Anyone near St. Louis with a decent hammer drill I can borrow? I need to drill (3.5) 1/2" x 3" holes in my basement to anchor a safe. I bought a Harbor Freight hammer drill hoping it would last through the job and it started throwing sparks and smoking about 1" into the first hole... My current options are drop $100+ on a decent drill and then try to unload it on Craigslist (but there are several listed already so I'm not sure how successful this plan will be) or rent one from Home Depot but I'm not sure whether their drills can handle a 1/2" hole in cement.

Home Depot or Lowes may rent them.

Home Depot Rental has Makita Hammer Drills. Rent is CHEAP I would say buy a new bit their rental bits are sketchy...
I used one with a 5/8 bit to bore into a pre-cast concrete beam. with one of their decrepit bits...

Sunbelt Rentals.  Best place for tools I have ever come across.

Take it back to harbor freight -- free exchange for 30 days
Sounds like you just got a bad one
I have had one and drilled over 30 holes in concrete to set fence railing

Where in STL? Ever get out near Wentzville?

Use an sds drill, much better than a regular hammer drill. Where abouts in St Louis are you?

A 1/2" hole shouldn't be a challenge for even a cheap battery hammer drill.

I have a few able to handle this np... I live ballwin area

If it doesn't work out pm me, I have 2 sds bosch drills in my garage that still drill, just not fast enough to keep in my fleet. I never threw them away. You can have one, I have 5 more on the trucks. I am sure I have some older 1/2" bits as well. I am in Warrenton but I am in Wentzville often, sometimes St. Charles.

There is a big difference between a "hammer drill" and a "rotary hammer" when it comes to drilling concrete. A rotary hammer will make quick work of drilling your holes IF you aren't hitting steel wire mesh or rebar that is within your hole location. If so you may have to move to a different spot to miss the steel. If near Eureka area I can loan you the proper tool.

It sounds like I should've gotten the $72 SDS+ rotary hammer instead of the $32 hammer drill... I have a Bosch 1/2" SDS bit from HD. While I was there I looked into renting a hammer drill but all they had were 4.5 amp drills like I (mistakenly) bought from harbor freight. Those are probably okay for smaller holes, but a 1/2" hole is not small. I didn't hear any squealing or see metal shavings to indicate I hit rebar and all the dust was cement dust, I guess the drill just bit the dust.



Sunbelt rentals has hammer drills in Springfield and Champaign...



Work is getting nuts again so I don't see any time to deal with this for a couple weeks. Thanks for all the help, I'll drop back in here when I have a chance to take you guys up on your offer to help.

AS I SAID ---- TAKE IT BACK FOR AN EXCHANGE
You have 30 days

Do not start with 1/2"

Drill 1/4" then 1/2"

I was able to get the safe anchored with a neighbor's SDS+ drill, which worked amazingly well - as many of you suggested.

I've got (21) 1/2" x 4-1/2" Redhead anchors and a 1/2" x 12" Dewalt SDS bit that I don't need. IM me if you're in STL and interested.