Take a look at this picture of a bunch of DeWalt cordless tools.
What’s the vertical thingamajig hanging off the front of the drill in the upper left? It looks like some kinda auxiliary handle, but that makes no sense because it seems to be attached to the spinny part.
It’s a stabilization handle. It pivots. Check this page for better photos.
That’s a hammer drill, and the thingamajig is indeed a handle. It’s connected just aft of the spinny part. You would never use it in the position shown, however; usually it is positioned 90 degrees from there.
That’s exactly what it is.
It isn’t. The handle can swing around 360 degrees, but the shaft isn’t attached to it.
The part of the drill body to which it is attached is very often a standard diameter - usually so that the drill can be clamped/mounted into all manner of cheap and shoddy drill press stands or drill-powered thingummies.
The handle is removable. I never use mine, my set came in a hard case instead of a nylon bag, it has never been removed from the case.
Cool beans.
I am not sad that my drill doesn’t have one, since I end up using it once a year or so.
When you’re using your drill as a hammer drill (assuming it has that functionality) the handle is extremely… well… handy. If you’re trying to drill through concrete or something, the hammering action has a tendency to wobble the unit and your hand at the back of the drill, holding the trigger, will vibrate and can lose stability. Having a stabilizing handle near the bit is very helpful to keep things steady.
If you’re holding the trigger in your right hand, the handle will usually be between 8:00 and 10:00.
To expand on corkboard’s post, when you start using bigger hammer drills, it’s downright impossible to even *use * without the handle, especially when drilling horizontally. Apart from wobbling, if the drill “bites” during use, there’s nobody I know with the wrist strength to resist the torque of a large hammer drill running at full speed. With your right hand on the drill and your left hand on the handle, your left hand will absorb 95% of that force with its palm. That eight inches of leverage is invaluable.
