As I am sure you know, most cordless drills have multiple speed ranges. Most have 2 gearbox settings, and some – mainly Dewalt’s premium models – have 3. This is all besides the variable speed trigger.
You might see a drill’s speeds represented as 0-500/0-1800 RPM, as an example.
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Generally, the higher speed and lower torque range is used for smaller diameter drilling tasks, and the lower speed and higher torque range for larger bits and tougher tasks. The lower speed range is also usually better for driving and fastening tasks.
Some accessories typically have maximum speed ratings. My self-drilling spade bits, for example, should not be run faster than 1500 RPM.
Hole saws also have recommended speed settings. A Milwaukee Hole Dozer 2″ bi-metal hole saw, for instance, has a recommended speed of 255 RPM for drilling aluminum, and 170 RPM for mild steel.
When drilling with a twist bit, such as 3/16″, I’m often in high speed mode. Spade bit such as 1″? I’ll switch to low speed mode. Fasteners? My drill will be in low speed mode and I will often dial in the adjustable clutch for repeatable torque.
When in doubt, there are drilling speed charts. Recommended speeds depend on the accessory type, size, and material, what you’re working on, and sometimes also on the tool.
Do you change your drill’s speed setting? When? Why?
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Or do you run as much as you can at high speed? This isn’t recommended, but I’m finding that a lot of people do it anyway.
Toolfreak
If it has a speed selector, I generally just use the low speed/high torque setting for higher load tasks, like driving screws, using hole saws, spade bits, etc, and higher speed for regular drilling.
Now that I have a few drivers and even impact drivers, I don’t use a drill for higher torque stuff as much as I used to. Typcially I reach for a driver instead of a drill if it’s for anything other than drilling, except maybe in the case of hole saws/spade bits where a drill still makes sense.
Lots of my drills don’t have speed selectors though, just clutch settings, and of course there’s always the option to grab the corded drill for even (usually) higher torque/speed if it’s really needed. I rarely get out the extension cord and corded drill, but sometimes it’s still worth it for jobs when it just has to get done in one shot. I’ll also typically use a corded drill when going through thicker steel and using cobalt bits, just because it’s usually more taxing on the drill so I’d rather burn up a cheaper corded drill than an expensive corded one, plus it sucks to get drilling at a good clip only to have a low battery slow the drill down and have to start all over again on now hardened metal.
Jason
I don’t use my stuff all day every day so when I have a larger task, it’s usually still on the top selection. I’ll alternate between drill and impact driver though for certain projects where I know they are better performing. I do have the 3 speed Dewalt impact driver, Largest Dewalt hammer drill, and my trusty 12v lineup. Rarely changing settings other than clutch for sensitivity.
RKA
Generally I’m using speed 1 with a clutch setting for driving wood screws or cutting threads in wood. I use speed 2 for drilling wood holes with twist drills up to 1/2” or drilling countersinks/counterbores in the same. This speed typically peaks between 1500-2000. I do switch to a higher gear for pocket holes. I find it provides a cleaner hole (bit of an oxymoron).
I almost never use speed 2 for driving screws and most tasks that would require a lower speed for drilling I will switch to the drill press if possible. That’s usually forstners and drilling metal.
andy
Speed 2 for as large a spade bit as it will spin. It’s not like it’s really spinning at close to 2000 RPM under load. Then if it binds it stops rather than taking your arm with it.
Speed 2 for fasteners most of the time. Big screws for framing members or screwing down sub floor. Plenty of control with the variable speed trigger. Impact when more control is needed.
Michael Quinlan
That’s my approach. I’m not so much concerned with speed as I am with excessive kickback if the bit binds up. I’ve come close enough to getting seriously hurt that I don’t want it to happen again.
That said, my Hole Hawg is a lot easier to handle for such tasks, and it only has one speed.
Jerry
My default is low speed, and I set the clutch so it releases rather than kicks back. If drilling through steel you are far less likely to chip the edge of the bit as it tries to break through it the clutch is st e right. When in doubt I use low because too high a speed can burn bits, where too slow a speed usually just takes a little longer. I also think the drill runs cooler when the motor spins faster for a given load.
Hilton
I was taught a good tip many years ago and it’s what you implied. After a heavy session of drilling, let the drill run at high speed under no load for a couple of seconds to cool it down.
Scott K
I rarely use my drill to drive since I have an impact driver and so I typically keep it on the higher setting. However, my impact driver doesn’t have different settings and so I will occasionally use my drill on the lower speed and lower torque for more tedious driving tasks (like an ikea unit with a ton of small screws).
Roger
Most time a drill and impact DRIVER are used in pairs. The clutch driver system on drills are unnecessary. Corded drills never had the feature anyways. I propose they do without the clutch on some, but include kick-back protection. Then drills can be more compact; or the space can be used to pack more gears for more speed options, and/or torque, and/or faster (CHEAPER?). 99.9% of the time you would want the drill just to drill. If you look at it from another perspective, they’re turning impacts into drills almost not needing the drill overall.
I haven’t used any of my drills in driver mode since the day I touched an impact driver. With the rare exception of using it to tighten non-ratcheting chuck.
