Drill bit choice

Simon1974 formulated the question :

An SDS drill plus SDS bits - like a hot knife through butter.

Seconded.

Dave

Thirded...

However Have you made sure you are not trying to drill rebar embedded in the concrete?

If you don't have a SDS to play with then either a) Buy one (Makita HR2450X is nice), or b) try one of these first:

Probably won't last 20 years but who cares?

That's nice... Makro will do you one for 12 quid if you want.

Depends on how much you like your wrists I suppose.

There is much more to consider with SDS drills than just the life and the purchase cost. Safety clutch is one, weight another, and finesse of control another.

Simon1974 explained :

Just noticed that Netto have an heavy duty mains powered SDS drill on special offer as from today at £19.99. This is the 3way type - drill only, hammer only or combined drill + hammer.

They are rather heavy and tiring for ceiling use though not impossible.

On the subject of safety clutches, its an absolute minefield trying to find out which ones have them fitted. Manufacturer's websites and others like Axminster/Screwfix/Lawsons etc are hopeless. They'll tell you the weight of the thing and the max drill size and depth in various materials, the claimed motor wattage etc but hardly ever - actually make that *never* any mention of the safety clutch.

Any chance of assembling a definitive list of common drill makes and models that are known to have a clutch and sticking it in the FAQ?

In my humble opinion it is never worth buying cheap tools...

I am not a tool junkie, but I have learnt the hard way and try to find stuff that is good value (without paying for the name on the front) that takes in how often I use it.

I don't have any DeWalt and I reckon the better quality Bosch usually hit the balance just about right, but I generally have my tools provided for me at work, so most I buy are for home projects.

Just to be even more anally retentive about it, you'll just be wasting your time,petrol and energy making journeys to and from shop replacing them under warrantee, not to mention a couple of kilos of metal that could have been made into something good!!

Yup, good idea. I will see what information I can get together.

As a general rule however I get the impression that if you buy one of the (genuine) pro level tools (rather than one that just has "pro" in the title!) then you get a clutch. I am not aware of any Bosch, Makita, DeWalt, Hitachi, or Metabo _without_ at a clutch.

As you say however, getting actual information other than by personal experiance is difficult.

Has the answers. The rawlplug FAQ will explain why you keep breaking drills.

John Schmitt