Gentlemen,
Anyone know what's currently a good deal for one of these higher power drills? I want one which does the usual hammer stuff plus chisel and core drilling plus also being able to drive in M16 thunderbolts into concrete. I thought one of these would do the trick as it seems to have reasonable power, but will have to be returned under warranty as the speed controller has gone haywire:
cheers,
CD
Depends on what you mean by higher power... 700 - 800W is about par for the course for a 2kg class machine.
The larger 5kg class machines will give you more joules per hammer blow, and better SDS drill performance in hard materials. Although more expensive and more tiring to use for day to day work.
SDS Max machines are serious brutes - but again (much) more hammer and drilling capability. Not necessarily much extra core capability though. (Max tooling is also quite a bit more expensive - but you can get larger dill bits)
Most SDS machines will claim to do 80mm diamond cores. In reality you can do larger if you take it very carefully and get the hole very straight. (I have done 107mm cores with by SDS - but you are right on the limit of the clutch letting go). If you need larger cores regularly, then get a core drill[1]
[1] But not the sparky like mine, which is pretty poor! (clutch lets go too easily on that)That's almost Makita money:
Thanks, John, I'll check it out.
You've also looked at the heavy Titan SDS+ drills at Screwfix?
I'm curious why you would tighten M16 bolts with a drill rather than an impact driver?
I bought the small DeWalt from TLC many moons ago - when it was IIRC the only reasonably light SDS on the market. Didn't want a heavy one for wall chasing, etc. Still works just fine. But only gets used where I need an SDS.
No, I wanted a make I was reasonably familiar with and AFAIK, the Titan stuff is Screwfix's own brand and might be made of junk for all I know. BnQ has the same scheme with their MacAllister range. Having said that, I've had a Mac 4" grinder/cutter for many years that's taken much abuse but is still working as well as ever it did.
Yeah, I'm really not a metric person. I meant something quite a bit smaller than M16. You're right about the impact driver, though! I'd forgot that:
A) it would be for more suitable and B) I've got a HD pneumatic one already!
The 6Kg Titan drills are great workhorses. Not at all refined, but very powerful. In a completely different league from the Erbauer one.
I recently bought a Titan SDS+ when my ELU packed up after a lifetime of use and abuse. I was looking forward to using some Auger drills I had acquired which had SDS+ shanks only to find the bugger did not have reverse. I only bought the Titan as in my twilight years I have less need for that sort of power being able to drill the brick and breeze block walls easily with my battery DeWalt.
Richard
True. It doesn't. It's very good at making holes in things, though.
In one side and out the other!
When you want a easy way of demolishing something then they are ok, but for much work, finesse is a bit more important IMHO.
I can stick a chisel on my SDS, and lightly cut through the plaster skim following a line round a backbox cutout. Then sink the edges cleanly to depth, and finally hog out the waste, planing down the back to a flat (enough) surface to mount a box in. Some machines are a bit too much "all or nothing" to do that kind of stuff neatly.
Extraordinary! So... the auger in question is still deeply embedded in a tree trunk somewhere awaiting liberation?
I have the 110V version.
Seriously good.
I decided to order the one you suggested, John. I kind of lost faith with Erbauer after that issue with the speed controller. It's supposed to ramp up the speed smoothly and 9 times out of 10 it did, but every now and again it would go from zero to flat-out in a split second, jerking like billy-o in the process with the sudden torque! Scary. And dangerous!
It's a dichotomy. To buy a powerful SDS that is also heavy but can make light work of breaking up concrete and drilling large holes. Or one light enough not to tire out your arms when chasing walls. Or just buy both.
I have three machines that kind of fit the bill - my Makita 2450 2kg class, a Wicks branded (OEMed by Sparky) Max SDS which I bought for peanuts, and a 15kg chinesium concrete breaker. Of those the Makita is used by far the most (>90% of jobs), the 15kG breaker rarely, and the SDS Max hardly ever (I think I have used it 3 times in the last 15 years, and would have used it a fourth if I had a 30mm SDS max drill bit for it).
So the smaller lighter SDS wins for most jobs. If I added anything else it would be a 18V (or probably 36V) Makita SDS.
I use a 36v Bosch, the same kind that Sky used. On a fully charged battery I get 5 installs easily out of it. The new ones are 6.0Ah and over £500. Mine is 5 yrs old and still goes through walls like butter though the batteries are 3.0Ah
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