Bosch Cordless Hammer Drill: light, snappy and blows through brick like butter
I needed to make some holes. Specifically, I needed to drill into the brick support-pillars in my office because I have run out of wall-space to hang pictures. We've got a big 9mm Black and Decker drill at home and some mortise bits that I've used from time to time, but it's slow, heavy and difficult. I remember drilling the outside wall to put in a hammock-hook -- it took an hour and afterwards my arms and shoulders felt like I'd been broken on the rack. I also blew through two bits before the hole was done, and even then, it was sloppy and I needed to go buy a larger-gauge plug.
Being a poor workman, I blamed my tools and set off in search of a better one. I'd heard good things about cordless hammer-drills -- the last time I looked into them, most of the power-packs were NiCad and subject to all kinds of finicky recharging crap, but LiOn is everywhere these days -- and so I started reading online reviews. I hit on the Bosch Uneo "3 in 1" Cordless Lithium-Ion SDS Hammer and Drill/Driver, a sweet little 1.1kg tool that seemed almost too good to be true.
When it turned up, I charged it for a couple of hours and then went to work on the walls. Ever used a Demel to carve up styrofoam? That's about how smoothly the Bosch went into the brick while in hammer-mode, making quick, neat holes with just the lightest pressure. The clever chuckless head is the easiest one I've used so far, a collar that tugs up to admit a new bit, then snaps back to form a dust-collar. The rubber grips are right where I wanted them, and easily absorbed the shock of the hammer-drill action.
Around the same time, we got a big plastic storage shed for the back porch that had about a million screws. I brought the drill home for the evening, thinking I'd give it a shot (even though I usually find that the wrist strain from a manual screwdriver is usually less than the pain of slinging around a heavy corded drill). It was almost magic. The drill's trigger is a variable-speed control, making screwing much safer -- I didn't crack a single piece of plastic by overdrilling, nor did I strip any heads (good thing, too, since I inevitably installed the wrong screws in the wrong holes and had to use the drill to reverse them all out again).
Since then, I've drilled plenty of holes around the place -- once they're this easy to make, it's hard to resist the temptation -- and hung up my raygun collection, some framed assemblage sculptures, and many other little jobs besides. I'm sold -- going to get another one for home and give away the old Black and Decker.
Bosch Uneo "3 in 1" Cordless Lithium-Ion SDS Hammer and Drill/Driver (Amazon UK)
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If it doesn't have a white LED in the grip illuminating your work area, then I'm not interested.
Ever since getting a drill with that little innovation (with a cord I'm afraid) I don't want to go back.
Now that post is an example of good writing -- making work with a cordless hammer drill sound exciting.
Is this available in the US? Or just the UK?
Its an SDS drill, where have you been for the past decade?
I have a difficult time seeing the value. This drill uses expensive nonstandard bits. It makes more sense to me to have a separate hammer drill and cordless drill and still have change left over from the $200+ USD cost of this thing. Bosch is a great name, but I think the price needs to be half of what it is. But it seems you folks in the UK are used to paying top prices for stuff.
News is what someone doesn't want you to know. Everything else is advertising.
There goes your damage deposit!
Demel? Dremel!
Coincidentally, I'm in need of a solution to drill up some concrete. But alas, it's a bit harder to find this drill in the US - Amazon's US site doesn't list it, for example.
@Cory - You seem to be quite taken with this product, enough to enthuse about it here. But I saw no reviews or rating for it on Amazon. Any reason you decided to opt against providing product feedback there?
@Pantograph - Might I ask what drill you're using?
That cute little puppy is sporting some serious Ray-gun "pew-pew-pew!" design chops.
I think my double entendre gland just exploded...
Clippy, I believe it's a Skil 6390. I hope this isn't something that can be patented, because it is awesome and should become standard in all drills as far as I am concerned. But if it is, Skil is owned by Bosch, so I see no reason why they wouldn't put it in all their drills.
Wow I never expected to start raving about powertools on teh web. At least not before my 40th birthday. Time to buy a shed and cozy slippers --sigh--
I've always found that making holes is more about having a good quality bit rather than about the drill.
I take it the fancy chuck needs special bits.
@Quibbler: I agree. It seems like a nice drill, but the difference in performance probably has much more to do with better, sharper bits. Also, your previous drill didn't have a variable speed trigger? How old is it?
@Pantograph - I have the Bosch PS30 which is a little bit heavier duty but still light and does have the LED lights, it's also an impact hammer based system. So far it's replaced the old ni-cad based sears drill and works as well if not a lot better.
It's a shame because I don't think this is available in the states yet. Weird for Bosch to have an integrated battery. What kind of warranty does it sport? Home use or commercial?
