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Drill bits for concrete and granite

arse_sidewards

arse_sidewards

Red Skull Member
Joined
May 19, 2020
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I need to drill some holes through the foundation wall of my house. It's concrete with decently large granite as filler, up to golf ball sized. The Bosch bits I've bought have been an utter disappointment. What should I be using. I need to make a few dozen small holes for running outdoor outlets, affixing junction boxes, through bolting a bunch of cages on my basement windows and other miscellaneous fastening. I need to make five or so holes big enough for outdoor spigots. I'm gonna be on a ladder and in tight spaces for a fair number of these so I'd like to avoid having to put 50+lb of force on the drill the whole time.

I'm gonna pick up a proper SDS drill this time around. I have a 1/2 Craftsman "hammer drill" but I wasn't impressed with it and it was free so it's not like I wasted any money on it.

So what should I buy for bits? I'm trying not to break the bank here.
 
trailerman said:
Rent a Hilti maybe?
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I'm not living out my golden years. There's a lot more shit that I'm gonna want to drill holes in in the future. I'm gonna pony up the hundred and change dollars it takes to get a used mid-high range SDS type hammer drill.
 
Yup just go rent a hammer drill / bits. You'll be $ and time ahead.

Paul's over in Leominster will have what you need.
 
The consumer bits suck for drilling in rock. They don’t last for shit. The better ones I found were the x tipped dewalts. Be warned none of the consumer grade ones will last more than a few holes in granite.
 
Hit up the pawn shop and you can probably buy a sds-max someone stole from where they work reasonably. I got a dewalt sds-max I cant complain about it, this one drill alone Ive probably drilled 500' through rock in total with MAYBE 3 bits. SHIT ton of monster boulders where I live and it makes it a nightmare doing anything, drill 5 2" holes 16-18" deep and fill em up with one 11lb bag of dexpan and in like 2-3 days it starts splitting them up.
 
arse_sidewards said:
I need to drill some holes through the foundation wall of my house. It's concrete with decently large granite as filler, up to golf ball sized. The Bosch bits I've bought have been an utter disappointment. What should I be using. I need to make a few dozen small holes for running outdoor outlets, affixing junction boxes, through bolting a bunch of cages on my basement windows and other miscellaneous fastening. I need to make five or so holes big enough for outdoor spigots. I'm gonna be on a ladder and in tight spaces for a fair number of these so I'd like to avoid having to put 50+lb of force on the drill the whole time.

I'm gonna pick up a proper SDS drill this time around. I have a 1/2 Craftsman "hammer drill" but I wasn't impressed with it and it was free so it's not like I wasted any money on it.

So what should I buy for bits? I'm trying not to break the bank here.
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What was disappointing about the bosch?

FYI if you're using a "hammer drill" for anything bigger than 3/16 or maybe 1/4 and anything other than easy cement you're gonna burn up the bits because the drill is rotating way, way too fast and not actually hammering much.

You'll see a huge difference with an actual rotary hammer (SDS or SDS max or spline or whatever). They rotate slow and hit much harder.

I've been using a bosch bulldog rotary hammer (SDS+) and I've done 1 inch holes in hard rock no problem using a hilti bit.
 
Muckin_Slusher said:
What was disappointing about the bosch?

FYI if you're using a "hammer drill" for anything bigger than 3/16 or maybe 1/4 and anything other than easy cement you're gonna burn up the bits because the drill is rotating way, way too fast and not actually hammering much.
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That's exactly what happened. I was doing 3/16 holes and it would go through the concrete just fine but I'd burn up a bit after hitting one or two pieces of fill.


Muckin_Slusher said:
You'll see a huge difference with an actual rotary hammer (SDS or SDS max or spline or whatever). They rotate slow and hit much harder.

I've been using a bosch bulldog rotary hammer (SDS+) and I've done 1 inch holes in hard rock no problem using a hilti bit.
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Thanks, good to know.

NOTHINGWILLCHANGELANCE said:
you need a SDS drill. not the hammer function on a shitty 2 mode hand held.
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Hence why I'm getting one. :flipoff2:

They routinely pop up under $100 and can be found readily for $150 on CL. It's a no brainier. Rental is pissing away money with all the times I'm gonna wanna drill rocks and concrete in the future.
 
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Why not use a core bit and put a conduit through the wall and just have the one hole? You can wire to an exterior junction box and go from there.
And as others have said, use the proper machine. Milwaukee makes some nice carbide hole saws.
 
