Hand Drill - Bits

Do regular masonry bits you'd find at hardware store work with hand drills?

Not sure if it's a dumb question, just had a debate with a friend and I want to know who's right...

Thanks!

Not in hand drill around now,,sds only

they work in my petzl rocpec, but some hand drills might not be SDS.

Non-SDS hand drills will take SDS bits. Or you can grind off the SDS part to shorten the overall length of your hand drill which will give you a better angle of attack... as seen here:

bits

Regular bits require the drill to tighten down on the drill bit (chuck, chuck key are used to accomplish this, iirc my terms).

SDS bits work differently and SDS drills (of which the RocPec is one, no?) don't have the chuck to tighten onto the bit. They hold the bit in a completely different matter.

I'm not an expert in these things, but really, SDS was an innovation, so obviously it's a different system to deal with bits.

This seems like a no brainer: regular masonry bits don't work in SDS drills. But maybe I'm missing some subtlety...

Regardless of if your drill is SDS or not, you will find masonry bits at the hardware store to fit it.

You aren't asking whether you should use a masonry vs. wood or metal bit are you? And if you are, is Aric the friend you are debating with?

You know of these things, nicelegs.

I have bunches of regular drill bits: it seems to me it kind of matters if my drill is SDS, as these regular drill bits won't be held by an SDS drill, right? Or will they? I thought the bit needed that special notch in the shank.

I supposed a regular drill could hold an SDS bit, but that's not something I particularly care about. I'm curious about the the other direction.

But I guess the original poster didn't specify.

Haha no way was I thinking about something like a wood bit. I was just curious if the drills are designed to accept bits you'd find at Home Depot or something - either SDS or regular non-SDS. I was betting that if someone needed to find a bit they could probably get it there. My friend was suggesting that you'd have to order custom bits unique to the drill manufacturer. This post seems to have instigated and interesting discussion. By all means, keep going...

I should have phrased it differently. Straight shaft and SDS are both super easy to find at any hardware store.

Just pick a bit with a carbide tip, tie a string on it (in case you drop it) and hammer away. Who needs all these fancy-smanchy drill holders. I've drilled many holes this way.

DesertRat wrote:Just pick a bit with a carbide tip, tie a string on it (in case you drop it) and hammer away. Who needs all these fancy-smanchy drill holders. I've drilled many holes this way.

And you can use the string to stop the bleeding from your mashed finger after you get tired from 20 minutes of WHACK-WHACK and accidentally paste your finger with the 24 oz hammer.

Back on topic, I have used an OLD holder that takes tapered bits (McMaster Carr used to carry these; doubt they do any more) as well as non-SDS holders, both commercial and homemade.

Ah, the glory that is hand drilling.

Tapas wrote:Non-SDS hand drills will take SDS bits. Or you can grind off the SDS part to shorten the overall length of your hand drill which will give you a better angle of attack... as seen here:

Yes they will, but the drilled hole will not be symmetrical because the bit will not sit evenly in the chuck. It is very important that the drill drills a symmetrical, properly-sized hole or else the bolt can pull prematurely.

In short, SDS drills should only be used with SDS bits. Non-SDS drills should only be used with non-SDS bits, unless you dont care about the quality of the hole (e.g. drilling in wood), although with a hand drill this might be slightly less of an issue since it take a million hits to drill a hole. Either way, a non-SDS bit is $5 so just buy the right gear IMO.

Another point (pun) to consider is... the point. As in, the tip of the drill bit. IME the carbide insert on most $5 masonry bits is shaped more for rotary action (like a wood bit) than for hammer-driven chiseling. Old, I mean like 50 year ago, bits often were really shaped like a chisel: flat across the front. I don't have much experience with the latest SDS bits for rotary hammers, but I imagine there is more chisel edge than rotary/shearing shape to these bits. Just something to consider if you're hand hammering on a $5 bit from HD and it doesn't seem to be working very well.

My apologies to the internets for any asymmetry caused by the this clearly asymmetrical lack of symmetry...

Drill