Hand-Held vs. Air-Leg Rock Drill: How to Choose the Right Pneumatic Drill

A hand-held rock drill and an air-leg rock drill use the same percussive principle, the same 6 bar air supply and often the same drill steels. They are still not interchangeable. The first drills downward with the operator’s weight behind it. The second sits on a pneumatic leg that pushes it into a vertical face, so it can drill horizontal and inclined holes that no one could hold by hand. This guide explains how to choose between them, with diagrams, specification tables, compressor sizing and the dust and vibration rules that apply on site. It uses Set Makina’s four pneumatic rock drills as the reference: the Y20 and Y24 hand-held drills and the YT24 and YT28 air-leg drills.

Hand-held Y20 18 kg · ~39 N·m · 1.32 m³/min View specs → Hand-held Y24 24 kg · ~55 N·m · 3.00 m³/min View specs → Air-leg YT24 24 kg · ~75 N·m · 3.60 m³/min View specs → Air-leg YT28 26 kg · ~84 N·m · 4.80 m³/min View specs →

01Start with one question: which way does the hole point?

Most buyers compare weight, air consumption and price first. Those numbers matter, but they come second. The first question is geometric. If your holes go down into a bench, a block or the floor of a trench, a hand-held rock drill (also called a jackhammer or sinker drill) does the job, and gravity helps you. If your holes go into a vertical face, a tunnel heading or a gallery wall, you need a machine that can push sideways with steady force for the whole length of the hole. A person cannot do that for a full shift. An air-leg rock drill (often called a jackleg drill) can.

The hole direction decides the machine: gravity feeds a hand-held drill, a pneumatic leg feeds an air-leg drill.

Set Makina’s range is built around this split. The Y20 and Y24 are hand-held drills for downward vertical drilling. The YT24 and YT28 are air-leg drills for horizontal and angled drilling. All four are rated for medium to hard rock, f8 to f18 on the Protodyakonov scale.

02How each type works

Seeing both machines working makes the difference obvious:

03The four models side by side

All values below are at 6 bar working pressure, from Set Makina’s current product data.

Light blue: hand-held drills. Dark blue: air-leg drills.

Two details in the table save money later. First, the shank is the same on all four machines, so one stock of integral drill steels serves a mixed fleet. Second, every model ships with the FY200B in-line oiler, which feeds rock drill oil into the air line and keeps the piston and valve lubricated during the shift.

What f8–f18 means in practice

The Protodyakonov strength coefficient (f) is still the most common way to rate rock drills for rock hardness, especially in mining. Roughly, f is one tenth of the rock’s uniaxial compressive strength in MPa. The table gives typical rocks for each class; use it as a guide, since the same rock name can vary a lot from one deposit to another.

04Which drill for which job

Inside each pair, the choice is about output against air. The Y20 uses less than half the air of the Y24, which suits small quarries and modest compressors. The Y24 is the production hand-held drill for daily work in hard rock. Between the air-leg drills, the YT24 is lighter and uses less air, while the YT28 is the heavier machine built for continuous face drilling.

05The compressor decides more than the drill

A pneumatic rock drill is only as strong as the air that reaches it. If the pressure at the drill falls below 6 bar, the blow weakens and penetration drops, and a slow drill costs more per metre than a fast one. The rule for sizing is simple: add the air consumption of every drill that works at the same time, then add about 20 % for hose losses, fitting leaks and the oiler. This margin is an engineering allowance, not a factory figure.

1 m³/min = 35.3 cfm. Figures are free air delivery the compressor must supply at 6 bar or more.

Altitude reduces what your compressor delivers

Many quarries and mines in North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia work well above sea level. Thinner air means a compressor takes in less mass of air per stroke, so its real output at altitude is lower than its sea-level rating. Atmospheric pressure falls quickly with height:

Check the altitude derating in your compressor’s data sheet, and add it on top of the 20 % margin. Distance matters too: all four drills connect through a 3/4″ air inlet and should work within about 100 m of the compressor. For longer runs, an air receiver placed near the drilling point keeps the pressure steady. Use a pneumatic hose rated for the working pressure, and keep it as short as the site allows.

06Dust and vibration: the rules that shape the choice

Silica dust

Drilling granite, sandstone and other quartz-bearing rock releases respirable crystalline silica. In the European Union, Directive (EU) 2017/2398 added work that generates respirable crystalline silica dust to the carcinogens directive, with a binding limit of 0.1 mg/m³ [1]. In the United States, OSHA’s construction silica standard lists water delivery at the point of impact or dust collection as the control for jackhammers and hand-held drilling tools [2]. In practice, wet drilling is the simplest control. The YT24 and YT28 flush with water as standard, and the Y20 can take a water connection. The Y24 flushes with air only, so on dust-controlled sites it needs another control method or should be replaced by a wet model.

Hand-arm vibration

Every percussive hand tool transmits vibration to the operator’s hands and arms, and pneumatic rock drills are among the most demanding tools on a site. EU Directive 2002/44/EC sets a daily exposure action value of 2.5 m/s² and a limit value of 5 m/s² (A(8)) for hand-arm vibration [3]. In practice, exposure is managed with three measures used together: limit the drilling time per operator and rotate operators on long jobs, keep the drill well lubricated and correctly fed so it does not bounce on the rock, and give every operator anti-vibration gloves.

Which anti-vibration gloves work best

A 2025 study by the Department of Mining Engineering at Çukurova University compared 12 commercial anti-vibration gloves made of different materials, both on air-leg drill operators in three mines and in a laboratory test following ISO 10819 [4]. Gloves padded with chloroprene rubber gave the highest damping in both settings. Latex foam gave the lowest.

Source: Erol, Applied Sciences, 2025 [4]. Damping measured as the reduction in daily vibration exposure A(8) compared with bare hands.

The same study concludes that gloves reduce exposure but are not enough on their own, which is why they belong alongside working-time limits and good drilling practice, not in place of them.

07What you need around each drill

08What these drills are not for

• Holes above 45 mm or deep production holes. Top-hammer hand drills lose energy along the steel as the hole gets longer. For large diameters and depth, a down-the-hole hammer is the right tool. See our comparison of DTH hammer vs. top hammer drilling.
• Horizontal holes with a hand-held drill. Holding a 24 kg drill against a face for a full hole is unsafe and slow. If more than an occasional hole is horizontal, buy an air-leg drill.
• Dust-controlled work with the Y24. The Y24 flushes with air only. Where wet drilling is required, use the Y20 with a water connection or an air-leg model.
• Sites without compressed air. All four are pneumatic. If there is no compressor on site or available to rent, include one in the budget.

09TIGER or LIGER: same drill, different package

When you request a quote, we send the price and features of both versions so you can compare.

10Frequently asked questions

Specifications are taken from Set Makina’s current product data at 6 bar working pressure. Compressor figures include an assumed 20 % margin and are a planning guide; confirm final sizing with your compressor supplier for your hose length, altitude and site conditions. Regulatory references are summaries for orientation; check the full texts and the rules that apply in your country.