Don't have a drill.. Sds drill?

I have a corded bosch hammer drill and bought fresh bits, wouldn't go through the bricks in my house. In fact, it nearly set a brand new drill bit (bosch one) on fire, so I went and bought that Titan SDS drill. 2 second job, hole drilled, job done.

Another problem with using a hammer drill that struggled is that you'll likely end up making the hole wider than it needs to be.

One possible problem with an SDS drill is that they are so bloody powerful that if you're not careful you can blow apart the plaster on a wall, or even the brick.

Since I got that Titan SDS drill, I haven't looked back though. Infinitely easier to drill through concrete and brick, and it came with a load of bits / chisels to use.
 
413x said:
Borrowed a normal drill and couldn't get through the wall behind the plaster board.

Should I just get an sds drill and be done with it? Is there any drawbacks to going whole hog?
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Standard drills, the impacts damage the chuck and they are too fast with small impact which only serves to overheat the drill bit and break it down really fast.

SDS masonary drill is low RPM with a heavy impact. It's really more like a chisel than a drill. They batter their way through the toughest of materials very easily. The only thing they have problems with is engineering bricks, the brick can either shatter with the impact or the bit will overheat from friction. But honestly there is no real answer to engineering bricks. The only drawback of an SDS drill is their RPM is too low for some normal jobs, which make them fairly poor "general purpose" drills. For most DIY I would say an SDS is more useful than a general purpose drill. Battery powered drills can be as good, but often very expensive. Even a cheap mains powered SDS can give good performance. A set of SDS bits should last a lifetime whereas a set of masonry bits for a general purpose drill only last ten minutes, unless you try drilling engineering bricks in which case a bit will last about five minutes no matter what drill you have, lol.
 
MSTRBKR said:
You say "virtually anything" meaning not quite everything. If it's a concrete lintel it is not at all overkill to use an SDS. Less stress = better job.
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The question should be would I want to be drilling into a structural lintel ..... its hard for a reason!
 
MSTRBKR said:
You say "virtually anything" meaning not quite everything. If it's a concrete lintel it is not at all overkill to use an SDS. Less stress = better job.
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A job reguarly undertaken by most diy home owners?

Every now and again I need to take heavy stuff to the tip. I don't drive a tipper truck as my daily.
 
200sols said:
That is a variable speed trigger yes. Many have 3 speed torque switches as well now, bit of a step up from the basic models.
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Right, missing the point I made them huh. A combi has much more control over max speed/torque beyond feathering the trigger.
 
dLockers said:
Right, missing the point I made them huh. A combi has much more control over max speed/torque beyond feathering the trigger.
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I can tell you haven't used a decent impact recently. Manu people seem to think power tools are the same as they were in the early 2000s.
 
200sols said:
I can tell you haven't used a decent impact recently. Manu people seem to think power tools are the same as they were in the early 2000s.
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Stop gate keeping impact guns :rolleyes:

The simple point is an impact gun can be far too heavy for screwing into wood. Clues even in the name :D
 
Just keeping in mind - this question was asked by someone who doesn't own a drill. They're asking - should I buy an SDS drill because the non-hammer cordless I'm borrowing is stuggling to go through brick - as in - if I buy an SDS drill, is that going to cover me better for all situations.

And the resounding reply to that is absolutely not. And SDS drill is only really useful for very few applications when very heavy work is required. For a daily driver, a combi / hammer is going to be a much better tool - and will easily drill through what you're trying to drill through now.
 
I've got both 18V and 12v combi and impact drivers. I generally will still use a drill to put in a pilot to make sure I don't end up splitting the wood. I always use the impact driver for the screw - variable speed on the trigger as well as the speed setting on the tool itself makes it simple to control.
 
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