How to Break Concrete With a Bobcat
- 1). Familiarize yourself with the safety guidelines and basic operations of the Bobcat. Practice using the hand levers to position the Bobcat, and the foot pedals to position the breaker attachment. The left foot pedal raises and lowers the boom, and the right pedal tilts the attachment frame. Press the button on the hand lever to activate the hydraulic breaking action.
- 2). Choose the appropriate breaker tool for the job. If you are just removing concrete as fast as possible, a point is the best choice because you are concentrating all the breaking force to the small tip of the point. Chisels and blunt tools are better when you need to accurately remove smaller amounts of concrete.
- 3). Start breaking concrete at an edge if possible. If you're breaking up a slab, for instance, the chunks that you break off need to have space to move laterally, so starting at the edge of the slab gives them that space. If there is no edge to work with, start by breaking away a small hole, and gradually increase the size of the hole. In that way, the hole's perimeter becomes your edge.
- 4). Break off small chunks at a time. The ideal size of the chunks depends on the thickness and hardness of the concrete. In most cases, place the breaker point about 6 to 12 inches from the edge of the concrete and penetrate as far as you can. If a chunk breaks away, keep repeating the process. If not, reposition the point about 6 inches away from the last spot and a little closer to the edge, and penetrate some more. Repeat until the chunk breaks away. Try to break off the largest chunks possible for the least amount of effort. If you try to break off chunks that are too big, you loose the lateral relief that the edge offers you.
- 5). Keep the broken chunks of concrete out of the path of the Bobcat. In some cases, it may be easiest to position the Bobcat on top of the concrete that you're breaking and work backwards.