Hammer drill

[5030]

I would never run any hammer drill, toy or not without the side handle. All you do is take a big chance on breaking your wrist should the bit grab in the hole. I actually had my Bosch pick me up off the ground one time and spin me around. Only thing that saved me was it unplugged itself.

 

[oldnslo]

I would never run any hammer drill, toy or not without the side handle. All you do is take a big chance on breaking your wrist should the bit grab in the hole. I actually had my Bosch pick me up off the ground one time and spin me around. Only thing that saved me was it unplugged itself.

And amazing how fast a drill can spin a 200 lb object..

 

[4570Man]

@fatjay don't get me wrong, I love Milwaukee tools, but I'm not sure that this is the best tool for the job.

If you want to drill more than a hole or three, I would strongly urge you to get a drill that is either SDS-Plus or SDS-MAX.

I have a couple of drills like your Milwaukee, and I agree @Slowpoke Slim and @bigtiller that there is really no comparison. I feel like my little "hammer" drill is a three year old kid going "Vroom! Vroom!", rather than getting the job done. Using the SDS drills feels like drilling wood with a regular drill; the pile of sand/dust just flies up out of the hole. As an added bonus, I find that the SDS drills don't wear out the carbide tips anywhere near as fast as the non-SDS drills.

The bigger drills have an actual hammer that is plunging in and out. The Milwaukee 5376-20 just has a ridged plate that a second plate rotates on. (4h and 11a in the service manual below) Yes it is a "hammer" motion, but the force is lacking...
https://documents.milwaukeetool.com/54-24-3660.pdf

All the best,

Peter

I agree 100 percent. My old “hammer” drill hasn’t been used since I got a SDS hammer drill.

 

[fatjay]

Well I have this one, we'll see how it goes. It was $40, which is a far cry from $250 which is what I'm seeing SDS's for.

 

[Peter 315]

You could rent a sds from the depot.....

 

[QRTRHRS]

If I use a regular masonry bit that goes in a jacobs style chuck, will the hammer function cause excessive wear on the chuck/bit?

Way back when, i bought a corded Milwaukee hammer drill with a keyless chuck. First time using it, I had to wonder who was dumber, me or Milwaukee? I changed it out to a used keyed chuck which held up until the motor died.

 

[kenmac]

If I use a regular masonry bit that goes in a jacobs style chuck, will the hammer function cause excessive wear on the chuck/bit?

I wouldn't worry about that. I have several 1/2 hammer drills that we used on thousands of plumbing jobs and they still have the original chucks

 

[goeduck]

I would never run any hammer drill, toy or not without the side handle. All you do is take a big chance on breaking your wrist should the bit grab in the hole. I actually had my Bosch pick me up off the ground one time and spin me around. Only thing that saved me was it unplugged itself.

I never had any luck with anything but an SDS bit hammer. Good advice on the side handle. Plus, I always orient my hands so that the fingers are away from the rotation. i.e., so your fingers open up if the hammer grabs. That has helped me quite often.

 

[Oaktree]

Every DIY'er will need a rotary hammer sometime in his life. SDS Plus should get most jobs done. The increased power and size of bits of SDS Max is nice, but a bit too high for me.

The best thing about a rotary hammer is no pushing. Just let the weight of the drill motor do the work. All you have to do is guide it.

+1 on that!! I wish I'd known about rotary hammers about 5 years ago when I built some stone steps and had to cut a couple pieces of granite. Man, it took forever to drill the holes for the feather wedges with an ordinary masonry bit and a hammerdrill.

 

[kenmbz]

That is the difference. I do only cinderblock, hammer drill for me is fine, did a few hundred, no issues.
Solid cement, stone block, SDS would be worth the extra, even for a few holes.