I have a 10+ years old Black & Decker drill, the motor is still good but the trigger switch is wonky. Often it won't start when depressed, but what is scary is sometimes it won't stop when released. 
I use it as a general purpose drill. For woodwork it is perfectly fine. For regular concrete wall it is ok too. However it eats drill bits for breakfast when drilling reinforced concrete like ceiling or support pillars. Not that I do this often, but when I do need it I find myself having to call a handyman.
So I am looking for something to replace it. I am thinking of replacing it with a low end rotary hammer, they don't cost much more than a regular drill. For drilling concrete they will clearly be superior, but what about for wood work? Particularly for large (5") hole saw.
They typically reach about 1000 rpm max, as opposed to about 3000rpm for regular corded drill. I don't see this to be a problem, when high torque is required, we need the rpm to be low anyway. But I don't hear rotary hammer being talked about much for wood working.
I also have a 12V cordless drill, it is fine for most uses but I can't see it driving large hole saw. It also tops at about 1000rpm. I kind of think a rotary hammer would be best to complement it in theory, when a puny cordless won't cut it. But I have never handled one so I thought best to ask first before pulling the trigger.
FWIW I am looking at Bosch, Dewalt or Hilti rotary hammer. Hilti now makes lower powered tools in China like everyone else and and prices are affordable for us mortals, I can't find much information about them.
I use it as a general purpose drill. For woodwork it is perfectly fine. For regular concrete wall it is ok too. However it eats drill bits for breakfast when drilling reinforced concrete like ceiling or support pillars. Not that I do this often, but when I do need it I find myself having to call a handyman.
So I am looking for something to replace it. I am thinking of replacing it with a low end rotary hammer, they don't cost much more than a regular drill. For drilling concrete they will clearly be superior, but what about for wood work? Particularly for large (5") hole saw.
They typically reach about 1000 rpm max, as opposed to about 3000rpm for regular corded drill. I don't see this to be a problem, when high torque is required, we need the rpm to be low anyway. But I don't hear rotary hammer being talked about much for wood working.
I also have a 12V cordless drill, it is fine for most uses but I can't see it driving large hole saw. It also tops at about 1000rpm. I kind of think a rotary hammer would be best to complement it in theory, when a puny cordless won't cut it. But I have never handled one so I thought best to ask first before pulling the trigger.
FWIW I am looking at Bosch, Dewalt or Hilti rotary hammer. Hilti now makes lower powered tools in China like everyone else and and prices are affordable for us mortals, I can't find much information about them.
I use my 18v dewalt hammer drill on the ‘hammer’ setting with large hole saw bits for drier vents and such, it helps keep it from binding.....I wouldn’t expect accuracy as it walks a little.
The Bosch keyed chuck hammer drill is junk and their ‘good’ one has a chuck that takes proprietary drill bits.
I’d go with a 20v lithium dewalt......much longer lasting/stronger than the old 18v.
The Bosch keyed chuck hammer drill is junk and their ‘good’ one has a chuck that takes proprietary drill bits.
I’d go with a 20v lithium dewalt......much longer lasting/stronger than the old 18v.
It will not work because it isn`t designed for such use. Hammer drills have a clutch to prevent harm to its operator in the case of a jam. When you put a larger hole saw it will slip the clutch because friction with hole saws is significant. Indeed, for larger hole saws you`d need a drill with strong motor - I use a 1300W DeWalt and it sometimes struggles because its gearbox is not up to the job (too high rpm, hence low torque). My father had an old Bulgarian drill, designed and manufactured sometime in the 70`s - it had a 1050W motor but gearbox was insane - massive front bearings and on slower setting it worked on 450rpm. It would stop at nothing, literally, and was favoured by construction workers who used it to mix cement...
For hole saws get something like this - an older tool that has high ratio and good amount of power.
For hole saws get something like this - an older tool that has high ratio and good amount of power.
No clutch on my dewalt 18v hammerdrill, not sure if the new ones do though.... I’ve used it with 6 1/4” hole saw through plywood and siding several times.
It will stop if you don’t rock it back and forth a little.
Thanks all.
Just to clarify, what I meant by “regular drill”, they typically have 13mm (1/2”) keyed chuck and a “hammer” function, the corded version typically goes up to 3000rpm.
A rotary hammer, sometimes also confusingly called a hammer drill, typically have SDS chuck. They have a piston that can work like a mini jack hammer. Sometimes the rotary action can be turned off and they can just hammer back and forth. They typically top at about 1000rpm. They also cost more and are bulkier.
I have no idea if at least some rotary hammer have a different clutch, good thing I ask first.
Just to clarify, what I meant by “regular drill”, they typically have 13mm (1/2”) keyed chuck and a “hammer” function, the corded version typically goes up to 3000rpm.
A rotary hammer, sometimes also confusingly called a hammer drill, typically have SDS chuck. They have a piston that can work like a mini jack hammer. Sometimes the rotary action can be turned off and they can just hammer back and forth. They typically top at about 1000rpm. They also cost more and are bulkier.
I have no idea if at least some rotary hammer have a different clutch, good thing I ask first.
Then the “good” ones are what I am looking at, the rotary hammer takes only SDS bits.
I was thinking if rotary hammers are a no go I would get they regular drill, I guess I should look elsewhere then.
A typical 800w rotary hammer runs at about 1200rpm max no load speed, aren’t those high ratio?
I rarely used my 12v drill with a hand tightened chuck for drilling until my corded drill broke, I can see why keyed chuck is preferred.
the bosch sds would be the way to go then.....i didnt know if your budget allowed for new bits. The keyed chuck was the 'junk' part on the the lesser bosch.
they do make a hole saw attachment for the sds....i didnt realize that!
Don’t buy hilti, the tools are good but they obsolete everything quickly and you can’t get parts. We are on dewalt system now but just because they traded in everything we had. The Dewalt 20v combo drill is okay for someone who needs to hammer occasionally but they are heavier and longer than the drill only version. That being said they seem to hold up well in service, we have maybe 100 and the only problem we have had is the batteries that get burned up when they are abused and not too many of those. They get a couple of cycles a day each so don’t think it would be a problem for a home user.
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