I am debating buying one, I have a Black and Decker 850w hammer corded for masonry, and I use Dewalt cordless for most tasks.
I rarely need to drill into brick, but when I do I find it a bit of struggle drilling into bricks. Is it worth buying an SDS drilll even though I will use it twice a year at the most, or will simply buying much higher quality masonry drill bits make my existing B&W easier to use?
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If its rare could you just rent one when you need it?
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You will need an adaptor if you want to use non-sds bits in the sds machine. Also a quick google says you can't use hammer action if you are doing this.
Neither my B&D corded nor Bosch cordless will taks sds shanks.
Seems to me you would end up with three drills and two sets of bits.
Maybe not an issue if you've only got a few bits.
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That is a bit of a hassle though, I like everything to hand I am not not sure if my problem is the drill bits, or that you really need an SDS to drill into bricks, but then in the old days people didn't use SDS drills.
My problem is I don't know how often I will use it, had to drill into bricks a lot this year as I had as I had a bit of plaster boarding to it, but that is rare.
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Like you say it's rare, so hiring one for the day would be my choice for such few jobs, but your money your choice.
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Rattle, if you're like me a bit of man maths mentality comes into it. If you hire occasionally you will still need to buy the bits I assume if they are regarded as consumable sizes?. So if you are spending out anyway why not buy one. I don't know how good they are but Screwfix has some at low prices.
Hire ones will be more robust but if it's only occasional......
The man maths committee says buy one if you are tempted.
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I use drills rarely but SDS seem so much better than regular drills. I tend to buy cheap drills so maybe that's why I reached that conclusion!
Anyway, when i was younger I tended towards buying tools, even if I didn't think I'd use them a lot - I figured I'd get value over the years from them, and by and large that's proved right. Now I only really buy when I have to, or when it will make even a smallish job considerably easier.
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Smokie good point. I have tended to do the same. Only occasionally come unstuck. Anyone want to buy my Honda cub step through flywheel puller. Bought forty odd years ago, used once......
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>> Smokie good point. I have tended to do the same. Only occasionally come unstuck. Anyone
>> want to buy my Honda cub step through flywheel puller. Bought forty odd years ago,
>> used once......
I am very tempted.
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>> Anyone
>> want to buy my Honda cub step through flywheel puller. Bought forty odd years
>> ago,
>> used once......
I could swap it for a Mobylette flywheel puller, or a Perkins Prima diesel locking tool set, or ..........................................................
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>> I could swap it for a Mobylette flywheel puller, or a Perkins Prima diesel locking
>> tool set, or ..........................................................
>>
My Mini top and bottom ball joint spanner might just be available......if it hasn't rusted away on it's hook !
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Our previous house was built of Victorian concrete blocks with pebbles in the matrix. Once a drill hit a pebble, no amount of hammerage would make the hole any deeper, just wider. I bought a £40 SDS drill from Screwfix - this was 15 years ago - and it's still with me today, having more than given me my money's worth. It's vastly more effective than any rotary hammer drill.
So effective, in fact, that the only difficulty with SDS is making sure to stop in time. Mine has a depth gauge, a bar that will touch the wall when the tip of the bit is at the preset depth. Trouble is, a moment's inattention has the gauge drilling its own neat hole parallel to the main one.
Yes, it's heavy, and needs a wall socket and an RCD, but for serious drilling - the bolt holes for my TV bracket, for example - nothing else will do.
Last edited by: WillDeBeest on Mon 18 Jul 16 at 15:20
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absolutely.
and a hired job is probably many times more robust than an off-the-shelf SDS.
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I have an old well used one i acquired last year at a table-top for a fiver! - it came with a box of 20 assorted bits and a chisel set of five, the largest of which is 3" across the blade. I couldn't resist trying it out on an old concrete block we used as a gate-stop, I barely touched the trigger and the block was dust and the paving slab below was cracked clean in half! ;-(
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My old 240V Bosch hammer drill has a very high speed and nothing has ever defeated it...even without the hammer turned on. If it's something really hard then I start with a 4mm drill and work up in sizes. A bit of masking tape wrapped round the bit gives you a sort of depth gauge.
You can always have a borrow of it Rats....I don't use it very much now...being an idle sod !
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A couple of cordless Makitas have done me stalwart service. Even drilling brickwork. Also good for screwdiving and have done hundreds of floor screws with them. Bit slow on brick but a decent bit will do the job. If you want a bigger hole use a small bit first and then a larger one. Dont let them get hot.
