Your pneumatic tools have a hard life. That’s okay: they were built for it. But a hard life doesn’t need to be a short one. With the right care and attention, you can extend the service life of your pneumatic tools. Here are 5 crucial tips to get the most out of your investment.

1. Get the right tool for the right job

All our tools have been manufactured with regard to the same quality standards as Atlas Copco breakers. This results in longer lifetime, while protecting your pneumatic tool from secondary damage (e.g., on the piston).

Pneumatic Handheld Working Tools_Service Tips

To produce quality work and avoid damage to the machinery, you need a tool with the right dimensions and the right hardness. That sounds simple and self-evident, but check these real-world examples from our competitors – each of which can accelerate wear or even damage to the piston and bushing:
1. Incorrect angle on the bushing 2. Centering point on impact surface 3. Rebar on the shank area into the bushing 4. Irregular impact surface For its part, Atlas Copco ensures that there is a correct fit between the tool bushing, tested and approved for use on Atlas Copco breakers. And this for each and every one of the handheld working tools in our broad range. Consequently, you can confidently use these tools for the toughest jobs as well as the most complex tasks.

2. Avoid water contamination

The compressed air that powers a pneumatic tool also creates condense at the tool exhaust. How much? That depends on compressor size, duration of use and ambient conditions. A large mobile drill can generate up to a bucket of water per shift.

If left unmanaged, the water can turn into ice particles which can cause damage of the tool. To avoid this, place a water separator as far away from the compressor as possible. This will help minimize the risk of water damage and corrosion and eliminate problems caused by freezing. It is also important to drain the water from the receiver tank of the compressor and to blow off any residual water in the hoses.

Atlas Copco’s VAM water separators use the centrifugal principle to automatically remove the condensate matter.

3. Lubricate, lubricate, lubricate

Oil in the airline lubricates the moving parts on the interior of pneumatic tools. This creates cooling and reduces friction, ultimately reducing wear. In other words: lubrication doesn’t just improve performance (right now), it also extends life (in the long run).

No wonder then that your choice of lubricant has an appreciable effect on the performance of your tool. Original lubricants (including Breaker & Hammer AIR-OIL and Rock Drill AIR-OIL) are designed with the best protection for your tool in mind – as is Atlas Copco’s own lubricator, CLG 30.

If the tool you’re using does not have built- in lubricator, use an external lubricator to keep all moving parts protected with a layer of oil. To do so, install a lubricator within three meters from the tool. But not without a water separator before the lubricator, to prevent water and oil getting mixed.

4. Use high-quality couplings

The quality of a compressed air system depends on the quality of its claw couplings. Atlas Copco knows this. That’s why its couplings are forged, machined, hardened, galvanized and Chromium-plated.

Plus, their walls are thinner than cast couplings, reducing the resistance to air flow. Thanks to all that, reduced loses make pneumatic tools work at optimum pressure and air flow.

5. Good service is key to a long life

Regular check-ups help detect and resolve problems before they become fatal. Regular and professional servicing with premium parts is the key to a long life for your pneumatic tools.

Always make sure that your tools are serviced by authorized staff with the proper training, and that only genuine parts are used to replace components.