To answer the actual question; I leave it on the fastest speed. Most jobs are less than 3/4″ holes.
MT_Noob
I think the real question here is.. “how often do you forget it is in reverse and have to change direction?” I try to make a habit of always switching back to fwd so that any time I pick up the drill or driver it is ready to go. However every once in a while I forget to leave it in fwd (or more likely some little gremlin decided to switch it when I wasn’t looking) and I start off in the wrong direction. It is a minor annoyance in the big scheme of things, but it drives me nuts every time.
PETE
My habit is 100% to put it in neutral(safety).
MT_Noob
Brilliant. That makes a lot if sense. From a safety perspective as well as a reminder to think about what operation you are about to perform so you can check you direction and if needed speed and or clutch.
Corey
Same lol pisses friends and co-workers off tremendously haha
Frank D
Never thought of that with a drill …
The more you know 🙂
I will start putting that into practice.
Bruce
I can’t remember the last time I used a drill to drive a fastener. Impact driver has taken over everything, being light weight, more compact, less likely to cam out, and faster. Drill gets used for hole saws, which is usually in easy material like wood or sheetrock and for drilling anchors into concrete when a full size rotohammer isn’t needed. In all these cases it’s in high speed unless it can’t drive the hole saw.
I’ve also never really used the clutch settings, if my trigger control is that poor, I deserve to fail.
Jared
I’m in the camp that just uses the high speed setting most of the time. I switch to low speed when my drill can’t handle it or if I’m trying to screw something precisely. Mostly though, I use an impact driver for fasteners.
I’m not saying it’s good practice – just that I don’t usually remember to consider the speed unless the drill makes me.
JoeM
I will admit that I am totally neglectful on this. I tend to start a job with a Drill or Driver, and continue to do so until “It’s not working” comes to my mind. I then take THAT time to adjust speed and/or torque on the device, and try again, repeating until it works.
I have fixed the same shelf a dozen times this way, and you’d think the same settings would work every time, but no. They don’t always line up. So I’ve kinda just changed whenever the project tells me to. I know I SHOULD know the settings by instant recall, but since those situations sometimes differ, I’ve gone for “Does that work? Does that work? Does that work? Ah. There we go. Next one… Okay… that’s not working anymore… Does that work?” Repeat.
andy
The clutch is generally useless. On the highest setting it allows about 20% of the drill’s available torque through.
Robin
I match the speed as closely as possible to the correct RPM setting for the cutting bit material and diameter, and the workpiece material. Proper machining practices don’t just apply in a machine shop.
A scary amount of pros think “faster is better” and indiscriminately burn bits without any regard for best machining practices.
Chris
It’s a factor of material being drilled, type of drill, and drill size.
Stuart
True; sorry, I mentally bundled size in with type.
Brian M
I use high speed a lot on longer fine-threaded screws because I’m impatient.
Brett
I usually leave it in low speed so mistakes can happen a little slower and I feel like I’m in better control, but I’m almost always drilling wood. If a drilling task is taking forever I might kick it to high but my drill bits aren’t great so I try to be as nice to them as possible.
Have you ever done any testing on how accurate/repeatable/effective the torque clutch settings are? I always get the feeling they’re not the best at limiting torque.
Diamond Dave
I have used Dewalts XP 3 Speed drills for a long time and have become accustomed to using only the 1st and 2nd Speed for the majority of tasks with saving the 3rd (High Speed) for certain applications. Also, I don’t understand how some don’t use the clutch on the drill becuase it’s a major factor for me when using screws in wood.
I also use my 3 Speed Dewalt Impact Driver for a lot of repetitive driving tasks. The 3rd Speed is so darn fast I rarely use it and I also bought a Dewalt clutch accessory to help me not overdrive or strip out screws as today’s impacts have so much more torque then in the past. Although my Dewalt Drill and Impact are both Brushless, for some reason I seemed to have better trigger control with the older “brushed” versions? Have shared this with others and told it’s all in my head.
jsbson
Seems like the trigger feel would depend on if the trigger controls actual motor speed or voltage to the motor. Brushless is more likely to be speed (or just percentage on-time with a fixed voltage) of the motor than a brushed motor.
Nathan
small bits in wood – high speed for cleaner holes. small bits in metals usually higher speed for cleaner holes. I try to consult charts or the bit maker guidelines when I can.
Often speed helps. Larger bits say from 3/8th up in wood I will try to slow it down some or use gear 1. Often I need the torque anyway.
Larger bits in metals similar. I think the main use for the lower speed gear is for the torque to run in a large bore bit of sometype. Oh and I see to use all forstner bits in gear 1 when I’m running one in the hand drill. I know, I know OMG they aren’t made for that . . . . but sometimes you just have to.
Diamond Dave
Oops! I forgot to mention drilling tasks. Smaller holes in wood and metal I typically use higher speeds and with larger holes obviously slower speeds!
Joe framer
Same drill in the pic…same overheat issue. Did the overheat issue cause the new ” how do you use your drill” follow up ?
