"igor" wrote in message
...
I was given a box of some no-name hand tools by a well-meaning friend.
Among the tools is a no-name drill that is supposed to be both a regular
and hammer drill -- just press a button one way or the other. I've long
known of hammer drills but have never seen one in action. I cannot see a
difference between the two settings -- maybe just me. Does a hammer drill
sort of vibrate a little when drilling through masonry or is the hammering
really obvious? Do you actually have to be driling with real pressure
against masonry to detect the hammering? (Against wood it seemed little
more than the chuck being off-center.) I will have to do some drilling
into my brick wall in the spring, so a working version would be helpful.
Advice appreciated. TIA. -- Igor

Almost all of our drills are hammer type here in UK as most of our buildings
are masonry. The hammer setting allows the chuck spindle to move back a
little when you put pressure on it. It then thrusts against a ridged plate
so that it tries to oscillate in and out. The amplitude is low and the
frequency is high so you won't notice the effect much at your hand but it
will increase the drilling speed in masonry by about 3 times. Use a TCT
masonry drill bit of course.

John

I was given a box of some no-name hand tools by a well-meaning friend.
Among the tools is a no-name drill that is supposed to be both a regular
and hammer drill -- just press a button one way or the other. I've long
known of hammer drills but have never seen one in action. I cannot see a
difference between the two settings -- maybe just me. Does a hammer drill
sort of vibrate a little when drilling through masonry or is the hammering
really obvious? Do you actually have to be driling with real pressure
against masonry to detect the hammering? (Against wood it seemed little
more than the chuck being off-center.) I will have to do some drilling
into my brick wall in the spring, so a working version would be helpful.
Advice appreciated. TIA. -- Igor

igor wrote:

I was given a box of some no-name hand tools by a well-meaning friend.
Among the tools is a no-name drill that is supposed to be both a regular
and hammer drill -- just press a button one way or the other. I've long
known of hammer drills but have never seen one in action. I cannot see a
difference between the two settings -- maybe just me. Does a hammer drill
sort of vibrate a little when drilling through masonry or is the hammering
really obvious? Do you actually have to be driling with real pressure
against masonry to detect the hammering? (Against wood it seemed little
more than the chuck being off-center.) I will have to do some drilling
into my brick wall in the spring, so a working version would be helpful.
Advice appreciated. TIA. -- Igor

If it's working, a bit on masnory or even hard wood will let you know...

Quite possibly the hammer action switch is bad or the gearing is just
shot if it's a cheapie....

Use a decent one in masonry and there's no way you'll try anything else
ever again...

When you apply pressure to the bit and start drilling you'll notice the
difference. It should vibrate quite a bit but the in/out strokes are fairly
small so it's not like you'll get propelled back off your feet or anything.

--
Jeff P.

"A ship carrying blue paint collided with a ship carrying red paint. The
crew are believed to be marooned."

Check out my woodshop at: www.sawdustcentral.com


"igor" wrote in message
...
I was given a box of some no-name hand tools by a well-meaning friend.
Among the tools is a no-name drill that is supposed to be both a regular
and hammer drill -- just press a button one way or the other. I've long
known of hammer drills but have never seen one in action. I cannot see a
difference between the two settings -- maybe just me. Does a hammer drill
sort of vibrate a little when drilling through masonry or is the hammering
really obvious? Do you actually have to be driling with real pressure
against masonry to detect the hammering? (Against wood it seemed little
more than the chuck being off-center.) I will have to do some drilling
into my brick wall in the spring, so a working version would be helpful.
Advice appreciated. TIA. -- Igor

On Wed, 26 Jan 2005 17:42:45 GMT, the inscrutable igor
spake:

I was given a box of some no-name hand tools by a well-meaning friend.
Among the tools is a no-name drill that is supposed to be both a regular
and hammer drill -- just press a button one way or the other. I've long
known of hammer drills but have never seen one in action. I cannot see a
difference between the two settings -- maybe just me. Does a hammer drill
sort of vibrate a little when drilling through masonry or is the hammering
really obvious? Do you actually have to be driling with real pressure
against masonry to detect the hammering? (Against wood it seemed little
more than the chuck being off-center.) I will have to do some drilling
into my brick wall in the spring, so a working version would be helpful.
Advice appreciated. TIA. -- Igor

Give it a try with a masonry bit. You'll hear an extra buzz when
the hammer is in operation under tension, almost like a loose clutch
setting on a cordless drill. I have one of the cheapies and it works
amazingly faster than the same bit in a standard drill.


---
After they make styrofoam, what do they ship it in? --Steven Wright
http://diversify.com Comprehensive Website Development

Duane Bozarth wrote:

Use a decent one [hammer drill] in masonry and there's no way you'll try
anything else ever again...


When I've got a lot of holes to drill in masonry, I rent a Hilti rotary
hammer. It's much, much faster than a hammer drill.


--
-- Steve

On Wed, 26 Jan 2005 12:13:59 -0600, Duane Bozarth
wrote:

Use a decent one in masonry and there's no way you'll try anything else
ever again...

I'd never use a hammer drill in masonry. Here in Europe we switched to
SDS drills instead about ten years ago, and I'm never going back.

Interesting point that masonry just isn't so common in the USA. I'd
always known this, and always wondered why there was so little US
interest in decent hammer drills, but I'd never put the two together.

If you are just pressing the button and pulling the trigger with the drill
free spinning, you will see nothing. Push the chuck against something in
hammer mode and pull the trigger and you will see what it does.

--
If at first you don't succeed, you're not cut out for skydiving


"igor" wrote in message
...
I was given a box of some no-name hand tools by a well-meaning friend.
Among the tools is a no-name drill that is supposed to be both a regular
and hammer drill -- just press a button one way or the other. I've long
known of hammer drills but have never seen one in action. I cannot see a
difference between the two settings -- maybe just me. Does a hammer drill
sort of vibrate a little when drilling through masonry or is the hammering
really obvious? Do you actually have to be driling with real pressure
against masonry to detect the hammering? (Against wood it seemed little
more than the chuck being off-center.) I will have to do some drilling
into my brick wall in the spring, so a working version would be helpful.
Advice appreciated. TIA. -- Igor

"Steve Dunbar" wrote in message
...
Duane Bozarth wrote:

Use a decent one [hammer drill] in masonry and there's no way you'll try
anything else ever again...


When I've got a lot of holes to drill in masonry, I rent a Hilti rotary
hammer. It's much, much faster than a hammer drill.


And much more expensive. Tools like that I rent.

--
If at first you don't succeed, you're not cut out for skydiving

Andy Dingley wrote:

On Wed, 26 Jan 2005 12:13:59 -0600, Duane Bozarth
wrote:

Use a decent one in masonry and there's no way you'll try anything else
ever again...

I'd never use a hammer drill in masonry. Here in Europe we switched to
SDS drills instead about ten years ago, and I'm never going back.

Interesting point that masonry just isn't so common in the USA. I'd
always known this, and always wondered why there was so little US
interest in decent hammer drills, but I'd never put the two together.

Well, I didn't mean it in the context you took it, Andy...I meant having
been given a cheap hammer drill, he'd find even it so much better than
an ordinary rotary he'd not go back...

I'm not so sure what you're driving at wrt the masonry comment,
however. If you mean we don't have stone castles dating from Norman
times, no, that we don't...