How functional are these, if the space is tight and you use these attachment kit, you will have to use another hand to push it sideways in order to drill a hole at a right angle correct?
Is the transfer of the torque adequate? Any appreciable loss of power when using them?
How about a hammer drill? I assume these can only transfer the rotation and if I want to drill a hole in concrete I cannot use one of these in hammer mode right?
When you say right angle attachment are you talking about a serious heavy duty tool like a Milwaukee right angle drill kit or one of those toys they sell at the hardware store?
I have a Milwaukee (RADK) right angle drill kit; I can use the D- handle drill w/ or w/o the right angle attachment. The right angle attachment reduces speed & boosts torque when installed one way...the other way 'round it boosts speed & decreases torque. When installed in speed reducing / torque increasing mode....it has a LOT of torque.
typical gear train looses very little power
The Milwaukee RADK is meant to be used with self-feed augers but I just use monster twist drills. They arent cheap and need a fair amount of "push" behind them to bit & drill but they handle nails WAY better than augers (ruined too many augers)
Makita makes a much smaller right angle drill. The older version that I have is a bit dangerous, a good amount of torque and a paddle switch that seems to turn the drill on at the wrong times. With a spade / paddle bit I can bore through a couple of 2x with some effort.
Hilti supposedly makes a right angle attachment that fits some of their small hammer drills...AFAIK it transmits hammering as well as drilling. It aint cheap I found one on ebay for like $150, just for the attachment, I passed because I didn't have a Hilti hammer drill that fit it.
I bought one, and if I had to do it over again, I would have bought a Makita right angle drill, the small 9.6 one that might be available at the pawn shop for slightly more than the $20 I paid for the attachment. Problem I had was that you are already trying to get into an awkward spot, and the way that head rotates around, it is difficult to impossible in some locations to get your two hands in there at the same time to hold it right and align the hole. Drilling true holes is almost impossible. If you are hogging out studs for electrical, they would be okay, but if I was going to do a bunch of studs, I'd just suck it up and go buy a real right angle drill for the job. The small Makita would be good for small holes, but worthless for hogging studs. So, I guess you should buy two just to be safe.
I've had good luck with Greenlee Nail-Eater Auger Bits. The bits go through nails and staples without a problem. You can get the long ones that you can use to drill at a near 90° angle from either side where the holes intersect or use the shorty version with the right angle drills. Greenlee now sells the Nail-Eater II bits that fit the new impact drivers. Doing electrical work in new/remodel jobs when there is no Sheetrock up yet, most electricians will use the long bit at a near 90° angle to bore through studs for Romex installation.
A "real" right angle drill is vastly superior to generic add on kits. A Milwaukee Hole Hog will drill holes at probably a 50:1 rate to a generic drill with a generic right angle adapter, and then infinite:1 once the generic adapter breaks when you hit a nail.
As for hammer drills, Hilti has rotary hammers with right angle attachments that actually hammer at right angles, The TE5 is/was one such model, haven't looked recently. The TE5 also has tool free quick change chucks, right angle head, etc.
I got one from Harbor Freight, some years ago. Only used it a couple times, but it sure came in handy. There was no noticable loss of torque. I'd never use a light weight gadget like that on hammer drill.
The right-angle attachment is handy when drilling electrical holes in studs. Of course there is some loss of power due to friction. Not sure about the hammer drill, but I'm sure a concrete drill will work just fine.
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