A bit OT I know

I've got to drill a 100mm hole through a wall in our flat. I've got a 100mm TCT core drilling bit and all the trimmings (arbor, pilot drill etc etc) and I've got a cheapo SDS plus drill (flipping heavy one alas).

but...........

the health and safety brigage on some DIY forums tend to say that unless you use a drill with a clutch for core drilling you're almost guaranteed a broken wrist.

This true???? I can imagine if you want to use loads of pressure behind the bit to get the job done quickly it'll bite like a byatch but surely if I'm prepared to take my time and go slowly through red brick it's not going to snag *that* badly.

Or am I just being stupidly optimistic???

Plan A at the moment is to try and do it with the stuff I've got but if it snags badly or repeatidly go and hire a clutched drill before I do myself a mischieve....

Just wonder if the "you should use a drill with a clutch" advice is based upon past (painful) experience or just based upon the fact that everyone else says you should do it!!!

Thanks in advance for any learned opinions!

A clutch? I’ve done this many times with my big Bosch drill (a should add through poured concrete not some woosy red brick) and it doesn’t have one, besides there’s hardy a lot of torque reaction when core drilling as its slow speed cutting. Even if you hit metal it will just bounce of. These health and safety people would have you wearing goggles, huge gloves and earplugs to open an envelope.

[Edited on 17/7/08 by Mr Whippy]

Someone installing aircon in their bedroom then?

I don't *know* about the H&S implications but I would have thought if you forced yourself to keep the speed low then even if it catches, how bad can it be.... but keep it slow.

My £60 or so Ryobi has a clutch AFAIK so not something I've thought about much!

Cheers,
James

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Originally posted by James
Someone installing aircon in their bedroom then?

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Originally posted by mr henderson

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Originally posted by James
Someone installing aircon in their bedroom then?

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It's probably a system for extracting noxious nocturnal smells, a f@rt can hang aroung the atmosphere of a bedroom for quite a long time unless extracted

John

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It's not for anything as exciting as aircon or methane extraction. It's for a flatmaster2000 (love the name)... It's a positive pressure ventilation system for our basement (ie damp) flat!!! Obviously with tanked walls we're reliant on airflow to keep the humidity down and at the moment we ain't go any airflow!!!

The speed or drilling will unfortunately be totally dependant on how quickly a 850W drill going turns a 100mm TCT core drill attached IE binary speed control on this drill (it's that cheap.....).....

Even the cheapo SDS drills have a clutch.
If your using a core bit it shouldnt be a problem any road, just keep a good grip on the drill and use the secondary grip dont rely on the pistol grip alone otherwise even with a clutch you can break your wrist.
Just remember to switch off hammer.
Cheers,
Bob

[Edited on 17/7/08 by splitrivet]

ive done core drilling,with a proper core driller that has to be anchored to the ground with rawl bolts as it WILL break your wrist if it catches,dunno about the clutched ones but i would have thought they would be forever slipping as the corer bites


why not break the brick/half brick out and plod the hole up around the pipe?

[Edited on 17/7/08 by theconrodkid]

i have a bosch multi and a proper core drill
only differance is the core drill tries to snap your arm every now and again and spins faster.
my old fella uses his cheapo B&Q jobbie for coring without any hassle
so drill away

The wall's very thick. Taking out huge chunks and repairing around the pipe sounds a huge job. At the end of the day worst comes to the worst I'll get a clutched drill. But it's true they often prematurely trigger with big core bits...

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Originally posted by eccsmk
i have a bosch multi and a proper core drill
only differance is the core drill tries to snap your arm every now and again and spins faster.
my old fella uses his cheapo B&Q jobbie for coring without any hassle
so drill away

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Originally posted by Mr Whippy

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Originally posted by mr henderson

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Originally posted by James
Someone installing aircon in their bedroom then?

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It's probably a system for extracting noxious nocturnal smells, a f@rt can hang aroung the atmosphere of a bedroom for quite a long time unless extracted

John

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Oh dear I’m so sorry to hear of your troublesome bowels you should see a doctor about that

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ive just drilled 100 mm hole for boiler flue
with a "liddle" sds drill
just the job , i was a little red afterwards though ( brick dust )

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Originally posted by mr henderson

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Originally posted by Mr Whippy

quote:

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Originally posted by mr henderson

quote:

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Originally posted by James
Someone installing aircon in their bedroom then?

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It's probably a system for extracting noxious nocturnal smells, a f@rt can hang aroung the atmosphere of a bedroom for quite a long time unless extracted

John

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Oh dear I’m so sorry to hear of your troublesome bowels you should see a doctor about that

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Actually it's not me! I don't mind the smell of my own

John

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Originally posted by nige
ive just drilled 100 mm hole for boiler flue
with a "liddle" sds drill
just the job , i was a little red afterwards though ( brick dust )

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YES THEY DO HAVE A CLUTCH.

Cheers,
Bob

i used to use a big hilti to do my core drilling with no clutch just gotta hold on tight and brace yourself for when it does catch cause it will but your'll be fine without a clutch my new core drill i use is brill spins far faster than the hilti and flys through with a tct drill you can use hammer its the diamond drills you dont

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Originally posted by BenB
The wall's very thick. Taking out huge chunks and repairing around the pipe sounds a huge job. At the end of the day worst comes to the worst I'll get a clutched drill. But it's true they often prematurely trigger with big core bits...

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Yup! stitch drilling was my original plan.... until I drilled a test hole. It's a triple layer (ie double air gap) wall 30cm thick!!! that's some serious drilling! But I might resort to that if the core drilling fails...

I've done a 100mm hole through a breeze block cavity wall using a cheapo B&Q SDS drill.

It went like a hot knife through butter but did make a fair bit of dust.

As above, hold it tight and use the secondary grip, should be fine.

Go for it. I used my mates dewalt SDS drill and core drill set recently. That had a lightish clutch so had to be steady with pressure and keep it level to stop it clutching.

Clutchless should be OK, just be ready to release trigger if it bites and make sure you are secure if up a ladder.

Mate told me to drill through with pilot drill first, then fit the core and get it started. The remove the pilot. Also dont use hammer mode on certain core drills.

It will only hurt once.

Use glasses. Not for the obvious, but when you break through i found the draft that rushed through blew lots of dust in my face!