hammer drills

[mechanic]

You guys that have hammer drills and like them, can you tell me which is better. Lowes has the hitachi hammer drill on sale for $79.00 and comes with a case. I also see the milwaulkee hammer drill for $139.00 and The dewalt hammer drill for $139.oo. I'm looking at quality not so much price. A lot brand new drills have run out and I want to stay away from that. Later I plan on getting a drill press, probably the ridged drill press from home depot.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Are you talking about the cordless drills with the hammer drill feature? If so they are ok but not great hammer drills. Drill wise I have always had great luck with Dewalt tools and have a ton of cordless Dewalts we use on the jobsite. If you want a real hammer drill then buy a Bosch, they are not the best but they are up there and as far as a hammer drill goes they will put all the little wanna be cordless hammer drills to shame. We also have a Makita Hammer drill that was reduced at Home Depot. It came with hammer drill bits and a 4.5" grinder for $139 so we bought it. It does the job and has a longer cord then the Bosch but other then that the Bosch is a tad bit more refined.

 

[johnray13]

I second Robert. The Bosch hammer drill ( 7.5 Amp, 1-1/8" SDS Rotary Hammer With Case ) at lowes is a very good drill. It is far superior to any of the cordless drills. This will make short work of all concrete drilling and you will never regret buying it. It uses standard SDS bits

 

[MikePA]

You guys that have hammer drills and like them, can you tell me which is better.

What are you going to be using it for?

A cordless hammer drill seems like an oxymoron. If what I am drilling into is hard enough to require a hammer drill, I'd reach for the corded hammer drill.

On the other hand, if it's primarily going to be used as a drill/driver and occasionally as a hammer drill, cordless makes sense. Unless the 18v drills they have now last longer and have more 'punch'.

 

[Egon]

I have a Makita sds hammer drill that came as a package with a 4.5 in. grinder. I'm happy with it. It's drilled quite a few holes in rock so far.

I have been told that Metabo is also a very good quality drill.

What price range are you looking at. That can make a big difference in a hammer drill.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

I have a Makita sds hammer drill that came as a package with a 4.5 in. grinder. I'm happy with it. It's drilled quite a few holes in rock so far.

I have been told that Metabo is also a very good quality drill.

What price range are you looking at. That can make a big difference in a hammer drill.

Was it one of the Home Depot specials and came with the drill bits also? If so we bought that kit also for a second hammer drill. It does a good job but you can see it is just a tad below the Bosch in quality but was a lot cheaper then the Bosch in price (plus you got the grinder and bits all for less then the Bosch equivalent). For the average user the Makita would be a good choice.

 

[Bird]

If what I am drilling into is hard enough to require a hammer drill, I'd reach for the corded hammer drill.

The young fellow next door recently remodeled a bathroom in their house. He was out in the front yard using a hole saw and his Ryobi cordless drill trying to drill through the tile he was using. He burned up his Ryobi cordless drill, returned it, and they gave him another one under warranty. He probably would have burned it up, too, but I took pity on him and loaned him my Craftsman half-inch hammer drill to cut all the holes for the water pipes. My Craftsman may not be the best, but so far it serves the purpose.

 

[mechanic]

Thanks for the replys but but I'm talking about corded drills. My makita is worthless. The chuck wobbles over the place and battery never lasts.

 

[Skyco]

There is a big difference between a hammer drill and a rotary hammer in my experience. A hammer drill does a lot of drilling with a little hammering while a rotary hammer does a lot of hammering with a little drilling Tried to use a hammer drill on some high strength concrete floors once and made very little progress. The hammer drill had always worked ok before in regular concrete, but it was almost useless in the high strength stuff. Had to buy a rotary hammer to do the job, around $400 IIRC. BTW the true rotary hammers take those $25 bits with the flutes, they don't just tighten into a chuck like a regular drill.

 

[ultrarunner]

Any drill that uses the SDS style chuck or the heavier duty splined bits is far superior to those with only a Jacobs chuck.

If your only doing a few holes... anything will work.

The foundation retrofit guys here in California seem to use Bosch and Hilti.

 

[RobertN]

You guys that have hammer drills and like them, can you tell me which is better. Lowes has the hitachi hammer drill on sale for $79.00 and comes with a case. I also see the milwaulkee hammer drill for $139.00 and The dewalt hammer drill for $139.oo. I'm looking at quality not so much price. A lot brand new drills have run out and I want to stay away from that. Later I plan on getting a drill press, probably the ridged drill press from home depot.

Hilti. Expensive, but works well, can be repaired/rebuilt.

