On 3 Jul 2003 21:41:52 GMT, andrew@cucumber.demon.co.uk (Andrew
Gabriel) wrote:

>I always start with hammer off. If you hit mortar (particularly
>lime mortar) with SDS hammer on, you end up with a hole 3 times
>broader and 10 times deeper than you intended in less than a
>millisecond ;-)
>
>Also, I've had the occasional soft brick which drills fine without
>hammer, but shatters to a thousand pieces if an SDS hammer drill
>bit touches it.

Actually, you've just made me wonder if on buying an SDS, might it be
better off using the old hammer first, and switch to SDS when the
going gets too tough for it. The thought I'm having is that you'd get
it started gentler and possibly more accurate based on your comment
above, and presumably conserve the life of both tools a little better
too. Granted it'd be a bit more messing about to do it though.

Not been SDS route yet, so it's only a guess.

Take Care,
Gnube