What Drill Bit For Concrete?
Drilling into concrete can be a really tough job, so you will want to make sure you have the right drill bit for the job. But what is the right drill bit for drilling concrete? Let’s have a look and find out.
SDS Vs Regular Drill
The biggest difference between drill bits for drilling concrete will come down to whether your drill bit is an SDS bit or a regular bit. What does this mean?
An SDS drill is a special type of drill used mainly for masonry drilling as well as light demolition. An SDS drill bit has a special fitting that allows it to slide backwards and forwards in the drill. This allows the hammering action of the drill to be amplified, making it really powerful.
The easiest way to think of it is that an SDS drill is a hammer drill on steroids. Because of this, they are ideal for drilling into concrete.
SDS Concrete Drill Bits
So if an SDS drill is the preferred choice for drilling into concrete then what is the best bit to go in your SDS drill. There is no easy answer here, and it really comes down to how much drilling into concrete you expect to be doing.
There are some really good drill bits you can get for concrete, made by specialist brands like Hilti. As you can probably guess though these can come at a serious cost, so are not really suitable for anyone other than a professional who drills a lot of concrete.
As I have recommended in many previous posts, I use Bosch bits in my SDS drill. These bits offer a really good middle ground between price and quality, I use them every day and they have never let me down.
One thing you will notice about SDS drill bits is how much more curved the flute is. On these, it is almost a full spiral. This design does serve a purpose as it is intended to help improve the waste material removal rate, what this means is your holes should get clogged with dust less often.
Hammer Drill Concrete Bits
For those of you who will just be using a regular hammer drill for your concrete drilling needs don’t despair. there are many high-quality concrete bits out there that will work just fine with a good old hammer drill.
A hammer drill will get through concrete, it will just take a little longer than an SDS drill and will also max out on size a little sooner.
I might sound like a broken record, but once again I am going to recommend Bosch bits here!
Drill bit 4 / 5 / 6 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 10 mm
For Tough Concrete
If you have a particularly tough bit of concrete and regular bits just aren’t cutting the mustard then you need something a little more extreme.
These professional-level bits from Hilti will do the job but be warned, they come at a price.
- New solid carbide head has high wear-resistance and makes more precise holes for anchor setting – up to 30% more lifetime than other SDS Plus drill bits
- Solid carbide head featuring gradient technology – engineered to drill easily through rebar
- Quadruple helix and optimum head geometry for consistently fast drilling speed over the entire life of the drill bit
Related Posts
Planning on doing some heavy duty drilling? You will want the right drill bit for the job, make sure to read these posts.
