A rotary hammer comprising: a hammer housing; a motor having an armature shaft; a hammer spindle rotatably mounted about a longitudinal axis in the hammer housing; a tool holder provided at a front end of the hammer housing and being rotatingly driven by the motor about the longitudinal axis of the hammer spindle; a hammer mechanism provided in the hammer housing for generating impacts acting on the rear end of a bit inserted into the tool holder, the hammer mechanism having a drive shaft able to be selectively coupled with the armature shaft; and a switching arrangement having a spindle which can be rotated by a switching element from the outside of the hammer housing about a rotational axis, the spindle having a protuberance for switching the rotary hammer between a pure drilling mode and a hammer drilling mode and/or a pure hammering mode; wherein the switching arrangement comprises a coupling part axially displaceable on the drive shaft of the hammer mechanism between a lower position in which the drive shaft is coupled to the armature shaft and an upper position in which the drive shaft is decoupled from the armature shaft, and wherein the switching arrangement comprises a selector for displacing the coupling part between the lower position and the upper position; wherein the coupling part is formed with a sleeve comprising a flange and wherein the selector comprises a fork having two arms for engaging a lower part of the flange of the sleeve-shaped coupling part; wherein the selector comprises a drive member and wherein, the drive member and the protuberance are arranged so that the protuberance engages the drive member to pivot the selector when the spindle is rotated; wherein the protuberance and the drive member are adapted such that the protuberance engages the drive member over only a portion of the rotational movement of the spindle; wherein the armature shaft of the motor is arranged substantially perpendicular to the axis of the hammer spindle, and drives a drive sleeve which is arranged rotatably on the hammer spindle and which can be coupled with the hammer spindle via a coupling sleeve which sits non-rotatably but axially displaceable on the hammer spindle; wherein the switching arrangement acting on the coupling sleeve via a linear slider part which can be moved parallel to the longitudinal axis of the hammer spindle so that the coupling sleeve can be moved between a position of engagement with the drive sleeve and a release position separated from the drive sleeve; characterised in that the spindle comprises a cam portion; wherein the protuberance is formed in the end of the spindle adjacent the cam portion; wherein the cam portion of the switching arrangement acts on the coupling sleeve via the linear slider; wherein the drive member and the protuberance are angularly offset from each other such that they only engage each other over a portion of the rotational movement of the spindle so that within a first angular range of rotational movement, the protuberance does not engage the drive member and rotation of the spindle does not drive the selector and with a second angular range of the rotational movement the protuberance engages the drive member such that the rotation of the spindle drivingly rotates the selector. a hammer housing; a motor having an armature shaft; a hammer spindle rotatably mounted about a longitudinal axis in the hammer housing; a tool holder provided at a front end of the hammer housing and being rotatingly driven by the motor about the longitudinal axis of the hammer spindle; a hammer mechanism provided in the hammer housing for generating impacts acting on the rear end of a bit inserted into the tool holder, the hammer mechanism having a drive shaft able to be selectively coupled with the armature shaft; and a switching arrangement having a spindle which can be rotated by a switching element from the outside of the hammer housing about a rotational axis, the spindle having a protuberance for switching the rotary hammer between a pure drilling mode and a hammer drilling mode and/or a pure hammering mode; wherein the switching arrangement comprises a coupling part axially displaceable on the drive shaft of the hammer mechanism between a lower position in which the drive shaft is coupled to the armature shaft and an upper position in which the drive shaft is decoupled from the armature shaft, and wherein the switching arrangement comprises a selector for displacing the coupling part between the lower position and the upper position; wherein the coupling part is formed with a sleeve comprising a flange and wherein the selector comprises a fork having two arms for engaging a lower part of the flange of the sleeve-shaped coupling part; wherein the selector comprises a drive member and wherein, the drive member and the protuberance are arranged so that the protuberance engages the drive member to pivot the selector when the spindle is rotated; wherein the protuberance and the drive member are adapted such that the protuberance engages the drive member over only a portion of the rotational movement of the spindle; wherein the armature shaft of the motor is arranged substantially perpendicular to the axis of the hammer spindle, and drives a drive sleeve which is arranged rotatably on the hammer spindle and which can be coupled with the hammer spindle via a coupling sleeve which sits non-rotatably but axially displaceable on the hammer spindle;