Hammer drill vs regular drill

"V8TR4"

On Sat, 20 Sep 2003 06:45:07 GMT, "V8TR4"

Not in this lifetime.

Most any other kind of drilling. You should be able to switch from hammer to ordinary rotation. Also many small hammer drills have two speeds.

I mostly do metal

Partly. In reality for 1" holes you don't want a hammer drill. They are much better at smaller holes such as those for Tapcons and the like. Anything 1/2" and over you'd be much better served by a rotary hammer. Don't buy one. Go to the rental yard and pay for a half day. Get a new drill and go to town. You'll appreciate the difference between a hammer drill and a rotary hammer bout half way into the first hole.

Dick

A cheapy Harbor Freight 1/2" hammer drill will probably do the job. Bring your lunch though.

Your 3/8s will probably either burn out or puke in one form or another before you have 5 holes drilled. A real roto hammer or similar will go into that concrete like shit through a goose. I recommend renting one for a couple hours, if you never foresee drilling another hole in concrete. Most folks dont. I do a lot of holes in concrete and before the bastards broke into my truck in 2000, I had a Hilti SDS hammer drill that was the best Id ever used. I now borrow a Bosch SDS hammer drill that works pretty well.

The standard "hammer drill" uses a standard round bit, while the SDS types use a special keyed bit. The standard drill, works fine as a regular drill with the hammer option. The SDS types only can be used with the special bits. However..the differences are night and day.

Gunner

"Anyone who cannot cope with firearms is not fully human. At best he is a tolerable subhuman who has learned to wear shoes, bathe and not make messes in the house." With appologies to RAH..

Like Gunner said, get hold of a proper concrete drill - Hilti, or DynaDrill, or similar. Ordinary hammer drills, even 'good big Bosch ones' are useless for concrete, especially if if it's a big hole. I just put a 16mm Chemstud in the concrete beam above my mill and hung a chain block from it. Drilling the 18mm x 125mm deep hole was about 3 minutes work, including getting around a rebar rod. You honestly won't believe how easy concrete work can be until you use a proper drill.

Roger

V8TR4 wrote:

if he could get by w/smaller holes, this s/b adequate. i have a cheapie Skil that punches 1/2" holes faster than you can set anchors. this was in cured stuff, 30+ years old.

HF has a rotary 1" SDS type drill on sale now for 69buks(!), might be cheap as renting if you want to take your time. if it craps out, take it back on your way to the tool rental. --Loren

" go into that concrete like shit through a goose" Gunner, you kill me! ;-) LOL

Jesse L Zufall Silt Co

Hi, For a quantity of 25 one inch holes, you really want to use a rotary hammer type drill. Hammer drills use a cam action of sorts to push the drill chuck in and out as it rotates. Most use a conventional drill chuck and the hammer action can be turned off so the tool can be used for conventional drilling. Great tool for smaller diameter holes like for TapCon fasteners. I have a Bosch that I like a lot. About 95% of my use is as a conventional drill.

A rotary hammer typically uses an SDS, spline, or other mechanical drive instead of a conventional drill chuck. It needs matching drill bits with the appropriate shank. With this scheme, the grooves or splines are used to transmit the rotary motion. A floating piston arrangement not unlike an air hammer pounds directly on the end of the drill shank. Much more suitable for holes one inch in diameter. These tools often have a switch for rotary only, hammer only , or combination of rotary and hammer. I have a Bosh rotary hammer as well that I picked up used. These things are quite expensive and as a hobbyist I would never have been able to justify buying a new one. It makes quick work of big holes in concrete and is occasionally handy for chiseling, but I use it infrequently. I probably loan it to friends more than I use it myself. If you do not have similar projects planned, I would suggest renting one.

Mill

"V8TR4"

Yep. Just the right time to hit the local rental center.

I put some anchors into the granite foundation stones in my basment, using a borrowed hilti gun.

