How to Use a Rotary Hammer Drill for Concrete with Rebars

Running into concrete reinforcement bars can ruin your drill bits when using the wrong bit. Use a rotary hammer drill that will help you cut through the rebars with ease.

You may have spent time drilling into reinforced concrete and ruined the drill bit or the whole tool. The next time you get a similar project, you cannot just power through concrete while there is an easy way of using a rotary hammer drill for concrete. The next thing to do is ensure you have the right bits that can go through concrete and into the rebars.

Concrete is a mixture of three different components, which are also a mix of other materials. They are:

• Either pebbles, sand, or gravel
• Cement
• Water

The three components are poured into structural columns to form the concrete with rebars.

Drilling into Concrete with Rebars

What you need

• Rotary hammer drill
• Several masonry hammer drill bits
• A flashlight
• Protective gear including eye goggles and gloves
• You may need water (this is optional)

Determine the thickness of the wall by drilling a test hole.

Mark your drill points and drill the mark with light pressure on the hammer drill

Start drilling

If you hit the rebar accidentally or when the drill stops without warning could be a sign of hitting the rebar.

Clean the drill hole and shine the flashlight to see any sign of iron. The hammer drill is designed to cut through the reinforcement.

Reposition your drill and continue severing the rebar as long as it does not affect the building’s structural design

Ensure that you do not cut through the strong steel bars multiple times, as they interfere with the structural quality of the building

Once you finish drilling, clean up the hole to remove possible debris and fasten the mounts.

Drilling Pre-stressed Concrete

Bigger structures such as roads, bridges, ceilings, etc. have their steel reinforcement’s crisis crossing to help spread the pressure coming into it. You need to drill a hole in such structures with caution to prevent severing the supporting rebars.

Tips for Drilling into Concrete with Rebars

• Ensure that you have several masonry drill bits of different sizes. The various sized bits help in making penetration into concrete quickly.
• Focus on the efficiency of the hammer drill and not how much progress you are making. The idea is to keep the motor running for a long time if you are handling several concrete blocks.
• Consider the age of the concrete because old concrete used to be dense to reinforce the structure. That is why the rotary hammer drill using the right masonry bits is critical for drilling concrete with rebars.
• You may need some water to pour on the concrete to avoid overheating of the drill bit.

How the Masonry Rotary Drill Works

The rotary hammer drill bit has a sharp-tipped head and blades welded into its head to reduce the amount of heat coming from the friction. The drill bit construction implies that when the rotary hammer drill encounters the rebars, the drill will pass through. The design eliminates the need to use an extra drill with a cutting blade.

More about the Cutting Heads

Rotary hammer drill bits use a two-blade cutter design that comes in once there is a concrete hole. There is an option of using a four, six, or even cutter depending on the project’s complexity. The higher the number of blades attached to the drill, the more efficient the drill becomes.

Professionals working on large projects will have no time to swap from a rotary drilling bit to a cutting one when there is more work waiting. Make sure you use the right masonry drill bit to cut through concrete and move to the next assignment.

Final word

When working with concrete, ensure that your rotary drill of choice should have a way of controlling the flow of dust from a hole. Having such equipment would mean putting on a few personal protective equipment. Reinforced concrete is no match for a rotary hammer drill with a strong bit.

Therefore, it is better if you have one. Using a regular drill with the right masonry brill bits may work, but it will take more time and leave you exhausted.