Cory - post it to CoolTools.
@Clppy @Cry, bcs Ryb hs sprr prdct bt wldn't py fr prdct plcmnt r blwjb rvw lk Bsch dd?
@Clippy @Pantograph, you can see his drill on f-ing machines.com.
Cordless, meh. Unless it requires 12cfm at 90 psi, it doesn't qualify as a tool.
#8 and #9 are right.
Speaking as someone who was part of building an elementry school in Florida, who stayed ahead of three teams of three people putting up J channel for overhangs by drilling into brick with a high powered Milwaukee hammer drill, the bit makes all of the difference.
I'm Captain Bosch Fon Ronsenberg of Dalmasca! Don't believe Ondore's lies!
I cannot be trusted with that kind of power. I would just start cackling maniacally and destroy various buildings brick by brick.
"YOUR BUILDINGS ARE LIKE BUTTER TO THE DECIMATOR!"
That's what I would call it, the decimator. Because I would destroy 1/10th of the buildings in my area before the cops grab me.
@ #3 Clippy: You might not be able to find this specific model in the US, but there are lots to choose from. I don't know specific models off the top of my head, but Bosch, Milwaukee, and DeWalt all make really solid cordless drills. Makita is also making quite a comeback.
The little LED headlights feature is becoming quite common across brands, so don't worry about that being a proprietary Bosch thing. I first saw that feature on Makita drills, and my shop now owns a couple of DeWalts with this feature.
Nickel Cadmium batteries used to be finicky way back in the day, but nowadays they're fine - especially if you get a charger that has a reconditioning feature.
I wouldn't get a cordless anything that doesn't come with a pair of swappable batteries. If you're doing a big job - and hammer-drilling can take a lot of juice - you don't want to have to wait for your tool to recharge before you can use it again.
I do not know if you are a poor workman, but you definitely do not understand the difference between various types of drills.
Drilling into bricks is very different than drilling into quality concrete.
Your old Black and Decker is no doubt a hammer drill - the one with mechanical clutch providing very inferior hammer impact. It is good for drilling into soft brick.
Rotary hammers, on the other hand, use piston to power the hammer blow. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammer_drill Those are used to drill holes into concrete.
You can usually distinguish between those two types by looking at the chuck. If it has SDS chuck that requires drill with special shaped, so called SDS body (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_%28engineering%29#Special_Direct_System_.28SDS.29 ) it is the piston powered one, if it has just plain chuck for drills with simple cylindrical end, it is most probably mechanical (from the point of view of drilling into concrete - lousy) one.
I have purchased very very cheap (understand absolutely-rock-bottom-price) chinese knockoff of a high-end SDS rotary hammer for some 30Eur. It can drill 8x50mm hole into a high quality concrete in under 6 seconds.
It looks like this:
http://www.wetra-xt.com/asist-katalog/pneumatick-vrtac-kladivo-1500w-bez-p-slu-enstv.html
If you really want to recommend a drill on a page frequented by nerds and geeks, why do not recommend the blue line of Bosh tools?
When I am buying a Bosch tool I definitely choose one of their "professional line" - blue tools over their "hobby line" - green ones.
You're comparing a hammer drill to a non-hammer drill?
I hope you checked with your landlord before making holes in brick! That's the sort of thing that drives me up the wall, as a landlord of a 100-year-old building. If every tenant made holes in brick to hang pictures, the walls would be swiss cheese. Holes in mortar work just as well, and there are also alternatives to making holes.
damagedbadtzmaru, accusations of payola are trite and tiring. Cory just liked the tool. I like my Ryobi, but it is not as nice as a Bosch, no way.
For screwing (not that kind of screwing you perverts) I have the Bosch Ixo. Which doesn't drill, but is very small and light. I have used it for thousands of screws already. We are calling it the 'Bob the builder' at our home.
So maybe it is a bit girly small, gets the job done.
There must have been something seriously wrong with your drill and/or masonry (NOT mortise!) bits to spend an hour drilling one hole. Presuming your previous drill was also mains-powered it doesn't even make sense as that should always have had more power (= more torque) than any cordless drill. 14v is good enough for most things, but see what a 24v can do!
Having an integrated battery is the crappest idea I've ever heard for a drill/driver. nd y nd t stp whnng bt wrst strn frm sng scrwdrvr, t mks y snd vn mr f nrd thn y ntnd!
