When I tried to drill concrete using my regular drill, it was useless. Because concrete is a harder material and regular drill was not able to drill inside successfully. So I realized I had to use another drill with improved mechanisms for that material. Furthermore, I realized there are 07 types of drills that can use for any material such as wood, concrete, steel, glass, tile, and many more.
These are the most used 07 Types of drills, and those can be used to drill any material.
Types of Drills and Suitable Material
Each material need different types of drills due to material strength. In order to efficient drill, we should maintain the RPM and Torque wisely.
| Material | Type of Drill | RPM | Torque |
| Wood | Regular drill | High | Medium |
| Metal | Regular drill | High | High |
| Stone | Hammer drill | Low | High |
| Concrete | SDS/SDS plus | Low | High |
| Concrete with Rebars | SDS Max | Low | High |
| Bricks | Hammer drill | Low | High |
| Plastic Fibre | Regular drill | High | Medium |
| Plaster | Hammer drill | Low | High |
| Glass | Regular drill | High | Medium |
01. Regular Drill
What is a Regular Drill?
Regular drills are the common drill that we use. It is mostly used for wood drilling purposes. Normally, wood drills have high RPM and low torque. Due to the high RPM, it can cut the wood surface faslty. as a result of this, we can observe clean and nice cutting edge on the drilled hole.
Regular Drill Bit
Regular drills use wood drill bits. Wood drill bits are highly sharp, and there are two types of angles that can use for both hard and soft woods.
How to Use Regular Drill?
The drill is operated with the trigger. When the trigger is pushed, the rotation begins. There is a chuck. Chuck is used to mounting the drill bit. Normally old chuck is with a key after you put in the drill bit and tighten the chuck.
When you need to remove the drill bit lose the chuck and take it out. This is a simple mechanism. Chuck key is with a special handle that can use easily rotating. There are many old corded drills. But those are not popular due to many problems. In general cordless drills are better than corded drills.
Brushed motors power most regular drills. Brushed motors are widely used in many tools. But most of the new tools are used brushless motors, and those are really worth it.
Where to Use Regular Drill?
- Wood drilling (high speed)
- Soft material drilling (high speed)
- Metal drilling (low speed)
02. Hammer Drill
What is Hammer Drill?
Hammer drills are a combination action of hammering and rotation. It can move the drill bit with chcuk forward and backward while it is rotating. As a result of this front material will be crushed and come out through the drill bit flute.
The number of movements per minute is called Blows Per Minute (BPM). So when you are going to buy a hammer drill, you should know this notation and values. The high value is more suitable for hard drilling purposes. Hammer drills require less torque and high speed for the drilling purpose. The torque of the hammer drills is constant.
Hammer Drill Bits
Hammer drill bits are different from regular drill bits. Hammer drill bits are made with more strength material and specially designed the drill bit head with carbide powered tip. This tip is strong enough to bear the abrasion and heat.
How to Use Hammer Drill?
Hammer drills have percussion actions. In order to activate the percussion action user need to push toward the drill bit. When you switch on the hammering action on, it will not activate quickly. After you place the drill bit in the drilling point and thrust a bit into the bit. Then hammering action is activated for efficient drilling.
Where to Use Hammer Drills?
- Wood drilling (Switch off hammer action)
- Metal drilling (Switch off hammer action)
- Brick (low with hammer action)
- Concrete (low with hammer action)
- Stones (low with hammer action)
3. Impact Drivers
What is an Impact Driver and How it is Worked?
Drivers and drills are the same by their external shape. So impact driver is used to drive screws, nuts, and bolts easily. There is an impact mechanism that is similar to the rotational hammering action is called the impact mechanism. This mechanism has increased the tool’s torque, and it is a useful force for driving the screws against the resistance force.
Impact drivers have more torque and low speed. The impact mechanism is measured by the impact per minute (IPM). More IPM is highly recommended for efficient tasks. Impact drivers and hammer drills are not able to use by using interchanging due to the chuck differences. If you need to interchange them, you should use a chuck adapter for the impact driver.
Where to Use Impact Drivers?
