Drill purchase

Efour

Efour

Efour

Caporegime
Joined
8 Sep 2005
Posts
30,458
Location
Norrbotten, Sweden.
Looking at buying a drill.

It wont be a decent brand/named - i cant afford good money right now.

I've only ever used a regular hammer drill before but this time i'm looking at a basic SDS type for extra oompf.

a lot of the brickwork/masonry here is incredibly hard compared to UK clay red brick. I think the aggregate they use in the cinderblocks is mostly gabbro and other hard as **** igneous rock (Having a geology degree finally makes sense)

Anyway! Will an SDS drill be fine for "regular" stuff aswell - I'm thinking it will be nice to have flexibility in the future but i want it to be subtle enough for stuff like shelves, curtain rails etc.
 
An SDS should go through anything you throw at it. If they can handle Accrington bricks they can handle anything :D.

The cheapo ones seem to be decent enough, but are usually quite bulky and heavy. They will be fine for shelves etc, just sometimes awkward holding a big drill up with one hand.
 
Last edited:
SDS will be fine for regular stuff if your drill has a setting for drill only (mine has hammer, hammer drill and drill).
I just put a chuck in and use it normally for drilling into wood etc...

As above, don't use a chuck with hammer action on and keep in mind that these things do have some weight to them and they can chew through masonry quite quickly.
 
Yup.. an SDS will do regular stuff - I put up a picture bolt a few days ago.. just be careful with when you use the hammer action, they tend to be far more powerful than a standard hammer action drill.

I destroyed an SDS to normal adaptor by using hammer action - I think it lasted about 30 seconds :D I've used it for anything large - metal, masonry etc, the main thing is that they're usually heavier than a battery one hander.. but both work in their right place.

Just watch when you go through brick when you get close to the other side.. the 2Kg bosch 850W drill I have will leave an exit hole on the crap house southern bricks like a bullet..

If you can- get one with a safety clutch .. it will mean future large coring jobs won't need a new drill.. reverse direction also helps..

Looking at the screw fix link.. I found Ebauer a decent brand that you can buy replacement parts for.. but if you can stretch to the Bosch 620W (http://www.screwfix.com/p/bosch-2kg-sds-plus-drill-gbh2000-240v/87453) it has all the good bits (safety clutch, reverse, variable speed and three modes etc). Failing that- http://www.screwfix.com/p/erbauer-erb387sds-2-7kg-sds-plus-hammer-drill-230-240v/69075 - the Ebauer has the same but it may be that they're clearing the model so replacement parts are harder to find in future.
 
Last edited:
A good 2KG corded SDS drill will only cost you about £100. That's for a top brand like Bosch pro (blue), DeWalt, Makita etc.

For that, you'll get a lifetime out of it, especially if you're just using it for DIY.

I have a Bosch SDS in the garage that's almost 20 years old, and it still works as well as when it was new. I use that when I know I have a hard wall to drill through, and my cordless SDS would just use up it's batteries. Especially if I need like a 20mm hole or something.

I have an 18V DeWalt SDS that I use day to day, but they're expensive to use just now and again.
 
Yup and for DIY house use I think that you'll be after accuracy rather than 100% 1300W breaker style SDS..

edit: forgot to say.. the 3 modes - rotate, hammer rotate and then non-rotating chisel - are great for when you're doing DIY.. chisel works great for removing tiles from floors with a flat chisel bit.. the hammer for anything hard and the rotate for everything else (like coring). However they're not a replacement for a single handed drill.. try screwing with it- it works but you need three hands!
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom