In our new house I’m going to mounting a bunch of shelving units into cinder block/masonry walls. There’s never a bad time to buy new tools, so I figure I’ll get a hammer drill to make the job go easier, and as my housewarming gift to myself.
I don’t have any real uses planned beyond mounting shelves right now, but I could rework some of the many hanging brackets and conduit the previous owners installed. So I think my needs are fairly light.
I have several Ryobi 18V tools currently, so I plan to buy in the same lineup. There are three models in consideration right now:
basic model - with brushes and side handle, cheapest
compact model - bushless motor, no side handle, mid-price
bigger model - brushless motor, side handle, most expensive of this group
None of these are very expensive, so I don’t mind buying the last one on the list, but not sure I need to bother for my needs. Thoughts on a home owner hammer drill? Any other features worth searching out for?
Don’t waste your money on an 18v hammer drill. I have had a couple different varieties of battery powered ones and they just do not have the oomph to get the job done quickly.
A 120v ryobi hammer drill will have more than enough power to do the job and should cost under 50 bucks. In fact at directtoolsoutlet.com I got a refurbished model for 20.
Definitely worth using a corded tool for this task.
I’ll second getting a corded drill. I borrowed a cordless once and it was gutless compared to my two corded ones. I own a cinder block commercial property and have drilled dozens of holes with the two hammer drills I own (a Milwaukee and a DeWalt). I favor the DeWalt only because it is lighter. The big difference is in the bits and I honestly don’t know which ones came with which drill anymore, just that the shiny ones don’t work as well as the not-shiny ones. And definitely get one with the side handle for the frequent occasions when there is solid concrete inside the block.
For homeowner jobs you don’t need a corded hammer drill. Get one that does it all. A hammer drill drills holes or drive screws and cuts into concrete. Been there. And cinder/concrete block is no problem as long as you are not doing it all day long with many holes. I used to have to punch 1-1/2 holes through old concrete foundations. THAT requires a corded drill.
I recently bought a Makita 1/2 inch hammer drill for home use. 1/2 hammer drill
I replaced an old one that I had had for 20 years. It decided to retire.
My recommendation would be buy something that will do it all. From sheet rock screws, or hanging pictures to boring into concrete.
The OP is asking about a home project to install some shelving. Yes, since they will be drilling into concrete, they need a hammer drill. But from what I see they sure don’t need any type of heavy duty contractor drill that will do it all day long day after day.
We aren’t talking about boring a hole through a foundation here.
This is what I’m thinking. I will need to drill 4 holes for the first project; I don’t really care if it takes twice as long versus a contractor’s drill.
As long as you know it will take twice as long for the same price as a corded hammer drill. Cordless is handy for frequent, quick jobs; it saves time hunting up an extension cord, but it kind of defeats the purpose if the tool takes twice as long to accomplish the task. That’s my thinking, anyway.
My Makita brushless tools are more than powerful enough for most jobs, so much so that the side handle is necessary to prevent wrist injury for some jobs. They are professional tools and I don’t know that the Ryobi would have the same performance gain from brushless.
That said, a hammer drill can get through light duty masonry drilling, but an SDS rotary hammer is the proper tool for the job. As a professional I have access to a lot of quality tools, but when I do not have the needed tool it is usually simplest to rent the proper tool rather than buy a cheap model. If you are just drilling occasional shallow holes in light masonry a hammer
drill is fine, but SDS outclasses it dramatically.
The side handle is good for support and wrists, usually comes with a depth gauge (very useful), and allows greater control to keep the holes true.
If you already have Ryobi tools, go ahead and get the mid-range 18v hammer drill. It’ll have plenty of oomph to get through block.
You don’t need a corded hammer drill, you’re better off with something that does more than one job and already complements your tools collection.
To address what other have said about you NEEDING a corded tool, I couldn’t disagree more in your situation. If you’re drilling 1/4" holes, corded is overkill and you’ll still accomplish what you need to in about 10 seconds in block.
Having used cordless DeWalt, Milwaukee, and my own 18v Makita to make holes in plenty of stuff for work, I’m certain you’ll be just fine with an 18v Ryobi for your needs.
I’ve got the same model Makita as enipla and it’s just fine for “soft” masonry like cinder blocks and typical mortar. I wouldn’t bother with a rotary hammer or heavy hammer drill unless I were planning a large construction project. That said, I would invest in a spare battery.
The step to SDS is the big one. But IMHO it just isn’t justified for around the home projects. You still need a conventional drill for other tasks.
I have a larger 16mm corded Makita hammer drill and a top line 18v Makita DHP481Z brushless hammer drill. The brushless wipes the floor with the corded drill. Twice the price however. And none of these are cheap. So far I have not found the need for an SDS drill, although it would make faster work of the things I do. I just don’t need to drill masonry or concrete all that much.
I got my Makita that is a step down from yours after my 10 year-old Bosch corded hammer drill started having chuck problems. I got tired of dicking around with it and got my Makita. Stunned at how much faster it was than the corded drill.
I have a set of masonry bits that came in a Ryobi drill set. They’ve worked fine for drilling holes through tile but I haven’t used them on concrete yet. Any reason to get new masonry bits or use the ones I already have?