Expedition SDS Drills

Stupot

Stupot

Active member
Any advise or recommendations for the best SDS drill available at present for expedition bolting.

Humid jungle conditions with limited charging.

Plus very aquatic systems.

Makita, Dewalt, Bosch and Milwalkee all seem do offer a good range of leight weight 18v versions but some hands on tried and tested reviews would be very welcome.

Cheers

Stu.
 
Rob

Rob

Well-known member
The newish 18v Makita DHR165ZJ is what we used in Mulu for the first time this year. It's 0.7kg lighter than the previous 202Z model, but seems very similar on performance = awesome.

When used with the 5aH makita batteries we managed to drill 55x 8mm dia /65mm deep holes from one battery!!!

We got it soaked during one bolt climb up a small waterfall and it was fine, as anticipated.

For ?130, i'd be surprised if you can find a better drill body...
 
M

meanderthal

Member
I agree these new smaller/lighter drills are excellent  (y). I've been using a Hitachi 18v with 5aH battery capacity for a couple of years now (UK and abroad) and I rarely have to reach for a second battery.
 
cavermark

cavermark

New member
I second rob said about the Makita.  It doesn't have quite as much impact force as a bigger model if you were drilling a lot of deep 10mm or bigger holes but for 8mm bolts it's perfect.
The only other thing to consider for super lightweight/compactness is a Bosch Uneo - the integral battery model fits in a Daren drum (may help with the aquatics). It's SDS "quick" rather than plus though and doesn't really cope with larger than 8mm holes well.
 
Pitlamp

Pitlamp

Well-known member
Rob said:
The newish 18v Makita DHR165ZJ is what we used in Mulu for the first time this year. It's 0.7kg lighter than the previous 202Z model, but seems very similar on performance = awesome.

When used with the 5aH makita batteries we managed to drill 55x 8mm dia /65mm deep holes from one battery!!!

We got it soaked during one bolt climb up a small waterfall and it was fine, as anticipated.

For ?130, i'd be surprised if you can find a better drill body...
Click to expand...

I suspect you've just given me some valuable information there Rob, thanks.

I have here a Makita DHP458 drill with two 3 Ah batteries and charger. It's a really excellent lightweight tool but, being non SDS, it's not quite as efficient as an SDS drill. Does anyone know if these Makita batteries will also fit the DHR165ZJ which Rob describes above? If so I'll get one on Rob's recommendation.

Rob - where do they grow for ?130?

 
nickwilliams

nickwilliams

Well-known member
cavermark said:
Pitlamp - if they are bl1830 batteries they will fit  (y)
Click to expand...

Beware, the newer 4Ah and 5Ah 18V LXT Makita LiOn batteries will not fit earlier tools which were originally only designed with the 3Ah batteries in mind.

Older batteries will fit newer tools.
 
Leclused

Leclused

Active member
When charging is difficult during the expedition I would go for batteries 5ah or higher. The bosch we bought came with 2 batts of 6ah. ;)


just my 2c.

 
Spike

Spike

New member
nickwilliams said:
Beware, the newer 4Ah and 5Ah 18V LXT Makita LiOn batteries will not fit earlier tools which were originally only designed with the 3Ah batteries in mind.

Older batteries will fit newer tools.
Click to expand...

What's the difference?

I'm aware of the "star marked" batteries that are required for higher draw tools, but in that case it's the old battery I had (came with a combi drill and is not starred) that wouldn't work in the new tool (jigsaw). I then bought a 4Ah battery that works across all my Makita stuff...  :confused:

There was me thinking that I'd bought into a nice wide range of tools with full battery compatibility o_O
 
SamT

SamT

Moderator
There is a circuit board on both battery and drill these days that talk to each other.  If you jam the drill, which suddenly 'asks' for a load of current to be drawn from the battery, the circuit boards will communicate and cut the power to the drill to protect the battery (and save energy).

I think the circuit boards on the new drills will talk to all batteries.

However, the circuit boards on new batteries will not talk to older drills.

I'm not quite sure how you identify which will talk to which - other than I assumed that this was the 'star' marking that helped, e.g. - A drill with a star marking will talk to all batteries.
however a drill without a star mark (older) will not work with a battery with a star. 

Not sure if Nicks alluding to a further incompatibility issue surrounding the 4 and 5ah batteries.
 
cavermark

cavermark

New member
There is an extra rib of plastic on the newer "star" symbolled makita batteries which doesn't fit into the base of the older (no star) drills. It is possible to remove the rib of plastic and they then work..  but i guess there may be an overheating/over draining risk without the correct circuitry...
 
Spike

Spike

New member
I now have two 1.3Ah batteries in front of me, one starred, one not.

The starred one has a bit of plastic missing (on the left hand side with the front of the battery pointing upwards) which allows it to slide on to my (starred) jigsaw, which has an extra metal tag on the plate that isn't on my older (not starred) drill.

Clear as mud, but suffice to say, for the tools I have at the minute at least, the starred batteries work for everything, and the unstarred ones only work on my old drill. Therefore I'll only buy starred batteries going forward, with the missing bit of plastic.

</thread hijack>
 
Pitlamp

Pitlamp

Well-known member
Can I just say a big thank you, to several people,  for the advice above? I might give Makita a quick call just to check before a purchase.
 
Stupot

Stupot

Active member
Ditto, many thanks to all for the practical advice - refreshing to see a thread stay on track and not be dragged down  (y)

Cheers

Stu.
 
Pitlamp

Pitlamp

Well-known member
This outfit:

http://www.lawson-his.co.uk/makita-dhr165zj-18v-li-ion-sds-hammer-drill-body-only

. . . does them for ?130 including delivery.

Incidentally I emailed Makita UK directly to double check the battery compatibility situation; they confirmed these drills will work with my existing batteries (as queried several posts above).

Makita UK responded to my email very quickly and gave exactly the information I wanted; I've always found this to be the case with this company - and is why I'll shortly be making a purchase.
 
A

Amy

New member
Do you happen to know of the US supplier, pitlamp? We are still hand drilling which kinda sucks  :chair:
 
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