Who makes a decent Hammer Drill?

DaveNH · Sep 25, 2001

I went shopping for a hammer drill today (at Sears) and
they had quite an assortment ranging from $99 to over $300.

I want to drill a few holes in some granite for slab splitting.
I'll be using a 3/4" granite bit from Relton.

Any help would be great.

We're all in this together! (3)
Retired Yuppie Tractor Owner
<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by DaveNH on 09/25/01 05:24 PM (server time).</FONT></P>

Anonymous Poster · Sep 25, 2001

I let one of my guys here borrow my Milwaukee drill {not hammer}, after he realized the unlimited torque they have, his brother-in-law bought the Milwaukee Hammer-drill as a gift for him... That is one mean machine!

To add insult to injury, my guy's wife last Christmas got him a DeWalt Cordless Hammer-drill, that he said was tough for a cordless...

bher · Sep 25, 2001

Drilling 3/4" holes in rock is serious work. A hammer drill will be a waste of time. You need a heavy-duty rotary hammer. Hilti and Bosch are the best in my opinion. I would look for a SDS-Max or spline drive 1-1/2" hammer for this type of work. You are talking about pretty serious money ($500 and up). Let me know if I can tell you more.

MarkV · Sep 25, 2001

Dave,

I agree with Bher, a 3/4 hole in granite is asking alot. You might want to check a rental store. Many of them carry the heavy rotary hammers. The darn things are just to expensive to buy unless you need one often.

MarkV

RPM · Sep 25, 2001

Definitely sounds like you need a rotary-hammer, not a hammer-drill.

There's a good listing of them at Amazon.com ...

Go to Amazon's home page - then "Tools & Hardware" -> "See All Power Tools" -> "Rotary Hammers" -> "Corded"

You can sort the list by price, manufacturer etc. There's a lot of them there.

My personal preference is Makita - but I have to admit that's because I've used them the most. Haven't really tried the other ones.

You can get them from $200 and up. Just depends how much granite you have to drill.

Patrick

JATO_RaT · Sep 25, 2001

I also agree. I now own a 1" Bosch. My Hilti was stolen. Most guys use Bosch because of availability but Hilti makes a great, no, fantastic roto hammer. For a great drill used to drill through rock or concrete, get a roto hammer for any holes over 3/8". Rat...

DaveNH · Sep 25, 2001

Thanks to all who responded.
You saved me a couple of bucks./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif
I looked over at Amazon.com and after checking out the prices,/w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif
I THINK I'll CALL MY LOCAL TAYLOR RENTAL
and see if they have one available.
Thanks.

We're all in this together! (3)
Retired Yuppie Tractor Owner