Hammer drill?

[wrigh003]

I need to buy/beg/borrow/steal a hammer drill to do some work around my basement (install footers for stud walls over concrete, drill holes for anchors to install new windows, etc). What should I be looking for in a hammer drill, and anybody think it's worth it to buy one, or should I rent instead? I currently have a real nice Craftsman 19.2V cordless that might do what I want the hammer drill for, but on the other hand, it might be a good thing to have a convertible corded drill (that acts as a hammer drill and a conventional one) for boring holes in studs for wires, etc.

Opinions? Anybody bought a really good one or a real stinker? Prices seem to start at about $50 for a decent B&D type and go up from there. I could do the Harbor Freight thing, but I'd really rather pay an extra $10 if it will get me something that won't break halfway through the job.

Just looking for opinions...

Thanks

 

[l_bilyk]

This is my favorite... milwaukee 5387

 

[wrigh003]

This is my favorite... milwaukee 5387

That looks like a nice drill, but the budget is nowhere near including that amount. Back to the buy or rent thing, I guess. I was looking at the B&D model ($60) and the Bosch model ($80) at lowes.com (just because there's a Lowe's right across the street from work)- Bosch is a 5/8" model and the B&D is a 1/2" model. I figure rental on one for a couple of days will probably cost me $40 or so, so why not spend a little more and be able to take my time...

Rants? Raves? Other places I should be shopping besides Lowe's?

 

[SCOOTER]

Rent a "Roto Hammer" (Hilti..Bosch) Hammer drills will get smoked if you are doing a lot of drilling..( I once smoked a B&D on the 6th hole drilled)

 

[W-Cummins]

Hammer drills are really light duty tools. If your going to drill any number of holes ( esp 1/2" or larger holes ) in concrete you really want a rotary hammer. As for cordless unless you get into a 36v I would forget that too. I have a 18v dewalt hammer drill and it's a dam nice drill, but for drilling concrete it ***** ( about one charge per 1.5 holes with 5/8 bit to 3.5" deep and slow as hell too). I have 2 bosch rotary hammers and they are great ( 11222evs and a 11248evs) I think that for a limited use deal renting is the way to go as they are rather $$$ new ( $380 and $500 ) You might want to look around pawn shops etc. and see if you can find a used one. I got the big one for $146.00 and it's in great shape.

William..

 

[l_bilyk]

That looks like a nice drill, but the budget is nowhere near including that amount. Back to the buy or rent thing, I guess. I was looking at the B&D model ($60) and the Bosch model ($80) at lowes.com (just because there's a Lowe's right across the street from work)- Bosch is a 5/8" model and the B&D is a 1/2" model. I figure rental on one for a couple of days will probably cost me $40 or so, so why not spend a little more and be able to take my time...

Rants? Raves? Other places I should be shopping besides Lowe's?

The bosch hammer drills are quite good too... i think bosch may have invented them actually

Like W-Cummins said, a rotary ahmmer would be ideal... but it doesn't sound like you have alot of big holes to drill, so you might be able to get by with a drill.

The cordless hamer drills are not very good though.. I have a milwaukee 18v and the chuck slips all the time and it takes a while to drill anything. It's only useful when you're up on a fully extended skyjack and your hammer drill is in a box in the van. So buy something corded

 

[wrigh003]

Largest holes this thing will see are probably the anchor bolts holding footers to the concrete floor in my basement, and those fasteners take a 3/8" hole. The anchors for the windows probably won't even need a hammer drill, as those anchors are going into a cinderblock wall and are much smaller to start with.

Corded is definitely what I want- like I said I'm trying to multi-task the thing, and I already have a relatively heavy-duty cordless drill. It'd just be nice to be able to have something relatively robust that runs straight off a plug so I can do lots of continuous drilling (when needed) instead of having to recharge the cordless a whole bunch. Might be good for it, though, since I have two batteries and they dont't get used as often as maybe they ought to in order to last a while...

So far I am leaning toward the 5/8" Bosch model.

 

[Gregdoo]

I just was drilling concrete this week. I own a Ryobi hammer drill from Home Depot that did a great job drilling small (3/16"?) holes in my concrete walls for Tapcons. This week, I wanted to drill about 30 holes 1/2" by 4" into concrete footers. I bought two nice 1/2 inch Bosch hammer drill bits. It took about 1 hour to drill 8 holes and I wasn't creating a nice hole, because I was getting tired and the holes were getting lopsided. So....I went to Home Depot and rented a Hilti rotary hammer, with bit, and drilled the remaining holes in less than 30 minutes. These holes were straight and clean and I would have been able to drill them in less time if I didn't have to drag an extension cord around.

I was so impressed that I am keeping my eyes open for a nice used Bosch SDS or Hilti rotary hammer. I would prefer the Bosch, only because the bits are a bit cheaper and for the smaller holes I would drill, this would be perfect.

That said, I don't have any complaints about the Ryobi hammer drill....it does fine on smaller holes and is much cheaper....it just wasn't suited to my job this week.

 

[toolman]

Here is mine. Works great.

View attachment 7243

 

[eschoendorff]

I just was drilling concrete this week. I own a Ryobi hammer drill from Home Depot that did a great job drilling small (3/16"?) holes in my concrete walls for Tapcons.

I have the same thing... and for tapcons, it works great. But I cannot imagine doing anything much bigger than 3/16 or 1/4"....

 

[gmasterman]

I have had one(rotary hammer) from Harbor Freight for about five years now. Used it to drill a bunch of 5/8" holes in concrete slabs and brick and block walls. Man that thing goes through concrete like a regular drill goes through wood. Don't remember what I paid but it was cheap. It's paid for itself many times over. Used to have a B&D hammer drill and wore it out in one job-trash! A rotary hammer is the way to go

 

[Charles (in GA)]

If you are drilling more than a few holes, Rent it, the one you rent will be a expensive, professional model, with great preformance and you will get the job done in short order. Otherwise you will buy one that is within your budget, but as others have noted, not up to doing the job, and you will regret the whole thing.

You wouldn't rent a cheap, underpreforming hammer drill, so why would you buy one?

I bought a Milwaukee, I think it is the 5387 pictured above, looks just like it. Short of buying a SDS and the special bits for it, I considered this a good drill for the job (I drilled two holes in my slab) It is an excellent 1/2" drill and I use it frequently, but haven't needed a hammer drill or used that function since I used it for those two holes.

Charles

 

[79rallysport]

Just a couple weeks ago I drilled a 1 1/4" hole through a cinder block foundation with a Metabo hammer drill not a rotarty hammer. That tired the hell out of me. Thank god I only had to do one. But that Metabo hammer drill is one tough cookie.

 

[Willy Victor]

I have a Makita Model HP1501 9/16 keyless chuck. Works great for me. Think it went for about $80 at HD.

Willy