- Screw driving
- Fastening
- Drilling (wood, metals)
4. Combi Drills (Drill and Driver)
What is Combi Drill?
Combi drills are combined actions of hammer drills and impact drivers. Both actions are included in one tool, and it can use for drilling, hammer drilling, and driving.
Most European countries name this as combi drill, and in the USA, this is called drill driver.
When you use this tool, you can change the torque, spinning speed, and mode as you wish. This tool is more weight and more powerful than a regular hammer drill and an impact driver with the same power supply and electric motor. Combi drills are more weight. Although there are combined mechanisms together, there is a disadvantage of the weight. Hence only using a combi drill is not a wise solution for you because of the weight.
And also, if you need to drill and drive together, you need to change the bits quickly. This takes time and is extremely difficult. So combi drills are not suitable for your job. It is good for your DIYs.
Where to Use Combi Drill?
- Wood drilling
- Hard drilling (concrete, metal, bricks)
- Drive screws
5. SDS and SDS Plus Hammer Drills
What is SDS Hammer Drill?
SDS is another hammer drill series. SDS and SDS plus are the same drills. Conventional hammer drills are with percussion action. But SDS is totally different mechanisms and actions.
SDS stands for the slotted drive shaft, and there is an inside piston mechanism to generate the mammering mechanism. The hammering action is more powerful than the percussion drill. Due to the power of the piston, the tool is mostly used for the heavy-duty drilling process. Drill bits are 10mm, and a special cross-section is designed for heavy-duty works.
You can drill with concrete and rebars together. When you use this, you will not need an extra rebar cutter for the rebar drilling. BOSCH invented the SDS system in 1975, and gradually, it had developed.
SDS Drill Bits
SDS drill bits are different from regular hammer drills. Due to the heavy hammering action, only the drill bit can move forward and backward in the chuck. There are rails in the drill bit, and those help to hold the drill bit in the chuck without going away.
SDS drill bits are made with tungsten carbide and the tip is specially designed to withstand high heat and thrust.
Where to Use SDS Drill?
- Heavy-duty drilling (hard and soft)
- Concrete
- Stones
- Bricks
6. SDS Max
What is SDS Max Drill?
SDS max is the big brother of the SDS plus. SDS max is used for extra heavy-duty projects. Its drill bit is more size than SDS plus. SDS max is with the 18mm diameter drill bits and specially designed drill bit cross-sections. If you need to drill continuously with rebars, you should use the SDS max.
Most of SDS max can use the chisels and scapers. These extra tools can be used with hammering mode only. There is a special way to turn on-off the hammering action. With hammering action, you can use the chisel, scaper, and many more heavy-duty tools. BPM measures the hammering rate.
Where to Use SDS Max Drill?
- Extremely heavy-duty jobs (concrete with rebars)
- Chiseling
7. Rotary Hammer
What is a Rotary Hammer?
This is another name for SDS. Rotary hammer have 2 mode and 3 modes.
- Two Mode – Drilling, Drilling + Hammering
- Theree Mode – Drilling, Hammering, Drilling + Hammeirng
Rotart Hammer Drill Bits
Rotart hammer drill bits are the same as SDS drill bits. Specially, we can use chisel in this tool. It can help to demolishing easily.
Where to Use Rotary Hammer?
- Heavy-duty drilling
- chiseling
How to Select a Drill For Materials?
When you buy a drill, you should select the suitable drilling tool everytime because many tools available in the market.
- Wood – Use a regular drill with higher RPM
- Metal – Use a regular drill with lower RPM with and torque
- Concrete – Use a regular hammer drill for small size holes
- Concrete with Rebars – Use a SDS, SDS plus or SDS max drill
- Stone – Use Hammer drill or SDS drill
- Bricks – Use Hammer drill
- Plasters – Use hammer drill
- Glass – Use regular drill
- Plastic – User regular drill
Related Topics
- 11 Best Hammer Drills For Concrete and Reinforcement
- Are Cordless Drills Powerful As Corded?
- Can A Hammer Drill Be Used as a Chisel?
- Drilling Basic – Explained with Images!
