Side handles are a safety feature commonly included with high-torque cordless drills and hammer drills, such as the Milwaukee M18 Fuel model shown here.
I’m sure you’ve seen that many cordless drills come with an auxiliary side handle, while compact and lower torque models don’t. Let’s talk about the reasons why.
When a high-powered cordless drill kicks back, such as if a large drill bit jams or binds in a hole, it can quickly counter-rotate with enough force to cause major injuries.
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Some users have lost control of high-powered drills and twisted their wrists. Others have knocked themselves – or others – in the face. I remember reading about at least one incident where drill kickback caused a worker to fall.
Side handles can provide greatly improved control, and not just because gripping a cordless drill with two hands is better than with one; they are often longer than the drill handle and allow for users to more effectively resist kickback torque.
In the diagram above, you can see that the side handle length (b) is greater than that of the cordless drill’s main handle (a).
What a lot of tool users don’t realize is that side handles are usually included with high-powered drills in order to meet certain safety guidelines.
Often, cordless drills ship with a side handle attachment because they are required to.
I dug into UL’s drill handle length requirements a while back, when cordless power tool brands started launching increasingly powerful cordless drills.
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Basically, any cordless drill with a torque-to-handle-length ratio above a certain value must come with a side handle of sufficient length in order to meet UL safety guidelines. This also implies that 18V form-factor cordless drills with low-enough torque capabilities don’t need to ship with a side handle.
To be clear, high-powered cordless drills don’t necessarily require an auxiliary side handle, but such handles help drills meet UL’s handle length requirement without the primary handle grip having to be extended.
Certain drills, such as the Milwaukee M18 Fuel Hole Hawg right angle drill, have long enough primary handles to avoid the need for an extended length auxiliary side handle.
Professional tool brands seem to strictly adhere to handle length and side handle guidance, presumably because OSHA requires power tools to be listed or certified by UL or other nationally recognized testing laboratories (NRTL).
If you’re wondering why impact drivers don’t come with side handles, that’s because they deliver non-reactive torque. If an impact driver or wrench binds or jams during an operation, its body won’t counter-rotate and put your wrist and body at risk of injury. It might recoil just a little, but not with anything like the unconstrained motion of a typical cordless drill.
Anti-kickback features aren’t a substitute for long side handles, at least not yet. They help to stop kickback in its tracks, but do nothing to improve the control of a high torque drill in use.
Robert
Stuart, you didn’t explicitly talk to the “a” and “b” parameters in the diagram. Did you leave some text out?
Stuart
Here, you’re just supposed to see that b>a, the length of the side handle is longer than the main handle.
The math is touched upon in this post – https://14cyiuhvcgv.com/drill-handle-torque-guidelines/%3C/a%3E .
This wasn’t originally intended to be its own post; it was all included in another post where the absence of a side handle led me to investigate what appears to be inflated torque specs. But, it seemed like a better idea to offload the side handle background details into its own post that can be referenced to.
Update: I added brief context to the post – thank you!
Nate
Can we talk about the gyro-based systems that stop the drill if it detects the body spinning? I haven’t gotten to play with one of these yet, but having twisted my wrist pretty badly on a rotary hammer a few decades ago, I’m very interested.
Stuart
What do you want to know?
Personally, I like them – it’s an added layer of safety in my opinion. For Milwaukee’s current M18 Fuel model, the company touted using machine learning to fine-tune the anti-kickback response.
Jared
Are the side-handle safety guidelines affected by whether the drill is equipped with anti-kickback tech? E.g. could the manufacturer rely on that tech in lieu of including an auxiliary handle?
Stuart
It doesn’t appear to be.
Every high-torque drill I’ve seen with anti-kickback tech still ships with a side handle.
Nate
I’d love to see a deep-dive on the tech, roundup of which drills include it and what’s on the horizon, maybe implementation or usage differences — is everyone’s anti-kickback equivalent to everyone else’s?
Stuart
I’ll see what I can do!
All brands’ anti-kickback tech performs slightly differently.
JR Ramos
I’d love to see that, too. It’s a feature that I appreciate (now) but I haven’t really stopped to think much about it, how it works, etc.
Nobody gets to ride a drill like a rodeo bull now…
John
Yeah I’d love to see some real world experiences or testings. I have an old dewalt corded drill with an electronic clutch that disengages if you lock up but it works purely based on motor current meaning it won’t protect you in many situations. I’m interested in getting something newer but have only read marketing copy about this so it would be nice to know how they actually perform.
Collin
“Machine Learning” anti kickback is probably the result of some marketing intern discovering that linear regressions fall under ML.
I’m surprised they didn’t conflate ML with AI, for “AI Anti kickback technology.”
The “Machine Learning” anti kickback was likely developed by simply collecting and analyzing data from field testers. Things like motor RPM, current draw, gyroscopic data, and tabulated Yes/No kickback data were likely dumped into an Excel spreadsheet and a regression analysis was performed. Basically, you could have done this in the 90s on Windows 95 if you wanted.
The advantage to this sort of analysis is that you might be able to predict kickback and stop it sooner than pure gyroscopic approaches, I will give them that.
Stuart
Agreed.
Still, marketing buzzword aside, there are other areas where Milwaukee has been fine-tuning the behavior of their tools, presumably using field data that is collected and pushed through algorithmic analysis. It’s a lot easier to simply say “machine learning” than to explain how they’ve tuned the anti-kickback behavior to avoid early or late activation.
mac
Tools are also supposed to be capable of onehanded use to be operated while on a ladder, to maintain the required 3 points of contact. Sounds like the side handle wouldn’t have prevented the fall, or still would have violated osha regs by using both hands while elevated.
