SDS drill for under £50?

[Andy Hall]

I didn't know that you were so litigiously minded :-)

[Tony Bryer]

If you read the latest Auto Express you'd think that they made Dremel look-alikes. In reply to my email to AE pointing out that JCB is just a licensed label used by Alba (replacing Power Devil perhaps?) on their Chinese-made tools the reply was on the lines of "why let the facts spoil a good story line?"

[Dave Plowman (News)]

That'll be feedback from other catalogue jockeys?

It would give the judge a laugh.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I gave up on Auto Express years ago. They tend to take maker's figures as gospel rather than checking them for themselves.

[Andy Dingley]

In a brittle material like brick or concrete you really need to do it by drilling in from both sides. The "back" hole only needs to be shallow. You can even do this by scuffing the surface with an angle grinder instead of drilling - you're just trying to "catch" the cracks propagating from the other side.

A backer (or "spelch") plate works well on wood but not on brick, unless you actually bolt it into place. Just holding it in place won't do a thing on something as stiff and brittle as brick.

Your main technique though is the ability to throttle the drill back with a well-controlled trigger action. My own drill (an AEG) has a variable stop on this too. Labelled from A..F I rarely need to use more than "C" power. Having a positive stop means that I can work the trigger accurately, without needing fine finger control when wielding a large and vibrating power tool.

[Chris Bacon]

You don't normally use hammer drills for timber.

Get your oppo to hold a sledge hammer head up against the exit area, with a packer if possible.

[al]

But do you really think it requires DeWalt levels of kit to perform such a job? Surely a good B&D or Bosch for £50-60 would be fine? I'm not really looking at spending £20 on a rebranded import.

a

[ARWadsworth]

Or even cheaper.

Not a bad tool, I got one for my Dad last year, he likes it (and I have borrowed it several times).

Adam

[al]

How much does one have to worry about the wattage? I notice that's 650W but a lot of the cheaper ones are 900W?

a

[Bob Minchin]

Rick,

Is this their 'own brand' TITAN marque by any chance?

I have one bought for occasional use and so far it seems OK but it has not been worked hard yet.

Regards

Bob

[david lang]

No, that would be feedback from me, who bought one about 4 months ago and is very pleased with it after a fair amount of use.

Dave

[Dave Plowman (News)]

You think dribble remembers this? He has trouble remembering his name.

One swallow does not a summer make?

But have you experience of other makes to compare with?

Just that I do buy cheap power tools and think they're ok until I buy something better. Then ponder why I bought the cheap one in the first place.

[Andy Hall]

Well.... it's really your choice.

In this thread, and if you look at others, you have had a spectrum of opinions and experiences, each of which is valid from the perspective of the person providing it.

There's enough information for you to decide which most accurately fits your situation and decision making criteria for purchase.

Certainly the issues of precision are not there for an SDS drill as they can be for a cordless drill driver; but equally there are the shortcomings of usability in low end product.

I've pointed out, as have others, that occasional use is not, for a number of reasons, a reason for a low end product to be OK. That logic is fundamentally flawed because the issues are separate. For a more precise tool like a router or cordless drill/driver, accurate control are essential o outcome. In an SDS drill, controllability may well be important, and if inadequate the job might not be able to be done properly. Equally we know that there is not a lot of tolerance where cheap SDS drills are pushed beyond basic endurance.

If, after looking at all of this with open eyes, you feel that the limitations of a low end SDS are acceptable, then by all means buy one

- at least it will have been an informed decision. Equally, if you come back in a couple of months, having bought one, ro say that the gearbox disintegrated or the clutch stuck, then hopefully you won't mind a suggestion that a product in a class up would have been a much better choice

[Andy Hall]

This is typical specmanship.

You will find it commonplace among the cheap tools. The product managers market penile enlargers in between jobs.

For example, I think it was Screwfix who were selling a 32v cordless drill at £30 (slogan - less than a pound a volt) a few months ago. The product was completely worthless.

There have been routers with > 2000W power, acording to the specs. This is input electrical power and not representative of the mechanical output. You can have a crappy, inefficient motor and run it with 900W power input. It will likely give poorer output vs

600-700w in a decent SDS drill. The rest is converted to heat, but that can be dumped through the cooling system

[John Rumm]

You don't basically...

have a look at the "What about Watts" section here:

> I notice that's 650W but

Feel the width never mind the quality! Unless you are planning on using large core drills to cut big holes through walls then power is pretty much a non issue. If you do want to core drill, then a dedicated core drilling drill will do a better job anyway.

[al]

Agree, and fully understood in the sub-£30 bracket. It's going to be cheap and nasty and might last if I'm lucky, but with many shortcomings and perhaps safety issues (lack of clutch).

But I'm not looking at low end - I'm looking at distinctly mid end from respected manufacturers. I'm just not really able to justify high end to drill the odd hole in a big wall! I probably will stick with the mid range and will certainly provide feedback on whatever I get.

a

[al]

Yes, I bought an 18v cheapo set once with batteries that last at least 2 mintues .... ;)

I guess my question shouldn't have been comparative, but rather asked if a

650W DeWalt motor is sufficiently powerful for "normal" SDS tasks?

a

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I've got the 'original' reasonably priced SDS drill - the DeWalt - and have never found it lacking in power at 650 watt. Although I've not used it for breaking up factory concrete foundations. ;-)

What I do appreciate is its relative light weight when chasing walls, etc. Some of the cheap SDS units are just too heavy for this.

[Andy Hall]

Hmm... OK. Depends on scale, I suppose. I'd describe the £100 bracket ones as mid range (which I think is fine).

I bought one of these a couple of years ago

was in the market for a fairly chunky SDS drill and coincidentally, an ancient (and somehat inadequate) old mains powered hammer drill I had at the time packed up. This Bosch one is fairly high end, but with exchangeable chucks can take ordinary drills and cover any jobs that the cordless drills won't.

[Andy Hall]

Yes it would be, unless you were wanting to use really large drill bits that realistically should be in the SDS Max category.