Smart-Bit Pre-drilling and Countersinking Tool for Fiber Cement Board Including James Hardie Fiber Cement Board

Seems expensive but for a specialty bit with carbide cutters it’s actually what you’d expect. Well made and has saved me a lot of time.

I know tools and I know once I see them that it will be crap or great. This bit worked so well. I’ve drilled 6 counter sunk holes per hardie board plank, times that by 200 plus planks, and I didn’t have to change the mason bit at all. That’s over 1200 countersunk holes.Very pleased with this purchase.Also they send spare mason bits anyway. How awesome. Thanks for this great helpful tool guys!! 2 thumbs up.

A tad expensive but saves me alot of work and aggrevation

I was hoping to use this to have flush screws on my hardie exterior vertical panel siding, The large 4' x 8' panels. I wanted to have the screws be inconspicuous. This will not do that, it may in fact make it worse. $64 bucks down the toilet. Problem: The hole diameter is 1/4", significantly larger than any screw you could choose. With a very large head screw it might be useful for countersinking holes into cement board used for tile backing but who cares what those screws would look like, they will be burred under tile anyway.

The drive side if the tool was splined and driven into the rest. On the first one I bought I drilled about 50 holes and the spline stripped out. As there is no setscrew or any way to add one I had to buy another. At 50 holes that made it a very expensive tool for the money. If it had lasted longer maybe I would have been able to use the second drill bit that comes with it. It is a nice timesaver that gives consistent results so I did buy another. Hopefully this one lasts longer.

Done with 1/3rd of an 1100 sq. foot project countersinking for thousands of screws in Hardie backer (.42" thick). Comes bit bits for both thicknesses and it is still countersinking as if brand new. Countersink is deep enough for off-brand tapcons which have a larger diameter head. Glad I paid the relatively high price!

Ok

This worked fine until I had drilled 6 holes and then the setscrew holding the center bit fell out and was gone. Obviously it had not been tightened at factory assembly. If you buy this be sure to check the setscrew tightness before using the tool.