Can A Cordless Drill Go Through Brick?

 H2: Battery Power Of A Cordless Drill

A cordless drill gets all of its power from a small battery and as bricks and concrete are particularly tough materials, it can be quite difficult for a cordless drill to go through them as the battery often get drained quite quickly from working so hard.

 

Therefore, it’s important to know which is the best drill and battery to use and to do this you need to understand how much power a battery has and know the difference between amp-hours and voltage.

 

Generally, a higher voltage will result in a higher number of revs per minute (RPM), so a higher voltage will mean that the drill will spin much faster.  Also, amp-hours affects the amount of torque that a drill has, so the higher the amp-hours, the greater the amount of torque.

 

Therefore, a drill with a high voltage would be suitable for inserting screws, while higher amp-hours would be better for drilling large holes into a tough material.

 

Bricks are a clay-based material and they are often available in quite a few different hardness levels.  If you to drill into brick then an alternative is to drill into the mortar as it is not as tough.

 

H2: How to prepare for drilling into brick

It’s important to prepare your drill for drilling into brick and one of the things you need to do is set the torque to the correct setting (also called clutch settings).  Your drill will usually have a dial with numbers on it that you can turn, and those numbers determine when the clutch will slip.  Most clutch settings are numbered from one to twelve, although bigger drills can often go up to twenty.  The lower numbers indicate a lower setting, or lower amount of torque, while the higher number represents a greater amount of torque.

 

When you are drilling holes, but especially when drilling into brick, you need a lot of power, which comes from the torque setting.  Therefore you should use the highest clutch or torque setting and this is usually indicated by the symbol of a drill on the dial.

 

It’s important to always select the correct clutch setting as if it’s too low in a situation where you need a lot of power then the clutch could slip.

 

Sometimes there can be a lot of resistance when you begin to drill, and if there is too much then the clutch will cause the motor to disengage.  This is perfectly normal and all you need to do is turn to clutch setting round to a higher number, therefore increasing the amount of torque, which should prevent the clutch from slipping.

 

H2: Which drills bits to use for drilling into brick

It’s important to always use the correct drill bit when you are drilling into brick or concrete, and these are called masonry drill bits.

 

Masonry drill bits are not the same as a standard drill bit as they have a much tougher tip.  The tip of a masonry drill bit is quite flat and broad and is made from tungsten carbide.  The tip is wider than the shaft, and the shaft is made from softer steel.

 

These drill bits are designed to not overheat and they word by grinding away at the material you are drilling into while the twist section of the shaft removes the dust and debris that is caused by the drilling.

 

A masonry drill bit is suitable for use with a cordless drill for almost all hard surfaces, but if you’re drilling into something like concrete then you will need another masonry drill bit.  For surfaces such as concrete then you should use a drill bit that has an SDS fitting instead of the standard masonry drill bit end.  This drill bit can be used in a special hammer drill.

 

When purchasing a drill bit to use for drilling into masonry you should never compromise on the quality, which means not buying cheap ones.  They are generally available in sets and it’s always a good idea to have several sizes on hand.

 

H2: What is the hammer setting and when to use it

Although most of the time you can drill into masonry with a standard cordless drill so long as you have the correct drill bit, it is often better to use a hammer setting as it can take a very long time otherwise.

 

A hammer setting is designed to give blows behind the drill bit, almost like hitting the drill with a hammer while drilling.  This setting enables the drill to drill into a hard surface much faster as it causes a lot more vibration than an ordinary setting and the extra vibrations make the grinding action of the masonry drill bit happen a lot faster.

 

The hammer action on drills is measured in bumps per second (BPS) and generally, a cordless drill will have a much lower BPS than a drill which is specifically a hammer drill.

 

Drills that have both settings - drill and hammer are commonly known as “combi drills” and when preparing to drill into brick you should always check if your drill has a hammer setting, which is usually portrayed by a hammer symbol on the clutch settings.  If it does then select that setting before attempting to drill.

 

H2: Tough jobs require a rotary hammer

Occasionally, you might need to drill a large hole into concrete and if you do then a rotary hammer drill needed for the job.  Not every drill has a rotary hammer setting, and it is usually only on hammer drills and on a few cordless drills.

 

Some rotary hammer drills use SDS drill bits and chucks which is known as a slotted drive system.  These are electric drills and the drill bit and the chuck are designed to work together in a way that produces faster drilling.  These types of drills are the best to use for drilling into tough concrete or brick as they can drill a hole in a matter of seconds.

 

By comparison, the chuck on a standard hammer drill works backwards and forwards with the same mechanism as cordless drills.  As the mechanism is different for SDS drill bits, they are loose when placed into a standard drill and so are not suitable to be used in it.

 

H2: Should I drill into the mortar instead?

Sometimes it can be a good alternative to drill into the mortar instead of the brick as it is much softer, but it does depend on a few things.  You should always consider how deep your hole needs to be, how big the hole is going to be, how old the brick is, what type of brick it is, and how much weight is going to be placed on the screw.

 

Although brick can usually support more weight than mortar, that is not going to be the case if it is old or is not in the best condition as the hole could weaken the brick more than it already is.  In these cases, it is better to drill into the mortar instead of the brick.

 

Although it is much easier to drill into mortar as it is softer, it cannot hold the same amount of weight as brick can.