Pro's Picks: Milwaukee Tool 1” SDS Plus Rotary Hammer

Stuart Rice

Manager, Peter B. Rice & Co.

Freeport, Maine

 

 

Manufacturers are moving us toward cordless tools more and more, which is good for those of us who don’t want to lug cords and generators through a jobsite or worry about our cordless tools running out of battery before we can charge them.

We started using Milwaukee Tool’s 1” SDS Plus Rotary Hammer last summer when we were working on the basement of a new house. The year prior, we had used a run-of-the-mill hammer drill to create the holes for attaching sheets of foamboard to concrete basement foundation walls, and it didn’t go so well. For what we needed it to do, an all-purpose tool doesn’t hold up as well to the pressure and wear-and-tear as a job-specific tool would. 

Our local tool center pointed us in the direction of Milwaukee’s rotary hammers, and using the 1” SDS Plus model on those concrete foundation walls made a huge difference: Not only was it more reliable and easier on our bodies, it also halved the time it takes to complete those types of jobs. With this tool, two of us finished drilling into the walls and putting the foamboard up in a 2,000 sq. ft. basement in a single day, rather than two days. 

When we’re working with cordless tools like this hammer, it’s key to have batteries that will last without having to be charged multiple times a day. Milwaukee has some of the beefiest batteries out there, and they’ve stood out to us in the last few years because of their run time and what they can handle. We can easily go nearly a full day without needing to charge the battery in the rotary hammer.