I am looking for an SDS plus drill with rotor stop that I can use for chasing channels and knocking out holes for metal back boxes.
I would really like a Bosch one, but money being tight this maybe nothing but a dream :(
Screwfix have two Ferm SDS plus drills with rotor stop:
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?id=83854&ts=98931I can stretch to the £45 model.
So what do people here think of Ferm tools in general? Anybody have one of these drills? Probably the old maxim, "You get what you pay for" is the answer!
from B&Q (the exact same drill is badged up as lots of different "in house" names, ranging from =A330 to =A390) which turned out to be remarkably effective at smashing all the way *through* brick walls - it's not very subtle. I've given it away and bought a green Bosch one which is much more controllable. You're right: you definitely *need* rotor-stop - I can't understand why all SDS drills don't have that as standard, but then I didn't understand why I kept driving all the way through brick walls. Al.
I bought that same SDS badged as B&Q's own Performance Power... it is defo at the budget end of the market but i didnt want or need a pro or semi pro tool... it has done everything i have wanted it for so far and hasnt burst through and brick walls on its own, even when doing relatively (by sds standards) fine work like chasing out channels! I think its how subtle the user is that counts!! The one major downside is that it doesnt have a safety clutch so you are putting your wrists at risk if the drill binds up when drilling as the kickback is pretty severe... this is something that i didnt consider (or know about) before buying it... I will if i ever buy another! Oh and its damn heavy too!!
I've had the first (620W) model for six months and have been extremely pleased with it. For =A330 I really thought it would've given up the ghost what with the chasing, holes through walls, tile/render removal and fireplace demolition that I've put it through.
I also bought the 17 piece bit set when it was offer (they also sent me two, which was nice):
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wall chaser has been particularly useful.
As another poster has said, variable speed would be useful for added control however I've found that stopping the hammer action before reaching the end of the hole significanrtly helps in this respect.
Not having used a more expensive SDS drill I'm sure there are many benefits to be had from spending more than I did. However, even if I chucked mine out now I would still consider myself to have had considerable value for money from the work I've completed so far. Indeed, no doubt much of the satisfaction has been from using SDS having been used to a conventional drill - once you've tried it you'll never look back!
Personally I think the weight is pretty unmanageable. Personally 2-3kg is plenty unless you plan sledgehammering the wall with the drill. The Argos lighter Challenge model was on offer at £29.99 recently. My experience of Ferm is returning a bent circular saw to Screwfix , didn't look and feel that good and the Ferm "Rotozip" which was very solid but didn't look and feel that good. Dumped it because I found that "Rotozips" don't do straight lines well. Ever wondered why they demo them on TV doing random curves? Rotozip RIP. Generally prefer value tools but not Ferm.
"A massive 2 joule impact force". That's a bit less than BIL Dave's De Walt battery job, and much less than my Aldi £25 bargain which gives 4.4 Joules, is a couple of years old, & is still going strong. Go for something with a bit more grunt!
lot of hard work, and would echo exactly what Matthew just wrote.
If and when it conks out I'll be replacing it with a more expensive and sophisticated model, but at the time I bought it I'd never tried an SDS drill before and, ever cautious, wasn't convinced I really needed one (how wrong I was!)
My main issues with it are its weight and lack of fine control (qv others posts).
Also, be aware that although the blurb says it has rotary stop, this is only pseudo-rotary stop! You can stop the bit from spinning, fine, but when in 'demolition hammer' mode, you find that the bit rotates slightly due to vibration (at about 0.5 rpm!) which is irritating if you're trying to cut in a straight line. I gather that with genuine rotary stop, the bit is properly locked and doesn't rotate at all. So if, as you say, you're going to be using this machine primarily for chasing channels and cutting square holes, this model probably isn't the best. (But it will certainly do the job, if budget is your main concern.)
It would depend what you want it for. For SDS drilling, 2 + joule is adequate for most jobs. And for most chasing. For breaking concrete you'd do better with more. But to wimpy me the overall weight of the tool is more important if you're going to use it for chasing into walls, etc.
2J is pretty standard for the size and class of Drill. You won't get (or want to be honest) more even if you splash out on the Bosch blue equivalent or a Makita 2450. (the impact energy is matched to the weight of the drill - too much and you get uncomfortable to hold recoil of the drill body)
I used the lower model for precisely that and for knocking walls down, on a daily basis 6 month in and still going strong, and for £30 paid for its self multiple times over.
I noticed this as well. Still a treat compared to an equivalent wattage hammer drill for round holes and good for chasing/square holes as well with the right bits. I must admit I wasn't expecting fine control but (note to self!) there are times when I'd use the normal hammer drill with a decent bit for small holes (5-6mm for rawlplugs).
The £45 1100W job is even heavier than the 620W types (which are themselves a bit heavy for continual work such as chiselling). However it does drive a core drill through a wall like a dose of salts, and the safety clutch lets you keep your arms the right way round when the bit snags :-)
See my thread 'Dead SDS+ drilling machine - replacement chioce?'
It is absolutley brutal. No safety clutch and, although you can operate in 'hammer' mode only, the chuck is free to rotate i.e. a chisel will follow the terrain. I've ordered a Makita from Lawson tools as a replacement as I found that the SDS+ was more useful than I originally thought. However, while waiting for the Makita to arrive I've been borrowing a friend's PPro or somesuch strange name. I think it came from Homebase - sort of orange and silver colour and looks superficially like a cosmetically improved version of the Ferm - i.e. less obvious motor housing and an all-enclosing silver envelope. Well, I'm seriously wondering why I ordered the Makita 'cos the silver thing is great - it has both things that mine didn't have - the clutch and non-wandering chuck - for considerably less than the Makita.
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