SDS Drill recommendation please

I am in the market for a new one. Having popped into B&Q I see a good number of these with a great price difference. Bearing in mind that I will be using it for fairly infrequent D-I-Y work what are the recommendations? I would like a fair range of drills and a chisel bit, so if included in the price an advantage perhaps.

Reply to
Moonraker
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FAQ here:

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ideal drill is light (around 2kg, not 5 or 6), has a good speed control (this matters when chiselling since it controls how "hard" you are hitting it), a chisel you can lock off in any rotation position (try cutting a neat straight chase in a wall with a chisel that rotates about with a mind of its own), and a safety clutch (SDS drills can't slip in the chuck, so a clutch that lets go before your wrist, chin, or gonads intercept the rotation is a "nice to have" (tm))

Alas that lot usually puts you in the £90+ category with tools like a Makita, blue bosch, hitachi, dewalt, or possibly a ryobi.

Personally I would go for:

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however you just want something brutal for knocking stuff down, and making holes in concrete (with impressive exit wounds), then any £40 shed special will do ;-)

Reply to
John Rumm

In article , Moonraker scribeth thus

Makita!, around a 100 odd quid but the best DIY tool that I ever bought:))..

You'll soon find plenty for it to do!..

Reply to
tony sayer

Bought a MacAllister a couple of years ago. Exellent performer I found. Came with quality SDS chuck some decent bits and beefy screw-on

90 deg handle. Cost about £90 afaik remember. Agree with the above sentiment - and so much better than Masonmasters :-)
Reply to
dave

I have a Wickes 2Kg, cost about £100 a number of years ago. Very good machine. Mine was a re-badged Kress, serviced by Draper who replaced a damaged lead FoC out of warranty. Worth a look at although I don't know if they are still made by Kress.

Malcolm

Reply to
Malcolm

My Makita is a fantasic bit of kit. If you need a drill driver as well, SF have a 2kg SDS 3 function + a 14.4v driver deal. Site - which are made by Makita - £120.

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Reply to
The Medway Handyman

I bought on of the =A330 cheapies a few years ago. It gets used a few=20 times a year and has been utterly splendid in every respect.

This shape...

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the cheap ones looked like that a while ago. They've got rather more=20 variety lately.

--=20 Skipweasel - never knowingly understood.

Reply to
Skipweasel

Fully concur. I bought mine as a bit of a one-off job (sinking a dozen or so sockets throughout the house) however I've ended up using to for a whole manner of jobs - demolishing an extension, breaking up a patio, removing tiles, drilling holes for pipes/cables through walls. Despite being a hefty beast you can actually be quite delicate with it once you get used to its handling (particularly with the rotation off and hammer turned off - there is then only the very slightest of hammer action so no danger of knocking huge chunks out). I've never found the lack of chuck lock a problem.

For all my jobs I've managed with a cheap muti-set of bits and a separate 500mm bit for the longer holes.

I don't doubt there are benefits with the more expensive but I really couldn't ask for more from mine, and I can't imagine getting neater/ easier results.

Mathew

Reply to
Mathew Newton

Ebay often has 3 function sds cheaply, typically black n decker (1.5-1.8-2.2 joule) & site (2.7 joule).

Reply to
js.b1

Some 8 years ago I bought one from Lidl. That one died after 2.5 years, well I killed it by inadvertently doing prolonged chiselling with the air intake blocked. Not before it had completed an earlier very heavy chiselling job I bought it for mind. Like all Lidl power tools it came with a 3 year warranty so I dialled the helpline number and they sent me a new one, complete with all the accessories including the chisel I had worn out!

Lidl SDS drill mark two is still working well 5.5 years later having had as much use, but less abuse than mark one.

I like their tools, and have yet to have a bad one. They have always done what I want to do and other than that drill and a hot air gun have never let me down, even then both were replaced under the 3 year warranty.

Strangely their HS steel drill bits are very good, but their masonry ones are poor.

Mike

Reply to
MuddyMike

I suppose it depends on how strong you are, but most of these low price ones are tiringly heavy to use for chasing walls, etc. To me, that makes a higher priced lighter one worth every penny.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

I was in my local Screwfix branch a couple of days ago (Kings Lynn), and they had a well-priced special offer on a pro Bosch model - I think it was the DFR2-18.

SDS drills are really the workhorses of the diy (and professionals) power-tool toolkit - the one's regularly pushed hard on all sorts of jobs (and you will think up new ways of using it to do the muscle work) - so worth finding the few extra quid for a good one.

Reply to
dom

And me; My cheapy lasted several years, including ripping up a thick concrete floor but when it eventually died - by now I was fully converted to the joys of SDS - I decided to treat myself to a rather more upmarket machine and now possess a DeWalt.

So from my experience, the big difference is in the weight: all the cheapies are substantially heavier so much less comfortable to work with. Also, as is so usually the case, they are just less pleasant and easy to use: fine control isn't so good for example.

So you pays your money and you takes your choice: essentially they'll do the same job but depends how flush are you feeling and how much use the tool will get.

David

Reply to
Lobster

I was also going to vote for a 5 kg cheapie. Not tried to use mine for chasing but I would be inclined to go for a double disk cutter (and a very good vacuum cleaner) if I had much chasing to do.

The 5 kg is OK for drilling horizontal holes and of course the weight all helps if you need to break concrete hard standing etc.

Reply to
newshound

I bought a Kress (Wickes) and a cheap SDS drill at about the same time a few years ago. The cheap drill failed on the first day. I exchanged it four times before demanding my money back. The Kress just worked as it should, and has done on three building projects on after another. Despite being the lighter SDS drill of the two, it was more effective in use and easier to get close into the angle of two walls.

The cheap Chinese versions are IMO useless unless one is doing a lightweight job that a normal hammer drill could do.

Reply to
Steve Firth

My cheapy makes holes in concrete that no normal hammer drill would touch. I don't find the weight a problem - I wouldn't have bought such a heavy one if it was.

For the few times a year I use it, it's never failed to make exactly the hole I want; spending more on a fancier tool would have been a waste of money.

Reply to
Skipweasel

Another vote for DeWalt. I've been very happy with mine since I got it

5 or 6 years ago. I treat it dreadfully, but it always does the job and is comfortable to use. I only recently discovered that it did have a clutch - another plus - given I was core drilling through 2 foot of stone this was a must!
Reply to
Piers Finlayson

As I said it's things like chasing into walls - ie prolonged use where you're holding up the thing - that cause problems to me with the heavy ones. Not the occasional drilling of holes. So for many a cheapie may well be ok.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

My DeWalt was bought from TLC not long after their lightweight range of SDS drills came out. So well over 10 years ago. Cost near 200 quid. And worth every penny. It's a delight to use.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

From reading this thread one thing is clear - the whole concept of SDS is clearly a winner here given the unanimous praise for it; seemingly regardless of how expensive the tool is. It seems to me like one of the industry's best kept secrets - I know many a capable DIYer who have never actually used one and I can't help but feel they're really missing out.

Are there (m)any other tools out there that could claim similar? I'd have to rule out angle grinders for a start I'm afraid - I can't stand them for indoor use given the dust explosion...

Mathew

Reply to
Mathew Newton

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