www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk

Hi, I bought one of those 6KG Titan SDS drills for £40 on screwfix. It is a real cheapo drill but actually for doing a few jobs it’s a real bargain, its heavy, clunky, comes in a crap case and you would swear it was made by Fisher Price but for the DIY man it’s just the ticket.

I removed all my bathroom tiles in about ¾ hour with the chisel bit (not included). Although I broke it an hour later trying to remove a fireplace The bit is wedged in the chuck and can’t get it out. The rotostop function is loose now too but I was using the drill hard. Anyway I rang screwfix and the sent out a new one the next day so no complaints.

It comes with 4 or 6 drill bits and 2 chisel bits although thought it was ironic when the manual says “only use good quality bits”

I have the same machine, for general DIY its perfect.

Excellent for breaking up the 4" concrete base my old shed was resting on.

With a longer bit I drilled the kitchen wall for plumbing in an outside tap and a smaller bit for external cables.

Glad to hear that you have got your money's worth

the chuck seems the weak link in it. its one of push down types but it serves a lot of purposes.

I want one of those channel cutting bits but doesn't seem right to pay £30 for a bit for a £40 drill

Is yours still intact gib_goblin?

I have one as well. I also ordered a set of chisels/drills, this contains the channel cutter. Done a lot of work with it. After 11 months, the button which indexes the rotation knob on top disappeared. I rang Screwfix, they sent me a new drill by return.

Whats the channel cutting one like. I am just using the drill bits & depth stop at the moment.

NewbieJohn wrote:the chuck seems the weak link in it. its one of push down types but it serves a lot of purposes.

I want one of those channel cutting bits but doesn't seem right to pay £30 for a bit for a £40 drill

Is yours still intact gib_goblin?

I found the chuck quite fiddly to use.

I've also purchased extra bits, if the drill breaks I'll buy a replacemnt but I'll still have he bits!

Mine is still intact. I used a pointed chisel bit to break the concrete, and was carefull not to get it stuck or twisted in the concrete, just let it find the path of least resistance then knocked the rubble apart with a lump hammer once concrete was cracked by the drill.

I have 2 now, 1 has a tile chisel completely wedged in it and impossible to get out. Screwfix came friday to collect it Told them that the bit was stuck in it and can't get it out. Said, never mind and just keep it.

Means I have one for spare parts now and 2 sets of bits although apart from the brushes I don't think anything is replaceable

I just got one of these titan, very much like the cheap (PXB ?) I got from home base a few years ago, the chuck flew apart today
on the pxb so I got the daughter to get me a titan from screwfix but by the time she got back I'd found the ball bearing in the rubble
( might of been two) pushed the chuck back together and carried making rubble, if the titan lasts as long as the pbx I'll be happy
as I've got about 2 cubic meters of crush brick and concrete from it and quite a bit more to make.
I'm renovating my cottage not just making rubble.

NewbieJohn,
I had the stuck bit problem (broke a 6mm) in the Pxb, I freed it by leaving the drill with the bit pointing up and running WD40 down into the chuck to dissolve the grease, I had to hold the broken stub in the vice to pull the drill off and now when the grease gets sticky I put a few drops of 3 in one down the chuck then wipe the bits clean when I change from drill to chisel every now and then.

Will give it ago, but the bit is well and truly stuck in there. It could be bent

actually I think the problem is due to as Gib Goblin says, I probably broke it by drilling in too hard and getting the bit stuck in the concrete.

Update on Titan Tool

It’s been a year since I bought it and I have used this tool a lot now and have given it plenty of abuse. I am happy to say it has stood up to the test very well. It effortlessly drills 22mm holes (for 15mm piping) in brick. I have used it as a core drill to drill 2 x 52mm holes in a 15” brick walls . The machine is not designed for that and does not have an overload clutch so there was some crunching going on but it was dearer to hire a core drill that the cost of this machine so didn’t care too much. It did the job with a struggle but got there no problem. Also jacked out a reinforced concrete fireplace and removed both a bathroom and kitchen tiles. I further chisel out 10 channels in brick for cabling. All no problem. The shear weight means you hold rather than push the machine and just let the SDS facility wallop out the hole for you. It does have a respectable 4.7J impact performance and claims to have a metal gearbox. It has also been covered in sand, soaked and dried out again.

I opened it the other day to look the wear on the carbon brushes (replaceable) and everything looks intact.

On the negative side, the weak links are the button on top which switches the roto stop on or off. It’s in a bad position and takes a beating when drilling holes in a corner. Also increases the minimum distance out from the wall. The roto stop is not that strong and when attaching a 20mm chisel bit you can find it will start to turn. 80mm tiles chisels do work fine though ass little torsional pressure. After 1 year there is a bit of play in the chuck (wasn’t great to begin with). It’s also a noisy machine and cable is too short (<2m)

It’s nowhere near suitable for the DIY enthusiasts looking for an all rounder due to the shear weight and bulk, and cannot be used one handed unless you are 7” tall, green, wear ripped shorts and need anger management therapy, but it does complement a much lower better quality 600W SDS drill without roto stop perfectly. If you try drill a 8mm hole on full SDS power you will knock lumps off the plaster.

Over all it’s like the unusually strong retarded cousin or ugly beat up workhorse that you expect to keel over any minute but yet it continues to perform. Titan have a nice habit of making stuff work without the gimmicks or aiming for the pro tools features (i.e. using great big clunking switches instead of smoother dials / switches and keyed chucks rather than keyless). Black and Decker are awful for this. You also have to put in a big dollop of grease every 5 hours of use. I have seen a few reviews where it has packed up in one day but you do get a 1 year guarantee so no worries if it does. The real key here is price. I see it’s on screw fix for £53 ( I paid £40) which includes all the accessories, including a standard drill adaptor. All drill bits are up to the task of general (not pro use) although a 12mm 500mm bit will bend with the SDS on full power. Newer models seem to include metal clasps on the case too. This is well worth the money as buying an equivalent known brand is well into the hundreds. Further renting out a pro version SDS is just as costly and time consuming. The product looses its appeal quickly as price rises. I’d say up to £70-£80 tops is still a good price.

Overall, 9/10 (I’d give it a 10 if it was again on sale at £40)

Thanks for the update John

My Titan is still going strong. I'm more careful with the rotostop knob now. I've recently used the channeling chisel on a stone wall, it makes a neat chase.

you can see I was bored in work today, had to stay late as was p#ssing about the website this afternoon

one of the caretakers in my work uses this very drill when renewing the seats in the stands

i used it to bore a hole in the proch to run my satellite cable through and it did the job

i would highly reccomend this drill especially at the price you can pick it up at