I thought the rock had a hollow center, that thing sunk in so fast. This after sitting there with my regular half inch drill and a masonry bit for about an hour, and getting about 1/4 inch in.

Jim

================================================== please reply to: JRR(zero) at yktvmv (dot) vnet (dot) ibm (dot) com ==================================================

Definitely rent or buy a hammer drill rather than using a regular drill for drilling concrete.

Some definitions:

1) "hammer drill" is a generic term for a drill that incorporates a striking action into the drilling process. This striking action vastly accelerates drilling into concrete when used with the proper carbide-tipped bit.

2) "Roto Hammer" is simply a proprietary name for one brand of essentially the same type of tool.

Hilti, Bosch, Roto Hammer, etc., all make such tools. I have used all of them extensively in demolition work. Hilti and Bosch are both good brands. I am partial to the Bosch for durability under a very great deal of abuse. If money is not an issue, get a larger tool - they have adaptors for smaller bit sizes.

It is true that you can switch from regular drilling to hammer drilling on these tools. But unless you have significant use for the hammer drill feature, the tool will be overkill. So....

RENT one. They are cheap to rent. If you want to buy one, ask the rental guy for a recommendation. They will know what one is most cost-effective - it's their business to do so.

carbide-tipped

essentially

Huh?

Yeah. Just go rent one every time you need a hammer drill. If you think a hammer drill, you are probably in the class that think you only need two screwdrivers, a slot and a Phillips.

Cheap to rent? Where? And is it the man's job to rent them or recommend replacements for their rentals so you don't have to come back and pay the high rental fees? Over and over. And over. And over............................

Buy one and be done with it. If you are questioning this at all, you are at a stage of workmanship where having one would be advisable. You will make better connections, save time, and save money. You will also be helping friends who don't have one. Be sure to be paid in cash, beer or ????? No checks or promises. ;-)

Steve

After reading everyones reply the answer is obvious. In the new harbor freight inside track catalog found a beauty of a deal. HF brand 3/4" 3/4hp SDS "industrial" rotary hammer, price is normally 69.99, on sale for 29.99!. I figured I would have to mail order it since the item number did not show up on the web site #02957. Well as luck would have it my local store had it in stock!!!! Comes in a nice big plastic case with handle and a chuck adapter for regular bits as well as some chisels and bits. I occasionally have the need to drill

1" holes thru stainless anywhere from 3/8ths to 1.5" thick. This takes a while with my 3/8ths :) , normally I borrow my dads 1/2" drill. Will be interesting to see if this badboy does it any quicker. Here is a picture of the chambers I make. ( I design it and have it made for me, but sometimes things need to be added).

To be honest, I would much rather buy then rent, since I have so many projects that are on hold waiting for new additions of equipment there is always a reason to get that new tool, also the price for renting was no lower then buying this unit. On a sour note, I come home a total happy camper ready to show wife my astonishingly great buy, and she had a cow right there. Wound up having a big fight because she thinks me buying tools is a toy and a waste of money. Oh well. I need to get into a shop real soon or my marriage is over :)

Thanks for everyones help,

op

i remember it as "crap thru a goose" = anything that happens quicker than you would expect. pbs explained this recently (NOT the term ;-), migrating geese need to eat/shit/&get-out of town.

probably the source for "shit & git", as well. as a recent parrot owner, this is particularly interesting. ymmv. --Loren

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On Sat, 20 Sep 2003 21:00:25 GMT, "V8TR4"

"Anyone who cannot cope with firearms is not fully human. At best he is a tolerable subhuman who has learned to wear shoes, bathe and not make messes in the house." With appologies to RAH..

over a $29.99 purchase? Sheesh.....

For a lot of us..$30 is a lot of money. Money that has to be wisely spent.

Gunner

"Anyone who cannot cope with firearms is not fully human. At best he is a tolerable subhuman who has learned to wear shoes, bathe and not make messes in the house." With appologies to RAH..

....>>> Thanks for everyones help, >>> >>> op

you will have to excuse Walter, he is a nitwit... --Loren