….thing is ,most pros don’t use the drill or any tool probably, they use them to get the job done ,but not so much abuse as to destroy the tool and have to buy a new one…
Stuart
No. If it was related there would have been a link. I didn’t want to use a stock image and this was one of the more recent drill photos I took.
Seth
The comments in here are really enlightening – I always wondered why every screw in my house is either driven too deep or stripped out. Turns out there’s a ton of folks that impact everything or don’t use a drill clutch!
Personally I’m always driving in low unless it’s a free running fastener like machine screws in tapped threads. Always set the clutch lower than likely necessary for the first fastener, then either hand tighten or bump the clutch up until it torques to about what I want. Drill in high for 3/8″ or smaller, drill in low for anything larger. If there’s a good chance the bit will bind on breakthrough I’ll drill in high so the drill stalls instead of kicking back.
I’ve considered pulling out the machinists handbook for random drill projects in metal, but the speed control on a hand drill is so imprecise it hardly would make a difference trying to do anything but max rpm for a given gear.
TZi
I use separate drills for low speed and high speed stuff. So my 20v Dewalt never switches to low speed, and my 12v Bosch rarely switches to high speed. I also usually have a Bosch Flexiclick and Impact driver with me as well. I don’t see myself going back to 1 drill anytime in the near future.
I do run things in high speed mode a lot for drilling, including using 1″ spades on high speed or impact driver, and also hole saws in high speed. Even then speed on high speed mode is pretty much fully adjustable anyways since you just hold the trigger lighter. I do use the clutch a lot on the Bosch 12v Drill and Flexiclick, but find that the Dewalt 20v drill pretty much never leaves drill mode.
aerodawg
The harder the material the slower the speed and more torque required. High speed for drilling wood, sheetrock, etc. Slow speed for metal.
OldDominionDIYer
Drill speed application is usually on my mind whenever I make a boring/drilling bit selection. Trouble is I’m no expert, so while I have a basic understanding of the range I should be using I’m not always correct. What I think I’ll do is find or create an index card with some general RPM info to help me dial in my speeds. The other thing that I wish MFR’s would do is create a trigger limiter to assist in setting an RPM limit for us guys who tend to always wind up eventually pulling the trigger all the way (despite our best efforts not to). At least the 3 speed models help by providing another speed range. Something else I would like to see MFR’s do is include a depth bar attachment on their hammer drill models. I think, again maybe just me, it would be useful in some circumstances.
Oleg k
When drilling through metal, especially hardened steel or tile the low speeds are preferred, same speeds are ideal if one uses his drill for mixing paint or mud, unless you prefer your drill motor burned out, of course. But drilling through wood/plastic is better with the opposite and, because I use the same drill for all tasks that don’t require an impact driver, the speeds and even clutch settings change quite often throughout the day.
bobad
I use mine on low speed except when using small bit and spade (wood) bits. Spade bits need to spin fast, but watch for heat buildup. If chips stop coming out, bear down. If that doesn’t help, let it cool and check for sharpness.
Paul K
High speed for all drilling, except maybe some big spade bits in deep holes. High speed for everything else too unless it bogs down or I’m trying to finesse something I should probably be using a hand tool for.
Dee
I think it’s basically a question of, “if you have to ask this question on the internet, you’re probably a hobbyist that can get away with whatever speed setting feels right.
There are standards for the effective drilling and cutting speeds to use for tasks. Other than that, develop a feel.
Stuart
If you’re responding to me directly, please read the post; I’m not asking for advice, I’m asking for insight into readers’ usage habits.
Dee
Stuart!
Advice was not being provided — please understand no offense was intended.
Was simply stating that most people can get away with any speed — for the occasional job of putting a screw into sheetrock or a 2×4, or driving a lag bolt into a 4×4, you can get away with just about anything.
Although I wrote in 2nd person, I was providing what I felt were appropriate “usage habits” used by myself and most of those I knew. Unless I’m boring into a piece of stock, I go by whatever feels comfortable, and for any metal stock, I reference Carnegie pocket companion or a few laminated pages from the Machinists’ Handbook
Hope all is well, you have a good site that I read weekly.
Stuart
Ah, got it. I’m sorry for misunderstanding!
As a counterpoint, a lot of hobbyists might not know which speeds “feel right.” That takes experience, and some hobbyists tend to explore projects that involve a wide range of materials, spanning across wood, metal, plastic, and even masonry material types.
When working with new tools, accessories, or materials, it’s a good idea to refer to user manuals and technical references, and the internet can also help a user skip some trial and error, saving some scrap material. But for exact applications, all that is typically just a “starting out” point.
With this post, I was focused on learning more about typical user behaviors from a larger pool of users, on how they use their cordless drills’ low speed (high torque) and high speed (low torque) settings.
PHILIP JOHN
The 2nd gen dewalt premium drill has an awesome feature. When you dial the clutch settling lower. The electronic clutch automaticaly reduces the rpm… extreamly handy for setting screws and tap cons.
Love how Milwaukee reduced the drill size on 3rd gen drill. They put the hammer selector on the clutch.