New Cordless Platform

[JasonS]

My gripe with these kits is that they always include hammer drills. I have a great corded Milwaukee hammer drill for the few times I need it. I find the hammer function just adds weight and cost to the drill/driver for a function I'm not likely to ever use. If they'd just offer these kits with plain old drill/drivers I'd be quire pleased.

[..Kev]

23 minutes ago, JasonS said:

My gripe with these kits is that they always include hammer drills. I have a great corded Milwaukee hammer drill for the few times I need it. I find the hammer function just adds weight and cost to the drill/driver for a function I'm not likely to ever use. If they'd just offer these kits with plain old drill/drivers I'd be quire pleased.

You can buy them individually.  You just get a bit of a savings buying the kits.

[Mark J]

Confession.  I have no idea what purpose a hammer drill could serve in a typical home or wood shop.  

I have one that came with one of those kits.  The one time I thought it would save the day with some rusted lug nuts it was utterly incapable of  turning them.  

[curlyoak]

My Makita came with a hammer. It was on sale and I needed the drill. I did use the hammer in order to use tapcons once. Worked fine. Because it comes with the drill and the price was not increased because of it, it does not  bother me.

[Tpt life]

@Mark J My “siding” is limestone veneer. I use a hammer drill often. Mostly, that is because this is a project home. Also, the back is an addition that captured some of that limestone so that it is an interior finish. Simple things like hanging pictures or replacing hose reels, exterior lights, the dryer vent, the mailbox etc. all benefitted from a hammer drill. That said, I bought corded and it sits on a shelf most of the year. 

[Chestnut]

8 hours ago, Mark J said:

Confession.  I have no idea what purpose a hammer drill could serve in a typical home or wood shop.  

It's for using masonry bits for drilling concrete. My shop has block walls so to hang anything i need to put a hole in concrete which doesn't really work with a regular drill. I agree though it's unnecessary added weight. Though it seems the better made drills typically have the hammer feature.

[drzaius]

9 hours ago, Mark J said:

Confession.  I have no idea what purpose a hammer drill could serve in a typical home or wood shop.  

I have one that came with one of those kits.  The one time I thought it would save the day with some rusted lug nuts it was utterly incapable of  turning them.  

Are you confusing a hammer drill with an impact driver? The impact driver is what is used to provide very high torque by use of a rotary 'hammer' mechanism inside the drive. It's the one that goes 'klack klack klack' when driving resistance goes up.

A hammer drill provides a linear concussion through the masonry bit to help fracture the concrete ahead of the tip to aid in drilling. You wouldn't use one of these to try to undo lug nuts.

Just a word about the 'hammer' function included in many cordless drills; it's more noise than function, really. It does marginally speed up the drilling rate, but if you're doing hard concrete or stone, provides almost no benefit at all. To get serious about putting holes in concrete & stone, you need a rotary hammer. They typically us SDS bits & have a much more powerful percussive force at the bit. I have an M18 rotary hammer & it is an amazing tool.

[Mark J]

Thank you for the clarification.  I did not know there was a difference.  What I have is an impact wrench.  

[Immortan D]

3 hours ago, drzaius said:

Just a word about the 'hammer' function included in many cordless drills; it's more noise than function, really. It does marginally speed up the drilling rate, but if you're doing hard concrete or stone, provides almost no benefit at all.

If you use the right drill bit, it does make a big difference. I use Bosch "construction" drill bits (the blue ones). With the hammer function I get a clean hole on concrete walls/columns. If I don't use that function the resulting hole is almost always oversized, takes more time and the drill bit gets wasted sooner.

[Tom King]

The Makita kits are available either with a hammer drill, or a regular drill.  I don't know about the other manufacturers.

[Immortan D]

All brands have cordless drills with a hammer function you can turn on and off. I currently use a Bosch one most of the time.

[legenddc]

2 hours ago, Mark J said:

Thank you for the clarification.  I did not know there was a difference.  What I have is an impact wrench.  

Seems like you have an Impact Driver which is for driving screws. An Impact Wrench is what you would use to get your lug nuts off.

There's also now Pulse Drivers which for simplification are quieter impact drivers.

[Mark J]

Yes.  I am corrected again, impact driver.  

[Immortan D]

Impact drivers come with a 1/4" screwdriver bit adapter while impact wrenches come with a socket adapter (3/8", 1/2", etc).

I have a small impact driver but I seldom use it. It is noisy and since it doesn't have torque settings, it can ruin your work. I guess it's more for carpenters/framing tasks.

[Minnesota Steve]

I bought a rotary hammer when I did a lot of tapcons in my basement, and I'm a big fan.   It just cuts through the concrete like butter.  No where near as slow and painful as a hammer drill.

It also works as a jack hammer for taking up tile.

[drzaius]

57 minutes ago, Minnesota Steve said:

I bought a rotary hammer when I did a lot of tapcons in my basement, and I'm a big fan.   It just cuts through the concrete like butter.  No where near as slow and painful as a hammer drill.

It also works as a jack hammer for taking up tile.

Once you've used one, you never want to go back.

[curlyoak]

I did not buy the makita for the hammer. Bu I have used it on concrete blocks and it makes quick work. I was impressed. I am not an authority on drilling into concrete. I do have a corded Milwaukee hammer if needed.

[drzaius]

2 hours ago, curlyoak said:

I did not buy the makita for the hammer. Bu I have used it on concrete blocks and it makes quick work. I was impressed. I am not an authority on drilling into concrete. I do have a corded Milwaukee hammer if needed.

Concrete block is where they shine. Anything harder, not so much. I'm not an authority, but I've done 10's of thousands of holes in concrete from 3/16" up to 12" x 60" deep, so I do know my way around a 'hammer drill'  

[curlyoak]

11 hours ago, drzaius said:

I'm not an authority, but I've done 10's of thousands of holes in concrete from 3/16" up to 12" x 60" deep, so I do know my way around a 'hammer drill' 

10's of thousands of holes makes you an authority!

[Mark J]

1 hour ago, curlyoak said:

10's of thousands of holes makes you an authority!

...and makes your arms hurt .

[Immortan D]

If you need to make a thousand holes a rotary hammer is the way to go. But for the occasional user like me who only needs to make a few holes for fischer fixings or whatever, a hammer drill is all you need.

[drzaius]

37 minutes ago, Mark J said:

...and makes your arms hurt .

...and leaves me with no desire to make more.

[drzaius]

1 minute ago, Immortan D said:

If you need to make thousands of holes a rotary hammer is the way to go. But for the occasional user like me who only needs to make a few holes for fischer fixings or whatever, a hammer drill is all you need.

I agree, for the occasional 1/4" hole a hammer drill will do it.