Easiest way to drill 1" holes through brickwork (for 22mm copper) ?

[fred]

Is there a 'magic' drill for this kind of thing? Is 10mm microbore worth bothering with?

[The Medway Handyman]

You need an SDS drill. The Makita

is an example of a top quality tool, you can buy cheapo's from the sheds.

[dom]

Bought one of these last week. Expensive, but excellent quality large diameter sds bits (Reisser branded). Straight through 400mm solid masonry.

[Vortex2]

is an example of a top quality tool, you can buy cheapo's from the sheds.

I second that. I've had one of these for several years.

For drilling big holes in masonry SDS is what you need, and this is a good drill.

A couple of years ago I purchased a set of 900mm long SDS masonry bits. Perfect for drilling holes through thick walls, and also dynamiting rock-faces.

D

[Andy Dingley]

There are two. 1" is about the size when I'd be unsure which to recommend.

If you use a decent SDS drill with a 1" impact bit, then you can drill this easily enough. A "decent" SDS drill (frequently discussed here) is one with at least moderate power (you don't need much), _MUST_ have a rotary stop, must have good low-power control on the trigger, should have a hammer / chisel stop, should have a rotary lock, should have multi-position rotary locks, should have an optional high-speed range and should have interchangeable chucks rather than a chuck on an SDS adapter.

With that much, you can batter a 1" hole through almost anything sensible.

OTOH, the operative word is "batter". You might see a lot of breakout damage on the far side. Is this going to be a problem for you? Drilling in from either side first (and probably at reduced diameter) might improve this. I'd probably put a 10mm hole clean through first for alignment, then enlarge to 15mm, 20mm and 25mm in stages. My smallest long drill is 8mm, but it doesn't clear dust very well.

If you want a neat hole, and in anything more than 1", then I'd look at core drills instead. Your good SDS ought to be capable of driving these, provided it has a hammer stop and good low-speed torque. Otherwise buy / hire a real low-speed high-torque drill with a side- handle (Kress from Wickes is the most affordable).

For 1", I think you could do it successfully either way. Any bigger and I'd go with a core though.

If you have a house, you won't regret buying a decent SDS drill. My AEG cost =A3200+ some years ago and I regard it as one of my most worthwhile tool purchases. You can get nearly as much for a whole lot less these days.

[Alang]

I use a hammer drill and a long 10mm drill to go right throught the brickwork so I get a guide. Then I get a hammer and long cold chisel of the appropriate width and spend about 20* minutes cutting a hole. Hit the chisel, rotate it 180 degrees, hit it again. Repeat until through. A star drill is better and the technique the same but they seem rather hard to obtain nowadays.

Or you could buy a SDS thingy and 1inch drill for as little as £30 if you shop around.

• 20 minutes assumes a cavity wall and two bricks and someone who isn't a physical wreck

[Bob Mannix]

Maybe I'm too simple (!) I just use a 25mm bit with an undersized shaft in my hammer drill. Not had any problem with brick so far and it takes less than 20min.

[Clint Sharp]

In message , Vortex2 writes

Which B&Q supplies the required stuff for that then?

[Doctor Drivel]

S/fix are seklling a Ryobi SDS for £38. Then get the right sized drill bit.

[Dave Liquorice]

A lot depends on your bricks soft red ones will yield (slowly) to a normal hammer drill, hard ones you'll just end up with a blunt drill, deaf and hardly a mark on the brick.

By comparision and SDS would blast a 1" hole through a soft red brick in about 20 seconds. "Blast" being the operative word you have to ease off when coming to the far side other wise you will blast of the face of the brick a few inches in dia and up to half an inch deep.

I put a couple of 1" holes through the 18" thick stone walls here in 5 to

10 mins each with my SDS drill. It would have been quicker but for some reason I didn't notice it was rotating the wrong way. I did wonder why there were no puffs of dust coming out of then hole though. B-)

[The Medway Handyman]

And a very nice piece of kit it is. Only 2 function mind, but for £39 its great value. I bought one to keep as a 'clean' SDS for use in posh houses when drilling for curtain poles above windows.

[John Stumbles]

No, it might be misused for clearing drains

;-)

[Vortex2]

DIY dynamite. That would be fun.

I'm reluctant to google for such stuff because I expect it would result in attention from security services.