I’ve definitely had my drill battery punch me in the face pretty good a few times though. For up/down in stud cavities, I’ll position the drill so it’ll bash a stud if it binds. Mid joist, or mid ceiling can be risky business though.
Hole saws through drywall for cut ins are the worst. A trick is to pulse the trigger in reverse so the teeth grind rather than bite into the rock. Doesn’t dull the blades as quickly that way either
mac
Meant to say that I don’t think I’ve used the handle on anything smaller than an sds hammer drill, and that one is for increased precision control than for kickback from binding. You’ve don’t something impressive if you get an sds bound up in stone
Saulac
The first pict is great illustration of proper bracing. When drilling large holes/hard materials, I always brace the handle against my leg, standing or kneeling, or nearby structures. And barely hold the handle, mostly is to control the switch. With drilling, kickbacks are expected, so try to handle them, rather than to avoid. Make sure you brace on the correct direction! Believe it or not I have seen people aware of kickbacks and the need to brace, but could not figuring out the proper way to do it. Also think about preload (word (?)) the bracing, you want to eliminate any movement when it starts kicking.
MM
Agreed 100%. You want to keep the tool or the handle firmly against a stout structure or your body, that way when a bindup occurs the tool cannot built up kinetic energy by moving before it hits something.
Electronic kickback protection is a feature I am very glad is becoming more common. I feel that many electronic functions on today’s tools are more gimmicks than they are practical but electronic bindup protection is not one of them!
A W
A co-worker found out that the DeWalt DCD996 has enough torque to break a bone in his hand.
Per the warning in the owner’s manual, “Always use the side handle supplied with the tool.”
Use of the clutch (e.g. when driving a nut) can also reduce the torque output.
eddie sky
LOL… I got a Dewalt drill/driver/hammerdrill that has the second handle. One day, I removed it (kind that tightens clamp behind chuck) for some drilling that it would be in way. Next use, was to use holesaw (2 1/2″) in some wood and just about sprained my wrist on the torque yank! Duh, the handle wasn’t on it…
Later, buddy realized how much torque that cordless has, and starts telling me story when he was on a jobsite as electrician apprentice. The electrician was using a specialized holesaw for conduit, was up on a ladder and asked him to “hold the ladder”, which he did. He realized that saw/drill was so strong, the electrician was squeezing his legs to the ladder as to not spin off, and he made sure the ladder didn’t spin. Pure comedy!
Another contractor told about some idiot took a dwd450 (corded right angle drill) and was spinning off the ladder.. in circles to almost hit a wall. Contractors Laughing, they yelled at the idiot to “Just let off the trigger you dumb-ss!”. just as the cord was wrapping around him. He was totally off the ladder and holding on to the drill! But hey, with a cordless, you won’t have to worry about the cord!
IronWood
I’ve been surprised using flexible bits a few times. The bit stops and the 4’ flex shaft twists up like a spring even with smaller drills. I was drilling horizontally through studs while lying in a very confined attic and the bit bound up, spun out of my hands, knocked my headlamp and glasses off and left me stunned for a minute with a bloodied brow and nose. Coulda been worse!
AF
I am a Site Safety and Health Officer for a construction company that has a lot of contracts with the military, mainly NavFac and USCOE. There have been way too many carpenters and laboreres who have hurt themselves (or others) as a result of not using the auxilliary handle that comes with various tools, grinders, hammer drills and so on. If the handle is supplied, it is supposed to be used. But such is the nature of man (and woman) that they don’t take the time or make some lame excuse for not using the required safety gear or equipment. We safety people talk till we are blue in the face, show pictures and present articles. The best we can hope for is that when a worker is confronted with the decision to do the right thing, they will. Convenience, speed and productivity always take precedence over safety. It’s a rare breed of owner, manager, superintendent or foreman who will walk the talk when it comes to safety, For those of you who do, this SSHO in the middle of the Pacific ocean truly appreciates you. Please don’t stop, safety is an uphill battle. The moment you pause, you don’t stop in place, you start a slow backward slide. People’s lives and livelihoods depend on going home safe so they can do it again.
Keep Left
Fortunately, (virtually?) all cordless drills sold today (in the western world, at least) that include a side handle are designed so that the handle can be mounted facing either the left side or right side of the tool.
It wasn’t so long ago that such handles on corded drills could only be mounted to the left side of the tool to be held only in the left hand and forced the user —- right-handed or left-handed —- to use his right hand for the main grip, if the side handle was to be used.
Peter
Good timing because I used the handle for the first time with my Dewalt 20max xr drill.
4“ brand new hole saw bit into oak on a ladder was dicy so I put the handle on.
Made things so much easier and safer.
Bob
I cracked the housing on my DeWalt DCD996. Using a 4” hole saw going though drywall and sheathing for some B vent for a furnace. I expected kickback could be an issue so braced the drill battery/housing against the ceiling and utilized the extra handle. Drill bound up a few times but I eventually got though. It was a bit difficult but I would not say I was abusing the drill. I later noticed the cracked housing. 🙁
DeWalt service tech agreed that a 4” hole saw was within the capabilities of this drill and replaced the housing free of charge. It was only a few months old so not sure if that made a difference. Never had an issue since. Well besides the obligatory out of round nature of the crappy chucks they put on all 20v DeWalt drills. Wish they would go back to jacobs chucks. I never had any issues with them on my old 18 V drills. Maybe it’s not the trucks fault and it could just be the output shaft of the drill?