@11 GeekFu --
Battery is NOT integrated, though it must be behind a door. If you read the spec list for the Uneo you'll find:
1 x Bosch UNEO Cordless Compact Power Pack
There's a US model Bosch "Litheon" PS40-2A 12-volt impact driver that's similar, but doesn't have the additional hand guard frame. Still has the pew-pew phaser looks though.
http://www.amazon.com/PS40-2A-12-Volt-Lithium-Ion-Impact-Driver/dp/B001C4AQVG
Cory, that's an SDS chuck. Used by everyone these days, it's like the 3 point hitch of hammer drilling.
SDS bits are hella expensive, so if you want to do regular (non-hammering) drilling you will find that an SDS Jacobs chuck (SDS male on the back end, standard Jacobs drill chuck on the other) is worth the investment.
Be careful, though, with your new drill. I have found that the motors used in the corded bosch hammer drills are awesome for hammer drilling, but are bad for jobs where there's a high resistance to rotation - like mixing up cement or mastic with a giant eggbeater, a task my corded Makita hammer drill does easily. The motor in Pedro the Cruel's Bosch hammerdrill not only couldn't handle heavy mixing, it started smoking when we tried it. On the other claw, the Bosch significantly outperformed the Makita (which is a 1/2" chuck monster, incidentally) when drilling deep into 100+ year old stone walls.
aye, brings a tear for the days of the star drill and single jack...
This isn't some sort of analogy about operating systems is it?
mortise is a type of wood join.
I agree #21 star35: There's no way that drilling a single hole in a brick (or stone) should have taken you an hour and two bits. I don't know if it was your previous drill, the other bits, or the fact that you had the thing spinning in reverse, but that just doesn't make any sense at all.
I have a old non-hammer drill with fairly cheap bits and it doesn't take more than a couple minutes at most to drill into brick and stone.
And just to be clear, the fact that your new drill is cordless is wonderful for usefulness, but it certainly hasn't made it any more powerful. Portable batteries simply don't produce as many watts as outlets do, no matter how good the battery.
Hilti has a series of hammer drills too; I've always find their products to be th ebest performing.
http://www.us.hilti.com/holus/modules/prcat/prca_navigation.jsp?OID=-17648
It doesn't look like anyone has addressed this but...
Drilling in rock is completely different than drilling plastic, wood, or metal.
If you drill with a standard drill bit, the job of the bit is to slice through the work with its sharp cutting edges. Using a standard bit in masonry will ruin it.
A hammer drill essentially turns the bit AND pounds the bit into the work, chipping off the rock as it goes. I'm not sure of the mechanism but I believe it's simply a cam that the chuck rides on, causing the in and out movement.
Drilling into rock with a non-hammer drill will probably ruin the bit, create a much larger hole, and tire you out after 10 minutes of work.
Drilling into rock with an old style hammer drill (w/ the jacobs chuck) will create a neat hole in a minute or less.
With the SDS drill, you will probably have gotten to the shoulder of the chuck before you realized it :)
SDS drills work like jackhammers, there is a sleeve with a piston connected to the motor on one side and a piston connected to a strike plate on the other. The motor turns the piston and the air compressing shocks the other side's piston into the strike plate, causing the drill to move forward.
I had bought a 7/8" 20" long bit to do some work through cinder block and accidentally went through the mortar that joined the blocks. I just kept on truckin' and after a couple minutes had drilled through 10" of solid concrete.
Excellent. I agree, the first time you use a hammer drill it's absolutely a revelation. I lent one to a friend a while back and after using it for about 15 seconds he had to put it down, call me up, and exclaim "holy shit, this motherfucker is loaded with WIN!"
Cory, I can't wait for you to try a SawsAll for the first time. Find a wall in your house that needs a new doorway and KICK ASS.
I think I've seen this headline before on a penis enlargement email offer.
thecheat and Brandon West beat me to it, but it bears repeating. any hammer drill with a masonry bit will go through brick like butter. even the $20 ones from your local importer of generic chinese tools (like harbor freight).
also, is bosch taking their design cues from hitachi now?
and what you would do if you needed to make a hole in stone and had no drill?
re #41, I don't know about that. But I do know if you need to bust up some rock and explosives are not an option, this stuff called Crackamite can work wonders!
http://www.crackamite.com/crackamite.html
fascinating, I imagine a reaction that forms a compound that expands.
You still need to make a hole to put it in the object to be broken though.
Right, right, ya gotta drill one or more holes, or have a natural crack that you can pour the stuff in.
It's available under a number of names, BTW. Dexpan is another trade name for it.
Review not complete until Cory performs a trepenation with it.
Meh. Go buy a DeWalt cordless toolkit with two interchangeable batteries that work in all the tools. Minimum 18V, with at least a sabre saw, a circular saw, drill, light, and charger. IMHO the minimum setup for general home projects. If you liked the variable speed trigger for sinking screws, just wait until you discover the magic of a drill clutch.
