Yesterday I previewed a couple of new Makita 18V brushless tools – an impact driver, hammer drill, and rotary hammer. In doing a bit of research for the post, I found a For Construction Pros video from World of Concrete 2012 where, at the beginning of the post, a Makita rep says “this is the first brushless rotary hammer.” While this may be Makita’s first brushless hammer, it’s not true industry-wide since Bosch came out with an 18V brushless rotary hammer in 2011.
The Bosch brushless rotary hammer kit (3/4″ SDS-Plus), model RHH180-01, is fairly compact and lightweight at 5.7 lbs. Due to the brushless motor’s greater efficiency, the hammer is said to have up to 25% greater runtime than competing models. Bosch says that you can drill up to 100 1/4″ x 1-1/2″ holes in masonry on a single battery charge. Max-torque is rated at 360 in-lbs, and the hammer operates at 0-1400 RPM and 0-4550 BPM.
Advertisement
It features an electro-pneumatic SDS-Plus impactor mechanism, which [sound fancy yet vague and] contributes to a boost in drilling performance. Electronic motor protection prevents the tool from overheating and electronic cell protection helps prevent battery overloading, overheating, and deep discharging. Additional features include an LED work light, auxiliary handle, and depth rod.
The kit includes two 18V FatPack batteries, a 30-minute charger, and a carrying bag.
Buy Now(via Amazon)
Also available is the bare-tool RHH180B, at huge savings over the kit.
If 5.7 lbs is still a bit too weighty, don’t forget that Bosch recently came out with an even more compact 4.6 lb rotary hammer. No, it’s not brushless, but it’s also more affordable than the RHH180 previewed here.
Peter says
Interesting tool, I wish it would have a chisel function but that might be asked to much for a cordless, I might have missed it but what size are the drill bits?
Stuart says
3/4″ max, SDS-Plus. Sorry about the omission.
I’ve seen chisel modes on 18V/20V cordless rotary hammers before.
Peter says
Thank you for the quick response, the way I understand it the maximum hole size is 3/4″ but what is the size of the shank or does the SDS-Plus only come in one shank size?
The main reason why I am asking is that I have quite a bit of bits with a 7/8″ shank but come to think about it, I am not really sure if they are a just SDS or SDS-Plus.
Stuart says
SDS-Plus only comes in one shank size. Via Wikipedia, SDS-Plus bits have a 10mm shank, which sounds about right.
To be honest, I’m not sure about 7/8″-shanked bits. I know that 1-1/8″ bits are used with breakers.
fred says
A good reference for what bit fits what roto-hammer is ICS cutting tools:
http://www.icscuttingtools.com/catalog/page_162.pdf
As far as I know there was no 7/8 inch shank – but hex shanks came in:
7/16 Hex , 9/16 Hex (our old Rockwell 616 took this size), 19mm Hex, ¾ Inch Hex, 21mm Hex (Kango breakers) and 1-1/8 inch Hex
Spline drives are ¾ inch diameter, SDS plus is 10mm (0.3937 inch) and SDS Max is 18mm (0.7087 inch)
Peter says
I guess I miss understood the whole thing because I have a Bosch 11224VSR 7/8-Inch SDS-Plus and thought the 7/8″ was referring to the shank size.
Looks like this is another day I learned something.
ignacio velasquez says
This hammer can handle up to a 1 1/8″ bit but is rated for a 7/8″. Using bigger bits is asking a tool to do more than it is designed for this will take longer to perform a task and possibly shortening the tools life. SDS plus is the bit size roughly 10mm and the size you see on the box is what it is rated and designed to handle all day long. These smaller rotohammers are designed for anchoring not for breaking and chipping which would be asking alot from a battery and would explain why they left this option off.
James says
I’m pretty sure Makita is King on the Rotatory’s right now, battery and electric.
That could change quickly, all they do is add 1 lbs. of energy and a little more speed.
In some cases less speed is better and adding 0.3 lbs. of energy is better.
After Bosch got their asses kicked by Milwaukee (Bosch 36volt vs. Milwaukee M28) they came out with a new model.