Most people know what a cordless drill is, and have some sort of idea on where and how we use it.
But when we come to the term "hammer drill" people seem to be a little bit lost.
Of course, you can have one look at the word, and believe it has something to do with hammering a nail or something.
But you can't really use your cordless drill for hammering nails, can you? In this article I will walk you through the term "hammer drill", and where and when we use it.
Let's look into the term "hammer drill" in simple words.
If we look at a conventional cordless drill, it has rotary motions, either clockwise or counter-clockwise.
A cordless hammer drill has rotary motions too, but it also has a special designed clutch that makes the drill move horizontally and vertically with rapid strokes at the same time as the rotary motions.
This allows the tool to pulverize the material and you end up working through that concrete wall quicker and with less effort than with a conventional drill.
The power of the horizontally and vertically strokes isn't big, but the speed of the strokes together with the rotary motions makes the material crack faster.
Most cordless hammer drills have a switch, so you can turn off the hammer function and use it as a conventional cordless drill for other tasks.
In what materials is a cordless hammer drill suitable? There is no point in using your cordless hammer tool in materials like woods or metal, as you can't really pulverize those materials.
In fact, always remember to turn off the hammer function when you are going to work in materials like that because, if you are not, you can end up hurting yourself and the machine.
Hammer drilling is primarily for concrete, masonry and other brittle materials.
Everybody that does a lot of drilling in concrete knows that a good hammer drill is essential if you want to do the job as easy as possible.
What drill bits do we use With hammer drilling, the drill bits get exposed to a lot of rough treatment.
There is a lot of punching and the drill bit needs to be in some kind of hard and solid material.
Most of the bits is provided with a tungsten-carbide tip.
If you put a little bit of money into it, your tungsten-carbide drills can last for years.
My personal choice There is a lot of different cordless hammer drills on the market today, with variations in power and speed, and I haven't by far tested them all.
But the best one I've ever tested (it is in fact my day to day drill) is the 28v Milwaukee 0724-24.
A powerful drill with over 600 inch-pounds of max torque out, a ½" chuck, and weighs only 6.
7 pounds which is crucial for me, as I use my cordless tool in average a few hours every day.
A very good drill powered by the longer lasting 28v Li-ion battery.