Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Fred's (hopefully) excellent HT adventure

Rent one at home depot cheaply. I would not buy one for your purpose. They make a mess, so keep that in mind. Glasses are a good idea too.

A real hammer drill uses bits specific for them. Hilti and Bosch are reputable brands that are available for rent.

I own a bosch bulldog that is great for light duty drilling. I just finished pinning my framed walls to the slab with it and hex head 5/32 tapcons. Worked great.

The shank of the bit locks into the drill chuck. Looks like this. Old concrete is a bear sometimes.

That's a formidable tool you have there. A real hammer drill is probably overkill for a 5/32" hole 2" deep.

For what it's worth, the dumbass of the year award goes to me. Was talking to my father this afternoon and, of course, he has a proper hammer drill in his garage.

Now there is a deal you cant resist FWIW I mentioned the 1/2" only because we were making big holes with a fairly inexpensive brand that did the job competently. Is there even such think as a 3/8 hammer drill? Making holes that size should be very simple affair.

That there is an SDS shank for a Rotary Hammer, not really the same as a "hammer drill" although they are used for similar work. The Rotary Hammer is far better/efficient than a hammer drill as they have a different mechanism to "chip" while drilling. You should be fine with a decent hammer drill though, Fred...they're much cheaper than rotary hammers too.

I'll say. That rotary hammer is in a whole other league.

Looks like the Dewalt XRP is the lowest cost all metal gearbox hammer drill if I want to pony up.

The SDS bits will fit in the chuck of a 1/2" drill. A good option.

Good tip is to tape the bit at required depth too. Overdrilling is a waste of time, battery and can lead to anchors not setting right if you go that route.

You are close to mounting! How exciting!

I'm pretty sure Fred would actually be disappointed if I didn't throm in a ::snicker-snicker:: here.

I have been installing an Engineered Hardwood floor in my basement. I put down some of the dimpled drywrap and covered it with OSB that I wanted to tapcon down so it didn't squeak.

I had the same thought as you in I have drilled holes into the concrete floor before with my regular drill and it did work most times. Often though the tapcon would pull out or just not grip. So this time I went out and bought a Ridgid hammer drill (as I have a bunch of ridgid cordless tools and I could buy just the hammer drill by itself without the battery and charger for about $120)

WOW. I could drill a hole in about 5 seconds, not 1 minute+ like before with a regular drill. Every hole I have drilled has worked with ZERO tapcon popout or screws that didn't grip. Right tool for the job and things suddenly became very easy.

I have a DeWalt that came as part of a kit a couple of years ago when I upgraded most of my cordless tools from Ryobi. Has worked really well for the 20-or-so holes I've done in concrete, in addition to the everyday stuff.

Sounds like you're good with borrowing your Dads' though?