Biggie Posted January 11, 2019 Report Share Posted January 11, 2019 We currently have a m18 fuel 1" 2712 , a dewalt 1" dch133, and over the years we've had multiple corded 1" sds rotary hammers as well. For most of our work this size suits us very well as most of our concrete anchors are 3/8"-5/8" but more recently we've gotten into some bigger jobs that require 3/4" and 7/8" holes. The 1" drills can drill these larger holes but its pretty hard on them because we're drilling 30-50 holes 10" deep one after another. This isn't an everyday task as we typically set these larger anchors in wet concrete but a few times a year we get stuck drilling. So I'm looking to add a larger rotary hammer for these jobs and my question is will a 1 1/8" drill be enough of a bump in performance or do I need to be looking at a sds max 1 9/16". From the online reviews I've seen from places like OZ Tool Talk it looks like the bigger sds max drills don't really shine until you get up into holes over 1". I think I want to go cordless as we have a pretty good collection of batteries and while I do like my milwaukee tools and the 2712, it does seem that in most of the comparison videos I've seen the dewalt rotary hammers are the better of the two. Does anyone have any real world experience drilling 3/4"-7/8" holes and what size drill are you using? I'm really thinking a m18 fuel 1 1/8" 2715 or the dewalt 20v 1 1/8" dch293 is what I want to go with and I think the dewalt might be a better drill but the dewalt is $400 and the m18 $300 right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimboS1ice Posted January 12, 2019 Report Share Posted January 12, 2019 Rule of thumb with a Roto hammer is the “rated” capacity of the drill say 1” for simplicity, the sweet spot of that drills power is around 1/2” holes, so what you need a larger SDS Max may be in your favor... Devils advocate is the price worth the upgrade to the big gun if you’ll only pull it out a few times a year, may be better off with a more powerful SDS plus. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mordekyle Posted January 13, 2019 Report Share Posted January 13, 2019 I'm really thinking a m18 fuel 1 1/8" 2715 or the dewalt 20v 1 1/8" dch293 is what I want to go with and I think the dewalt might be a better drill but the dewalt is $400 and the m18 $300 right now. If you drill that many holes and $100 is even the slightest consideration or concern to you, you might want to raise your rates. Buy whichever you like. Forget about the difference in price. Amortized over a year, you probably spend more on coffee.Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tug Posted January 13, 2019 Report Share Posted January 13, 2019 I've got the Dewalt sds max, 54 Volts of power, but it rarely comes out to play. Great fun when I need it though. This is the expensive route I think, not so bad if you're using the charger and batteries for other machines, still not cheap though. If it really is a rarity for you to need the extra grunt, perhaps a corded sds plus in the 5kg range would be a cheaper option for you? Hope some of that helps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggie Posted January 13, 2019 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2019 I'm not necessarily looking to be cheap it's just that if milwaukee and dewalt are equal in performance in that size I have no reason to throw away $100. I'm also not opposed to getting a bigger sds max but after watching Oz tool talk rotary hammer comparison I don't know if that's the answer. It looks like the bigger hammers hit harder but have a lower bpm and on a 3/4" hole it looked like the 1 1/8" drills were faster. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tug Posted January 14, 2019 Report Share Posted January 14, 2019 True, that did look the case in the comparison, but the difference will be that the max will be under almost no strain at 3/4", the plus machines will be nearing their upper limit. Also, I've had a couple of reliability issues with my M28 machines of late, so I'm backing away from the brand. The Dewalt machines have so far proven more reliable. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggie Posted January 14, 2019 Author Report Share Posted January 14, 2019 Yea we had plenty of trouble with dewalts back in the stick 18v days and then when we switched to the "20v max" slide pack batteries the first set we got had a switch go out on an impact and grinder when they were just over a year old and out of warranty. We fixed the switches but it was at that point we started switching over to m18. That was about five years ago and I would say while I still think milwaukee feels like its better quality, I have had to use the warranty more times than I'd like. We've also grown our dewalt 20v line and had some other issues with newer tools but the original 5 year old set is all still running. I've just come to the conclusion that every brand is going to have