31 Types of Drills: For Every Possible Situation

1. Eggbeater Drills

This tool is a total throwback. Named for its resemblance to a kitchen mixer, the eggbeater drill converts hand-cranking motion into rotation. While it lacks raw power, it offers incredible control for woodworkers and hobbyists.

You should grab one of these when you need to make delicate, precise holes in soft materials without the risk of splitting the wood. It operates via a side crank that drives the gears, giving you a tactile feel for the material you are boring into.

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2. Brace Drills

The brace drill is a classic carpentry staple likely found in your grandfather’s workshop. It features a U-shaped crankshaft that generates high torque manually. It is typically used with auger bits to bore clean, deep holes in timber.

The top spindle rests against your hand (or chest) for stability, while you crank the middle handle. This offset design allows you to generate significant rotational force, making it surprisingly effective for countersinking and large diameter holes in lumber.

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3. Bow Drill

This is a slice of ancient history. The bow drill is a prehistoric tool primarily associated with friction fire-making, but it was also the first rotary drill used for bead making and dentistry.

The device uses a bow string wrapped around a spindle. moving the bow back and forth rotates the bit, while a hand-held block applies downward pressure. While mostly a survival skill today, it remains a functional way to bore holes in soft materials if you have zero modern tools available.

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4. Crank Drills

A crank drill functions like a heavy-duty eggbeater drill. It is built to bore deeper holes into tougher materials, including metal alloys and hardwoods. The design allows for easy centering on curved surfaces.

These tools often feature a high helix angle bit to improve penetration efficiency. If you are working in a remote area without batteries and need to bore into metal, this is the manual tool you want in your kit.

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5. Gimlet

A gimlet is essentially a T-handle hand tool that looks like a cross between a corkscrew and a drill bit. It is a simple device used to bore small pilot holes in wood so you can insert screws without splitting the grain.

They are extremely compact and handy for tight corners where a brace or power drill won’t fit. You simply push and twist. It acts like a mini-auger, clearing its own shavings as you twist it out.

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6. Breast Drill

This tool gets its name from the curved plate at the top, designed to rest against your chest (or “breast”). This allows you to lean your entire body weight into the drill while cranking, generating significantly more downward force than a hand drill.

Thanks to that extra pressure, breast drills can bore through steel, iron, and hardwoods. They were once a staple in blacksmith shops and are still prized by traditionalists who need to drill metal without electricity.

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7. Push Drill

Often called a “Yankee drill,” this tool features a spiral internal shaft. When you push the handle down, the bit rotates clockwise; when the spring pushes the handle back up, the bit stays stationary (or rotates back, depending on the model).

It operates similarly to a pump-action screwdriver. Push drills are excellent for one-handed operation and light, precise work like installing hinges or making small pilot holes in cabinetry.

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8. Pin Chuck

A pin chuck is a miniature hand drill designed for extreme precision. It holds tiny drill bits, sometimes smaller than a millimeter, and is manipulated with your fingertips.

You will find these in the kits of model makers, jewelers, and watchmakers. The tool usually comes with different collet sizes to grip the micro-bits securely. It allows you to bore holes in soft metals and plastics without the risk of a power drill snapping the delicate bit.

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9. Corded Drill

The corded drill is the reliable workhorse of the power tool world. By drawing electricity directly from an outlet, it provides high torque and unlimited runtime. You never have to worry about a battery dying in the middle of a job.

These drills are generally lighter than their cordless counterparts since they lack a heavy battery pack. They are ideal for mixing mud, drilling with hole saws, or any task requiring sustained high power. The only tradeoff is being tethered to a wall socket.

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10. Cordless Drills

Cordless drills are the most popular tool for homeowners and pros alike. Powered by Lithium-Ion batteries, modern versions offer power that rivals corded models with the added benefit of complete portability.

A good cordless drill/driver handles everything from hanging pictures to building decks. While you do need to manage battery life, newer brushless motors are incredibly efficient. If you only buy one drill for your home, make it this one.

