When I buy a drill, I could find a few types of drills in the shop. Each one has classified for specific material strength. I needed a drill for concrete, bricks, and stones. Hence I bought a hammer drill. So is the hammer drill worth it? was my first problem with considering other types. So let’s see, is this correct?
Is Hammer Drill Worth It? Hammer drills are extremely worth it for drilling hard materials such as concrete, stone, bricks, and concrete with rebars that other drills can’t do. The hammering mechanism, and special drill bit structure help to drill these hard materials easy
When you buy a hammer drill, you can see there are types of hammer drills with various hammering actions. So which one you should buy it? Is that the best one you can use? So let me explain everything for you.
How much Will it Cost for a Hammer Drill?
A regular hammer drill will cost about $50 – $100 for home use and a heavy-duty SDS hammer drill will cost about $75 – $250 in the market.
Regular hammer drills are used for home usage to drill brick walls, small depths of concrete, and stones with lower-diameter drill bits.
SDS drills are used for heavy-duty tasks such as drilling deeper holes, and chiseling on harder materials. Using SDS max drill, you can drill concrete and rebars together.
Hammer Drills Have Special Mechanisms to Drill Hard Material
Hammering action is along the drill bit, and it supports the drill bit to penetrate into the material. Normally hammer drills are used on brick, stones, and concrete. Those are very hard and not able to use a regular drill bit for drilling in. The hammer action helps break the material small particles and then remove them with the drill bit’s flutes.
Hammer action is generated with the movements of the gear teeth. That is the basic mechanism, and it has developed for a more efficient way nowadays. There is more power hammer action. Those are based on piston-based mechanisms. These tools are named as SDS hammer drills, and it is used for heavy-duty jobs.
When you are drilling, you can observe the hammer mechanism is not activated every time. You have to pressure more on to hammer drill to a certain extent. When the hammering action is activated, the drill bit penetrates into the material easily.
The impact driver mechanism is totally different from the hammer drill mechanism. So impact driver can be used for the hammer drill purpose.
| Tool | Mechanism | Main Purpose |
| Regular drill | Spinning | Soft drilling |
| Hammer drill | Spinning + Hammering | Soft + Hard Drilling |
| Impact driver | Spinning + Impact mechanism | Drive screws |
| Combi drill | Spinning + Hammering+ Impact mechanism | Drilling (soft+ hard), driving screws |
| SDS | Spinning + Hammering (hi-power) | Extremely hard drilling |
Hammer Drill Can Use for Harder Materials
Hammer drills are used for drilling purposes. Due to the hammering mechanism, it can be used to drill hard material such as concrete, bricks, and stones easily.
By switching off the hammering mechanism, it can be used for drilling wood. Hammer drills are low torque and high speed. Due to this, we can expect sharp cutting edges and holes by using hammer drills.
When you use a hammer drill, you have to force more onto the tool until the hammer action is activated. When the hammer action is activated, efficient drilling is happening.
Hammer drills can be used on
- Concrete
- Concrete with rebars
- Brick
- Stones
- Cement/Plasters
- Woods
Hammer Drills Have Special Drill Bits with Structure
Hammer drills are for hard materials drilling; therefore, drill bits are designed for high heat and more resistance. There are so many drill bits in the market. The drilling steel requires high-speed steel, black oxide, cobalt steel, titanium nitride-based drill bit. Those are high strength and easy to use with hand drilling as well as easy to resharpen. Due to this reason, I selected high-speed steel.
Although drill bits are made with high-speed steel, it is difficult to drill through rebars inside the concrete. There are tips that are powered by the carbide in the market. This bit can be used for drilling both concrete and rebars together.
The drill bit head was a circular cross-section and easily fit into the chuck by tightening.
The chuck is with 3 jaws. Both keyless and key chucks are available in the market. But combi drills have hex shank chuck. The drill bit can be easily mounted to the combi drill rather than the regular hammer drill.
Hammer Drill Types Provide the Best User Experience
Let’s consider the tool size and weight. Nowadays, most tools are cordless. Cordless tools are very easy to handle than corded tools. Cordless tools are powered by batteries. As well as there is a difference in power generation such as brushed and brushless motors. According to your job, you can select the hammer drill, regular drill, or impact driver drills. most tools are combined with the mechanism.
As for me, I prefer separate mode tools. The reason is weight. When I am working, I have to use too much time. Therefore I strongly think about the size and weight. Normally I use an impact driver for driving screws and a hammer drill for drilling inside walls.
I use combi drill rarely because combi drill is more weight and size considering the impact driver and hammer drill.
But for DIY projects, the combi is the best option because all modes are available in one tool.
Hammer Drills Are Compatible With Other Power Tools
Using a hammer drill with other power tools, we must consider how much extent the tool is compatible. We can evaluate this with the chuck, drill bits, and power source.
Hammer drills are with keyless chuck. The circular drill bit cross-section well fits the chuck easily. But if you use the drill bits in the impact driver, that is not fit.
Drill bits are special for hammer drilling. Hammer drill bits are different from the regular drill bit.
Hammer drills are manufactured by Dewalt, Makita, Milwaukee, and many more. The most popular power source is the li-Ion battery. The batteries are available 12V, 14V, 18V, 20V, 24V, and 54V, etc. These batteries can be used on any device in the relevant brand (Voltage and capacity should be matched).
Sometimes you can use a battery adaptor for using the hammer drills. Using these adaptors, you can interchange the batteries with manufactured brands.
Conclusion
Hammer drills are essential for domestic purposes rather than the construction site due to the limited working load. If you need heavy-duty work, you had better move to the SDS hammer drill series. So when you invest in the hammer drill, there are few limitations. But it is the best solution for the DIY and domestic projects.
Related Topics
- Can I Use an SDS Drill Bit in Hammer Drill?
- SDS Plus Vs SDS Max: Which One Do I Need?
- 11 Best Hammer Drills For Concrete and Reinforcement
- Buy a Used Drill and Driver – 08 Things Should Check!
