After delivering the I-beams to the solar field, I thought I was done. Collected my check, cleaned up my yard, done. Who knew there would be more. No, not I-beams. Tools!

We had no idea what they were doing with the I-beams other than putting solar panels on them. Not our area. To do this, they drive the beams about 12 or more feet into the ground. They don’t drill a post hole, either. They literally hammer the beam into the ground.

According to the crew out there, at roughly 11-feet they hit rock, or at least something real hard. That’s when things break, and where we come into the picture.

There’s a very specific tool they use for this hammering. I’ve never seen anything like it before, but it makes sense. Theirs broke, they needed new ones and more of them. We obliged.

We used 1/2-inch plates welded together and 1/4-inch beams.

Unfortunately, our first ones broke too!

Crack! Right below the weld. Some shattered corners, others ripped like paper. At list the welds held.

We went bigger. A whopping 1-inch plate with 1/2-inch frame and 5/8-inch beam. Haven’t heard back to date if they’re holding up but no news is good news!