Why does my drill bit just spin without going into the wall?
Six causes in the order they are worth checking, from the settings on the tool to the moment you have found steel and should stop.
- Difficulty
- beginner
- Time
- 10 min
- Read
- 4 min
Short answer
Check the obvious three first: hammer action actually engaged, the right kind of bit, and the bit not already blunt. If those are fine, you have most likely met something the bit cannot cut — a hard engineering brick, dense concrete, a steel lintel or reinforcement — and the answer is a better tool or a different position, not more force.
A bit that turns and makes no hole is telling you that the cutting edge is not fracturing or shearing the material in front of it. There are only a few reasons for that, and they are quick to distinguish because each leaves a different signature: the dust, the sound and the feel through the tool all differ.
Step by step
- Look at the dust before anything else.Red-brown means brick. Grey and fine means concrete or a lintel. Chalky and soft means mortar. Silver flecks or none at all means metal. The dust identifies the problem faster than any other check.
- Confirm the collar and the gear.Hammer symbol engaged, gear 2 for masonry drilling. The clutch positions will slip under load, which feels exactly like a bit that will not cut.
- Inspect the tip.Withdraw the bit and look at the carbide. Sharp corners and a clean edge, or rounded, blued and chipped. A blunt tip explains most sudden stops.
- Press harder, but only briefly.A combi's percussion energy depends on you pushing. Real body weight, square to the wall, for a few seconds. If that does not change anything, force is not the answer.
- Change position rather than escalating.Moving 100mm along solves a lintel, a tie, reinforcement and a hard brick at no cost. Persisting solves none of them and destroys bits.
Tips
- Bits are cheap and time is not. If a bit is even slightly suspect, change it before spending twenty minutes proving it was the problem.
- A hole that started easily and suddenly went hard has usually left a mortar joint and entered the brick, or has reached a concrete lintel. Neither is a fault.
- If several holes in the same wall all stop at the same depth, that is a structural feature, not bad luck. Work out what it is before drilling more.
If it doesn't work
No dust at all, bit polishes a shiny dimple
Cause: Hammer action not engaged, or the collar is in a clutch position — Fix: Set the collar to the hammer symbol, past the numbers and past the drill symbol. Confirm you can hear and feel the percussion — a combi's hammer only works when you press into the work.
Fine grey dust, very slow progress, drill gets hot
Cause: Dense concrete or hard aggregate, beyond a combi drill — Fix: This is what an SDS is for. Hire one for a day, or if the hole is small and shallow, work in short bursts with a new sharp bit and heavy pressure.
Metallic squeal, no dust, bit skids sideways
Cause: A steel lintel, reinforcement or an old nail — Fix: Stop. A masonry bit will not cut steel and will be destroyed. Move at least 100mm along, or if it is a lintel you must fix to, use the correct method for that.
Bit was cutting and has stopped
Cause: Blunt carbide tip, or flutes packed with dust — Fix: Withdraw fully, clear the flutes and the hole, and look at the tip. A rounded or chipped carbide corner will never restart — change the bit.
Ragged oversized hole, torn edges, no depth
Cause: Wrong bit type — a wood or HSS bit in masonry — Fix: Change to a carbide-tipped masonry bit. A wood bit blunts in one hole in brick, and an HSS bit is far softer than the aggregate.
Hole starts then stops at a consistent depth in a stud wall
Cause: The bit has reached a steel resilient bar, a nail plate or a metal stud — Fix: Metal stud partitions and nail plates protecting cables are common. Move the hole, and treat any metal in a wall as a warning that a service may be behind it.
Bit spins in a hole that is already there
Cause: The hole is already at full depth or has hit a void — Fix: Check with a wire or the bit shank. Reaching a cavity feels exactly like an easy hole and means you have gone through the leaf.
Tile surface will not take a hole and the bit skates
Cause: Trying to drill glaze with a masonry bit and hammer on — Fix: Hammer off, tile or diamond bit, low speed, and start through masking tape or at a slight angle to break the glaze.
Questions people ask
Can I drill through rebar or a steel lintel?
Through rebar, yes, with a purpose-made rebar cutter bit or an HSS bit at slow speed with hammer off. Through a structural steel lintel is a different question — drilling it may be fine or may not be, and it depends on the section and the position.
Would a more powerful drill fix this?
If the material is dense masonry, yes — an SDS makes a real difference. If the bit is blunt or the material is steel, no amount of power helps.
Why does it drill fine in one spot and not 50mm away?
Walls are not uniform. Mortar joints, hard bricks, lintels, ties and concrete infill all sit within a metre of each other in an ordinary wall.