In my yoof did some experiments with Weedkiller and caster sugar. Very exciting.

[Andy Dingley]

Try "Rockchop"

[js.b1]

Not sure what the 22mm copper is for - water or gas?

SDS will go through fine. Unfortunately it can cause spalling on the other side and the hole may not be as straight as required for rigid piping. To stop the drill wandering you need to hold the drill still (as with rawlplugs), but you may still wander due to bricks varying from soft outer to exceptionally hard centres, broken engineering brick re-used and wall ties in the drills path. All enough to deflect it - requiring a larger hole like 26-28mm to absorb the wander.

Diamond core will cut a near perfectly straight hole.

28mm in 300mm & 400mm diamond core is =A315 on Ebay, 22mm & 25mm exist but very rare/expensive in 300/400mm. Do not let the bit chatter, particularly if the segments are well spaced & brazed on as they can snap (rare).

If this is gas you need to sleeve the pipe - especially if the inner wall is cinder block. That requires a larger hole anyway, sleeve it, pipe thro hole, fire rated sealant on inside, outer left open to allow any leak to vent, no join in the sleeve, sleeve angled down slightly to drain.

If water you may want to sleeve with 25mm conduit (bore is probably just over 22mm), might make replacement easier.

SDS are wonderful things, but for precise deep holes diamond cores can do a better job.

[Clint Sharp]

In message , Vortex2 writes

Allegedly icing sugar was better. Of course ANFO is sooo easy as well.

[Rob]

I have a supplementary question about terminology. Is SDS the right description for these types of hammer drill? I thought SDS was simply the way of fixing the drill bit into the (SDS) chuck; a Bosch introduction IIRC. The real feature of this class of drill is the way the hammer is produced - electro-pneumatic, I believe? I recently rented a Bosch one and there was no comparison with my standard but powerful Hitachi hammer drill: the tough, old concrete turned into proverbial butter. So shouldn't we call them electro-pneumatic hammer drills? (EPHD for short?) Can someone clarify this?

[Rod]

Makita

> is an example of a top quality tool, you can buy cheapo's from the sheds.

AIUI:

The chuck fitting is the thing that should be called SDS. They work as you suggest. They cut through walls like butter - yes. Maybe - *but* we would then need to call them EPHD(SDS+) and EPHD(SDS Max) - which is a pain. So I am happy to stick with SDS - context usually identifies whether it is drill/hammer or jigsaw.

Have you now got clarified butter?

[Andy Dingley]

It is. A drill bit firmly-clamped against rotation, but still allowing the bit to slide axially for hammering. The "gimmick" here is that the hammer can hit the drill bit without lost impulse and also that because the chuck isn't being hammered as well, you can apply more hammering force to the drillbit without shaking the chuck loose.

Not necessarily - and not covered (AFAIR) by the patent. It used to be the popular way of doing things, less so now.

[Andy Dingley]

Here's the original 1978 patent for SDS (the USA one, as that has a more readable record)

"A hammer drill has a chuck forming a tool receptacle defining a chuck axis and provided with a tool-holding element radially displaceable into a position protruding into the tool receptacle. The tool has a shank defining a tool axis receivable axially in the receptacle. This shank is formed with a radially outwardly open recess closed at both of its axial ends and shaped to receive the tool-holding element, and with an axially extending groove separate from the recess and open axially at a free end of the shank. At least a section of the shank has a conical shape decreasing in a direction towards the free end of the shank. The shank may be provided with at least one cylindrical guiding section located adjacent to the above conical section."

As for any well-drafted patents, its claims are simple and separate. This patent is for a chuck, not a drill, not a particularly way of generating hammer blows. No doubt Bosch do have patents on these other things, but they'll be separate patents - that way it's not so easy to dodge an SDS chuck patent by arguing that your implementation of the chuck isn't electro-pneumatic, thus isn't covered and doesn't infringe. The abstract doesn't clearly describe the use when hammering, but it's in the description.

Bosch hold a _huge_ number of patents on slight variations of the SDS idea. Here's one that's very similar, but the bits have ribs as well as grooves.

used flats: ridges, grooves, threads or even 3-fold symmmetry so as to be compatible with Jacobs chucks (I've used these - they're horrible. If it slips a little, it lines up with the jaws and falls out!)

As to electro-pneumatic hammers, then take a look here