SDS Max drills – buyer’s guide

Keep hiring SDS Max drills? Why not buy your own

Prices have fallen in recent years, making it much more cost effective to get your own SDS Max demolition drill.

Firstly, what’s the difference between SDS Plus and SDS Max?

SDS Plus drills are the smaller models – typically under 3kg, and have up to 3 drilling modes allowing you to use them for Rotary Hammer drilling, Rotary Only without the hammer (for drilling wood and metal with a chuck adaptor) and Hammer Only for light chiselling. SDS Max Drill are generally 4kg-12kg and operate in 2 Modes only – Rotary Hammer or Hammer Only (Rotation Stop).

SDS Plus drills use smaller diameter drill bits with a 10 mm shank with 4 open grooves held by the drill’s driving wedges, and 2 closed grooves held by locking balls. The wedges attach to an area of 75 mm² and the shank is placed 40 mm into the chuck. SDS-Plus bits run up to 1-1/8” diameter. SDS Max drill bits use an 18mm shank with 3 open grooves and locking segments instead of than balls, these are designed for use in SDS hammers over 5kg.

SDS Plus and SDS Max drill bits are not interchangeable.

With SDS Max drills, you’ll find that manufacturers use different ways to refer to similar products. Generally speaking ‘SDS Max Drill’, ‘SDS Max Rotary Hammer Drill’ and ‘SDS Max Demolition Hammer Drill’ all refer to the same thing; these are also often referred to as ‘breakers’. However when looking at breakers you may find that machines referred to a ‘concrete breakers’ are not SDS Max drills but use a different shank design i.e. Hex, K-Hex or TE-S. Most SDS Max drills are designed for both drilling into walls and vertically down into concrete floors. Typically, concrete breakers are heavier and held from above.

What can an SDS Max drill be used for?

A range of applications:

• demolition of brickwork, concrete and stone

• heavy-duty chiselling

• core cutting/drilling

• renovation of brickwork and joint removal

• Laying tubes

SDS Max drills do not operate in rotary only mode and are not designed for basic drilling into wood and metal.

The lower weight SDS Max drills 3-4kg can be used for overhead drilling and can be used in tight spaces. Many models have effective vibration control, so they can be used for relatively long periods without too much discomfort.

How do you compare different SDS Max drills?

When buying an SDS Max Drill, the features you should concentrate on are similar to SDS Plus drills but vibration control becomes more important as these are heavier machines.

• Drilling power – as with SDS Plus drills you should look for the impact energy in Joules (J) and the power input in Watts

To see what this actually delivers look for the drilling capacity for Concrete and Core Cutting ¬ shown as the max diameter of hole the model can drill (mm)

i.e. Max in Concrete: XXmm, Max Core Diameter (TCT) XXmm

A further measure of SDS Max drill’s power is its drilling speed shown as No Load Speed impacts/minute

You may also see Impacts Per Minute.

• Vibration control – as an SDS Max drill is a high powered piece of kit, the amount of vibration can make a big difference, This is shown as m/s² and you will often see values for the Rotary Hammer mode and the Hammer Only mode. To put this into context, a leading 12kg Makita SDS Max drillwith advanced vibration control has vibration of Rotary Hammer 12.5 m/s² Hammer Only 11 m/s². A lighter model e.g. such as a new 6.4kg Bosch SDS Max drill as vibration of Rotary Hammer 10 m/s² Chisel 8 m/s². Use this as a rough yardstick for comparing vibration SDS Max drills.

• Weight – as SDS Max drill design improve, they get more powerful and weigh less. For example some of the newer 6kg drills now deliver 8 Joules of impact energy a real improvement on the power to weight ratio.

• Design – some of the better SDS Max demolition hammers have more ergonomic designs that make it easier to handle. Look out for switches that are easy to use when wearing gloves and durable rubber handles.

Are there specific drill bits for SDS Max drills?

Yes with the SDS max drills the bits are typically larger in diameter than an SDS Plus drill bit. Typically the shank is 18mm diameter, having 3 open grooves, and this is inserted 90mm into the chuck.

Can you get adaptors to use SDS Plus drill bits in SDS Max Drills?

Yes. For example, see SDS Plus to SDS Max drill bit adaptors. However as you’re working with bits designed for a less powerful tool you can’t expect the SDS Plus bits to have the same longevity as an SDS Max bit.

What is a Core Cutter? Can I use one with an SDS Max drill?

A core cutter is an accessory which attaches to an SDS Max drill for drilling larger diameter holes. Diamond core cutters can be used to make the largest holes. These are very handy time saving device for drilling holes for soil pipes or large cabling as the core cutter makes is little impact on the surrounding bricks. These should be used in Rotary Hammer mode – never in Hammer Only.

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