I also have a DeWalt SDS. This has been a godsend for drilling and chiseling out socket pattresses and wire runs in cement and blockwork which I have recently done.
Buy cheap buy twice. Just depends what jobs you do now and perceivable what you may undertake a few years from now.
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Bosch stuff is usually pretty good, their ordinary stuff is as well made as some companies pro gear. My angle grinder is a Bosch pro one, angle grinders lead a very hard life and I wore the Black and Decker domestic one out with one car rebuild.
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I regularly use my Bosch 18v cordless for drilling masonary. The problem i used to have was the drill bit slipping in the keyless chuck. Then i discovered DeWalt masonary drill bits with 3 flats ground on the shank, problem solved. I got them from Screwfix.
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I wasn't aware of those maltrap, but having looked them up they are currently offering 15% off certain ones if you buy three. I'm assuming its the Extreme ones with hex shank you are talking about?
www.screwfix.com/search?search=cat126masonrybuy3save15#page_size=100
Guess where I'm off to tomorrow then :-)
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I bought a JCB corded drill about 15 years ago to drill 0.5meter holes in our stone # walls. Ordinary hammer action. It worked - and is still used once every 2-3 years.. Not bad for c £45.iirc
# sandstone with millstone grit
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This looks as if it may be a relative bargain but you'd be lucky to find it in stock I suspect.
www.screwfix.com/p/dewalt-d25013kt-gb-2kg-sds-plus-drill-230v/5524f
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>>but you'd be lucky to find it in stock I suspect.
You're not wrong ... out-of-stock in St Awful. Bodmin. Newkey. Saltash. Launceston, and Redruff.
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Five stores in my area are out of stock but the Falkirk Screwfix has three in stock if the website is to be believed.
Last edited by: Old Sundodger on Mon 18 Jul 16 at 20:36
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A lot of people will spend a fortune on a drill, but buy the bits in the pound shop. It would work better the other way round.
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I remember using an industrial SDS drill approx. 25 years ago at a place I used to work. We were drilling holes into the floor (reinforced concrete) for some rawl bolts to secure some iron framework to. All of a sudden the SDS drill bit snagged on something in the concrete (probably one of the reinforcing wires). The next thing I knew was the drill started spinning instead of the SDS drill bit and sent me flying across the room with the kick back. The drill eventually stopped when it had run out of mains cable that had wound around itself. To this day I've never touched another one of those drills. The torque from them is frightening when the drill bit bites into something.
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The consumer ones (including the entry level de Walt I linked) now seem to have overload clutches but you'd still have to keep firm hold of them.
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>> A lot of people will spend a fortune on a drill, but buy the bits
>> in the pound shop. It would work better the other way round.
Very true.
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Thats a good price. Paid £115 for mine over a year ago. It did have 2 clip together boxes, one for the drill and one for the accessories. Only thing that seems to be missing is the additional non SDS chuck.
Good bit of kit.
Last edited by: Fullchat on Mon 18 Jul 16 at 22:15
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Thanks for all the replies my next job is to put a bell box up, so I will spend a decent amount on drill bits for my existing drills and see if that makes it easier. I think part of the problem is I was using cheap drill bits.
I don't actually need to drill a hole all the way through this time, just four or five odd holes for the raw plugs.
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Just line that box up carefully. You don't want to drill through the bell end.
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An ordinary hammer drill with a decent bit is fine for drilling holes in bricks for putting up screws.
An SDS is overkill for that; you will have to be jolly strong not to end up with a hole that is of a larger diameter than you intended if using a monster SDS. The hole *will* wander.
But if you want fun... or need to dig holes in stonework for laying pipes... or demolish things, then an SDS is terrifyingly efficient. Don't rent one, buy one for £50-£60. You won't ever use it enough to wear it out.
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I have had an SDS for 10 years or so - if I need to drill masonry I never reach for anything else. When I bought it I was trying to knock a hole through for a bathroom fan. The wall was some dead hard brick, and after about an hour with a hammer drill I had managed one hole about 1" deep. Went and bought an SDS (cheap one!), and within about 10 minutes had popped through 6 or so 10mm holes and knocked the centre out. Like night and day - I wouldn't be without one. Only trouble I had with mine was recently the cable broke where it went into the body, but I was able to strip it down and shorten it. It's a bit like an angle grinder with a diamond blade, an electric screwdriver, or a wet wheel tile cutter - they just make life so much easier you wonder how you ever worked without one!
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SDS drill - sooty123
