Cordless drill - which one to buy??

There are a bazillion reviews in the various magazines. I think Fine Homebuilding may have done one recently. In any case, the black and white Makita drills are nice--light weight, lithium ion battery, and fast recharge. I don't own one, but my father-in-law does.

If you don't need huge torque, the mini 10.8 and 12V lithium-ion ones with the cylindrical battery are starting to get popular. They're light and compact and can easily get into small spaces.

If the feel is okay for you, Ridgid might be nice due to the lifetime service agreement which includes replacing dead batteries. Maybe not quite as ergonomic, but cheaper in the long run.

Chris

I did a bunch of reading, and then bit the bullet on the Makita BDF452HW. It's a great tool, plain and simple. The balance is perfect, the power is startling, the batteries (it comes with two) just keep going for ages, and the recharge time is about 15 minutes. It's light, well designed, and really useful.

Honestly, one of the nicest tools I own.

Colin

If the batteries are still good and you like everything else about it, replace the chuck.

No doubt your Skil has a two-piece chuck.

The best way to avoid slippage IMO is to buy drill bits that have beveled shanks (maybe preferable) or the type with quickchange hex shanks (decent quality, avoid Hitachi).

Look for the term "single sleeve ratcheting chuck". Look for NiMH or lithium-ion batteries. The old NiCad are the weakest, the drill has cheap NiCad if they don't tell you the batteries are NiMH or lithium-ion. Try to find the amp hours specification, it should be at least 2Ah, some Panasonic have 3.5 amp hour batteries, at even 18 V! Lithium-ion batteries are powerful and very light. I think most drills come with two batteries these days. Some Panasonic drills have a possibly useful but peculiar way of starting at about

remuddler wrote in news:18d586e4-f477-4904-8e78- snipped-for-privacy@8g2000hse.googlegroups.com:

Stay away from new Skil cordless drills. I picked up one a few years ago and the battery is already shot. Now when I need a drill/driver, I go for a Dewalt corded model. Lots of power and the outlet is usually nearby.

I've been seriously looking at the Makitas as a replacement. I really like the weight balance, and I know they're professional quality. Just waiting for the right time to buy. (I should have jumped when they had that combo pack for $100 off...)

Puckdropper

...

You have used a cordless drill and you prefer a corded drill? Wow.

Eh? I have a 2500rpm HF VSR corded drill for pocket hole drilling and for edge drilling pilot holes - but use a 600rpm HF VSR rechargable for driving screws.

(...and sometimes use a high-speed pneumatic drill for /really/ clean pocket holes.)

"Morris Dovey" wrote

Is that for handheld use? Or do you use the CNC machine? Or another robot of some type? ;)

Corded, as in "no battery needed" Is that a new invention? I bet it takes off and sell millions.

Two years ago I headed to the store to buy a Bosch 18V or Milwaukee. I walked out with the Panasonic 15.6V and I'm still very happy with it. Powerful, but yet a nice feel and relatively light weight. Be sure to handle one before you make your final decision.

/Another/ smartass! This is starting to feel like whack-a-mole! ;-)

Yes, these are all hand-held drills (although the notion of a CNC machine to install glazing and trim does have a certain amount of appeal).

Hmm... Thank you, I think.

Mount a HF air drill cheapo on the 'Bot. How hard can that be?

Some 'Bot owners have done that. I bought a full set of collets and chuck the drill in the spindle...

...but edge drilling a 6- or 8-foot long 1x8 board with only 6 inches of Z travel just doesn't work (I can't get the bit over the workpiece). :-(

John Doe wrote in news:YmVzk.505$ZP4.442 @nlpi067.nbdc.sbc.com:

Let's see... There's no batteries to mess with (charge and watch die), there's about 10 times the power available, and the corded drill doesn't even blink when I throw screws from 3/4" to 4" at it.

Puckdropper

Probably easier to live with the hand drills until the workload justifies spending for the hardware kit to provide a 12-inch Z travel.

I prefer corded over battery. It lasts and lasts, never quits. All of the outlets I installed 18 years ago makes it easy. Milwaulkee is my corded drill.

All true, which is why I've got a Bosch corded drill, but that is useless when I'm 150' away running screws into something around our storage shed, so that works best with a cordless. I've got a Bosch

I finally gave away my corded 3/8 Milwaukee--it had been languishing for years. Just plain didn't do anything that the cordless deWalt wouldn't do and the deWalt would do a lot that the Milwaukee wouldn't.