Find a contractor tool rental house and rent the proper hammer drill and bit. With the proper size drill and a carbide tipped bit you should be able to drill hundred of holes with no issue. If you want to buy a hammer drill for the smaller holes (less than 3/4") there are several out there just look for the SDS bit type.
 
arse_sidewards said:
I'm not living out my golden years. There's a lot more shit that I'm gonna want to drill holes in in the future. I'm gonna pony up the hundred and change dollars it takes to get a used mid-high range SDS type hammer drill.
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SDS Max or Plus? They are different animals. The Max is the bigger tool, taking a bigger shank on the bits, it will do the big holes with no issue but they are not good for tight areas. You can get larger bits for the Plus size roto hammers but prolonged use will shorten the life of your equipment.

My $0.02. Hilti, Dewalt and Bosch all make decent bits. Hilti is going to cost much more without lasting that much longer.
 
arse_sidewards said:
That's exactly what happened. I was doing 3/16 holes and it would go through the concrete just fine but I'd burn up a bit after hitting one or two pieces of fill.
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You probably got my point, but....

I forgot to say: the bits burning up was completely due to the fast hammer drill. Bosch bits are good.

At work (underground hardrock mining) I drill literally hundreds of 3/8 and 1/2 inch holes in rock. We use battery hilti drills with hilti bits. Sometimes the bits last lots of holes, and sometimes they burn up quick, probably just hitting different types of rocks.

We did once try the dewalt bits like Panzer mentioned, and I remember them being impressive, especially since I was expecting shit because we always used hilti bits.

Oh, and fuck everyone saying to rent stuff. I have no idea when I'm gonna need or want to make a hole in something right now. I like having tools laying around everywhere.
 
Muckin_Slusher said:
Oh, and fuck everyone saying to rent stuff. I have no idea when I'm gonna need or want to make a hole in something right now. I like having tools laying around everywhere.
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Exactly my thinking. Also I think I'm gonna stick with the Bosch bits since they were fairly cheap and people are vouching for them not being shit.


dave_dj1 said:
Why not use a core bit and put a conduit through the wall and just have the one hole? You can wire to an exterior junction box and go from there.
And as others have said, use the proper machine. Milwaukee makes some nice carbide hole saws.
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I'm doing outdoor outlets, spigots and air lines. I want a nice clean looking install without conduit running all around the perimeter of my house and I don't wanna drill holes in the sill or add potential leak points just above the sill hence why I'm going through the foundation.

Caffiend said:
SDS Max or Plus? They are different animals. The Max is the bigger tool, taking a bigger shank on the bits, it will do the big holes with no issue but they are not good for tight areas. You can get larger bits for the Plus size roto hammers but prolonged use will shorten the life of your equipment.
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Does it even matter for my use case? I'm gonna drill like five 1" holes, dozens of small holes and then the occasional oddball job here or there afterwards then it's gonna mostly not get used until I build my barn and have to fasten a lift and other stationary equipment to the floor. I don't see myself wearing out a small hammer doing that. Biggest holes it will ever do is conduit and sewer when I build the barn.

Unless I'm told strongly not to I'm gonna pick up this bitch for $80 at 4pm today.

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arse_sidewards said:
Does it even matter for my use case? I'm gonna drill like five 1" holes, dozens of small holes and then the occasional oddball job here or there afterwards then it's gonna mostly not get used until I build my barn and have to fasten a lift and other stationary equipment to the floor. I don't see myself wearing out a small hammer doing that. Biggest holes it will ever do is conduit and sewer when I build the barn.

/QUOTE]


yes it does matter, try hold up a bosch or dewalt sds max to drill a horizontal hole. Im glad I generally use mine in the vertical position or at some angle close to vertical.
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arse_sidewards said:
Unless I'm told strongly not to I'm gonna pick up this bitch for $80 at 4pm today.
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I'd buy that for that money.

Low wattage though. I think my bosch is about double the watts of that thing.

What chuck is it?

I just got given to me a Skil 736 which takes some oddball 3/4 hex shank bits and a Metabo that also takes 3/4 inch hex shank, but with a longer shank, and a notch for retaining. I don't think I can but bits for either, but should be easy enough to mill off 1/16 off each side of jackleg steels.
 
Muckin_Slusher said:
I'd buy that for that money.

