A question about SDS-plus drills

[spikey]

I'm currently awaiting delivery of an SDS-plus drill, which is something I have no experience of whatsoever.  Am I correct in thinking that when drilling masonry on the hammer drill setting, one applies pressure in order to keep the bit biting in the same way as when using a non-sds hammer drill?  Or do these newfangled drills use some magic which means there's no need to lean on the drill (so much)? 

[Buhar]

You need to have some pressure or else the hammer function doesn't kick in, but you don't need (or want) to lean on it. Let the bit do the work. That said, mine (Makita) is pretty heavy and gets tiring on long or successive jobs.

 

Alan

[didcot]

My SDS Plus drill is a Screwfix own brand. It can drill, drill with hammer action or just hammer action. The later is useful with SDS Chisels for breaking concrete or removing plaster from the wall.

 

The other advantage is that it has a clutch which slips when a 4" core bit catches which saves your wrists and stops you spinning around. 

 

There is a bit of play in mine on the hammer action that requires light pressure to get the attachments to bite.

Edited June 5, 2023 by didcot

[F-UnitMad]

26 minutes ago, spikey said:

Am I correct in thinking that when drilling masonry on the hammer drill setting, one applies pressure in order to keep the bit biting in the same way as when using a non-sds hammer drill?

Yes, but you'll be amazed at the difference in the force of the hammer action. 

Do drill a pilot hole first with an ordinary hammer drill, it only needs to be shallow but the kick at start up from an SDS drill can bounce the drill bit away from where you want the hole to go. Similar to using a centrepunch on metal for an HSS bit.

Edited June 5, 2023 by F-UnitMad
Spelling!!

[spikey]

30 minutes ago, didcot said:

My SDS Plus drill is a Screwfix own brand. It can drill, drill with hammer action or just hammer action ...

 

Sounds like the very one I've ordered from them.  Seems like a lot of drill for £70.

[didcot]

The Screwfix own brand stuff is pretty good.

I've a number of power tools and they are very good for the price.

 

My SDS has taken some abuse. I've even had attachments that do sockets in brick walls.

 

I also made an attachment to rivet spokes for 4" scale traction engines.

[tigerburnie]

Screwfix before they were taken over used to be the best supplier by far, I still use them but not as much these days. SDS drills are something I only used at work and shall we say we weren't very gentle with them, but they stood up to the abuse.

[Michael Hodgson]

I hope you are aware of it, but they do need SDS drill bits, not the oridnary ones. 

Far faster than the old Black & Decker when working on a hard wall  You will wonder why you ever botherdc with an ordinary hammer drill.

[kevinlms]

3 hours ago, Michael Hodgson said:

I hope you are aware of it, but they do need SDS drill bits, not the oridnary ones. 

Far faster than the old Black & Decker when working on a hard wall  You will wonder why you ever botherdc with an ordinary hammer drill.

Like most, I have a number of standard masonry drill bits that are brand new and will probably never be used. Such is the difference.

[Enterprisingwestern]

 

If you ever need to drill into blue engineering brick you'll be glad of an SDS drill!

 

Mike.

[tigerburnie]

You can buy a drill chuck to fit to an SDS drill if you want to.

[Talltim]

7 minutes ago, tigerburnie said:

You can buy a drill chuck to fit to an SDS drill if you want to.

I bought one when I bought the SDS drill and have never used it. For drilling wood etc I prefer to use my old drill or a cordless one as the SDS one is big and heavy. Its been brilliant for chasing out cable runs and socked holes in walls tho, which is what I got it for.

[Joseph_Pestell]

3 hours ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

If you ever need to drill into blue engineering brick you'll be glad of an SDS drill!

 

Mike.

 

And into concrete.

 

A friend was converting a roofspace into a music recording studio. That involved putting about 100 fixings into concrete beams. By the time he called me in, he had drilled about 10 holes and got through several bits in a few hours. With my SDS drill (Wickes), I did all the rest in no time at all with very little effort. The Wickes drill did die some years later after some heavy jobs. Moved on to Ryobi, a brand I now use for all my tools because of their battery range.

 

[Enterprisingwestern]

22 minutes ago, Joseph_Pestell said:

 

And into concrete.

 

A friend was converting a roofspace into a music recording studio. That involved putting about 100 fixings into concrete beams. By the time he called me in, he had drilled about 10 holes and got through several bits in a few hours. With my SDS drill (Wickes), I did all the rest in no time at all with very little effort. The Wickes drill did die some years later after some heavy jobs. Moved on to Ryobi, a brand I now use for all my tools because of their battery range.

 

 

For concrete, having an SDS drill bit which will go through rebars is an advantage, even if not necessarily going through them.

 

Mike.

[Siberian Snooper]

I got mine from Lidl's, and a SD drill chuck from evil bay. Does everything I've asked of it. It took awhile to acquire the chisel set from Lidl's, but not yet used them.

 

 

[chris p bacon]

3 hours ago, tigerburnie said:

You can buy a drill chuck to fit to an SDS drill if you want to.

Good for wood drill bits but You must never use the drill Chuck with old style hammer drill bits, the Chuck us held tightly in the SDS Chuck with none of the ‘play’ required to hammer into the wall. 
the drill Chuck fitted and the drill on SDS is guaranteed to kill the SDS head. 

[kevinlms]

The only trouble I have had with a SDS (not plus - it was years ago), where it seemed odd to use. It wasn't until I went to remove it that I realised that I had a serious problem - I couldn't remove it, as stuck tight.

 

I ended up having to take the drill to a repair shop, for them to fix. It proved to be difficult for them. Apparently the machining had not been done correctly on the bit and was out by a few degrees and had broken through, jamming it tight.

I've had the drill (Toshiba) about 18 years and still going well.

 

So check that the machining is correct before you use it (or even buy it!), to save you grief. You can tell because the edge was only about 1mm thick, it should be 3 or 4mm, I think - not going out in the dark and rain to check!

[spikey]

OK, we have a successful outcome.  £70-worth of Screwfix SDS-plus drill + £14-worth of 16 x 600mm drill bit has given me a very nice hole through 420mm of astonishingly hard ironstone rubble wall with hardly any effort on my part, and saved me having to engage a tradesman tradesperson to do the job I'm doing.

Edited June 7, 2023 by spikey