Cory,
You're one of the main contributors to BoingBoing, with that logo - and you never bought a hammer drill until now?
Canadian Tire sells these nice adapters that convert a regular drill into a hammer drill or an impact wrench. I saw somewhat suspect about their performance, but the reviews I've read are all glowing.
http://www.canadiantire.ca/browse/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524443303346
They are frequently on sale for $20
The chuck seems to be some sort of weird hybrid between an impact driver chuck and an SDS chuck called an 'SDS-quick' chuck.
The difference being you can put hex shank screwdriver bits in it, as well as 'SDS-quick'.
Image of an SDS-quick bit here:
http://www.conrad.de/Werkzeug-Werkstatt/mehrzweckbohrer_quick-36.sap
I don't know whether it takes any of the several different types of larger SDS bits or not, it looks too small to me, but it definitely won't take ordinary cheap drill bits.
http://www.findtheneedle.co.uk/images/products/484700.jpg
We call the fire department first, to warn them about the frantic calls they are going to recieve as soon as he turns the thing on.
I remember smashing my thumb with a hammer while standing on a ladder and stardrilling into a brick wall, in order to hang a sign. I sure wish we had one of these babies back then.
A recent BB post about cursing to relieve pain brought back many, um, painful memories. I learned early that profane cursing was The Song of The Working Man.
Prises be to electric tool technology!
No, Buddy66, prises be to crowbars!
The Bosch green tools are for amateurs. I'm sure they do the job but won't last for long. DeWalt drills only last 3 years for us at work while the best we've found so far are the Bosch Blue Professional line. We use SDS max and SDS plus (the mini size) in breaker and hammer drill form. SDS plus(the smaller size) are so so much faster for drilling in masonry. SDS max we only use for holes over 20mm as the tool is so heavy and difficult to use up a ladder. This tool is probably a great DIY choice though.
LOL, Dawwg!
Glad you liked it, Buddy. I'll be here all week!
Takuan 41: and what you would do if you needed to make a hole in stone and had no drill?
Set water to dripping and wait a thousand years. You humans are so hasty.
About that Crackamite stuff: it says it's a powder containing silicate, and then that it has no harmful ingredients. WTF?Speaking of which, when drilling through brick you really, really should wear a mask. Silicosis is an ugly, painful death.
m srprsd gy mn hv nt sd ths t Snst Pnt rst r (ntrstt 17 n rzn) t drll glry hls:
http://www.tn.cc/2009/07/snst-pnt-glry-hls-glry.html
Another good tip when drilling holes in the wall is masking tape a paper bag, or a bit of paper folded into one under the hole. Saves a lot of time clearing up.
hmmm, crackamite....bridge expansion joints....
http://www.karcher.de/int/Products/Home_and_Garden/Vacuums/Drilldust_catcher/16791000.htm
or just drill a hole center/bottom of a cheap, clear plastic salad bowl when drilling overhead anchor holes. You can even mount it behind the chuck.
how about a hardwood dowel with abrasive slurry, set to vibrating by stroking a toothed bow along its length?
An hour to drill a hole... When I was in college some guys were working on a project requiring 1/4 inch holes in two by fours. One guy was going reeaalll slow. He didn't realize he was using a reversible drill, and was essentially burning holes through the wood... Fun times.
Tian,
That was incomprehensibly off-topic and inflammatory.
well dammit Jim! What do you expect these days at Star Fleet Academy?
In Cordes Junction, they have to make their own fun.
Not that they're all that good at it.
I'm intrigued by the transparent salad bowl idea and I might give it a try.
Drawbacks seem to be: drill a hole in ceiling, clean salad bowl each time (because if you don't you can't see what you're doing) - drill hole in ceiling, go to wall to drill another hole, take off salad bowl etc.
http://rack-a-tiers.com/prodCat06.htm
This seems to be a good drill machine, but the differences in performance may be a lot of things we can do better, sharp-bit.
"I needed to drill into the brick support-pillars"
You never need to put holes into support pillars.
http://www.leevalley.com/garden/page.aspx?c=1&p=10437&cat=2,2260,33144
Thanks God the forum is not over-run with namby pambies :))
A bit of good old 'bit' discussion. Love it.
I agree that tools are cool...I have a few myself
A while back I needed a kanga (medium scale hammer drill). I found I could by a cheap one for the cost of hiring one for the weekend. My thinking was that if I got a few more hours out of it at a later stage I'd saved money.
The right tool for the job it 'twas. The old adage that a good workman doesn't blame his tools is true...to the extent the tool is designed for the job.