Low wattage though. I think my bosch is about double the watts of that thing.

What chuck is it?

I just got given to me a Skil 736 which takes some oddball 3/4 hex shank bits and a Metabo that also takes 3/4 inch hex shank, but with a longer shank, and a notch for retaining. I don't think I can but bits for either, but should be easy enough to mill off 1/16 off each side of jackleg steels.
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The Hilti TE17 uses standard SDS-Plus bits. Pretty universally available and about right for that size of tool and torque available.


__
 
Muckin_Slusher said:
I'd buy that for that money.

Low wattage though. I think my bosch is about double the watts of that thing.

What chuck is it?.
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I assume it's just a slower hitting machine than modern stuff hence lower amperage assuming similar torque.

No idea what chuck it is. If it comes with something oddball I'll make an adapter. What's the point in owning thousands of dollar of machine tools if not to save $40 on a drill. :laughing:


2big bronco said:
What size holes are you looking to drill max?

How much do you want to caught up for shipping a box roughly 18x18x6-8"
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1.25 for this project but being able to do 3" conduit in the future would be nice.

2big bronco said:
How much do you want to caught up for shipping a box roughly 18x18x6-8"
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Well I just shipped some headers across the country and it was like $87 so preferably not more than that. Depends what's in the box.
 
Hilti always gave us the drills if we bought a certain amount of bits. Power plant
You might check with the local Hilti salesman
 
Type of bits matter due to the fact you cant by the small bits you want in the big splined or SDS max. Looks like you are good to go with a SDS plus drill 5/32" to 1" bits are offered plus you can go with the thin wall core bits for bigger than 1". If needing bigger than 1" standard bits or extra deep holes you need to move up to the SDS Max bits or a splined bit. A 1-1/8" rotary hammer should do the trick for you. Bosch RH328VCQ would be a nice unit for under $400 and the bits will be relatively cheap. They also make a cordless version of the hammer.

You are going to have to buy thousands of $$$ worth of bits to get a free hammer.
 
I own a Dewalt 1" rated SDS plus drlil, costs all of $200. I've drilled 1" holes through foundation a handful of times and did the 3/4" bolts into 6 inches of 32mpa concrete for my lift...hasn't missed a beat. Dozens of other holes for various things, mostly the larger tapcons but also going through brick to run 4" exhaust vents (bunch of 1/2" holes in a circle, chipping function out the middle).

I've never burned up a bit or had any trouble with this sort of work. I use almost all Dewalt bits but have a few Bosch that have been fine as well and a few no name princess auto ones that work in a pinch in the sizes I don't have good quality bits in.

Basically, for foundation drilling, any ol' SDS drill with any ol' bits will be a walk in the park.
 
I was faced with drilling nine 5/8" holes for concrete anchors. I was considering buying a pawn shop hammer drill (i.e. Bosch, Dewalt) for the job. Regretfully, I settled on a fucking Harobr Fright Bauer branded 10 Aap SDS hammer drill. I am retired and really don't see a need to owning a $300 dollar plus drill.. I needed fucking nine 5/8" holes drilled; six are done with no effort; I expect the last three to be the same. The fucking hammer drill cost me about $130, but it's getting the job done. (yeah; I bought the extended warranty) The SDS bit was a $20 gamble. I could have spent $50 on more on an exotic bit.

I will make you a deal... When I finish my job, (within this next week) I will ship this drill and you pay me for what it is worth to you. What you pay me is up to you? It is YOUR reputation brother. :smokin:
 
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The TE 17 is a great old drill. During that model’s heyday every pro was using Hilti. My only concern would be availability of repair parts. It got to a point we switched away from Hilti because they were expensive to repair. Since then Bosch has produced some great commercial grade hammer drills. The Bosch bulldog is a workhorse, and before we went primarily cordless I had a bulldog in every service van and at least one on every job site. I have 3 of the big Bosch sds max drills and they are excellent drills.

If you look around you can get a bulldog for under $150 pretty easily. For my at home use I have a dewalt that is similar to the bulldog that I bought for $130. I’d go with either of those instead of an antique. I’d have to look it up, but I think you are limited to a 1” bit with either of those.

Bosch makes good bits. You just need a decent drill.
 
If I remember right the Hilti hammers use their own special splined bits which are kinda hard to come by and are expensive. Its been almost 16 years since I used a Hilti so my memory might be off. That was before the SDS bits were developed.
 
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