Cordless Drills

Hi all,

Will this cordless drill handle hard granite?

ebay.com/itm/Bosch-Tools-RH…

Or this one??
ebay.com/itm/BOSCH-11225VSR…

The second one will put 5-8 holes in per battery if the battery is in good shape. The 18 v Boschs may put a few holes in but they were built to be light and compact to set an anchor or two for electricians in a tight space.

For those old 24v Bosch drills, A lot of people rig up an external set of 12v alarm system batteries and speaker chord hooked to the drill to get more holes and take the weight off the drill itself. That's how the 1000 foot sport routes in El Portrero Chico were established. Also the FAist of Squawstrucka 22 pitch line in Utah used a diy external battery pack and that exact Bosch.

The 36 V Bosch (11536c ) seems to be the one Bosch built for poking holes all day long through hard concrete. It makes the whole home rigged external battery set up obsolete. One 1/2 lb lithium ion battery packs the punch of 16 lbs of sealed lead acid batteries.

bus driver wrote:ah ha! The "sport routes on hard quartzite" are in the Unitas. This is exactly the type of info I've been searching for. I've watched all kinds of videos of concrete drilling with the thought that quartzite is like 20x denser than that stuff. How is the weight compared to the little Bosch? Is it reasonable to drill on lead ( not too heavy, not too long)? I'm working with a Bosch annihalator now and it is kind of a beast when you start hauling up two heavy batteries per pitch. But it was an upgrade to the one before it . . .

I really wondered how it would do in quartzite - I bought it for lead drilling in the desert and always figured it wouldn't handle quartzite. I am shocked at how well it does. It is light enough for stance drilling on lead, and it drills holes in quartzite in a few seconds. I see no point in the big 36v drills anymore - maybe for grid bolting massive cliffs.

The 18v is so inexpensive and light compared to the 36v. If I carry 4 batteries with me, i get 40-60 holes in quartzite and likely hundreds in soft rock like limestone or sandstone. I've drilled hundreds of holes for 4 years with this drill, and it is as good as the day i bought it.

I've got the Hilti TE-4A. I'm bolting new, generally single-pitch, routes. It will put in a route -- 8-15 holes (3/8" by about 4") -- into compact (Canadian Shield) granite or granitic gneiss with an indicated drop in charge of about 25%. Since I'm new-routing, rather than re-equipping, I'm generally spending more time scrubbing and trundling than drilling. Still, I've yet to run out of drill battery before I've run-out of me-power.

I tried a cheap drill first... got one and 1/4 holes before it died. Then I did some research, and bought Hilti.

I think I'm about at the point where my drill cost, and my hardware installed cost, are about even.

bus driver wrote:The second one will put 5-8 holes in per battery if the battery is in good shape. The 18 v Boschs may put a few holes in but they were built to be light and compact to set an anchor or two for electricians in a tight space. For those old 24v Bosch drills, A lot of people rig up an external set of 12v alarm system batteries and speaker chord hooked to the drill to get more holes and take the weight off the drill itself. That's how the 1000 foot sport routes in El Portrero Chico were established. Also the FAist of Squawstrucka 22 pitch line in Utah used a diy external battery pack and that exact Bosch. The 36 V Bosch (11536c ) seems to be the one Bosch built for poking holes all day long through hard concrete. It makes the whole home rigged external battery set up obsolete. One 1/2 lb lithium ion battery packs the punch of 16 lbs of sealed lead acid batteries.

Just make sure if you use external batteries you buy sealed, recombining AGM or gel cell batteries. The last thing you need is a few cups of sulfuric acid in a wet cell battery right there on your harness and around your gear. Also, always store the batteries separately from your gear, even while in your backpack (I put the batteries on the outside of the pack). If you go with a LiFePO4 battery, you may need a special charger for it if you dont want to kill its lifespan.

Hi All, I´m currently living in a place where there is no rock climbing at all, but have found nice rocks to climb (is in south America not US). I´m (or was?)mostly a trad climber so for me, if there is a crack, no bolt will be needed (put this statement so the answers don´t get of course).

I have never bolted or open routes but if i want to climb i have to start this en devour. there are no high rocks (would say they range from 8 to 15 mts. max. that is 24 to 45 ft.) and not near each other, so some places that i spotted could get from 2 to 7 routes (of course routes can share bolts). I prefer to climb rather than stay hanged drilling and cleaning and will put the least bolts possible; by I eye i will say 6 holes max. (in the highest rock found)including the ones for rappel (of course it depends on each route).

Will this drill be enough??
ebay.com/itm/Bosch-RHH181-0…

How many holes for a single charge if drill is new?? (type of rock, you can see by yourselves in pictures below)

This are the spots i have found worth placing anchors (total of 8, but have pictures of only 5):

Crag1:

Crag2:




Crag3:




Crag4:




Crag5:

Thread drift but thought you guys might wanna drool over what we got at work:

us.hilti.com/te30-a36

Not cheap but does drill a 1/2 hole 6" deep in ten seconds.

So is it worth it to buy this?:

ebay.com/itm/Bosch-RHH181-0…

ignore the price, think only in performance and durability.

Tks,

Sanllan wrote:So is it worth it to buy this?: ebay.com/itm/Bosch-RHH181-0… ignore the price, think only in performance and durability. Tks,

Yes, that's a good drill. If you're bolting sea cliffs, make sure you use titanium bolts only.

titanclimbing.com/Titan%20C…

Stainless bolts and hangers will not last as long as you might want on sea cliffs.

