Evolution Heavy Duty 1-1/8 inch Industrial Magnetic Drill with Carry Case - S28MAG

I have always wanted a mag drill. I have a double frame project that convinced me to spend the $. Pleased with the drill. I’d like to see it a bit tougher, but for the $, it does well. I have drilled 50+ 5/8 holes in truck frame rail. I didn’t miss. It does require care, and not bullet proof by any means, the cords on the outside, with plastic conduit type fittings are not likely to last the industrial use the drill will incur? I’m pleased, but I know I won’t use a lot. If you are going to use more than occasionally, spend twice the $ and get a more industrial machine. If it’s a rare use, this will fill the need.

I purchased the EVOMAG42 February of '23. I had an issue with the head creeping down when I retracted it to the top. I called customer service to ask them what I could do to to repair it. They informed me that it had a three year warranty to send it to them. They paid shipping both ways. They received it on a Monday morning, repaired it and shipped it out that same evening. It works like a champ. Thank you for the outstanding company that you are.

Beats drilling with regular bits. Very good quality Magdeill for a fraction of the big name brands. The magnet is strong and holds well on 1/8” thick or greater material.

I'm starting a small metal fabrication business and picked up this Mag Drill. I had previously purchased an Evolution Metal Saw and was impressed with it so purchased the EvoMag42. The drill has some restrictions that are common to all mag drills (distance from the bit to the base) that you have to overcome but this thing is great. The magnet is more than powerful enough to hold on to whatever you need (Though I haven't tried it upside down yet.) The bits are easy to change and it comes with a standard drill chuck as well even though the listing states it doesn't. You will get messy if you use the included oil feed system but the cut quality is great. There is also a lot of adjust ability with the depth so you can use the drill on a stand more like a drill press, or to drill on a raised piece of steel. I paired this drill with Evolution Annular Cutters and Bosch Cobalt Bits and it chews through steel like nothing. It is pretty noise so hearing protection is recommended. My only complaint is the locking lever to set your height does slip a little over time if doing multiple holes. This could cause problems if truing to do a repeatable precise depth hole. Otherwise, if just putting holes in steel, you wont have a problem.

The media could not be loaded. Drill holes great but carriage set screw slips and I can't find any other screws to adjust tension so that's annoying. It has a little plastic knob to tension it so it appears one day soon I will crank down and it might snap off. Also the drill will not stay it its upmost position and again I cannot find any other tensions screws that would address this.

I hesitate to rate at 1 star but I am doing it to hopefully save others some headaches. The drill is probably good as other evolution products I own are but the "Vera Tools" seller is selling clearly used items as new. My drill arrived in a beat up box (see pictures) and the drill itself is scratched with labels pealing. I tried it once and the mag couldn't even hold the drill down on my all metal welding table against the force of the bit on the workpiece. I tried it vertically on the side of my welding table and the mag couldn't hold up its own weight. I am CERTAIN this is not how a new drill would perform.....but Vera Tools is selling used and apparently defective Tools. I ordered a second one thinking the first was a fluke. It wasn't. Both were used. Other sellers are $100+ more expensive but probably are new tools. Avoid Vera Tools seller. I'm buying a third from another seller and will update when it arrives.

I have to say this is my second evolution tool and im very happy with it. The lack of stars is for 2 reasons. First is the storage box came with broken hinges. I had amazon send me another and it was the same thing so i gave up in trying to get that fix. Also all the stickers and labels are peeling off before i even plugged it in for the first time.The tool itself works as needed and if your planning on drilling into anything under 3/8 like me you will need to clamp it down in the front. I would image this will be the same with any mag drill as they need something like 1/2 inch plate to really get that 2800 lbs of force. I have used up to a 2.5 inch bit in it drilling 1/8 tube and it worked great. I of course used drill oil and took my time but it drilled it with no problems. I would not go any bigger as that is already very close to not having much clearance for chips to be cleared. The other draw back is the stroke is only 2 inches or so depending what your doing you can drill the 2 inches and move the whole assembly down so you can use that to get some more depth. Watch some youtube vids and you will be able to see most of what it can do and for the money its a very solid drill.

I used it to cut 432 holes in a 3/4 inch steel plate for a welding table I'm working on. It locks securely with the magnet and makes very precise holes. The fluid container is messy as others have noted but it’s more of a quirk than a problem. If you just close the valve between cuts it reduces the mess. The only thing I found that could use improvement is the height adjustment handle comes loose over time and needs to be retightened but again, pretty simple to correct as you go.