Hammer drill recommendations?

[Freds]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( (didn't think about renting) )</font>

I don't think they can be rented... huge liability and all.
The quantity I bought from the Hilti rep... he let me use the gun, but we go back a ways from when I used to work construction.

 

[Jagmandave]

I have a Dewalt hammer/regular 1/2" combo drill and I've drilled hundreds of holes thru 6" concrete with no problems, It's not commercial duty, but then I stop after a couple of holes to anchor what ever I'm working on so it always has time to cool down before I hit it again. If this is just a one shot deal, with occasional use afterwards, something like this is more than up to the task, and may last a good long time.......

 

[slydog]

I used a Milwaukee corded hammer drill almost daily for over a year drilling driling 4" deep holes in concrete door sills to lay thresholds back in my weatherstipping days. Sometimes we'd do 25 doors a day. That old Mill just kept going and going and going.... If I were buying it for "work", I wouldnt hesitate to buy another. For occasional use, I might be tempted to try a Harbor Freight.

 

[chim]

First of all there are hammerdrills (sound like an angry bee) and rotary hammers (sound like a mini-jackhammer). At work we have both. Hammerdrills work fine in block and some concrete, but if poking holes quickly is the name of the game, you want a rotary hammer.

We did a project which required a large number of 1/4" and 3/8" holes in existing concrete. We burned up the bits in the hammerdrills, and the rotary hammers cut through like butter. Our smaller rotary hammers (mostly Bosch and some Hilti) are something like 3/4" or 7/8" capacity and use SDS bits..................chim

 

[wroughtn_harv]

What you want is a Hilti TE15C.

It weighs half of the dewalt, bosch, or milwaukee of comparable power and will drill long after they've visited the factory for rebuild three times.

It will drill, hammer, hammer drill, and uses SDS bits.

It's only drawback is that it isn't cheap.

I bought mine because I had to drill thousands of three eighths holes in five thousand psi concrete. And about half of them were hanging out a couple of stories up and drilling with one hand.

That was the honeymoon. We haven't had an argument since. I know which side of the bed true love sleeps.

If you want something you can use and then pass on to the kids if they're good, consider the Hilti.

 

[_RaT_]

I've given up on Hilti, they get stolen from me. My last stolen one was a TE 15. I now have Bosch and quite frankly use the daylights out of it and find very little difference between it and Hilti. I think it was Hilti that first came out with the SDS bits and then the SDS plus bits so common today. I use the Bosch to cinch nail plates for snap tie walls. The holes are only 1/4". The secret to drilling anything hard is to make sure you don't collapse the air space in the hammer mechanism. In otherwords, the weight of the drill is about all the pressure you want to put on the drill. When you hit a rock, this is especially important in order to fracture it.

 

[reb]

I had a factory rebuilt Hitachi 3/8" hammerdrill that worked great until concrete dust ruined the switch. I replace the switch once, but the second time I figured the price (~$60) was too much. I replaced it with a Bosch 1124 rotary hammer (about $180) and am very happy with it. Don't expect to have to replace it.

 

[Dargo]

My contractor had his Hilti stolen (sounds familiar), so he used my Bosch 11224VSR 7/8" D-Handle SDS-plus hammer drill. He liked it so well, that he bought one just like it last year and has been using it on at least a weekly basis in his construction business. He likes it every bit as well as his Hilti, and it costs less.
Personally, I would avoid the Harbor Fright disposable tools at all cost. In general, they are not even good enough for single useage. I know that they would be under "warranty" for the single useage, but you will spend more in gas running back and forth replacing it than it is worth. That doesn't even take into consideration the frustration factor! I wouldn't take one if it were free! At best, you will waste time and money. At worst, you will get injured in the process of wasting your time and money. Other than a set of stainless nuts and bolts I bought at Harbor Fright on sale, everything else I bought there has broken either before the first use, or during the first use. I view their stuff as disposable at best.

 

[rdln]

I have the cheapest hammer drill that milwawkee offered at the time. It has a typical three jaw drill type chuck and I would not recommend that. Find the locking kind, bits will be more expensive but oh well.

 

[rdln]

after reading your use and junkmans post, I would vote for the hammer blow shooter, buy more ammo than you think you need, it took me 4 blows to get the right swing down.