I wanted to post this info as I struggled to find it when doing my research for this project.
I bought a house with a pool and a safety cover but there were no anchors in the cement paver deck surrounding the pool. I'm cheap so I decided to do it myself. I think I was able to make them for about a 1/3 to 1/2 what it would have cost to buy them.
What I bought:
A) Brass anchors Amazon.com
B) Coring bit Amazon.com
C) Another coring bit (don't buy) Amazon.com
D) 6160 Aluminum round tube (not pipe) 1" x 1/8" wall Aluminum Round Tube 6061 - Metal Supermarkets (I wish I could have found a better/cheaper source but I gave up after 5 or 6 calls)
Steps
The easy part (building the anchors)
1) After buying the tube (D) I cut it into 15" lengths with my miter saw (normal wood blade was fine, just take it slow) with a 45degree angle on one end
2) I used my hydraulic wood splitter to press the brass anchors (A) into the tubes. You can hammer them in with a hammer and block of wood but this was slow and inaccurate.
The hard part (drilling the holes)
1) I put the cover on the pool and held it down with buckets of water and whatever else I could find. This was to locate where the holes needed to be drilled.
2) I bought a coring bit with a pilot (C) it turned out to be 15/16" not 1" so it would not work. I ordered another coring bit without a pilot (B) that was actually 1".
3) I used the shank and pilot form (C) with coring bit (B) to drill a hole in the concrete pavers. I used an AC hammer drill set just to drill. I also had a 5 gallon bucket of water that I used to keep everything wet and cool. I started off with a hose trickling but this ended up making a mess.
4) Then I removed the pilot to drill though the dirt and aggregate under the pavers. This is where things got difficult as dirt and stones would clog up the coring bit. I used a couple of methods to help with this. I got an old drill bit and pounded it into a log. I could drill out the mud with this as long as there was not a rock stuck. If there was a rock stuck I would have to remove the coring bit from the shank and pound it out with a long metal rod.
5) Once the hole was drilled I simply hammered the anchors in with a hammer and block of wood.
I hope this helps someone.
I bought a house with a pool and a safety cover but there were no anchors in the cement paver deck surrounding the pool. I'm cheap so I decided to do it myself. I think I was able to make them for about a 1/3 to 1/2 what it would have cost to buy them.
What I bought:
A) Brass anchors Amazon.com
B) Coring bit Amazon.com
C) Another coring bit (don't buy) Amazon.com
D) 6160 Aluminum round tube (not pipe) 1" x 1/8" wall Aluminum Round Tube 6061 - Metal Supermarkets (I wish I could have found a better/cheaper source but I gave up after 5 or 6 calls)
Steps
The easy part (building the anchors)
1) After buying the tube (D) I cut it into 15" lengths with my miter saw (normal wood blade was fine, just take it slow) with a 45degree angle on one end
2) I used my hydraulic wood splitter to press the brass anchors (A) into the tubes. You can hammer them in with a hammer and block of wood but this was slow and inaccurate.
The hard part (drilling the holes)
1) I put the cover on the pool and held it down with buckets of water and whatever else I could find. This was to locate where the holes needed to be drilled.
2) I bought a coring bit with a pilot (C) it turned out to be 15/16" not 1" so it would not work. I ordered another coring bit without a pilot (B) that was actually 1".
3) I used the shank and pilot form (C) with coring bit (B) to drill a hole in the concrete pavers. I used an AC hammer drill set just to drill. I also had a 5 gallon bucket of water that I used to keep everything wet and cool. I started off with a hose trickling but this ended up making a mess.
4) Then I removed the pilot to drill though the dirt and aggregate under the pavers. This is where things got difficult as dirt and stones would clog up the coring bit. I used a couple of methods to help with this. I got an old drill bit and pounded it into a log. I could drill out the mud with this as long as there was not a rock stuck. If there was a rock stuck I would have to remove the coring bit from the shank and pound it out with a long metal rod.
5) Once the hole was drilled I simply hammered the anchors in with a hammer and block of wood.
I hope this helps someone.
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