Drilling concrete

I meant no hole will be GREATER than 10mm. Thanks

What sort of power drill are you using? Do you need one hole, or ten thousand?

The message from "linkuk" contains these words:

B&Q and all the other places do cheap SDS drills. They're magic and will sail through even well hardened old concrete.

The walls here are concrete and I bust loads of drills and took nearly a day to drill five holes once (luckily the neighbour that side was utterly deaf).

SDS drill just slides in - about twenty seconds for a 3" deep 10mm hole.

Cost about £30.

The all look like this...

The machine is more important than the drill bit. A mains powered SDS drill is the way to go.

For =A325 - =A335 you should be able to pickup an SDS drill from the sheds or internet.

Not just one but maybe a couple of dozen or so spread over a period of time while in going through decoration rooms and replacing poor fixtures etc put up by previous people but which are inadequte.

Thanks

Sorry forgot the first question: Its a bosch mains drills with hammer action.

Netto had some half-decent[1] ones a fortnight ago, might still have a few left? They came with a handful of SDS bits and chisels, spare brushes etc for about 20 squid

Dave H. (The engineer formerly known as Homeless)

For occasional holes.

Simply taking any masonry bit, and leaning on it with the drill on hammer action, with the chuck fastened, with more or less any drill, going round the right way will work.

SDS is not needed - but will make the holes take well under a minute to drill, instead of well over a minute to drill.

If the holes are vertical downwards, occasionally blowing out the holes can help. if they are horizontal, removing the drill from the hole several times during drilling helps.

You need to lean on the drill enough so that the hammer action engages.

The message from Ian Stirling contains these words:

You've not tried the walls round here.

Using even very good quality masonry bits, in a hammer drill or hitting the end with a hammer, just didn't go in. I've drilled holes in masonry all over the country in various jobs, but for well aged concrete SDS is sometimes the only way to go.

Other people in the row have had the same problem - nothing will go in in a reasonable [1] time.

If the concrete is hard it will laugh at a hammer drill and masonry bit. The only way to go is SDS.

The message from John Rumm contains these words:

point I was making.

Oh, and for some reason B&Q don't put the SDS cheapie with the other drills - it's off somewhere else.

Talking of cheapies. I bought a pull-mitre saw today from Argos. And it's going back first thing in the morning. The pull slide is supposed (I hope) to be supported on bearings, but this one has a nasty groove up the slide and makes a horrid grating noise. And it's not really very well made, either. So I'll go get the B&Q one instead.

before I got the SDS I was getting through 6mm bits pretty quickly - bought a B+D "pyranha" (IIRC) bit which was quicker and lasted much better - still got it but it's getting a bit blunt now.

Do you mean drill bits for your existing "conventional hammer" drill? If so, then drill smaller diameter pilot holes (e.g. 5mm) and then use the larger size. Don't push hard when using the larger diameter.

If you want to buy a drill just for drilling holes in masonry, that you're going to use for more than the odd hole, but a cheap "SDS" drill, and use virtually any brand/cost bit.

Is that the thing with a tit on the end, like a "bullet" drill bit? Just sharpen it. Blunt masonry bits are a real PITA.

Appart from:

;-)

for 10mm, i think SDS is advisable. I got a bosch sds, its very effective and drills really fast.

hammer drills are better for drilling through tiles than a rotary hammer though