some problems when they're used and abused on a job site everyday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tug Posted January 15, 2019 Report Share Posted January 15, 2019 The problems I'm having are the hammer action on the M28 sds has stopped working, so that needs fixing. It's never had a hard life, never pushed beyond its design limits. The other problem is the M28 combi drill, the battery retaining clips are small and of poor design in my book. It's dropping packs, not impressive at this price point. On the subject of battery retainment, I'm finding the Dewalt sliders and Bosch 36 Volt sliders to be the best designs of all the machines I have. In other news I took the Flexvolt sds max out yesterday. Used it for some chases in masonry, a bit overkill for the task, but it made light work of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggie Posted January 16, 2019 Author Report Share Posted January 16, 2019 Yea it looks like the 54/60v sds max is the real deal especially compared to the milwaukee. The 1 1/8" sds plus 54v from dewalt catches my attention but it's not available in the US, maybe it's not much different than the 18/20v. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tug Posted January 16, 2019 Report Share Posted January 16, 2019 I'm going to try and use it more in future, I'll let you know my thoughts on it as I use it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggie Posted January 25, 2019 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2019 Well I guess we're going to try the dch293. If I still need a sds max I can always get one later but I know either way this will see plenty of use. Also picked up a concrete vibrator. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggie Posted March 3, 2019 Author Report Share Posted March 3, 2019 Well since no one could really give me a direct comparison between the dewalt and milwaukee 1 1/8" I ended up with both haha. I really still wanted a bigger m18 on my truck and the price was just too good to pass up. Now if winter would go away so we could get back to real work and test them out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwain Posted April 20, 2019 Report Share Posted April 20, 2019 Sorry didn't see this thread until now. I think you're on the money. a 3/4" inch hole will be too small to take advantage of an SDS Max. Sure it would be easy on the tool, but it would also be slower than the best SDS+ units. Having said that, I'm not sure if MAX would be slower than those two units, which are unlikely to match the 36V/54V units we tested against. EDIT: it appears that Dewalt 20V unit has the same specs as the Flexvolt SDS+, so maybe it will! Let us know how you get on! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggie Posted April 22, 2019 Author Report Share Posted April 22, 2019 I actually just got to use them for the first time last week. I had to drill 32- 3/4"dia. x 9" deep holes in concrete that was about 20 years old. The holes were to anchor down a grain bin so I worked one way around the circle with the Milwaukee and another guy went the other way with the dewalt. In the end the milwaukee drilled 17 holes and the Dewalt drilled 15, but there wasn't anything scientific to it nor was it a true head to head. Both drill bits had some amount of wear and we both stopped about half way through to give the drills a bit of a break and went back and cleaned out the holes with air to get them ready to epoxy the anchors. We both had sets of batteries that we switched every few holes just to try counteract some heat build up. The dewalt drained 2- 6.0 flexvolt batteries dead and had two bars left on 2- 6.0 xr batteries. With the Milwaukee I had 3- 9.0 batteries one of which started with just 3 bars and I used the three until they were down to one bar and then I used one bar of a 6.0 to finish my last two holes. Overall I would say the two drills are very comparable and really didn't have any problems drilling the holes. Both drills did get pretty warm in the gear case area and both expelled some grease from the chuck. Yea dwain after seeing your review and the other experience I've had dewalts 60v tools I wished the sds plus version was available in the US. When researching them I did see the US 20v does indeed have the same specs as the 54v/60v but it would be interesting to see if there is any difference in real world performance. It still seems like Hilti is king when it comes to rotary hammers but it was hard to justify when I'm already so deeply invested in other battery platforms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ciaran Niland Posted February 17, 2020 Report Share Posted February 17, 2020 Dewalt 54v SDS Flexvolt drill. Just out of the box drilled a few holes and kept stopping and starting while drilling any ideas what problem could be? Regards, Ciaran Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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