I eventually ordered the £99 special deal Bosch SDS drill form Screwfix, and also went for the £24.99 20 piece SDS drill bit kit that everyone I work with suggested would be crap. The blow moulded case they came in would suggest they are crap, but I have just (in the last 10 mins) given the drill and the bits thier first real challnge.
I needed to drill a 16mm hold through our exterior wall into the kitchen, which is about 400mm of render, brick and blockwork. It is the same wall that my last non-SDS bosch drill died while drilling two weekends ago.
Cut a long story short, it took about 45 seconds, applying minimal force to go all the way through the wall. No messin'
If anyone is looking to buy a new drill and some bits, this combo totally gets my thumbs up!
Well, I have been having SDS all afternoon. I am a bit tired now but the novelty hasnt worn off... I'm into safe SDS, so I am using DustBubbles... No DustBubble, no SDS... I dont want to get contaminated ;-)
I've just been drilling a 150mm hole through the same render/block/brick combination. I used a cutter from my tool hire place. Very satisfying to see the neat hole and the complete plug that you get from inside the cutter. It was certainly a lot easier than "daisy chaining" the hole using a 12mm drill as I've done in the past.
Assuming it's the one linked on their front page (stock code 19663) with a picture of a GBH2-24, that model was supposed to have been made obsolete about a year ago.
Not that I do enough of this sort of such work to justify £125 on a drill and bits, but if I were to be looking for such kit from a hire shop, what is so magical about "SDS"? Is it a high torque system? Or a better hammer action (ohhh, I remember my first proper hammering. Left-handed up a ladder too.) ?
Its a hexagonal shank on the drill actually. Strictly.
It has been adopted by the shed marketeers as 'Simply Doubly Supe' - i.e. if you don't have one in your toolkit, you won't shag beautiful women and may get AIDS instead.
It's got nothing to do with 'hexagonal shank' at all! - Proof, if proof were needed, that "The Natural Philosopher" hasn't a clue about what he chunters of! An SDS 'device' is a combination of 'drill' and 'bits' ... simply; the 'drill' contains two seperate systems; a 'turning' system and a 'thumping' sytem. The bits?chisels etc have a _round_ shank, not 'hexagonal', which has two 'dimples on; the first is a round dimple while the other is a elongated dimple. The elongated dimple enables the bit/chisel to move backwards and forwards within the 'chuck'. when being 'thumped' The turning system rotates the bit. The action is somwhat reminiscent of the ancient 'rawl-drill', thump, twist, thump, twist ... (until knackered).; but with the efficacy of electricery generating the thumping action and the rotating action too. A decent 'SDS' drill will have three selectable modes; rotate, thump only and rotate while thumping. These are sometimes referred to as drill; rotate stop (hammer) and dril and hammer. The 'thumping' action is only energised when pressire is applied to bit/drill combination which assures that the centre of the hole will be where you position the bit!
whereas if you show up at the house of a beautiful women waving your hexagonal shank; she'll laugh at you ... all her girl friends will giggle at your ignorance of SDS system.
Do your research. SDS is a german mnemonic to do with the way the drill bits are inserted and uninserted., As originally conceived it had no implications beyond that.
From wikipedia
Special Direct System (SDS)
Developed by Bosch in 1975 for hammer drills, the SDS uses a cylindrical shank on the tool, with indents to be held by the chuck. A tool is inserted into the chuck by pressing in, and is locked in place until a separate lock release is used ? no tightening required. The rotary force is supplied through wedges that fit into two or three open grooves. The hammer action actually moves the bit up and down within the chuck since the bit is free to move a short distance. Two sprung balls fit into closed grooves, allowing movement whilst retaining the bit. SDS relies on a tool having the same shank diameter as the chuck - there are three standard sizes:
SDS-Plus ? a 10 mm shank with two open grooves held by the driving wedges and two closed grooves held by locking balls. This is the most common size and takes a hammer up to 4 kg. The wedges grip an area of 75 mm² and the shank is inserted 40 mm into the chuck.[1] * SDS-top a 14 mm shank similar to SDS-plus, designed for hammers from 2 to 5 kg. The grip area is increased to 212 mm² and the shank is inserted 70 mm. This size is not common.[2] * SDS-max ? an 18 mm shank with three open grooves and locking segments rather than balls. It is designed for hammers over 5 kg. The wedges grip an area of 389 mm2 and the shank is inserted 90 mm.[3]
Many SDS drills have a "rotation off" setting, which allows the drill to be used for chiselling. The name SDS comes from the German "Steck ? Dreh ? Sitz" (Insert ? Twist ? Stay). German-speaking countries may use "Spannen durch System" (Clamping System), though Bosch uses "Special Direct System" for international purposes.[4]
yeah, yeah, yeah ..... I responded to a question which was quite specific ... "what is so magical about "SDS"? Is it a high torque system? Or a better hammer action" I attempted to respond to the question(s) posed - obviously posed by a person with no experience of this system. Now _where_ exactly in your cut'n'pasted extract does it state - as you wrote - "Its a hexagonal shank on the drill actually. Strictly." It isn't , you're wrong; what is more you attempted to mislead whether through malice or ignorance I can't say. [You posting history bears witness, though] Now, 'fess up: there are more thing in SDS philosophy ... but none of them are hexagonal!
For some values of 'well'! I had a very senior moment when one of my grandchildren asked; 'What's that?" whilst observing me rummaging in the bottom of a 'don't-throw-these-away' box. Yep, the rawl-drill (aka star bit) with it's end burred over in testimony to holes I'd made in bricks, decades ago.
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