Great for cutting a level in a stone floor!

[Athene]

We have to lower the level in our new room and the floor is solid granite, really tough stuff! Also we have to rip out an old wine tank. We bought one of these things with us instead of hiring the pneumatic drill and huge compressor from the local hire place. This is by far better, the pump action rips through it all far better than anything we have previously hired. If you want to know where we got it you can send me a message and I will reply as we are not allowed to advertise here.

Excellent value Hammer with powerful chisel function and soft-grip handle. Supplied with 1 flat chisel and 1 pointed chisel. 1700W Vibration 13.68m/s² Impact Rate 1300bpm 1 Flat Chisel 400mm 1 Point Chisel 400mm Carry Case £180

[Iceni]

Similar products are available at every Brico and visiting trailer at much lower prices - though have no idea whether the impact and vibrator specs are as good.

John

not

[powerdesal]

Sounds like SDS to me!

[Nick Trollope]

Of course, that spec is valueless without the force (in Joules) applied to the bit. As John says, a good one in Brico Depot is about 170€, although you occasionally see them for as little as 110€.

They are not Kango, though!

It is rarely the case that you can buy "bottom-end" tools cheaper in the UK than France.

I've just noticed that the "vibration" figure that the OP quotes is a value for acceleration - go figure?

[Athene]

It is SDS and it is cheaper than you can buy in France! We are not newcomers to France or French DIY establishments! Why do you think I posted this? I was trying to be helpful by passing on good advice!

[Gluestick]

Year before last, I took my almost new SDS drill/hammer jobby to France. It has been used to drill one hole for a 15 m.m copper pipe (outside hose tap) through a brick wall an air gap ([:D] so no resistance here then!) and insulation blocks with a resistance of fresh churned butter............

Start trying to chop through a double brique wall  for an air vent and it burned out!

Bought a new much more expensive (and much bigger![Www]) SDS drill/hammer and also whinged lots at the importer ('Cos despite the sexy brand name and sticker, they are all the same and come from China!) who, to be fair, sent me a brand new replacement by return.

Now have a brand new and unused SDS drill in France: and a brand new and unused BIG SDS drill in UK!

Moral? Buy a Big one and buy a Good brand!

That said, I bought a Power Devil cordless drill/screwdriver, 18 V, NiCd in Makro for £9.99 +VAT.

Left in in France, runs like a train!

The Bigger Better one in the UK died.

 

 

[Pierre ZFP]

A problem with a lot of these SDS drills is that the chisels are not tempered properly and will soon blunt over.Even good ones need sharpening now and then and they will always require tempering after.  To do this you need a hot gas torch or a forge. No forge?  then fire up the BBQ and borrow a hairdryer - seriously, it will get plently hot enough.  So, heat the first 4 cms of the cutting end to dull red hot then quench in a big bucket of water.  When cold to touch, you then need to temper the chisel as it is now far too hard and will shatter at the first use. Clean the end you quenched with emery paper then heat it slowly, until you see the colour change from bronze to blue.  When it is a nice even colour, quench again, this time preferably in oil.  This will give you a hard wearing edge for the toughest stone you want to tackle.

[Nick Trollope]

[quote user="Athene"]It is SDS and it is cheaper than you can buy in France! We are not newcomers to France or French DIY establishments! Why do you think I posted this? I was trying to be helpful by passing on good advice![/quote]

Thanks, but you really haven't given us enough information to make an informed descision - we don't even know what the make is. Is still don't understand "vibration" figures given as acceleration.

Are you sure it is SDS? A 400mm bit would put it into "Kango" territory, as I mention above.

[Gluestick]

Nick:

Makro, amongst others, were recently pushing a sort of Kango  "H" breaker at a very cheap price.

Came from the same Chinese manufacturers as the raft of cheap SDS and mains hammer drills, badged by all and sundry from Xtool to JCbigYellowThingWith EarthMoving Bucket.

I would personally be chary of over-reliance on these tools as the engineering standards are very low.

That said, depending on the job, they can be treated, I suppose in a sacrificial way.

 

 

[Nick Trollope]

I'm sure you are right. Leclerc were selling these things for 99€ - I know someone who bought one to demlolish a stone path - cheaper than hiring or employing someone and, as he does not now need it it is effectively disposable.

But, it was not 250€ and had the spec on the box, in sensible units I could understand (as in BPM and Joules). Nor was it an SDS (in as much that, part of the SDS spec is to turn...)

[Chancer]

I have got through two of the cheapo ones, the first (UK Makro bought) died on first use to demolish two brick piers, it still drills, it's kind of OK hammer drilling but no way as good as my old trusty Hitachi SDS drill, but on impact only it makes a lot of noise and vibration but has no effect. In fact exactly the same problem afflicting the new hitachi SDS drills with roto stop.

The second bought in Brico-Depot clearly came from the same "drill town" in China has done loads of breaking and still works well but no longer turns for drilling!

My hitachi SDS drill and my Elu (latterly Dewalt) cordless drill still work fine after being used proffessionally for over 10 years, when I have knackered one or more cheapo tools I usually bite the bullet and buy a good make like my bosch 10" angle grinder which usually then last for ever, having said that my first angle grinder in 1987 was a Bosch which only lasted as long as the later cheapo ones.

The big risk with buying good name tools is that they may be relying on their name to badge and resell Chinese imports.