Drill for (mainly) wood

SDS are not suitable for drilling wood, except in a rough inefficient way. Nor is hammer drilling, but that will suffice for some relatively soft masonry. SDS is the mutt's nuts for masonry.

NT

Thanks for that. As I suspected. Seeing as my Bosch has lasted me for so long, I'll probably go for another small blue one.

Neil

The SDS hammer function can be turned off on most(all) SDS drills however, you still need SDS drills with the slotted shank. In my experience SDS chuck adapters are the choice of last resort when using 'normal' drill bits.

Maybe consider a decent cordless drill (and a spare batteries).

I already have a decent (Makita) cordless, I'm wanting something to replace my old corded drill.

Neil

You don't have to use an SDS drill in hammer mode though. SDS after all only refers to the chuck design...

SDS with jacobs chuck adaptor is a lousy option for drilling wood. The drill bits waggle, the drill's overly large & heavy, and you've only got to activate sds hammering once in error and the adaptor shatters.

NT

What does the corded do for you the cordless does not?

(just trying to get a handle on what you actually want to do with the corded drill)

Speaking of SDS chucks... is the design common to other manufacturers drills?

I have a Kango 340 where the plastic cover/release got fried during an overlong dry core boring job. (78mm through a granite kerb stone).

Google struggles to find any reference to this model for spares.

On the bit end of the chuck, yup these days most will be so called SDS+ chucks and will accept any SDS bit you buy. On the machine end of the chuck they may well be proprietary.

Some SDS drills also have interchangeable chucks to allow you to fit a normal Jacobs style one for conventional drilling (fitting will normally preclude use of hammer action). These are better than the plug in SDS chucks since they keep the overall length down, and eliminate the wobble factor that you get with SDS.

I found when fitting mortice locks using high speed wood bits, the batteries went flat pretty quickly. Also cordless may not run at an ideal speed for the various wood cutting bits I have.

Really, if someone was happy with a basic mains drill I'd not persuade them to go cordless. As a mains drill will invariably be a better drill for a lot less money.

Don't you also get some springiness on an SDS drill? Or does that go away when you turn off the hammer action?

The springiness would not be at all helpful for accurate woodworking.

This exactly. As I said earlier, I already have a decent cordless, but no point draining the battery when I can use a mains one and use the cordless for the lighter stuff.

Thanks all for the replies.

Neil

If you're not in a rush, keep an eye out for Lidl and Aldi offers. Their power tools tend to be excellent value for money. IMHO, much better than shed budget brands.

I just ordered one of these:

That's the one:-) I'm using Google (UK)

All the bits I need are priced at 1.25e

I thought Sauer made guns?

I'll compare their exploded drawing with other manufacturers rather than rush off an order.

Thanks.