I also agree with the comments that frequently people use the wrong tool for a job and then find out there's a better one and think they're comparing apples with apples.
One of my favourite tools is my automatic centre punch. One of the cheapest I own, but it's the simplicity that I love.
Anyone else for their favourite tool?
Padraig, my favorite tool belongs to someone else. Though he occasionally claims it belongs to me.
Oh wait, you meant...
My favorite power tool is my food processor. Takes care of the boring part of cooking, allowing me to focus on the creative part. For example, I can grate an entire four-pound block of cheddar in about 5 minutes with that thing.
Second-favorite would have to be the chocolate tempering machine. Before I got it, tempering chocolate was essentially beyond me; my ADHD couldn't deal with the tedium of raising and lowering the temperature of chocolate while stirring it absolutely continuously. Result of buying the tool: I can make chocolate candies! My friends are grateful...until they see the scale.
favourite? well, the right tool for the job of course, but most generally useful and there?
http://www.leatherman.com/multi-tools/full-size-tools/charge-tti.aspx
My favorite tool of all time is a hand-forged poll-backed bearded hewing axe with a 36" hand-carved hickory handle. It is a thing of grace and beauty that contrasts well with my temperament and physique.
Taku-san, I think you would enjoy this paen to the axe, entitled "Gun nuts are liberals who hate America": http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/read.cgi?id=20070420&tid=2437702
(The funniest part is the responses from humorless gun lovers.)
the hands are for giving life, not taking it, Dojo kun.
always liked these
http://www.gransfors.com/htm_eng/produkter/index.html
http://www.garrettwade.com/product.asp?splid=SPLID01&pn=19S13ddd01&bhcd2=1247856066
keep it sharp and you have, knife, hatchet, axe and back blade hammer, pry, chisel and even anvil.
http://web.telia.com/~u85906673/asar/gbild/hammaratr.gif
Gif auja, Odin! Gif auja, Tyr!
Those Grans-fors Bruks axes are the real deal. They are all unique, but I haven't yet seen one quite as pretty as my old Rival. It's from the breakup of the Kenneth Lynch tool collection.
http://www.davistownmuseum.org/bioLynch.htm
I abused the first axehead for 15 years - chopping firewood loaded with nails and spikes, hacking pells for sport and exercise, etc.. It would ring like a bell and bounce right off any metal it couldn't shear. I never managed to nick the edge except by hitting rocks. When I finally twisted the blade off the poll (by repeatedly hammering it through dry spiral grained locust with a 16 pound maul) I damn near cried.
I am being more careful with the current blade, which may be the last one of the type outside of a museum, but I still use it nearly every day in winter. I chopped four cords of black walnut with it over the last two years. I believe it is about 100 years old and it is a marvel of metallurgy.
The japanese chopper you linked is a great axe substitute for backpacking, BTW.
Ah, hands. What can't they do?
I chopped four cords of black walnut with it over the last two years.
You've chopped two cords of wood a year? That's a cord every six months. And black walnut is especially hard, IIRC.
Do you have Big Manly Muscles? Because that sounds like a LOT of extremely vigorous exercise to me. A cord is a huge amount of wood.
Yes, Xopher, it's a lot of wood & a lot of exercise. But I had more tree than I could convert into boards, and honestly I had no idea how much work heating the house with wood is. Fools rush in, and all that!
Hmmm... I should clarify that I originally diced up the tree with a high quality chainsaw (reviewed on Cool Tools for your reading pleasure). I merely split it wit' me trusty axe. Splitting is way easier than cutting across the grain.
I seem to recall colonial farmers in the northern parts of the USA would cut 16 to 18 cords of firewood a year using nothing but an axe. I'm a total wimp by comparison to the average pre-industrial farmer half my size.
face cords or full cords?
though if you want to really understand work: hacking ties for the railroad.
Itosan- you consider American pioneers, out there chopping white oak to build their log cabins, to have been half your size?! Huh.
It's kind of a shame to hear that that beautiful black oak is going up in smoke. I hope you'll keep a nice bearl stump to carve a cthulhu garden gnome with the chainsaw to ward off evil spirits, 'cause if you piss him off, Xopher will sick them on you!
As I understand it, American pioneers were mostly skinny wiry guys and few of them were over six foot. I am the size of Antinous.
But don't worry, Troofie, I split the main trunk lengthwise (it was 3' OD @mbh and 24' long) and dragged it out of the streambed with my ginormous block and tackle to where a portable bandsaw could turn it into beautiful, beautiful boards. I will be crafting stuff out of it for at least a decade.
I'm sorry, but Lithium-Ion isn't abbreviated LiOn. It's Li-ion.