I have read the FAQ for drills and drill bits but neither have answere
my question.
I am shopping around for a drill, one that will drill through wood the brick to a total depth of 16mm: to re-affix a wooden gate post to brick wall. I am very new to DIY and whilst I understand the need fo different drill bits. I don't understand the difference between dril types. I gather that performance is one feature, and I assume th order is impact < hammer < percussion. What is the essentia difference between an impact drill, hammer drill and a percussion dril
- apart from price? I deduce that the difference is due to the interna construction. I have asked at the various diy stores (B&Q, Homebase Wicks) but the staff have not been able to give me a satisfactor answer, apart from this one is better than that one but not answerin why this so.
The depth you have to drill to has really little to do with the drill.
Drills tend to be rated by size in a particular material - ie the power needed.
That's more like it. There are many types of drill bits, but for basic DIY you can probably get away with HSS (twist drills) for wood and metal, and masonry bits for bricks.
IMHO, what you're describing are all really the same. A hammer type helps with most not too hard masonry. But for hard bricks or concrete you need SDS. Which still hammers, but in a rather more effective way.
If you've downloaded the group, look for the FAQ on drills.
But basically, any drill should be able to do most simple drilling tasks. Like making a hole in wood, etc.
Move on, and you'd ask for variable speed. If it can run at a very slow speed and reverse, then it can be used for screwdriving. (A basic mains drill will have a high speed due to the type of motor. Likely higher than ideal for most things.)
Add a hammer function and it's better for bricks.
Go one stage further and make it an SDS, and it will drill really hard masonry, as well as everything else. It should also be able to be used as a power chisel by stopping the rotation, but keeping the 'hammer'. But then may be rather heavy and inaccurate for simple drilling.
Then all you're left with is the choice between mains and cordless.
Cordless seems initially attractive, but for best value for occasional DIY stick to mains.
I've got something like 8 drills of various types both cordless, mains and SDS, but the one which gets used most for household DIY is a mains B&D hammer drill which is variable speed down to 50 rpm and reverses. But my house is made out of relatively soft London stock bricks which it can drill easily. If the bricks were too hard for this, by choice would move to a lightweight SDS with an easy change chuck.
Since we are tweaking them at the mo, perhaps we can add something to clarify...
When you say "drill" I take it you mean the whole machine and not just the bit?
(If you meen just the bit and you want a single drill that will go through wood and brick then you need on of the "Multiconstruction" drill bits that are sort of "jack of all trades" and will drill most things).
There is not really a clear differance in the terminology alas. There are two common technologies used though: The original hammer drill (loads and loads of very small "hits" each second by virture of a cam type arrangement behind the chuck) are often called all of your terms ("impact", "hammer" and "percussion").
The later technology (far fewer, but much harder hits per second provided by a small pneumatic piston and compressor in the drill) are more commonly called "SDS" or "Rotary Hammer". However not all makers agree on terms.
Well at least they are consistent.
The task that you describe sounds like it should be well within the capabilities of a basic hammer drill (i.e. with an ordinary chuck). Drill the wood (HSS drill bit, or lip and spur wood bit), mark the location of the hole required on the bricks, and then do those with a masonry bit and hammer if you need it.
The exception to this would be if you have exceptionally hard bricks to drill like "engineering" bricks. The you may need a SDS to get through them. The diameter also makes a difference 8mm for a large wall plug is much simpler than 16mm for an expanding sleave anchor (rawl bolt). To cover all bases you could just buy a SDS drill at the outset, but these cost more for a good one.
Chuck - it's difficult to reply if you know so little, it would tak pages! Any percussion drill of 600W or so should do it. You just nee one with a normal chuck and cheap bits
Argos are doing a Challenge mains hammer drill with bits for =A310. That should do you fine for this small job. I think you'll have to drill deeper than 16mm though to go through the post alone.
This is an interesting newsgroup, I've only just started reading it.
My timid DIY ventures usually extend no further than can be accomplished with a hand drill. :-( Despite that admission, I do find tv DIY programs engrossing, watching a professional at work. On one such program recently (here in Australia) the guy demonstrated a new type of drill bit that enables you to drill both timber and brick without an impact drill. It showed him drilling about 1.5" into a wall at impressive speed. When I mentioned this to a friend he said that the drill was probably just for the mortar, not the underlying brick, but I'm sure the depth of drilling would have taken the bit well into the brick. The drill was definitely just the ordinary non-impact variety: this new innovation was, after all, exactly why the guy was demonstrating it.
Anyone have the right name for this new type of bit?
is a bit more info in the "drills and drilling" FAQ:
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that is not the usual address for it - but it is a draft version of an update to the FAQ - it will move to somewhere on the normal FAQ site soon
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shortly):
Nope they drill masonry very well indeed. For example: I have solid brick walls with hard render over them. In the past using an ordinary mains hammer drill and a conventional masonry bit, they were almost impossible to drill (i.e. 5-10 mins for a 2" deep 8mm hole). Hence whenever I needed to drill into them recently I would get out the SDS drill whcih would romp through them with no problem. However on one occation I wanted just one hole, at the top of a ladder - so rather than get out the extension lead and the SDS I tried one of these in my 18V cordless combi drill. I was amazed that it actually drilled the wall reasonably quickly (i.e. under 30 secs). Later I drilled another dozen or so holes with the bit and noticed no loss in performance from it either)
I was using hammer, but that was for render / hard brick. For softer brick they would manage without hammer.
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