Wacking - Does size matter?

[Focused]

What a great site.
Just starting first project and going to replace paving and extend to create a small patio. The finished size will only be 8 sqm and a new square manhole cover replacing the current ugly round one will be in this area.
As this is such a small area, is it worth hiring a wacker plate for the MOT1 or is it feasable to consider tamping with the head of something like a club hammer?
I appreciate that the machine is likely to take only a few minutes to do the job but it's also the faff of collecting carrying and returning that puts me off.

[local patios and driveway]

Get the wacker plate, no substitution at all. Do it right, do it once

[lutonlagerlout]

not far from you focused been working in shillington lately and eating from roger's bakery in meppershall
dan is right
allplant in dunstablev charge us around £20 to bring a wacker out and we use it for 30 minutes and they take it away

allplant
cheers LLL

[Focused]

Thanks LPAD. Not what I wanted to hear but it is what I expected to hear. Will do as you recommend.

LLL I reckon you could have popped over and done my little patio in a couple of lunch hours. Instead I will be taking weeks due to it being done at weekends but not every weekend. It will probably take me half an hour to work out how to work the wacker and you may see me whizzing through Meppershall hanging on to the damned thing hoping it soon runs out of petrol. Today's task is to replace round inspection cover with square one. I can see why they call it a learning curve because that will be the shape of my spine at the end of today. Too used to pushing a pen and paper around a desk, as well as using one of those mouse things.
I might get around to posting final pictures unless it's all too embarrasing.

[lutonlagerlout]

just take your time
measure twice cut once as they say
good luck
LLL

[DNgroundworks]

Post pictures regardless of the out come, at the worst we can have a laugh about it

[local patios and driveway]

Lol, visions of a wacker plate dragging a guy down the street! :laugh: im sure it will be fine mate guys here are only to happy to help with advise when you need it, plus you seem happy to actually listen to the advice rather than argue with it!

[MK1Chris]

I just used a Wacker for the first time yesterday (normal day-job involves shuffling paperwork and operating nothing heavier than a laptop!).

I had the option of hiring either a small one or a large one. Plumped for the small option but blimey.... at the risk of pointing out the obvious.... they're heavy things!!!

It goes forward in a straight line with no problmes but getting it to go around the tight curves of my patio area was blimmin hard work...

If you have enough space, make sure you just keep letting it go forward... pulling it backward to turn 90 degrees needs bigger muscles than I have!!!

Got the job done though and looks good. Ready for slab-laying once I have finished the walls. Just hoping for dry weekends now!

[MK1Chris]

As well as Wackers, everything seems to be heavy.

I've started laying my flags now, and the 600 x 900 sandstone ones aren't easy to lay on your own!

Oh well... keep marching onward (if next weekend is dry!)...

[Tony McC]

If they were easy to lay, any owld eejit would be at it!