[Stuart Wright]

If you look through my home cinema story you'll see that the ceiling of my home cinema is the floor of the garage above. It's hollow reinforced concrete and I've had to drill umpteen holes into it. 7 speakers with 4 holes each, for example.
I used a standard black+decker drill and masonry drill bits and would be pushing the thing into the ceiling for hours doing millimeters at a go. Nighmare understates the job.

I sold my old screen Saturday night so we were putting up my new screen yesterday during a party so we could put a movie on.
Sods law disctates that none of the old holes were usable so 4 new holes needed.
Plenty of help from people to drill the holes, hold the vacuum next to the drill etc. But as usual we were really struggling. The second hole was not getting more than an inch deep despite mighty efforts.

Then another brother-in-law arrived any by pure chance they had a pneumatic drill with them. What the hell is a pneumatic drill?!!!
Oh it'll go through your ceiling as if it were butter.

******** !! I thought.

But it did, you know. Whoosh. Straight up and we had the difficult hole and two more drilled in a matter of seconds.
The drill they bought cost £300, but you can get cheaper alternatives for the occasional difficult drilling.

Check out this page for a similar drill for £25 !!
I wish I'd known about this when I put my speakers up. It would have saved me hours.

[ditton15]

Good call Stuart, and a great suggestion for a present for my wife's birthday later this week. What I want to know is whether the sub I ordered from Uncle Eric will be big enough - sounds like I need a REL Quake but no doubt Velodyne has the specifications & pedigree to better a Destroyer ...

ditton

[StooMonster]

My DeWalt SDS is one of my favourite toys, particularly with the chasing bits; and the metre long bits.

Highly recommended to anyone who either needs to drill into hard surfaces, or needs to chase out brick work.

StooMonster

[Dubbing Mixer]

Excellent toy! Bought a recon B&D pro one years ago. Still goes through most things like the proverbial knife through butter.

I have two Makita SDS drills, one 2KG, one 4KG and whilst I wouldn't be without them I am not in the habit of taking them to partys We bought my Father-in-law one from Argos for his birthday and he is well chuffed with it, well worth the money for odd jobs.

That might be just the thing I need!!

The lintels above our windows are all reinforced concrete (they're large windows) and it is hellishly difficult to get curtain track/poles fitted.

I shall nip to Argos this weekend I think!

Many thanks to Spectre for the info

[Monster]

Guys

You really shouldn't be drilling through the steel reinforcement in concrete! A floor like Spectres might not be so risky as there is usually a lattice of steel acting under tension (as opposed to compression) in more than one direction. If you have a reinforced concrete lintel, the steel along the lower half is in tension and gives it the strength it needs for the span. Cut too much of that and boing!!

I was working on a job fixing window cleaners eyebolts and the structural engineer was adamant about this.

[Flimber]

Saw your thread title and I knew it would be about SDS

Another here for SDS drills. Until you've used one, you can't imagine how poor a normal 'hammer' drill is in comparison.

Mike.

EDIT: ALDI are currently doing one for £29.95.

[ReTrO]

We used a Makita SDS drill at work. Made life very easy when we had to put up a load of TV brafcket into an office ceiling. They are also extrenely useful for chasing channels in walls with the richt bits.

[lynx]

The one in the Argos link is a little light at 620w. CPC are doing an 850w on special for £30 + . I got three and for the price i have no complaints.Good warranty and even come with bearing oil and a set of chisels.

[lynx]

Originally posted by ReTrO
They are also extrenely useful for chasing channels in walls with the richt bits.

A young lad your age should be raggling withn a scutch and a club hammer. Tsk, the youth of today

[Joe Fernand]

Hello StooMonster

Things you have collected with your 1m+ drill bits!

01. Back to Back cupboards between (customers) Lounge and Bedroom.

02. Cupboards about four inches out of alignment (not on the plans!!!)

03. Bookcase to one side of cupboard in bedroom.

04. Big drill plus long drill bit - knife through butter between cupboards.

Result - one book spinning at very high speed in the bedroom and a quick trip to Waterston's to replace book

Best regards

Joe