Ikea Li-ion SDS drill

[The Medway Handyman]

Not so. I have an 18v Hitachi SDS and it's a godsend.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Err, is that a 14.4v 1.5 amp hour type with a battery which can't be swapped and takes 5-7 hours to charge? And only cost 40 quid?

That would be a DH18DLS? Over twice the impact power, over twice the battery capacity, and less than 1 hour to re-charge. If you have an extra battery you can simply swop it while the other charges.

Oh - it costs some 5 times as much.

[JimK]

/Oh - it costs some 5 times as much. /q

Ah yes that'll be the rub....:-)

Jim K

[The Medway Handyman]

What I meant was, a cordless SDS is a godsend, but that IKEA one would actually work for me & many other 'pro's'.

Not used every day, but necessary, enough capacity to fix half a dozen curtain poles or blinds, powerful enough for those jobs, a massive step up from a hammer drill & can be charged overnight at home.

[charles]

The first person I met who used one had on the basis that his company did not want to use customers' electricty supply - for various legal/insurance reasons.

I used to, before battery tools became available.

[charles]

Unless I carry two power drills with me, the conventional chuck has its uses. I can't fit a hole-saw into an SDS chuck.

[mike]

The extra chuck with an SDS is surely for large wood drills, hole saws, aug ers etc. No-one is seriously going to use it with a 3mm drill or as a sc rewdriver. In fact, with battery technology as it is now, it's hard to im agine when you'd use a (non SDS) mains drill as a screwdriver. In the past , putting down floorboards, but today...?

I'd've thought the Ikea one would be pretty good for an Ikea punter who wan ts to fix some shelving units to the brick wall, for someone with a rental property/holiday home or maybe doing the odd DIY job for relatives a distan ce away, or (as TMH says) putting up a curtain pole.

Obviously, it's not going to do everything but then no-drill does everythin g and the tools that claim to be universal are usually the ones that are cr ap at everything.

Comparing it to the Hitachi specs TMH posted (and assuming it's not made of chocolate), it seems better than you'd expect for the price. The nearest c omparable offering seems to be Lidl's £70 one that's been mentioned here before:

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I can see a cordless SDS being a godsend for someone fitting a satellite dish etc - but curtain poles? No mains at the places you work in?

But what you're saying is there's no need for a pro to pay the (considerable) extra for a decent make like Hitachi - just get any old thing from a shed?

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I still do if I've got a lot - like floorboards. Have a mains drill that runs at 50 RPM. Brilliant for screwdriving.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

That was my thinking too. But the normal chuck in an SDS is so horrid to use I'd carry two drills. ;-)

[JimK]

assuming you already had 2 drills....

Jim K

[Dave Plowman (News)]

If I could only have one drill, it certainly wouldn't be an SDS. Drilling masonry so hard it needs an SDS accounts for perhaps 0.01% of the holes I drill. And I could use the good ol' Rawltool for that odd hole. My SDS drill get used more for chiselling.

[stuart noble]

Ironically the typical d-i-y job of putting up a curtain rail is often a total bugger requiring at least a top end Hilti :-)

[charles]

The chuck I use has nothing wrong with it.

[The Medway Handyman]

And may it long remain so :-)

[The Medway Handyman]

There is, some even have running water :-)

Cordless is soooo much easier & no black, grubby cable dragging over the white carpets.

Horses for courses. The IKEA jobby would be fine for a curtain/blind fitter or a flat pack assembler. Bear in mind its Li Ion so you can opportunity charge it.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

That it sticks out a long way from the SDS chuck and wobbles doesn't bother you?

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I'll expect to see your report on it shortly, then. Or one from anyone who actually buys it. ;-)

[Andy Burns]

Eh? The downside to the keyless extra chuck for my HR26xx SDS is that it's pretty long, coupled with the body being fairly long too, it's no use in tight spaces.

The other niggle with the drill is it's nearly impossible to remove or reposition the side-handle without removing the chuck.

[Vir Campestris]

Trust me on this, you don't want to do my curtain rails.

Any random hole can be

- Breeze block with stone inclusions

- plaster and nothing else

- A lath, that springs away when you try to drill into it

- solid oak

... or occasionally something easy.

Mind, the thatch looks good now its finished :)

Andy