SDS drills

My cheapo Aldi SDS drill finally packed in (motor pinion stripped). I’ve more than had my £30 worth as it’s been used with 1m long bits and have knocked down some very tough walls and cut out lots of concrete for pipes over the last 5 years.

It was one of the big 5kg ones with the motor underneath but I was wondering what the smaller ones that look like a normal drill are like (1.8J/2kg ish)? The old one was a bit too much at times because I forgot to turn the speed down but I am worried anything smaller won’t have the power for some jobs.

Needs to be SDS plus as I have loads of bits.

I bought a DeWalt SDS Plus drill many years ago. A bit of grit got in the motor last year and damaged a brush in the motor. DeWalt didn’t have any spares for that model, so replaced the whole drill with a new one for the price of the replacement brush! Brand new £200 drill for £5!

Pah – do it properly. Hired one of these Hilti jobs the other day

Wish I had the need/money to get one – proper man-toy.

I have a Makita 18V SDS which has chased walls and sunk back boxes for the last 2 years now…ok not as well as a mains drill but its plenty good enough for most applications bar re-enforced concrete.

Loving the slow motion breaking there. I was tempted to just hire one (a normal small SDS!) at £10 for a day to finish but I would rather buy another for other jobs 😀 I think a Hilti might be a bit overkill. Was tempted to pop into their shop at Ashton Gate the other day for a gander.

battery SDS – I had considered one but I think the battery would die before I got my moneys worth which is a shame as I do like my cordless bosh.

Dewalt is the default decent option (or blue Bosch) but they are the 1.8J ones for around £100.

I have one of the ‘normal’ shape Bosch blue ones. Been excellent – taken everything I’ve thrown at it. See screwfix/axminster for any deals.

I got a cheapy from Machine Mart that has been properly abused over the last 6-months without missing a beat. IIRC £65.00

I saw this in Screwfix the other day and was well impressed with the price.

http://www.screwfix.com/p/erbauer-erf2675ds-24v-cordless-sds-drill/87431

I have no idea of the quality of Erbauer power tools though. It “looks” quite good quality. I was tempted as both my Bosch 24v SDS and my Hilti 36v SDS need new batteries.

Normal shape Bosch one here. (not an SDS plus) Its about 10yrs old, and when doing up my house I was using it to core drill through 9″ walls and it was getting so hot I had liquid grease running out of the chuck…still works fine three years later 🙂

Normal shape Bosch one here. (not an SDS plus) Its about 10yrs old, and when doing up my house I was using it to core drill through 9″ walls and it was getting so hot I had liquid grease running out of the chuck…still works fine three years later

what speed wasdrill running at? they’re supposed to be run nice and slow when using a core bit

for work i have a 24v bosch as good as the day i bought it 4 yrs ago.. used every day for virtually every hole i drill for 20mm upward i use the cheap screwfix thing above it ll knock down houses i ve had two in the same 4 years but at that money thier throwaway
use it for core drilling .. nice and slow and NOT on hammer!

Bosch 2kg SDS here (fairly high spec one). Great for drilling holes, OK for light chiselling (plaster, bit of brick) but not got the sheer mass for proper demolition work compared to a 5kg (or bigger) breaker.

Depending on what size you’re drilling, this will drill up to 18mm, although optimum is 4-12mm.
Yours for £99+vat plus 2 years free servicing 😉

My dewalt 2kg one has put up with plenty of stick (and neglect) – look out for them bundled with other bits and bobs like drill drivers at an attractive price (punt the other item on ebay if you don’t need it). The 2kg ones are more manageable and you can also get an adaptor to use a regular chuck. What you want to watch though is 2kg ones won’t always have a rotary stop (the dewalts ones are available with and without rotary stop but you can hardly tell the difference looking at them) so if you’ve got chisels and chasers amongst your stock of bits make sure the one you buy has that option

im a hilti man through and through as they last forever, pretty much!! but i also have a mid range bosch multi drill that i use almost daily and its great. ive had it 5 years now and its fine. also a 5th the price of my hilti drills!!
so for a general do it all drill id say grab a bosch!

I have no idea of the quality of Erbauer power tools though. It “looks” quite good quality. I was tempted as both my Bosch 24v SDS and my Hilti 36v SDS need new batteries.

Erbauer stuff is ok for what it costs, but their models appear and disappear quite frequently, so I’ve doubts about spares/batteries/charger availability in the long run. If you’ve spent good money on hilti/bosch stuff I’d rather spend on batteries for them than on cheap kit.

If you have the money, get Hilti, they’re the shizzle. Otherwise go for Dewalt, they’re good enough for the money.

Thanks for that maccruiskeen, I’ve got no experience of Erbauer tools and I don’t think I’ve ever seen any one else use them.

what speed was drill running at? they’re supposed to be run nice and slow when using a core bit

About as slow as it would go without stalling/the motor buzzing. I wouldn’t normally put a drill through that sort of abuse, but it is supplied by work, and the big cheapo SDS plus thing I had wouldn’t fit under the floor joists where the hole was needed. Didn’t help that the core drill I’d borrowed was blunt.

I borrowed a Hitachi 24V one from work last year and it’s a serious bit of kit
I’ve been used to Hilti and Bosch and it’s certainly on par

Must take it back, but then again, they’ve just put me on notice …..

The only thing I miss about my old job is the regular on-account Hilti shopping I used to do.

for the home use it’ll get, I’m fairly chuffed with this recent buy – looking forward to testing it.