Saturday 27 June 2015

A Beginner's Guide to Drill Guns

Why invest in Power Tools? 
With labor and skilled workmen in shortage, it is increasingly difficult to maintain our property and furniture in an orderly manner. Small jobs are not a priority to professional workmen and even after months of follow ups are not willing to take up odd jobs. In such a situation it is time to take matters into our own hands... literally.

With the wide spread usage and availability of reliable and user friendly and affordable hand held power tools, the time is right to invest in a few power tools that are useful around the house. Some are listed here :
1. Drill Gun
2. Angle Grinder
3. Sander
4. Circular Saw

Drill Guns
Out of the above the most useful and versatile power tool is the drill gun. It can be used to not only drill holes in wood, metal and walls, with the right accessories, it can also be used to tighten and loosen screws and wrench nut and bolts.

A Basic drill gun with a power rating of 450W is sufficient for home and personal use. An impact drill with forward and reverse functions is the most useful. It can drill holes of upto 10mm Diameter in masonry, about 16mm in wood and about 8mm in mild steel. It has more than enough power to screw and unscrew fastners and wrench bolts and nuts.


Accessories
For drilling :
1. Masonry Bits
2. Wood Bits - twist and spade
3. Metal Bits - twist
4. Multi purpose bits - Can be used for any of the above.
Wood bits can generally be used for plastics too.

For fastners : 
A variety of bits with different heads for different headed screws such as 
. Slotted head
. Phillips head
. Pozidrive
. Polydrive
. Hex etc...
A magnetic holder for these bits is usually supplied as an accessory with the gun.

For Bolts and nuts :
A Variety of spcket wrench bits are available for different headed bolts and nuts.

A Basic Application
Lets look at a basic a application for an impact drill. Say you want to put up your favorite picture frame on the wall. Lets look at what we will require :

Materials 
1. A Stool or ladder to reach the spot on the wall.


2. A measurement tape to locate the exact point to mount the frame.
3. An Impact Drill - such as Skil 450W Impact Drill (you can buy it from my store by clicking here)
4. A 6mm Masonry / Multipurpose drill bit.
5. Phillips head #8 Screws (38mm x 8 are ideal).
6. A Phillips drive
7. 6mm Fischers or Rawal plugs.
8. A Hammer
9. An Extension cord for the drill gun.

Procedure
1. Locate the exact spot you want using the measurement tape and your own judgement.
2. In case more than one hole needs to be drilled, always double check the alignment before placing holes in the wall.
3. Fit the drill bit into the drill gun using the key provided.
4. Make sure the drill is in "Impact" mode and rotating clockwise.
5. Place the drill bit in the stationary position on to the spot you want to drill with a steady hand and squeeze the trigger.
6. Drill a hole about 25-30mm in depth.
7. Clean out the dust remaining in the drill hole.
8. Gently hammer the fischer into the hole.
9. Mount the phillips drive onto the holder and fasten the holder onto the drill gun. 
10. Fasten the phillips screw using the gun.
11. Hang the frame onto the screw.

15 minutes well spent!