I despise using machines to put bolts in...

But,

My buddies swear by those new mini bosch 18V rigs.

18+ holes per batter, and they are really tiny batteries.

JohnWesely wrote:If buy a 12 volt drill, expect your life to suck. Even my 24 volt bosch is obnoxiously slow compared to the new 36 volt ones.

Haven't found a 12v or even 18v that really worked. My old 24v Bosch works like a charm though. I bought it reconditioned from Bosch for $375 OTD.

ClimbBaja-

I wasn't trying to get into exact specs. I was simply trying to say that with the newer lithium ion batteries, folks can generally do a a full days worth of bolting with just the lightweight stock batteries. Before lithium ion technology, making up an external battery pack was almost neccesary to do more than a dozen or so holes. By the time you buy the lifepo4 batteries and charger and an old drill to Frankenstein, you may as well buy the little Bosch.

I do appreciate your work to figure out and document the external battery packs for 24v drills. I've read your instructions many times and I've wanted to build an external pack on 100 feet of heavy speaker wire for my old Bosch bulldog since talking to a couple guys who used that setup to bolt some of the big classic lines in el portrero chico. But, now with 6lb Bosch drills that can do a full days worth of new routing on 1 battery, It's hard to justify hauling an extra 20 lbs worth of stuff.

I hope to get down your way sometime and climb some of that sunny granite south of the border.

20 kN wrote: Yes, that's a good drill. If you're bolting sea cliffs, make sure you use titanium bolts only. titanclimbing.com/Titan%20C… Stainless bolts and hangers will not last as long as you might want on sea cliffs.

Tks, will follow your advice and the ones you've left in other forums i´m consulting.

bus driver wrote:The link below has a nice comparison of the newer crop of 18 v rotary hammers. These seem to outdo the old 24 standards: Bosch annihilator, Bosch bulldog and Hilti te5 which are all heavy, big, and slow. Even the $90 Ryobi looks better than my buddy's old Bosch. It would be interesting to see how these 18v's compare to the 24v and 36v in hard quartzite. Or # of 3/8" x 3" holes. protoolreviews.com/tools/po…

I just recently purchased a Bosch 18v RHH181-01. I was about to buy the Bosch 36v 11536C-2 but upon further reading noticed that both of these Bosch rotary hammers had the exact same specs. Same rpm, bpm, impact force and batteries were both equivalent @ 72Wh. The 18v was lighter, cheaper and more compact. The big bad Bosch 36v 11536VSR is a heavy duty beast with a harder hit and time to reach depth, than either of the last two. It is heavy though at 9.6lbs compared to 5.8lbs for the 18v RHH181-01.

Went out this weekend to try it out and was pleasantly surprised with the amount and speed of holes drilled. I used an old bit, not terrible but not great. I drilled sixteen[16] ø1/2 x 4" deep holes into a hard rock, either Feldspar or Anorthosite.

Never owned or tried a Bosch 36v 11536C but do own a Hilti 24v TE5a which is comparable. Well this new 18v definitely didn't disappoint. The Bosch 18v RHH181-01 punched a hole just as fast and as many as the Hilti. I used to say that I would never buy a rotary hammer below 24v but batteries and drills have changed since I last purchased my Hilti.

I ended up grabbing a Milwaukee 2605 18v. Not as light as yours but it put 13 3/8x3" holes in lcc granite but only like 5 in a test chunk of hard bcc river quartzite and used two bits . . . That stuff is hard. It seems more bit intensive than drill intensive because other drills even kinda slow down if the but gets dull after a couple holes.

quartzite and other metamorphic rocks can be murder on drill bits and drills. If thats your medium of choice go 36v and stock up on bits.

The 12v Milwaukee seems to good to be true as far as weight and price goes. But I've heard consistently good things about it in granite.

Curious if anyones used the lightweight Bosch 18v Drill RHS181 (vs the significantly heavier RHH181). Still under 5lbs with battery apparently.

So between the BOSCH RHH181 and the Hilti TE 4-A18 which is best?

Amount of holes/charge: quite similar. but maybe hilti its a little better +0.25 to hilti.

Weight: +1 for Bosch.

Warranty: (according to the chart) +1 for hilti.

More durable?

Life of batteries?

Edit: time /hole in an overhanging rock?

heard from someone that the bosch starts losing power after a year.

Usually get 18-20 (3/8" x 4") holes with the Bosch and 6-8 (3/8" x 4") holes with the Milwaukee; a buddy of mine has a Milwaukee 18V and gets just as many holes per battery as the Bosch, although the Bosch does drill faster and works better when the rock density increases.

As good as the Bosch is the little Milwaukee can't be beat for on-lead drilling as well as when you don't need a ton of firepower.

I recently picked up a Milwaukee 12 Volt Fuel system cordless hammer drill as shown in the photo above. This little unit is light and tough! I have found I can drill 10-12 7in deep and 1/2in diameter holes in medium soft limestone...
I haven't tried it in harder rocks yet with a smaller diameter bit as well as less deep!

Burt Lindquist wrote:I recently picked up a Milwaukee 12 Volt Fuel system cordless hammer drill as shown in the photo above. This little unit is light and tough! I have found I can drill 10-12 7in deep and 1/2in diameter holes in medium soft limestone... I haven't tried it in harder rocks yet with a smaller diameter bit as well as less deep!

Weight??