Didn't even know they make these, and I am a contractor. I have 3 Rigid Hammer Drill, battery powered. Why would anyone want to lug a gas engine up a route to bolt it when there are cordless drills?

Because gasoline packs more energy-density than rechargeable batteries. Or, to put it another way, you can drill a lot more into hard rock with one of these per amount of fuel/battery hauled in.

Well, that's because you guys use drills like Ryobi, and suck. I have higher end drills. My Rigid drill are $640 each, one is an 18V, and one is a 24V Lithium.
I have 6 battery packs between the 2 drills. Last time out I brought the 18V with 3 battery packs. The batteries weigh in at 1.7Lbs each and the drill is just over 1Lbs. I drilled 24 3" x 3/8" holes and didn't even use the 3rd battery.
Ryobi is actually owned by Rigid. It is their lower grade tool, just like Dewalt owns Black & Decker and so on. If you want to drill all day, carry less weight up the rope, look into some Rigid drills, the new lithiums are super light, or the new milwauki drills are amazing too!

Because gasoline packs more energy-density than rechargeable batteries. Or, to put it another way, you can drill a lot more into hard rock with one of these per amount of fuel/battery hauled in.

Says the guy who bolts sandstone bricks...

Says the guy who bolts sandstone bricks...

Well, that's because you guys use drills like Ryobi, and suck. I have higher end drills. My Rigid drill are $640 each, one is an 18V, and one is a 24V Lithium.
I have 6 battery packs between the 2 drills. Last time out I brought the 18V with 3 battery packs. The batteries weigh in at 1.7Lbs each and the drill is just over 1Lbs. I drilled 24 3" x 3/8" holes and didn't even use the 3rd battery.
Ryobi is actually owned by Rigid. It is their lower grade tool, just like Dewalt owns Black & Decker and so on. If you want to drill all day, carry less weight up the rope, look into some Rigid drills, the new lithiums are super light, or the new milwauki drills are amazing too!

Actually I didn't bolt, nor do I climb the sandstone archways. That was somebody else. Look at the photos again, I bolted the piers which are mainly limestone and granite blocks.

It's listed on RC.com as Canada, Ontario, Golden Horseshoe, Jordan Harbour. It's not the greatest climbing spot, but it's the only one that is close and it's great for training.

Well, that's because you guys use drills like Ryobi, and suck. I have higher end drills. My Rigid drill are $640 each, one is an 18V, and one is a 24V Lithium.
I have 6 battery packs between the 2 drills. Last time out I brought the 18V with 3 battery packs. The batteries weigh in at 1.7Lbs each and the drill is just over 1Lbs. I drilled 24 3" x 3/8" holes and didn't even use the 3rd battery.
too!

I dont think you cant use the word 18v and higher end in the same sentence. As far as rotary hammer drills go, 18v is the bottom of the scale. My drill is the larger Bosch Bulldog and it uses 36v lithium ion batteries. I can drill 20 1/2" x 2.75" holes in steel hard basalt on ONE battery, not three. Oh, and I paid less for my drill than you did. Although I will give you one point, one pound is pretty light. Actually that seems impossibly light for a rotary hammer drill, my drill is something like 8 lbs. Which drill do you have?

I do residential contracting, so I don't have the big work horse hammer drills. I use a RIGID X2, Model: R8411503 1/2" Hammer Drill, it weighs 4.5Lbs. And the batter is the Rigid Max 2.5Ah 18V Model: CS0851. about 1.7Lbs

[image]http://img2.shoptoit.ca/images/detail/49282000/49282940.jpg[/image]

No, that was exactly my point. I have never heard of these, so I don't know anything about them.
But I would not want to lug one of these around when I have access to many high end battery hammer drills, and more than enough batteries to complete any task that presents itself.
Anyway, my batteries have never been affected by the cold, nor do they run out fast, and they are a fraction of the weight of gas powered tools. Yes the batteries do eventually die, but they are relatively cheap, and the Rigid ones are guaranteed for life as long as you fill out and mail in the Warranty card.

Ah, well that is not a rotary hammer drill, that is just a general around the house multi-drill. A word of warning, do not use that drill to place bolts, unless you are placing glue-in bolts or you are drilling in very soft rock. Here is the problem, when you use a drill like that for an application in which it is not designed for (heavy masonry work, AKA bolting sport routes,) you end up getting asymmetrical holes that take an "S" shape through the rock. When it takes you five minutes to drill one hole, you get impatient and press hard. That forces the drill bit to wonder, creating an asymmetrical hole. If you install an expansion bolt into a hole like this, only a small portion of the expansion clip or sleeve may actually come into contact with the rock. That can lead to a comprised placement and a greatly reduced pull out strength. I also have Bosch's 36v Li-ion multi-drill, which is a larger version of the drill you posted. However, even though it is Bosch's top of the line multi-drill, it still takes five minutes to drill a 3/8" hole in basalt. I placed five 3/8" Power-Bolts in holes drilled by my multi-drill and three of the five pulled out below their rating. One pulled with only 4 kN.

It is not as much of an issue with glue-in bolts, because glue-in bolts do not have an expansion clip, so it does not really matter. It also does not matter as much for really soft rock because the drill is normally powerful enough for that type of rock. But for hard rock, you need to be using a rotary hammer drill.

Also, you got seriously hosed on that purchase. I paid $230 for my Bosch multi-drill and it is more powerful than yours.

http://www.rockclimbing.com/...Detailed/109372.html

Says "we" bolted 35 climbs... implies you had some part in it.

Just a little info for you though: Southern Ontario has hundreds of routes on real/actual rock. Only 35min from Jordan.

We noticed that too. Considering most of those routes have been there since I've started visiting the place I was very surprised (because I thought I knew the group that did most of hte bolting out there), but didn't care enough to start asking questions.

Listen Splish, people appreciate a partner who is honest about their experience and abilities. I consider people who exagerate on these points to be a liability.

If you guys really want to pick on something, pick on the fact that I mentioned there are about 35 climbs there. According to RC.com, there are only 16.
I think there are more than that, but I never follow the routes anyway.

1st off, I've been a contractor for years, Being a Plumber,and a Carpenter I have many real RIGID tools, when Rigid was bought out a few years back they started making drills and light home duty tools.

I work often in Hospitals in California setting siesmic anchors, Granted these anchors are the for siesmic loads and differ from climbing anchors, Drilling the holes requires the same skill.
When using a non-rotary hammer drill it can cause the hole to be out of shape, I won't say its just the tool/or operators fault, but having the right tool for the job pays off.

Having a Gas powered rotary hammer drill in or around civilization seems like over kill, but if you venture away from the western civilized world I would definitly buy one.

My vote for proffesional drills are for HILTI.
Whether they are 18v-36v cordless, corded/gas rotary-hammers or coring hammers they simply have no competition.

I just checked out Majid's photos and a gas drill like that looks pretty kick ass! Batteries go bad. I've known a few people who have retro fitted their hammer drills with hobby batteries, but it's a really heavy setup.

Also, cold batteries don't work for long, which is a problem when bolting in the winter. A gas drill would be great for this.