General purpose drill

[Woodmatt]

Having started drilling the 80 odd 50mmx 50mm x50mm mortices with a drill and forsner bit (see previous post Morticer/mortice).I have managed to burn out the drill I was using,a 25 year old Black and Decker,so now I am looking for recommendations for a replacement.It needs to be a general purpose machine capable of doing timber and masonary so a percussion capability would be good and also a large diameter chuck.Any suggestions welcome,thanks.

 

[skipdiver]

Not surprised you burnt out a Black and Decker, drilling holes that size. You need something more powerful from the likes of Bosch, Makita, Dewalt etc. I have a Hitachi percussion drill that doesn't get much use nowadays but is ancient and i use it for mixing paint and plaster, that sort of thing.

Most of the makes listed will do a percussion drill around the £70/80/90 mark. Or there is the Titan one at Screwfix for £40 but have no idea how good they are. You could also look at SDS drills and buy a separate chuck for normal drill bits, which is a bit clunky but useful when you want to drill holes in walls or concrete, so quite versatile.

 

[woodpig]

Everyone has their favourites but they had a couple of battery powered Hitachi SDS drills where I used to work and they were brilliant.

 

[Doug B]

Most drills will give specifications of the maximum size bit that the drill is capable of taking for drilling wood, masonry & core, I'd suggest you start with maximum bit size for drilling wood I've a feeling there won't be too many that will recommend up to 50mm so your search will be more restricted by this than brand/make

 

[ColeyS1]

Daft question, but is there any reason you can't smash out 4 30mm holes instead of a massive one ? The smaller diameter will allow you to get into the corners more.
I've got a high torque corded bosch that will twist your arm off (literally) before it stops- wasn't cheap though.

Coley

 

[Karl]

I've got a high torque corded bosch that will twist your arm off (literally) before it stops- wasn't cheap though.

Coley

Me too - GSB22-2re IIRC. But mine has a clutch, so good for core drills too.

Useless as a day to day drill though - too heavy and the slow start is a pita.

Cheers

Karl

 

[Woodmatt]

Thanks for the replies everyone,does anyone know anything about this one
http://www.ffx.co.uk/tools/product/Hita ... yless-240V

ColeyS1,I could do that was just trying to save myself work,but that seems to have back fired a bit.

 

[ColeyS1]

I've got a high torque corded bosch that will twist your arm off (literally) before it stops- wasn't cheap though.

Coley

Me too - GSB22-2re IIRC. But mine has a clutch, so good for core drills too.

Useless as a day to day drill though - too heavy and the slow start is a pita.

Cheers

Karl

Yeah that's the one Karl. It's nice to know the torques there if needed but admittedly it doesn't get used much.

Coley

 

[ColeyS1]

Thanks for the replies everyone,does anyone know anything about this one
http://www.ffx.co.uk/tools/product/Hita ... yless-240V

ColeyS1,I could do that was just trying to save myself work,but that seems to have back fired a bit.

You'd probably find it alot easier and have less to chisel out. The first 30mm hole you drill you'll need to keep lifting and clearing but the remaining 3 will chuck the chips in the first hole as fast as you can push the forstener bit. Smaller drill bit would no doubt take a less powerful drill if you've got one you could borrow perhaps.

Coley

 

[Bm101]

I bought an Dewalt sds for the house/loft conversion etc. It's a bit of a beast. I got the dewalt adapter chuck for using normal drill bits but the runout was so utterly magnificent it was unusable as a wood drill. I chopped it (the sds converter) in (gratis/Screwfix) for the Bosch one which is significantly better but in the end I bit the bullet and went and bought a makita battery powered hand drill on offer for everything else and day to day. I know people talk about buying one brand for the batteries etc but as a non trades diyer I don't really find it affects me that much. Just a heads up on the sds conversion chucks. The Makita laughs at my old dewalt battery handdrill. Sometimes it just stares at him for fun although tbf its five years younger and in a different weight class in boxing terms.

 

[Woodchips2]

I bought one of these SDS drills http://www.screwfix.com/p/titan-ttb278s ... AjuB8P8HAQ from Screwfix when I needed to cut through a concrete slab to repair a burst water main. It comes with a drill chuck and other accessories and has bags of grunt for not a lot of money.

Regards Keith

 

[graduate_owner]

I suspect any of the big makes would do you. DeWalt, Makita, Bosch (blue, not green), etc. I have several Makita cordless drills which I like, and several 20 year old AEG corded drills which I think are great. I do not know what AEG are like these days, but Toolstation are offering an AEG for £37.

K

 

[Freddyjersey2016]

Any 50mm drill bit will require plenty of torque, and in my experience forstner bits love to bind in the hole if the drill is not exactly at 90 degrees to the wood - would a cheap drill press be better?

 

[Woodmatt]

Freddyjersey2016 I do have a drill press but the timbers I am drilling the mortices into are 3600mm x 100mm x 100mm and to big and heavy to move about much.

 

[Freddyjersey2016]

Ah I see your problem - how about a drill guide screwed to a wooden baseplate then cramp it down - http://www.axminster.co.uk/axminster-drill-guide-500458

 

[Neil S]

Is the wood dry and flat. Do you have a 1/2 inch router? If so, how about a router and a template. The mortices would then only need the corners squaring up.

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

 

[Woodmatt]

Today I have managed to drill out the mortices with my drill press and the forsner bit, now going to square up with a router, template and 6mm cutter as you suggest Neil S.