Used Bosch previously, when the Hilti was in for a rebuild(after thousands of holes). Lasted maybe a hundred holes. 1/2" bit, putting 4 holes in at a time(used to install USPS group mailboxes), into 6-8"concrete. Easy stuff...

Bosch may be ok for homeowner and infrequent use. And the other Home Depot/Lowes/OSH brands...

One of the local Home depot's carries Hilti now.

 

[reb]

I have a Hitachi that is probably the best 3/8" drill I have owned. No detectable play at the end of the bit. It has been used for moderate concrete drilling and general steel work. The only reason I quit using it is that the last time I did a considerable amount of concrete drilling the switch fouled with the concrete dust. After replacing the switch once before (for somewhere around $50), I decided that it was probably not worth it. I bought a Bosch. It is a great tool for my purposes.

 

[Buckeye_Jim]

My company installs conduit straps with red head type bolts. I am guessing a few hundred holes per year is all. We have 3 Bosch drills which use the SDS bits. Had them for about 10 years. Drills concrete, rock, etc., like it's butter. We also use cordless 18V Dewalt hammer drill, but limit it to stucco or concrete block. The Bosch has a hammer only setting which is good for driving ground rods. Been very impressed with the quality and reliability of the Bosch SDS drills.

Jim

 

[hazmat]

You want SDS, SDS Max or splined if you intend on actually making a hole in concrete.

JLC hammer drill article

thread from tbn - hammer drill vs. demo hammer

I have a bosch 1" SDS hammer drill. It has worked flawlessly for the few times I've needed it. I think it was low $200's

 

[GaryM]

Get a Rotary Hammer, not a Hammer Drill. As stated previously there's a whale of a difference. I have a Bosch 7/8" SDS and it's very good, for homeowner use. Hilti is supposed to be the best, and that's probably the case. If you use a rotary hammer once you'll never go back to a hammer drill.

The foundation in my old house was a bear to drill with a hammer drill. I'd sometimes have to start 3-4 holes to get one deep enough for an anchor. Bought the rotary hammer and never had another problem.

 

[YanmarFever]

Get a Rotary Hammer, not a Hammer Drill. As stated previously there's a whale of a difference. I have a Bosch 7/8" SDS and it's very good, for homeowner use. Hilti is supposed to be the best, and that's probably the case. If you use a rotary hammer once you'll never go back to a hammer drill.



Gary, good advise !

I used to have a job drilling holes all day in concrete, ROTARY is definitely the way to go. That drill was so heavy, it was a workout in itself. No need to push down it did all the work.

Dont forget safety glasses, and a dust mask that grit is awful stuff after a while.

 

[AlanB]

What do you actually see yourself drilling, doing with this drill?

 

[EddieWalker]

This has been a great thread with allot of helpful information. Thank you.

I've just burned out a Bosch hammer drill and before that, I burned out a Dewalt hammer drill. Both got the job done, but it was a battle. I have a pair of Makita 18v cordless hammer drills, but they are just for small stuff like drilling tile and plastic anchors.

I've got a pretty big job coming up that I'll have to do some serious drilling and even some chipping of the concrete to give me more access. It's not a big enough project to need a jack hammer. In fact, I was planning on using my air chisel for this part of it if my Bosch drill was still working.

I read that article that Haxmat posted to JLConline that was very helpful. Plus everyones comments have me convinced to buy a Rotary Hammer. I do allot of remodels in my business, so having a good drill is important. $400 is more then I had planned on spending, but for a good, powerful, heavy duty drill, that seems to be the price range.

The article compared most brands, but didn't mention Milwaukee. Of the ones they tested, the Hitachi drilled the fasted by a large margin. For me, that's the most important test. I've never had any Hitachi tools, so I'm curious if anybody has any experience with them?

I'm seriosly looking at the HITACHI DH40MR 1-9/16" SDS MAX ROTARY HAMMER wich is selling on Ebay for $320 plus $25 shipping for brand new.

Any thoughts, advice or recomendations??

Thanks,
Eddie

 

[schmism]

i have a milwalkee hammer drill, its been great for smaller stuff, puching holes in cinder block for hangers, tapcons etc, mounting flag poles, the sat dish etc.

for drilling real holes youll need an SDS drill.

it all depends on your intended use.

 

[EddieWalker]

Another question.

The Rotary Hammer's have two types of shanks to chose from.

The DH40MR has a SDS Max Shank

The DH40FR has a SDS Spline Shank

The Spline Shank model cost about $40 more then the Max Shank. Is there an advantage to it? Is one better or more common then the other?

Thank you,
Eddie