This Bosch UK or EU product is not available in the USA.
Over in Germany, Bosch has announced several new 14.4V, 18V, and 36V cordless drills and hammer drills that are engineered with an Electronic Rotation Control (ERC) feature to prevent kickback.
Unpredictable counter-twisting of a drill and loss of control, or kickback, can occur whenever a powerful drill binds or jams during operation. If you’re not holding onto a drill securely enough and it jams, the tool can rotate hard and fast enough to really hurt you.
Drill kickback and counter-rotation can result in impact injuries, such as if the bottom of the drill smacks you in the face, it can throw you from a ladder, and it can even break your wrist. This is why more powerful drills must be shipped with auxiliary handles to pass UL safety inspection. Securely gripping an auxiliary handle in addition to the primary grip can significantly increase a user’s ability to withstand kickback and drill counter-rotation.
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To go an extra step in preventing kickback, Bosch’s new drills are designed with an integrated sensor that can detect when a jam occurs during drilling or fastening operations. When such an event is detected, the ERC circuit immediately sends a signal to shut down the motor, preventing unwanted counter-rotation of the drill.
A new auxiliary handle design features a profiled collar that can be quickly and tightly clamped in any of 23 different angle positions, with placement right behind the adjustable clutch.
Bosch says that the new Electronic Rotation Control and auxiliary handle design make their new drills especially comfortable to use and easy to control, even in the toughest drilling and screwdriving applications.
18V Specifications
- Head length: 8.4″ (drill), 9″ (hammer drill)
- Drill speeds: 0-400/0-1700 RPM
- Hammer drill speed: 0-440/0-1850 RPM
- Hammer drill impact speed: 0-27,750 BPM
- Max torque: ~708 in-lbs (drill), ~752 in-lbs (hammer drill)
- Weight: 5.3 lbs (drill), 5.5 lbs (hammer drill)
- Kits are bundled with 4.0Ah batteries
The new drills will be available in Europe starting in September.
fred
About time! Torque reaction with stuck bits in wood or on break trough when drilling steel can result in worker injury and lost time. When a job set up allowed us to use a magnetic base drill press that was usually the preferred solution. When not – we often turned to using a 1/2 inch drive impact wrench with a Jacobs chuck mounted. We liked this for steel drilling and for driving car bits / ship augers etc. into timbers and poles. Drilling with a big drill like a Milwaukee 1854 or 2404 – even with their 2 handed design – can be downright scary when a bit jams. I would also have loved to see an anti-kickback feature on our Milwaukee Super Hawgs (1680) and 1670 Hole Hawgs – our preferred drills for use with selfeed bits. With battery powered drills getting more and more capable (higher torque etc.) and ubiquitous – anti-kickback is a timely addition. I hope that other follow Bosch’s lead on this.
Ken
FYI.. The Dewalt Stud & Joist Drill (hole hog) has had this feature since it came out 3 years ago. It’s also found on the smaller 1/2″ DWD220 and most SDS MAX/Spline Hammers.
fred
Thanks for the info – I’ll pass it on to the fellow who is now buying tools for us.
mnoswad1
I just drill with the clutch setting on the highest number, but not on full lock drill mode………done and done.
No need for more electronic gizmos to burn out and make my drill unusable and unrepairable.
Jerry
I use the clutch as well. I have found when drilling steel, if you set the clutch just high enough so it doesn’t slip, you won’t chip the edges of a twist drill bit when it breaks through.
fred
Good tip – especially for mild moderate gauge steel. What I was thinking about was drilling into structural steel (e.g. wide flanges ) where rotobroach cutters and magnetic base drill presses are the preferred method – but sometimes impractical – so big (1/2, 3/4 inch or larger chuck) corded drills are brought out for drilling and then follow-up reaming – both hand-held.
Joe
Now this is a great idea
Nicholas
95% percent of the drilling I do is metal drilling so this would be very helpful as I had to drill a 7/8 inch hole the other day and I had to use my corded dewalt as I couldn’t use a drill press and I had to use quite a bit of my strength to control it.