In article ,
Fred writes:
Hi,

SDS newbie question: I bought a cheap sds drill from Screwfix. It says
on the top to check the grease level regularly but it doesn't say how
often to check or how full it should be. I was chiseling some chases
and when I looked after, it appeared empty. I filled it to the brim
with grease and did more chasing and the walls got covered in grease!
So is it that these will spit if overfilled? What is the right level
to fill to and how often should you check: before every job?

I see that there is a rod in the bottom: is the important thing to
keep that covered? Is that the hammer mechanism?

It can be quite tiring using a 6kg drill to chisel, and now that I
appreciate what sds can do, I think I might look for a 2kg drill. It
seems that some of these can pack as big a punch as the 6kg drills. I
notice that the branded 2kg drills do not need grease, why do the 6kg
ones?

There are two things that need grease - the back of the bits where
they go into the SDS chuck, and the gearbox.

On my metabo, the chuck nose is rubber and you must use a grease
which doesn't rot the rubber. (I got that wrong to start with, but
they very nicely sent me a new chuck for free, as it should have
come with the correct grease but it was missing.)

Topping up the gearbox grease isn't possible with all SDS. I'm
wondering if yours deliberately leaks the gearbox grease onto the
back of the bit? In mine, the gearbox has no provision for user
topping up, but you can send it back to Metabo for a service. I
haven't needed to in 10 years as yet (excluding it having to go
back when it was brand new for two faults), although it's
probably about due now. However, this is a professional SDS drill
which I bought before the DIY products existed.

I'd agree on the weight issue. Mine's 2.something kg which is not
a problem to use for a long time. Unless you're built like Arnie,
the heavier ones are tiring. In 10 years, there are only two times
when it would have been nice to have a more powerful one, and the
rest of the time, not.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]