Telephone: 01444 440188
Fax: 01444 414813
Email: info@airstream.co.uk
Independent Tool Review
by Peter Brett - July 2005
For more information call Christine
01444 440188
Hitachi DH 24PC3SDS Rotary Hammer
Compact, Lightweight and Powerful
Tradespeople buy Hitachi tools because they have proved to be reliable and no-nonsense. Sometimes sophistication and fancy gadgets aren’t necessary when a straightforward functional thing will do the job well. But the ground seems to be shifting somewhat at Hitachi, because the few products I have reviewed over the last year or so have been qualitatively different. Let me stress that you still get the no-nonsense, reliable bit, but you also get a little reminder or two that Hitachi has been doing some homework and the products are more developed and designed. What can sometimes look like a mere marketing exercise to add visual appeal, in fact proves to be a well thought out response to add extra features. Take for example the green and black rubberized grips that have been a feature of most new Hitachi power tools. When I first saw it I was reminded of a snake’s camouflage and was a bit sceptical, but a few hours use proved to me that the new grips were a very good feature, as well as setting the Hitachi range apart from the competition.
This new DH24PC3 is impressive from the moment you pick it up. The handles feel very grippy and comfortable. The black plastic trigger is big enough to be operated by two fingers and the lock-on button and forward/reverse switch work very positively. Provision is made for the user to be able to put pressure down the axis of the bit by providing a shaped handhold. The trigger can then be operated by the two last fingers of the hand.
Moving forward a bit, you come to the hammer/gear casing. I did a double take here because it appeared to be made of moulded GRP or nylon. Very tough GRP/ nylon and well put together, but not alloy as I expected. However, this appears to be a cover for the real gear casing underneath which is indeed alloy or at least partly so. The casing may explain how the weight on this machine has been kept relatively low. Over the front of the GRP casing is a very solid rubberized covering. This is cleverly designed to protect the tool when it is put down, as well as making it sit stably on whatever surface it is placed. It also provides a nice grippy bit for your second hand to hold if you decide not to use the additional side handle and built-in depth gauge. I had a gripe with the mode selection switch under the front of the gear casing. This was quite hard to shift from mode to mode because it was a little stiff. No doubt it was partially because the tool was new and it would loosen up a bit with use, but I thought that the little grey locking button was a bit fiddly. You could get a bit of leverage from the switch but I thought it needed a bit more so that changes could be made more easily. That being said, with a tool that relies on heavy impact to work it is as well to have switches that lock solidly in place to save any embarrassing changes of mode while in operation.
It is possible to choose hammer/ drill mode, just drill mode and just hanmmer/chisel mode. All modes were very effective when I used them on a variety of hard concrete blocks and even some hard stone. In fact
I was astonished at the rate the 8mm SDS disappeared into the stone. It drilled over 100mm in less than half a minute. In hard concrete blocks, it was possible to use one hand and slight downward pressure to drill holes more quickly than in the stone. Drilling holes on the horizontal was just as easy, using the support of the front handle or just holding the front of the gear casing.
The SDS collar is a Push Fit Auto Lock System so there is no need to pull the collar down and insert bits, and the flexible rubber nose on the top of the chuck does a really good job of sealing the chuck off from the inevitable dust that will be a feature of this hammer’s working life.
Using the chisels and points very thoughtfully provided by Hitachi (Thanks Hitachi, it saves a lot of hassle searching for the bits I know I’ve got somewhere but just can’t find in the jumble that is my workshop) I was able to do some rudimentary demolition in the shape of an unwanted brick wall. Again this was easily achieved and I felt as though I was nowhere near the limit of what this surprisingly compact hammer would do. Hitachi also supplied a SDS chuck adapter and chuck so that I could have a go at ordinary drilling. I am not a huge fan of adapters because they lengthen the hammer considerably and are not always capable of providing very accurate results, but this one worked well and for general building work should be fine.
Core bits up to a diameter of 50mm are within the spec set for the Hitachi DH 24PC3, and it will drill up to 24mm in concrete and 13mm in steel with the correct accessories. Although I don’t own a 24mm SDS concrete bit, I tried the Hitachi with the 20mm bit I managed to unearth and it performed very well. Actually, compared to some of the rotary hammers I have used in the past it is remarkably quiet and effortless in operation, which shows the level of development and mechanical sophistication that has gone into this tool.
As we expect these days the Hitachi comes in a well made case with space for quite a few extra bits, chisels etc. The latches are big and simple to operate, not the usual fiddly ones, and the case itself is no bigger than it needs to be, making it easy to store out of the way. That brings me to my overriding impression of the Hitachi rotary hammer &Mac246; I had to keep on reminding myself that it really is this small and yet it still performs really well. It manages to bring its full 800 watts of power to the job and weighs just a shade over 2.5Kgs fully laden. Convinced Hitachi buyers probably won’t even think twice about buying one should they need it, my impression is that there are a number of potential converts out there who just need to try it.
Independent Review by Peter Brett
Airstream Communications