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Hi all
Could someone please advise what would be best to buy for the following

Italian old houses with 70cm -100cm thick stone and brick mix walls. first have to remove a lot of exterior and interior plaster. I have seen that you can buy wide edged chisels for plaster and tile removal (SDS fitting). Is this the best method for plaster and old floor tile removal without damage to the undersurface.
do I need to buy a large rotor stop drill and if so what wattage will be best, please bear in mind that the weight of the thing could be an issue as I have large surface areas to clear and I am talking months of work not a couple of days.

Would also like the drill to be capable of drilling and demolition of the above walls as have two new doorways to put in and god only knows how many holes to make.
Does anyone think that a £50 cheap make rotor stop drill will last a year of hard work or should I be spending far more ?
SDS drill bits and chisels, again the same question about quality / price and ease of use, does using a more expensive drill bit or chisel in a cheaper drill make sense, or the other way round make more sense. Hopefully you get the picture that money will be tight, as much as i,d love to get the best of everything it just isn,t possible.

With these drills is it possible to chisel with care or doea everthing in their path get blown away ?

any views welcome
Thanks
Steve

It sounds like youve got a fair project on Steve....
I think whatever machine you buy will get some heavy use, so id air more towards an sds max machine, especially if your going cheap.

Hi Steve,

You can ask 10 different people this question and get 10 different answers.

A cheap drill will not be up to the task I am afraid. I know three people that have bought cheap sds machines and they have all broken in the first few weeks.

If I was you I would go for a quality model, perhaps a Blue Bosch as some now have a 3 year warranty. If you are hacking plaster off all day long you would be better with a 2kg sds hammer, but for opening walls and demolition you will need something much more substancial, perhaps 4.5kg.

Wattage is not really an issue on sds machines as the majority of them are much lower wattage then their hammer/percussion counterparts as they are much more efficient at drilling.

What voltage is it in Italy?

I have a feeling that it is similar to the uk!

something like this for light work would be good-

http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/pro ... 6&id=73560

There are plenty of decent makes, such as Bosch, metabo, makita, hitachi, dewalt and more. If you can find one of these drills on special offer then it should last a long time. Like you say make sure it has rotary stop on it for chiseling!

Ryobi seems to be popular on here and so they could be worth a look as well

I forgot to mention that I use this most of the time- bosch-gbh-4-dfe-multi-drill-t505.html

But it is a bit heavy if you are just hacking off plaster with it!

I bought mine from ebay and thing it was about £160

yep i agree with uhm

i would also add if the drill is living in italy most off the time best check if an english gtee is acceptable in italy so if it does break it dosnt involve a round trip to here to get it repaired

thanks guys for the replies

Yes, italy is on the same voltage, just not quite so consistent, lights regularly dim.

can i assume that a 2kg drill means the drill weighs 2kg, therefore a 4 kg weighs more so has more ooomph when chiselling.

along with Dewalt and Hilt makes Ryobi seems popular here.

Bosch gbh2 26dre in italy costs approx 260euros ( about £175 )
On english e-bay have seen far cheaper, what do people think of the " factory re-conditioned" items for sale at almost half of new price, anyone any experience of these as it seems worth me buying one of these and taking a chance on the guarantee by bringing it back to Italy.

any comments on chisel and drill bit price v's quality and ease of use ?

Hi Steve,

can i assume that a 2kg drill means the drill weighs 2kg, therefore a 4 kg weighs more so has more ooomph when chiselling.


Yes that is correct, the heavier machines normally have lots more power and can handle much bigger tasks.

Bosch gbh2 26dre in italy costs approx 260euros ( about £175 )
On english e-bay have seen far cheaper, what do people think of the " factory re-conditioned" items for sale at almost half of new price, anyone any experience of these as it seems worth me buying one of these and taking a chance on the guarantee by bringing it back to Italy.


I don't think the guarantee would be as good with a factory reconditioned one and so you are probably better off with a brand new one. I'd buy one in Italy to be honest or else if you do need to claim on the guarantee ( hopefully you won't ) it will be much easier for you, rather than having to bring it back to the UK.

As for chisels and drill bits, I would buy a decent make, you can get some cheap makes from India or China, but they are nowhere near as good as the branded stuff. Have a look for deals on Makita, Bosch, dewalt, metabo and ryobi and you won't go far wrong

Bosch gbh 2 costs euros 320 over here. approx £215. it does feel like a quality piece of equipment BUT , for the same Euros 320 I can buy complete set of VALEX equipment including, SDS demolition drill plus SDS smaller drill with roto stop plus 1200watt wall chaser plus 600watt electric tile table cutter plus 600watt 115 mm angle grinder and a wet & drry vac to attach to the chaser.

as a diyer with two old houses to fix which should I go for ???

Anyone any experience of these VALEX tools. They are made in China but seem remarkably similar outside to other manufacturers, i appreciate that inside could be a whole different story but surely they will last two diyer houses ??

any comments please

Steve

I know nothing about Valex but you seem to be getting involved in major works and as such I think you need to rely on the bottom end of the 'pro' scale (get the best you can afford) rather than the cheap Chinese stuff. Chinese makes are still cheap and fragile, no matter what product we are talking about. IMO.

Just beceause it looks similar, it doesnt mean its the same!

Take Marksman tools for instance, same colour as Makita, even got red batteries..... but absoloutly rubbish!

I can only reiterate the above, buy the very best you can stretch too.
If your budget is £300, spend £300. Worth it everytime.

Tools are another thing where you get exactly what you pay for.

Having said Italy is same voltage as Uk I've now found out it is slightly different.

UK 240 volts 50 hz

Italy 230 volts 50hz

Bosch drills in UK state 240volt models and 230 volt models
in particular screwfix gbh4 states 240 volts

in Italy bosch states 230 volts, in particular gbh4 states 230 volts.

As screwfix price is the equivalent of over £100 cheaper in UK ( and comes with bosch drill driver ) and Bosch gaurantee is supposed to be global is this voltage diff a problem or are thay the same as i understand there is some averaging going on in voltage statements.
Probably should be asking this in electrics section but will try here first.

thanks for your time
Steve

I thought the UK standardised (with the rest of Europe) on 230v +- 10v a few years ago.

skiking wrote:I thought the UK standardised (with the rest of Europe) on 230v +- 10v a few years ago.

yep, quite right!

Thanks all for the guidance.

Have decided to buy Bosch gbh4 as can only afford one drill and looks like this should be capable of almost everything.
also seen posts or bosch servicing which all seems positive, though also highly unlikely to be needed.


just one last question, can someone confirm that GBH4 DFE has a safety clutch to be able to use core drills in safety, as I understand this can be quite a dangerous thing when core bits stick with a powerful drill.

Steve

Hi Steve,

I have the GBH4 DFE and it does have a safety clutch.

It is a bit of a pain in the butt to be honest as it keeps kicking in when core drilling and so I prefer to use my 1050w perles drill, which has no clutch. I know it is dangerous but I have had a few fights with it so far and I have always won so far lol.

That is a good choice of drill and hopefully it will last you a lifetime