Jason LaPort

Yeah I know, I was a little upset with it and stuck it in the side of the bank by my rock wall bit first and left it for 3 days. Then my buddy told me to bring it over and I ran back up to get it. Looks like I'm back on track to as far as saving towards an adapter and some good bits. The bits I'm using with it look like their 20-30 years old. I'm wonderingwhat potential this beast has. If it treats me well I might buy another one in the future. I'll try the adapter and new, better bits first and see how I like it. I might put the hilti on hold until tax return time.

WooHooo back to my boring ol' self tomorrow. The Skil is still alive. The plug in was falling apart. My buddy gave the one prong a little tug and pulled it right out. He checked the brushes, changed the plug and it fired right up. Just as loud as the last time I ran it so hopefully tomorrow is game on until I get my new drill and trade in my other one. I'll have 3 drills within a week to hold me until I save for my hilti

LMAO Took me a second to get that. I was like, "Do I really seem that boring?" LMAO

It shouldnt really matter how old the bit is as long as there's still some carbide left on it.

I will but its gonna be with something better. Gotta start looking for stuff to sell to get my dream machine. Hilti TE50

Well I guess I dont need the adapter now. Less then 2 hours drill time and the drill is dead. Now I'm completely drilless.

$100 bucks still seems just a bit steep to me but I can imagine they are quite a sturdy bit and should last quite a while. I'm gonna wanna buy 3 of them and change the bits out after every hole to allow them to air cool and extend their life as much as possible. I was looking for info on the Dewalt Rock Carbides. Wondering if its just a name to show how tough they are or if they are actually made for rock. I couldnt find any info on that at all just a ton of sites that sells the bits. I just put up some crystals for sale tonight and hoping that I can get enough raised to buy the TE50 soon. I'm gonna need a good dependable drill real soon. I think your right about them being the same. The guy I talked to more or less just said that rotary hammers are an old technology and combi-hammers are a new technology but couldnt tell me the difference. I asked if one had more hitting power and he couldnt really answer my question. Tomorrow back to the mine to drain water and drill holes with a 30 year old drill. God I love my job.

I was looking at the hilti's carbide sds max bit in 1" diameter by 31" length and it was over $300 for 1 bit!?! I really need to find some good bits that are reasonable. I see a bunch of sds max bits on ebay and even some of the used ones are a little pricey. I think i'm in for a huge learning curve once I buy my first hilti. Only time will tell I suppose.

Through some great help from the members of this forum I was pushed into the right direction on getting a better drill for my needs. I talked to 2 representatives from Hilti and have it pretty well narrowed down to the TE50 and the TE60. The one question that kinda seemed to get brushed aside quick was when I asked what the difference was between a rotary hammer and a combi-hammer. To me it kinda sounded like a newer version of the same thing. Is there any real difference? What about the hitting power between the 2? I'll most likely be getting the TE50 for now and upgrading in the future when I have more money. Another main question I have is gonna be the best bits? I'm wondering if there's any better quality bits that will fit into the 50 then what Hilti is currently offering which actually seems really good to me but if I can find better then why not. I'm interested in any bits between 3/4" -1" diameter that will fit into the Hilti even if I need to buy an adapter. I'm kinda at a loss as to where to even start to look. Thank you to everyone for all the great help that you've already given me and have a great night. Jason

Yup I did. I didnt see it last time and thought you meant the PB SDS. Ok so its a pretty penny but with that I could get bits from the local store instead of shopping online. Thanx man. I'll bookmark that page until I get a few more dollars. Should be in a week or so. Thats awesome!!

I'm liking the looks of the Hilti TE50. I just watched a comparison video with the Hilti against a Bulldog and it blew the bulldog away. Looks like I might be able to snag one for $325 to $500 if I can keep an eye on the auctions and shop around a bit.

I could probably do $500. Just gotta do some wire wrapping and sell some crystals. Gave the Skil a work out today and it returned the favor. Its not a bad drill but man does it send vibrations through your hands. If I'm gonna do this long term then I'm gonna have to save and buy better equipment. Opened up a pocket just before I left today so I'll have to wait until tomorrow to see what Ma Nature has to offer. Hopefully enough to get a pionjar lol. A good Hilti sounds good though. Back to window shopping lol

That's the closest I've seen but thats a spline bit not a hex. I'll probably be making a few phone calls tomorrow. Thank for the help man.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SKIL-HEAVY-DUTY-ROTO-HAMMER-DRILL-726-TYPE-8-5-5-AMP-WITH-STORAGE-BOX-AND-MORE-/310744553095?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEWNX%3AIT&nma=true&si=5%252BQLEHeUwcdMs21kNbhQY9PCFeU%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc This is the drill that I bought. In one of the pics you can see the shape of the bit is different. It has a narrow part in the bit where a spring clamps onto the bit. I need an adapter with that narrow spot in the bit. Its Hex to SDS that I need but I'm not sure if they make one for my dinosaur of a machine.