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11. Pneumatic/Air Drills

Pneumatic drills run on compressed air rather than electricity. You will typically find these in automotive shops, factories, and assembly lines where an air compressor is already running.

They are smaller, lighter, and run cooler than electric drills because they don’t have an internal electric motor. However, they are impractical for general home use unless you own a large compressor tank to keep them fed.

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12. SDS/Rotary Hammer Drill

SDS (Slotted Drive System) drills are the heavy hitters of the masonry world. Unlike standard hammer drills that use vibrating discs, SDS drills use a piston mechanism to deliver a powerful punching blow to the drill bit.

If you need to bust up concrete, drill into stone foundations, or remove tile, this is the tool. They use specialized bits that slide into the chuck without tightening, allowing the bit to move back and forth efficiently.

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13. Hammer Drill

A standard hammer drill looks like a regular drill driver but has a specialized setting for masonry. It uses a mechanical clutch to create a rapid vibrating action that helps pulverize brick and block while the bit spins.

While not as powerful as an SDS rotary hammer, it is perfect for drilling holes for wall anchors in brick fireplaces or stucco. It bridges the gap between a standard wood drill and heavy construction equipment.

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14. Pillar Drill

A pillar drill is a free-standing machine that stands on the workshop floor. The motor and head slide up and down a large vertical column (the pillar). It is designed for maximum capacity and stability.

Because the tool is stationary, you bring the work to the drill. This setup ensures perfectly vertical holes every time. Pillar drills are essential for metalworking and professional woodworking where accuracy is non-negotiable.

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15. Table Drills

Often confused with pillar drills, a table drill generally refers to a setup where the table itself is the focus, or the unit is designed to mount to a table. In many woodworking circles, this term is interchangeable with a bench-top drill press.

These units are smaller than floor-standing pillar drills but offer similar precision. They are ideal for drilling repetitive holes in cabinetry parts or small metal fixtures without occupying a permanent footprint on the garage floor.

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16. Drill Press

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“Drill press” is the overarching term for both pillar and bench-mounted drilling machines. These tools use a quill to extend the rotating chuck downward into the material.

Beyond just drilling holes, a drill press can be equipped with sanding drums, mortising attachments, or hole saws. It allows you to set precise speeds via a belt and pulley system, optimizing the torque for metal, wood, or plastic.

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17. Impact Drivers

While technically a “driver,” this tool sits in the drill family. The impact driver uses rotational concussion (forceful impacts) to drive screws. Unlike a drill that spins smoothly, an impact driver “hits” the screw in the direction of rotation.

This action creates immense torque, allowing you to drive long deck screws or lag bolts without stripping the head or hurting your wrist. It uses a quick-release 1/4-inch hex chuck rather than a keyed or keyless jaw chuck.

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18. Impact Wrench

An impact wrench is the big brother of the impact driver. Instead of driving screws, it uses a square drive (usually 1/2-inch or 3/8-inch) to attach sockets for tightening or loosening heavy nuts and bolts.

You have likely heard the zipp-zipp sound of these in auto repair shops. They deliver massive torque bursts to break loose rusted lug nuts or suspension bolts that a human hand couldn’t budge.

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19. Magnetic Drills

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A magnetic drill (or “mag drill”) is a portable drill press used on steel construction sites. It features a powerful electromagnet base that clamps firmly onto steel beams or plates.

This allows ironworkers to drill precise, large-diameter holes vertically, horizontally, or even upside down. It combines the accuracy of a drill press with the portability of a handheld tool, specifically for metal fabrication.

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20. Screwdriver Drill

These are the lightweight, low-voltage cousins of the standard drill driver. Often powered by 4V or 8V batteries, screwdriver drills are designed strictly for light-duty fastening, such as assembling flat-pack furniture or tightening cabinet hinges.

They usually have a pivoting handle to switch from pistol-grip to inline (straight) orientation. They lack the speed to drill holes effectively but are perfect for drawer hardware.

