[olug] Drilling Concrete Block-I'm doing it wrong

Rob Townley rob.townley at gmail.com
Fri Jan 3 17:27:54 CST 2020


The year was the hottest summer I had experienced in Omaha.  Had to drill
about sixty 1/2in holes about four inches deep in outside concrete
decking.  Each hole required twenty minutes at least, most longer.

In the fall, needed conduit in the  bomb shelter for a server room.  Solid
concrete block even on the ceiling.  Brian with Wire-n-IT Core Drilled with
Diamond 1 1/2 Bit, slicing through a foot of concrete in moments.  Core
Drills are a step up from Hammer Drills, but probably overkill for 3/8in
fastener sized holes.

In addition to HoneyMan and other dedicated rental places, some hardware
stores and Menards rent some tools.  If they rent it with a diamond quality
bit, it could be worth it.

Maybe i had more time as a kid, but dont remember having as much problem
drilling thru brick and concrete.

On Fri, Jan 3, 2020 at 4:22 PM Kevin Neubauer <kevin.m.neubauer at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Agree with Justin. You need a hammer drill to be effective at it. You also
> have to go slow with the rotation speed and apply moderate pressure, but
> not so much pressure you break the bit. You'll burn up masonry bits quick
> if you try to zip the hole in like you do with wood. If you have lots of
> holes to drill, rent or borrow a larger SDS rotary hammer drill.
>
> On Fri, Jan 3, 2020 at 4:15 PM Justin Reiners <justin at hotlinesinc.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Are you using a hammer drill? It increases speeds a ton when drilling
> > block, if it's block grout is much easier to drill than the block itself.
> >
> > On Fri, Jan 3, 2020, 4:13 PM Dave Thacker <dthacker9 at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > > I'm in the process of mounting a shelf of homelab equipment on a
> concrete
> > > block wall in my basement.   I grabbed a masonry bit from Menards, and
> > > started drilling with my Ryobi cordless.   While I expected drilling a
> > hole
> > > would take much long wood,  I didn't expect to take a single hole would
> > > take over 20 minutes.   When I started the second hole, I got about
> 3/4"
> > in
> > > and the bit...melted.  I've now got a bit fragment stuck in the second
> > > hole.
> > >
> > >    - How long should a masonry bit last?  New bit very hole?
> > >    - Is there a better quality bit I should be using?
> > >
> > > Dave
> > >
> > > --
> > > Dave Thacker
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