I can't seem to find an adapter. From what I've found online it looks like I have a 7/16" hex bit and I'm hoping to find a 7/16" hex to sds adapter. An ideas where I can find one or if they even make them?

Not sure I wanna go cordless. The ol' 726 seems to drill fast enough. I can see the bit sink into the rock so thats good but it doesnt have enough nut to keep going the whole length of the bit without stopping and cleaning out the hole a couple times. I think its slightly faster then the Bosch which I'm happy with the speed just wish the bit would go non stop. I think I could be happy with a drill that goes the speed of this one non stop for an 18" hole. Actually thinking about a Skil 736. So many to choose from and look at. Any education is welcome at this point and you guys have been awesome. Thanx for all the advice and help guys.

I was thinking about upgrading my generator too but its all time n money right now. It would free up my choice on power tools a bit more. If hilti's were made for tearing through hard rock then it sounds like the way to go. Right now my bulldog is dead and I'm using a 1983 Skill roto hammer 726. Its a hex bit but I'm not sure what name to actually look for when shopping for bits. I'm guessing 1" hex (spline?) bits? Do the make a hex bit to sds adapter? I tested it out today and it does drill, it doesnt have a lot of power but its as fast if not slighty faster then my bulldog but the bits look like they are from 1983 as well. I'm wondering how it would preform with a new 1" bulldog xtreme bit. Ok time to go window shopping for hilti's.

Oh and on another note. I buried the 18" drill bit a few times today and it got a bit doggy at the last 5 or 6 inches but didnt bind. Come close to but it did seem to run a little better. So I'm guessing the dust was a factor in the drills performance.

Thanx for the head up on the Hilti, I'll check it out. I've been mining for Herkimer Diamonds. They're a double terminated quartz crystal. I took my drill back to the mine today, drilled 5 holes and dead. Back to square one. Still have reverse just no forward. I'm thinking its still gotta be the forward/reverse switch. My buddy blew all of the crap out of it but never took it apart to see what else might be wrong.

Talked to my buddy on the phone, He says he didnt even have to take it apart. He blew it out with an air compressor and tested it and he said its working great. Sounds like its working better from what I could hear over the phone. I'm guessing it was dirty contacts.

Any thoughts on a slightly more powerful machine that will still work with a 1400 watt generator?

I was afraid of that. As far as the drilling speed goes there's times when it goes nice and smooth and you can see it sinking in and then other times it doesnt seem like its moving but it is. I'm thinking that I dont need a monster drill but I'm very interested in upgrading to a stronger drill that wont rip my arm off if it binds and maybe drilling steels and replaceable tips. Not sure I really need to go pneumatic. I'd be happy with an 18" deep 1" diameter hole drilled in 3 to 4 minutes. I just want to be able to see that steel go in and not just set there and wonder if its working or not. I'm moving some rock but have limited time to work everyday. I'm breaking and dumping only about 60 gallons of rock a day. I want 100 gallons and I know its possible. Faster holes would make me more willing to drill more holes and more holes = more rock removed.

Nice concept but it wont work for me for what I'm doing. I'm drilling through dolomatic limestone and there's seams and pockets in the rock. I could be drilling through hard rock, sand seams, hydrocarbon, calcite, quartz and some mud all in the same hole. The mud would clog that bit up really fast. I really need to get my Bulldog fixed and get a bigger pneumatic drill that will blow the dust out of the hole and use the bulldog as a back up.

Sounds good, I was thinking it was the clutch or something bad like that. Hopefully its a quick easy fix. Any ideas what would cause the bits to bind? I'm drilling in hard rock and switching bits between each hole to try to get a little extra life out of my bits. The one bits brand new and it still takes a lot of hole cleaning to try to get it down a foot into the rock let alone the whole length of 18" that I try for.

11255VSR, thanx