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21. Bench Drills

A bench drill is essentially a compact version of the pillar drill designed to be bolted onto a workbench. It provides the same vertical drilling accuracy but with a shorter column height.

These are the most common stationary drills found in home garages. They offer enough power for 90% of woodworking and DIY metal tasks without requiring the floor space of a full-sized industrial unit.

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22. Auger Drill

An auger drill is a specialized tool designed to bore large, deep holes. While you can put an auger bit in a regular drill, dedicated auger drills (often gas-powered or heavy-duty electric) are used for tasks like drilling post holes in ice or earth, or boring through thick timbers.

The key feature is the screw-like design of the bit, which pulls itself into the material and ejects shavings out of the hole, preventing jamming deep down.

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23. Radial Arm Drill

Imagine a drill press where the head can slide forward and backward on a long arm. That is a radial arm drill. This design allows you to reach the center of very wide workpieces that wouldn’t fit in the “throat” of a standard drill press.

These are common in industrial machine shops and woodworking studios dealing with large sheet goods. You can move the drill head to the hole location rather than trying to wrestle a heavy piece of material into position.

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24. Ratchet Drill

A ratchet drill is a manual tool designed for extremely confined spaces where you cannot rotate a handle a full 360 degrees. It works like a socket wrench: you move the handle back and forth in short arcs to turn the bit.

These are invaluable for working inside engines or tight cabinetry corners where neither a power drill nor a standard hand brace will fit.

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25. Vertical Drills

In industrial settings, a “vertical drill” usually refers to a heavy-duty, geared-head drill press designed for metalworking. These machines are massive, rigid, and capable of drilling large diameter holes through thick steel plate.

They often feature automatic feeds and coolant systems. While they look like standard drill presses, their construction is significantly more robust to handle the stresses of machining metal.

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26. Combi Drills

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A “Combi” (Combination) drill is the European term for what Americans typically call a Hammer Drill Driver. It combines three functions in one tool: drilling holes in wood/metal, driving screws, and hammer-drilling into masonry.

This versatility makes it the ultimate all-in-one tool for homeowners. You can switch from building a wooden shelf to hanging it on a brick wall just by twisting the collar on the chuck.

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27. Right-Angle Drill

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A right-angle drill features a head set at a 90-degree angle to the grip. This unique shape allows plumbers and electricians to drill holes between wall studs and floor joists where a standard straight drill simply wouldn’t fit.

They come in compact versions for cabinetry and massive, high-torque versions (often called “hole hawgs”) for roughing in pipes and wires during construction.

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28. Hex Drill

This refers to a drill designed specifically to accept 1/4-inch hex-shank bits. Unlike standard drills with adjustable three-jaw chucks, these have a quick-release collar.

While similar to impact drivers, some hex drills lack the impact mechanism and just provide smooth rotation. The main advantage is speed; you can swap from a drill bit to a screwdriver bit in one second flat without tightening a chuck.

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29. Deck Drills

Some tools are marketed specifically as “deck drills” or “auto-feed screwdrivers.” These specialized drills feature a magazine attachment that holds a strip of screws (like a machine gun belt).

As you drive one screw, the mechanism automatically loads the next one. This allows you to install deck boards or drywall instantly without fumbling for screws or dropping them.

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30. Auto-Feed Drill

An auto-feed drill is an industrial automation unit. It is a self-contained drilling head mounted on a production line. Once triggered, it automatically advances the quill, drills to a set depth, and retracts.

You won’t find this in a home garage. These are used in manufacturing to drill thousands of identical holes in parts as they move down a conveyor belt.

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31. Mill Drill

A mill drill is a hybrid machine that bridges the gap between a drill press and a milling machine. It has a heavy-duty spindle bearing that can handle side loads (lateral pressure), which allows it to cut horizontally like a mill, not just vertically like a drill.

It features an X-Y axis table, letting you move the workpiece precisely under the cutter. It is the entry-level machine for hobbyist machinists who want to make metal parts at home.

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