bishbosh Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 My 6 year old drill let out all the smoke on Sunday (and a fair few sparks too!) which I put down to a lot of abuse drilling slowly through steel (single speed drill with pooter speed control wotsit) and filling it up regularly with grinding dust! So, looking at past threads on here I know I need to find a two speed drill, but as SDS seems to be becoming more widespread is it worth the investment now? I presume I would have to re stock with SDS bits etc? If the verdict on SDS is no then wheat about this non SDS drill? It will have to serve for all DIY - not just Landy work. TIA Bish. Oh, and is it possible / worth it to repair the old one - 1000W Bosh affair? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparg Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 sds drills are big heavy things with loads of torque. good for masonry with the hammer action. Really, I buy when price is right - once or twice a year, Aldi have some powercraft gear in - it's quite cheap (1500w drill =<£20, sds = about £30ish, I seem to remember), so you can have the right sort for the job. You wouldn't want to be stuck wiv the sds for many of the jobs you're doing - just too damn heavy. ON the other hand, it comes with a standard chuck aswell, to use your existing bits cheers p.s I wouldnt try to fix the bosch, much as I like them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ciderman Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 SDS bits are common in the construction trade , But the engineering trade still use Jobber bits . I havent seen many SDS bits for steelwork ,mainly mason bits . Screwfix are doing a nice Lion Makita 18v cordless drill with a 1/2" chuck for £149 ,I had one for xmas as a prompt to get on with some DIY , but it has spent most of its working life in the workshop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redben101 Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 SDS would not really suit your needs. I would definitely buy a Bosch drill as their quality for drills is very good, combined with a 3 year guarantee. For reference you can use standard bits in a SDS by using a chuck adaptor, as i use mine with holesaws most days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turbocharger Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 Screwfix are doing some good deals at the moment - Ni-cad batteries are about to be made illegal but nobody's sure when the impending legislation is coming and whether it'll be retrospective so everyone's punting their NiCad stock out cheap while they can still sell it. For £80 I got a cordless drill and a mains drill, both DeWalt. Quite impressed with both so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Train Posted March 25, 2009 Share Posted March 25, 2009 I have a wonderful 20+ year old Bosch SDS pnumatic hammer drill. Absolutely love it for drilling masonery. Absolutely carp for drilling steel. The SDS system has proved superbly tough for over a quarter century of hammering through brick and concrete but the SDS chuck has a tiny amount of play in it. This is not a problem in masonery drilling but when a 1/2" chuck and adaptor has been fitted then the play translates to a few millimeters of play at the tip of the drill bit. This makes it more difficult to drill accurately. I use a conventional rotary only drill for drilling in metal as the whole set up is shorter, more stable and more accurate. I also get a better speed range for metal drilling this way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmy_neutron Posted March 25, 2009 Share Posted March 25, 2009 If your drilling 10mm + holes in brick then SDS is the way to go. But if you are drilling small holes or dilling into steel then stick to a standard drill with speed control. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bishbosh Posted March 25, 2009 Author Share Posted March 25, 2009 Ok, thanks folks, so SDS is off the menu. Unfortunately the screwfix offer has ceased too. So, going back to my first post: If the verdict on SDS is no then what about this non SDS drill? Worth a punt? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freeagent Posted March 25, 2009 Share Posted March 25, 2009 Yeah, that looks nice, the blue Bosch tools are the pro range, whereas the green ones are DIY.. I'd recommend either Bosch or Makita... I've got plenty of Dewalt tools aswell, but am not convinced they are quite as good as Bosch/Makita... do you have a compressor? if so what about an air drill? oh, and SDS is awesome for drilling through brick, but not really the right tool for wood/steel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bishbosh Posted March 25, 2009 Author Share Posted March 25, 2009 Cool, will probably buy tomorrow for delivery before the weekend unless I get a warning off from someone with first hand experience. of this particular model... . No compressor and even if I did, I would still buy a mains drill - it will get plenty of use on household DIY as well as bodging crafting Land Rover stuff! Thanks, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Train Posted March 25, 2009 Share Posted March 25, 2009 I'd second Bosch. Given the need I would go with Bosch in most cases. Even my home appliances are Bosch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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