JoeZ used his keyboard to write :
Is an SDS drill the thing to use to drill a 5/8" hole though a (mighty hard)
concrete path? I don't actually have an SDS - but if it'll do the job I'll
see if I can hire one.
Thanks

It certainly is.

For what you pay for the hire, you could buy an SDS drill. The cheap
ones can be had for £20 - £30 and are perfectly usable.

--

Regards,
Harry (M1BYT) (L)
http://www.ukradioamateur.co.uk

Harry Bloomfield wrote:

For what you pay for the hire, you could buy an SDS drill. The cheap
ones can be had for £20 - £30 and are perfectly usable.

I think the biggest problem with the cheap ones is that the gangsters
making them, skimp on the quality of the materials used in them. It's
the sort of penny pinching English manufacturing was once famous for.

And still is.

The over the top pricey ones are usually given top quality parts but
the actual business of putting them together costs the same which-ever
tool. So for the sake of a few pennies the Chinese could put Makita,
Hitatchi, Dewalt and the rest of them out of business.

I just can't see them doing it. It's a psychological thing. Some
nationalities never miss an opportunity to feck-up big time.

Like Britain coming up with a sweet fast easily produced motorcycle
engine and putting it in a chrome stallion and the world can't get
enough of them. So what do they do?

Fill the order books with shoddy parts. And turn them out worse and
worse every year until Japan pulls the rug out from under them. Triumph
were still using 20 and 30 year old machines in the late 60's after 15
or 20 years of producing the Bonneville.

Same with the RangeRover. 10 or 20 years before the rest of the world
produce anything like the saloon off roadster and what happens?

20 year waiting lists.

So one day someone is going to produce decent SDS drills that last a
long time and are fairly cheap. Probably the Innuit.

Anyway, what to look for whatever you get. Obviously lightness. It's no
good having a cheap occasional SDS if the next time you use it -in
maybe 4 or 5 years, you need to hold it up over your head for 10 or 20
minutes while you stretch out on a ladder.

Whatever else you need, a reverse is next on the list.

If it jams in a deep hole it is a real pain to get out with no reverse.
After that there is just the other controls: hammer only, drill only...
stuff like that. You may only need the thing once but it will be a big
regret not having it.

Then there is the USA: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4890204.stm

Was Britain that bad when it had an empire?

Weatherlawyer wrote:

Then there is the USA: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4890204.stm

"The FBI says it "has a few leads." That's the good news.

The bad news is they are probably 110.

"Weatherlawyer" wrote in message
oups.com...

Harry Bloomfield wrote:

For what you pay for the hire, you could buy an SDS drill. The cheap
ones can be had for £20 - £30 and are perfectly usable.

I think the biggest problem with the cheap ones is that the gangsters
making them, skimp on the quality of the materials used in them

nonsense, the drain covers and signs were of the highest quality....

Jim A

You need a clutch, if it jams up the ladder, and there is no clutch,
you will rotate arround the drill, untill you let go and fall.

Rick

On 7 Apr 2006 22:01:47 -0700, "Weatherlawyer"
wrote:


Harry Bloomfield wrote:

For what you pay for the hire, you could buy an SDS drill. The cheap
ones can be had for £20 - £30 and are perfectly usable.

I think the biggest problem with the cheap ones is that the gangsters
making them, skimp on the quality of the materials used in them. It's
the sort of penny pinching English manufacturing was once famous for.

And still is.

The over the top pricey ones are usually given top quality parts but
the actual business of putting them together costs the same which-ever
tool. So for the sake of a few pennies the Chinese could put Makita,
Hitatchi, Dewalt and the rest of them out of business.

I just can't see them doing it. It's a psychological thing. Some
nationalities never miss an opportunity to feck-up big time.

Like Britain coming up with a sweet fast easily produced motorcycle
engine and putting it in a chrome stallion and the world can't get
enough of them. So what do they do?

Fill the order books with shoddy parts. And turn them out worse and
worse every year until Japan pulls the rug out from under them. Triumph
were still using 20 and 30 year old machines in the late 60's after 15
or 20 years of producing the Bonneville.

Same with the RangeRover. 10 or 20 years before the rest of the world
produce anything like the saloon off roadster and what happens?

20 year waiting lists.

So one day someone is going to produce decent SDS drills that last a
long time and are fairly cheap. Probably the Innuit.

Anyway, what to look for whatever you get. Obviously lightness. It's no
good having a cheap occasional SDS if the next time you use it -in
maybe 4 or 5 years, you need to hold it up over your head for 10 or 20
minutes while you stretch out on a ladder.

Whatever else you need, a reverse is next on the list.

If it jams in a deep hole it is a real pain to get out with no reverse.
After that there is just the other controls: hammer only, drill only...
stuff like that. You may only need the thing once but it will be a big
regret not having it.

Then there is the USA: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4890204.stm

Was Britain that bad when it had an empire?

Rick explained on 08/04/2006 :
You need a clutch, if it jams up the ladder, and there is no clutch,
you will rotate arround the drill, untill you let go and fall.

Rick

I have one of the cheap ones I bought about a couple of years ago,
which I paid £20 for complete with a few bits in the case. I later
added an additional pack of cheap bits. I then found I needed to bore
through a 1m wall and added some cheap long bits. It has a clutch and
choice of hammer/rotate plus hammer/rotate only. It doesn't have
reverse. It has had a fair bit of use, with no problems and has
probably paid for itself several times over.

I suppose it is one of the heavy ones, but then I have used much
heavier hand tools. None of the bits have given any trouble despite
going through 1m of extremely hard concrete wall. The shorter bits have
also been used too.

Its a case of having something to hand, where previously I would have
found other ways to resolve problems.

--

Regards,
Harry (M1BYT) (L)
http://www.ukradioamateur.co.uk