SDS. What is it?

Ok folks, I now understand. Many thanks.

Peter G. Shaw

p.s. I never thought about Wikipedia.

To quote from MichaelG's linked wiki:

"The name SDS comes from the German steck, dreh, sitzt (insert, twist, fits). German-speaking countries may use Spannen durch System (Clamping System), though Bosch uses Special Direct System for international purposes"

My point was that the SDS concept applies more generally than just to drills; a quick look at the Bosch website reveals eg SDS-equipped saws and routers.

I agree that the modern SDS hammer drill is a revelation.

If you get an SDS drill, it would be wise to keep a percussion drill and some bits for those soft walls where SDS can be extreme overkill. The plain shank masonary drill bits can be sharpened with a diamond wheel to make very servicable poor mans drills for hard steel.

.

Sorry ... No

But I did once purchase a cheap adapter which was too poorly toleranced to fit my Hilti

... Lesson learned.

MichaelG.

I've had a Bosch SDS drill for over 20 years. Old Mart is right about some walls and SDS drills. If you go all the way through a brick or block wall with an SDS of 10mm or over on hammer you can expect a large chunk to fly off around the hole as the drill nears breakthrough. I tend to pilot with a 6mm drill first and start large holes from both sides to avoid this where possible and where the look of damage will matter.

I also find a a broad chisel bit on hammer only is good for breaking up stony heavy soil when you want to plant fence posts.

Martin C

If making SDS tooling, it would be sufficient to measure an existing one, the tolerances are not very tight. The material must be hardened to stand up to the striker constantly hammering the end.

I have a De Walt 3.3 Kj mains drill and a Parkside 1 Kj 20V battery one. I am particularly pleased with the Parkside, it is intended for up to 10mm holes, but could go to 12mm with a pilot hole first. It lacks the rotation stop function, but is really too lightweight for that.

Hi, I think I've used one of those SDS max drills mentioned in MichealG's link, during my last day job. Big heavy thing it was and with a drill bit in, stood about 8 or 900mm high, I certainly didn't have to bend down to use it or put any pressure on it, but I was glad I was only drilling holes in the ground for holding down a crash barrier where lorry's could damage expensive plant.

Regards Nick.

As an apprentice i used to repair electrical items. The Hilti SDS drills regularly came in to be repaired. The actual operation is that the Motor drives a pneumatic piston on a rotating crankshaft, that hammers the end of the drill bit. Imagine the old Rawltool that we had to use , holding the unit in the hand loosely & hitting it with a hammer, which i had to do often. The shuttle inside the drill is on a cushion of air, this forces the free acting piston to drive back & forth at a rate of knots.

This piston hits the end of the SDS drill bit & causes a action which removes a amount of concrete / brickwork etc. It is an ingenious device & transformed the building industry. When i was 17 years old our company. Curtis of Leeds with over 100 employee's had just 1 Hilti. So we all had to get by with our black & deckers.

Now every one has a SDS drill in the building trade.

To give an idea of labour time let me explain. I used to fix electrical conduit saddles to walls. Some were engineering brick. On average it would take me 10 minutes to drill the hole with a Rawltool & chew a horse crap plug & insert into the hole.

With the Hilti this whole operation could be done in around 20 seconds.

Steve.

A couple of years ago I had to drill a couple of holes into the granite covered staircase. Started off with a hammer action corded drill but gave up after while seeing almost no progress. Lidl was selling SDS drillers at the time so I went and grabbed one for less than 100£ (dont recall the exact price) The SDS driller went through the granite with surprising ease.

I regularly used a Bosch 36v Cordless SDS drill when installing wireless antenna on the outside of warehouses. Some of the walls were up to 20" thick. The SDS drill would go through like a knife through butter most of the time. Used to pilot with a 8mm and then work up the sizes up to sometimes 25mm. The only times I tended to have a problem was when drilling concrete walls and coming across a piece of the steel rebar. This would bring things to a halt.

The longest SDS I have is around 1metre. But most of them are 18" or shorter.

Colin