On Thu, 23 Jun 2005 15:05:25 +0100, Chris Bacon
wrote:

John Rumm wrote:
T i m wrote:
The only minor fear I have is when drilling older houses (like mine ..
1897, solid 9" walls and morter mostly sand) that the power of an
'impact' drill might knock some of the bricks about? Also with SDS

Drill pilot holes, and enlarge with bigger bits. Whacking a large
bit through a wall may well give trouble. Don't feed the second
bit through too fast.

That's what I generally do on most materials.


It will depend on the wall I guess... we have solid 9" walls here with a
further inch of rock hard render over. No problems drilling with the
SDS, although you need to take it easy on the exit if drilling right
through so that you don't take too big a lump out the wall as an exit
wound!

Again, it's technique - why doesn't anywhere offer a day course
in "how to use DIY hand tools"?

Probably ;-)

You need to support the wall
where the bit will exit, and you won't get a huge crater in
the wall which seems to be the desired aim of TV ariel
installers, etc.

Assuming you want a hole all the way through (I didn't in this case as
it was just for frame fixing plugs). When I *do* want to make a hole
through a wall I always go right through with a small drill then often
(of possible) drill back to the middle from each side.


drills being generally heaver I think you loose a bit of 'feel'
compared with a lighter drill?

You do lose "feel" with an SDS drill - the machine itself
should "float" on the drill bit, else drilling performance
will be affected, and the bit also slops about compared to
a bit held in a jawed chuck.

That's the bit i meant .. I don't feel, in nice suitable material
quite as in control as with a 'traditional' hammer drill. Partly due
to the weight of my cheaper SDS drill compared with my hammer drills
and as you say the 'floating' chuck thing.

I would consider myself fairly 'skilled' regarding hand / power tools
and have used them most my life to good effect. However, I don't
always go for a power tool when a simple hand tool will give similar
results with no setting up, little noise, no power required and low
dust.

Like today, even though it was quite warm I nipped about 20m of
'tounge' off some t&g boards with a small hand rip saw. To tidy up the
edge and generally smooth the boards I used my Bosch belt sander (I
did that bit outside) ;-)

All the best ..

T i m