Hey all; My 12 volt Milwaukee drill is starting to get tired. I'm looking at the; Bosh 32614, Milwaukee 0612-22, and the Makita
6337DWDE 14.4 volt drills. I'm a cabinet maker and like light weight and compact machines. Anybody have a preference? Thank you
If you want light weight but with power, check out the Panasonic.
Tired how? Batteries dying or something else? If it's the batteries, why don't you get them rebuilt. I had my 12v Milwaukee batteries rebuilt about a year ago and the drill runs as well as the first time I used it.
I have had a Panasonic 15.6V for several years. Had the batteries rebuilt at
If you are a cabinet maker I would certainly stick with 12 volt or 9.6. I used 9.6 for probably 12 years and am still trying to get used to lugging around the extra weight when I switched to the 12 volt. I too do this for a living. Panasonic will probably be your best bet since you use the drill daily.
My first cordless was a Makita 7.2v (I think). Worked very well for years. Owned a couple of others in the middle, that died very quickly. Bought a DeWalt 18 v. several years ago...and it still is perfect, but that brute is heavy.
Okay, now for the stories. At an auction I bought a two new B&D drills that were TINY. I had in mind to give them away as presents. No one wanted them. So I chucked one up with a phillips head bit and put the other one in a charger. Those two drills proved to be invaluable for driving in screws. Small, lite, but powerful for their size, I'd use one till the charge failed, (and hour or so), switch to the other one, and back and forth. They turned out to be absolutely perfect, for the application. Both lasted about three years. (It would have to be classified as light duty home use).
I got a Craftsman 14.4 as a present. (I think, meaning I don't know, but I think Panasonic built Craftsman for a while) I never used it much, perferring the DeWalt. (They were actually buying the circular saw in one of those combo deals) That battery was never really powerful enough for the saw application, but just recently, I moved and was unable to locate the DeWalt charger. I ended up using the Craftsman drill very heavily for over a month. It really proved it's worth. Considerably lighter than the DeWalt, but still powerful enough to sink any length screw, even without pilot holes. Again, there was always a battery in the charger.
For what it's worth......
Thank you to all for the replies. Yes, the batteries are not holding a charge for more than 24 hours, but more ominous is that I smell burnt motor every time I use it and it's getting seriously weak. I suppose that could still be the batteries, If the motor is underpowered it might smell?, (I'm guessing). What did it cost you get the batteries rebuilt? I was under the impression that I could buy a new drill cheaper.
I'm such an old geezer that every time I here "Panasonic" I think of lo-fi 8-tracks, so I hadn't thought of that. A quick check at tool crib has one at $118, that's pretty cheap. The only reason I'd go with 12 volt over 9.6 is for the power on kitchen installations, but maybe I'm underestimating the torque of the 9.6.
I didn't research it extensively, but I didn't find a Festool for less than $335 on the internet, is it really worth 3 times the price of the Panasonic? I'm willing to pay for a tool that really enhances my work performance, but my gut instinct is that the cheaper tool will do.
Yep. For quite a lot of drilling/screwing, a 'normal' cordless drill will do just as well as this Festool. But every time you want to drill or screw in the space of only drawer-height, the rightangle chuck is _very_ handy. Similar thing goes for the off-center chuck when screwing/drilling very next to a top/bottom/side. Switching of the chucks is very easy and fast. They can be set at a number of angles with respect to the drill-handle..
Ok. You guessed. I've got a festool and love it! :-)
Theo
Depends on what you want. Including shipping and return delivery, I spent $129 (Canadian) for two batteries. While some might consider that expensive for just the batteries, a whole new drill of comparable voltage and capability would have cost me in excess of $250 plus tax.
At the very least, it won't cost you anything to call a battery rebuilding outfit, tell them what batteries you have and ask them how much for a rebuild.
Panasonic is top quality stuff. I am aware of the cheaper Panasonic drills and wonder why they are so much cheaper than the others. My first regular cordless drill was a Panasonic and later models had smaller battery packs. Replacement batteries several years ago were in the $100 range for the older models. I would highly recommend looking in to the Panasonics that are more in the regular price range rather than the cheaper range. Panasonics are not known for being cheap. The $118 model you are looking at MAY be a home owner or hobbyist version. If you mostly do installs, consider also an impact driver. I noticed that Panasonic has come out with one with a clutch setting also. I did a kitchen tear out and install 3 months ago and my impact drive saved my butt while trying to get some bent dry wall screws out that were used to hold the original cabinets in place.
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