Should I Drill at Fast Speed or Slow Speed, or in Between?
By: The Working Man


Speed in an electric drill is determined by the size of the
drill bit and the material you are going to being drilling
into. As a general rule, the larger the bit the slower it
will turn.

Smaller bits have the chance of overheating and thereby
losing their cutting edges. Smaller bits can also put strain
on the electric drill's engine, making it run faster to
compensate for the lack of power.

Single speed drills from two thousand to twenty five hundred
rpm are available, but a single speed drill has limited use.


A step up from the single speed drills are drills offering
fixed speeds. The choices are generally two and must be
selected by the operator. The slower speed is usually around
five hundred rpm, not very fast. The switch between the
speeds can be electronic or mechanical (by changing the
gearbox ratio) depending on the drill.

The next step up is the variable speed electric drill. The
speed of the drill is variable up to a preset limit. The
speed of the drill is in general controlled by the trigger,
the more you pull back on the trigger the faster the rpm.

Some variable speed drills have the ability to adjust the
trigger stopping point so that the drill is limited to a
certain speed. This way you are only getting the speed that
you want for a particular job. Without the stop point it is
easy to over drill a hole when you are concentrating on the
drilling process.

The variable speed drills most often have high torque and
start slow. This makes the start of drilling a hole easier
and safer. That way the drill has no chance of slipping and
damaging you or the piece you are working on.

When you are using the drill for long periods, use at low
speed should be interspersed with bursts of high speed. This
keeps the motor cooler and helps to prevent overheating. A
slow speed allows for the use of a screwdriver bit in the
chuck to drive screws.

In some models of variable speed electric drills there are
two or more speed ranges. For instance; zero to eleven
hundred rpm and zero to three thousand rpm. A switch on the
body of the electric drill is used to switch between the
different ranges of speed.

In general corded electric drills will offer higher maximum
drill speeds that the cordless electric drills.


Return to:

All About Tools