Which drill?

diable

pboae wrote: »

I was thinking of around £150-£200, hoping to spend less, but willing to spend more if it was worth it.

The screwfix one looks great, but it's out of stock. I'll keep an eye on it and see if it comes back in, it says 'back soon' on the site, but that's not very reliable.

It might be better if you popped down to your local screwfix store to see if they have it in stock.

Atelier

A normal hammer drill will get you nowhere. They are too light to be able to hammer/drill so take longer to drill the hole and consequently create a large than wanted hole because of movement when drilling.

I purchased one of the £100 - £120 Dewalk SDS drills from Screwfix and it makes light work of so many things.

With roto-stop and a chisel bit, I've taken plaster board off the walls, lifted slate tiles from the floor.

It makes short work of large holes through a cavity wall and is my default for attaching things to the wall. I just leave it will an 8mm drill bit in, seconds to make a nice hole, fill with a well fitting rawl plug and it's done.

pboae wrote: »

I need to buy a new drill, and having wrecked several cheap and cheerful drills over the years, I want to splash out on a really good one this time. My house has solid stone walls, and my last drill couldn't even dent them. We are also going to be taking a lot of wall tiles off later this year, so one of the SDS type drills that can do that would be useful.

Does anyone have any recommendations?

pboae

Hmm the drill bits info explains one thing then. I did buy a couple of expensive drill bits (I think they were Dewalt) but instead of drilling a hole it just knocked a chunk out of the stone. I guess that was the combination of a good bit and too-weak drill.

Does anyone know if the Bosch/screw fix one has roto stop? I assumed it did because it's recommended to use for chiselling.

Atelier

I does so with the cordless drill then it is quite a nice deal

pboae wrote: »

Hmm the drill bits info explains one thing then. I did buy a couple of expensive drill bits (I think they were Dewalt) but instead of drilling a hole it just knocked a chunk out of the stone. I guess that was the combination of a good bit and too-weak drill.

Does anyone know if the Bosch/screw fix one has roto stop? I assumed it did because it's recommended to use for chiselling.

Clive_Woody

I got one of these last year from screw fix...

http://www.screwfix.com/prods/58494/Power-Tools/SDS-Drills/Direct-Power-BS26S3-5kg-SDS-Plus-Drill


For less than £40 it's a real bargain and I was not disappointed. I used the chisel function to demolish a brick fireplace and level off some of the concrete base. It did the job with great ease, like a knife through butter. There are also lots of other review on the SF website that also speak very highly of this drill

Keep the gear box topped up with grease and you can't really go wrong. My old Bosch hammer drill is not sat gathering dust.

I also purchased this drill bit set.

http://www.screwfix.com/prods/80874/Drill-Bits/SDS-Plus/SDS-Plus-Sets/SDS-Plus-Drill-Bit-Combi-Set-12-Pc;jsessionid=YCFGZ5W3VCQ3OCSTHZPCFFI?ts=63753

Only word of warning is be careful when you first have a go with this new drill, the power is a big step up from your typical hammer drill.

leveller2911

Try www.dm-tools.co.uk They do a Makita SDS+ which is 800watts has rotary stop and is supplied with some SDS drill bits and a chisel ,not sure how to do the link to the drill but its model number is HR2470T SDS+ it also comes with a "quick change" chuck for using normal drill bits....

The price is pretty good to £149-95 ...

Ive been a carpenter and joiner for 23 yrs and would always go for Makita or Metabo..Just my opinion but for what its worth DE-WALT haven't been good at making power tools for the last few years as they spend too much time flogging workwear and taken their eye off the ball...

BritRael

pboae wrote: »

Hmm the drill bits info explains one thing then. I did buy a couple of expensive drill bits (I think they were Dewalt) but instead of drilling a hole it just knocked a chunk out of the stone. I guess that was the combination of a good bit and too-weak drill.....

A good quality bit with a naff drill, you'll get a good hole. An expensive drill with a naff bit, you get nothing. Your choice...

As for knocking a chunk out, this can be avoided by using a pilot hole, and then using progressively larger bit diameters. I don't think you've mentioned the final hole size, but anything over say 4mm, I'd use a pilot. Particularly in something hard, like steel, I'd start with 2/3mm.
Good luck

chaddythebear

leveller2911 is 100% right, i'm a joiner myself and have a van full of makita, not a dewalt in sight!

pboae

The hole was tiny, I was only trying to hang a picture, but I don't know exactly what size the bit was off hand.

Anyway, my local screwfix have got the Bosch drill in, so fingers crossed that it'll do the job!

thechippy

chaddythebear wrote: »

leveller2911 is 100% right, i'm a joiner myself and have a van full of makita, not a dewalt in sight!

I totally agree. Makita every time. Even thier site radio is the dogs!! De Walt is overpriced tosh.