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Expansion Anchor Drill?

Beemer

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First try at drilling concrete with a Milwaukee M12 Driver/Drill/Hammer and full carbide head (4 blade) concrete bit and it's going no where.
There doesn't seem to be a big "hammer" feeling so has anyone used that tool successfully in hammer mode?
 
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cmandp

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Seems like your using a 3/8" bit or larger with talk of an expansion anchor?

If so an M12 hammer drill isn't going to cut it. The best it's going to do is pilot holes for Tapcons.

You need at a minimum at corded "hammer drill" or better yet at least a proper SDS rotary hammer.
 

lund

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Michigan
I have a relatively standard DeWalt rechargeable combo drill/hammer-drill and a Hilti TE-5C type SDS drill/hammer/chipper. Oh wow, the Hilti is HUGELY better. With decent condition bits, the Hilti hammer drills through old, hardened concrete like butter for holes up to about 3/4" diameter. I also used the Hilti for hundreds of large anchor holes (for epoxy rebar connections, anchors, etc) in concrete reinforcement work in an extensive CA earthquake retrofit project and for many hundreds of smaller ~1/4" holes for anchor strips in a large basement remodel in Michigan for smaller tapcon type anchors. Both of these were in old, poured concrete that was very hard. The DeWalt could barely work on either of these projects even with very high bearing force and new carbide-tipped bits. Also, much to my surprise, the DeWalt would leave your ears ringing (ear damage level) even when wearing substantial ear protection. It seemed like a bad joke. In contrast, the Hilti SDS drill was fast, much lower effort, much quieter, less dust, etc.

If you will do a lot of drilling in hard concrete, be sure to get something better suited for that specific job or you may suffer !! I suspect most brands of large SDS and SDS-max hammer drills will work fine and save a huge amount of time and frustration.
 
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Beemer

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Well my ironworker pal brought over his $650 Hilti hammer drill and it was about 20 seconds per hole.
M12 Drill/driver/hammer does not cut it for this use for sure.
 
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Beerhippie

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Other than making an annoying noise, I've never found a use for the hammer setting on a hammer drill/driver. Impact driver for tough to drive fasteners, SDS rotohammer for making holes in hard things.
 

Rusted Nut

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Other than making an annoying noise, I've never found a use for the hammer setting on a hammer drill/driver. Impact driver for tough to drive fasteners, SDS rotohammer for making holes in hard things.
The only use I’ve found for hammer drills, is drilling ceramic tile; towel bars and such.
 
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mike93lx

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Other than making an annoying noise, I've never found a use for the hammer setting on a hammer drill/driver. Impact driver for tough to drive fasteners, SDS rotohammer for making holes in hard things.
I will always prefer to use one of my rotary hammers, but I've done plenty of holes with a regular cordless Dewalt hammer drill too. Mostly tapckns, but some larger stuff as well. It works, but is slow and annoying
 

Mr_B

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I got a 30 year old Bosch 1/2" chuck hammer drill and that thing does good on concrete, takes a fairly decent SDS outshine it .
Pretty easy pick up a used SDS off marketplace if after a low buck hole solution .
 

Notgrownup

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We bought a Bosch SDS and the best bits we could find. Game changer. It’s for work and we drill to anchor pallet racking so it had to work. It does.
 

mike93lx

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SDS = Slotted Drive System
Wikipedia has some references on it:

The SDS name is an acronym of German: Steck – Dreh – Sitzt! ("Insert – Turn – Seated!"). In German-speaking countries the back-formation Spannen durch System ("Clamping System") is used, though Bosch uses "Special Direct System" for international purposes.[1][2]

with that said, i can't find anything definitive in a quick search, like a patent
 

driftpin

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Dec 22, 2016
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Miami-Dade/Broward Co. Florida
I bought a HFT SDS-Max < $100, it paid for itself on its 1st job. I got their 3 piece set of bits: conical, chisel and wide straight spade; and a set of carbide-tipped hole drills. I used it to set hilti 5/8" threaded anchors, when a contractor trying to drill anchor holes for a baseplate of a premanufactured steel-frame, 3/4" ply & Hardi-Board sided building w/a standing seam steel roof, couldn't get even one hole done with his DeWalt cordless drill. I fired him.

The HFT SDS-Max rotary hammer-drill has done a few other around the house jobs, and has never failed to accomplish what I needed. It's rated at a nominal 9 amps (8.5 so call it 9, rounded-up) and their current comparable SDS-Max is 11 amps and $150. Their less-expensive Bauer doesn't have the metal housing for the motor and hammer/rotary drill like mine does.

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This one is now an old model but it hasn't given me any issues. I always check/fill the grease vault, and I grease the splines, which I've found helps the impact action to work. When I need a replacement bit, I buy Bosch, but I've only needed one.

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