Cordless Drills

[Charlesaf3]

get a makita lion or a bosch.

I have still dewalt everything, as I've got a fair amount invested in it. It'll get replaced by makita or bosch. Dewalt is junk now, I'm sad to say. Full of plastic parts and the repair guys have nothing good to say about it. They are riding off what the brand used to be.

I've got a lot of yellow tools, but don't actually think I'll be buying another one. And its their own fault. Know a lot of contractors who feel the same.

 

[EddieWalker]

My experience pretty much mirrors Charles. I had quite a few DeWalt tools, but have been replacing them with Makita. I also had Porter Cable, but that was strictly a home, hobby brand. I'm iffy on Milwaukee. Some have held up, like my big sawzall. It has features that I don't care for, like the guard in front, so I wouldn't buy another. Though I rarely use it because my battery powered Makita is my first choice.

My Dad has Ryobi that I borrowed one time. It was a huge disapointment compared to what I'm used to. No power to it at all. My brother bought a full set of Grizzly battery tools. He thought they were pretty good, especially for the money. But then he used my Makita tools, which changed his mind. He's buying Makita now.

I read an article recently that said it was bad to run the batteries totally out. It was best to put them on the charger when they start to show a lack of power. With my 18V Lition Ion batteries, they stay strong almost to the end, then go down quickly. A sales rep told me that you get 3,000 charges out of them and that's guranteed. If you don't feel you got that many charges, you can take it in and they can tell by a built in counter of some kind.

I use my cordless tools just about every day. Sometimes, I'll have both chargers going and four batteries in use. Most of the time, I'm good for the day on one or two batteries.

Are you looking for a dril to drive screws or to drill holes? If it's to drive screws, the impact drivers are three times as powerful as the drills, lighter and easier to use. The impacting action of driving the screws in releives your rist of any twisting. It's like magic, the screws just keep on going without any effort at all.

Since buying my Makita Impact Driver, I've switched over to square screws almost exclusivly. They grip and keep going better then philips tips. I have attachments for hex hed screws, like used in attaching metal to roofs and sheds. I also have an attachment for attaching sockets to it. I swear, it's rated at 1,400 pounds and it can tighten a bolt almost as good as my air impact wrench!!!!

Eddie

 

[Charlesaf3]

I've had good luck with a couple of tools from porter cable - brad and finish guns, and biscuiter. Can't think of anything else I'd buy from them.

I have a lot of Ryobi, but its not in the same league, even as the dewalt. I have it as backup - sometimes making doors I've used as many as 5 drills with different bits in them.

 

[ultrarunner]

I'm still using the Makita combo drill flashlight set I bough 15 years ago... I never charge a battery until it is dead/dead... I put the weak battery in the flashlight and turn it on to kill it and then charge... I have 120v and 12v truck chargers.

A friend bought the same set at the same time I did and he didn't get two years... he always stored his batteries in the charger and my guess this is the reason.

I also have very good luck with my Bosch 12v drill... use it all the time at work and have a second at home... work as the standard charger and a few months ago one of the batteries would not charge.

At home I have the expensive quick "Pulse" charger and it charged the battery that wouldn't charge just fine... I also don't charge until the battery is 99% dead...

No experience with the lithium batteries.

 

[Steve C]

I have Craftsman, Milwaukee, Skill, Makita, Dewalt, Denalie, and several off brand cordless drills. My oldest ones are the Craftsman 18 volt industrial model (Ni-cad) that I purchased with a circular saw in 1995. ( also have some 7.2 and 9.6 volt Craftsman and Makita's that are even older) It came with 2 batteries. One of them is still around 100% the other one is down to about 80% of its origional capacity. My newer Milwaukee, Makita and Dewalt all have the Lithium Ion batteries. I don't think you could kill any them if you tried. I have used the 1/2" craftsman for a long , long time. It is big and heavy and just keeps going. I haven't found a cordless drill that can out perform it except for my 36 volt Dewalt. I use it with 4 inch hole saws to drill holes in ceilings for electrical boxes and long ship augers for electrical wiring. It can't be stalled it will break you wrist first.

My 18 volt lithium Ion Milwaukee performs very similar, except the battery has a lot more capacity so it will do more work between charges.

What has worked for me all these years is I don't store the batteries with a charge in them and I keep them in a temperate invironment...well above freezing. I always run the ni-cads a little low before I put them away. Not all the way dead but discharged somewhat. For the money I don't know how you could beat the craftsman drills. You can get one for under $100 with 2 batteries and they are upgradable to the Lithium Ion batteries. I have read that both craftsman and Ryobi are made by the same people and that they use a premium cell in the battery pack. I don't know about that but the C3 Craftsman series has the advantage a lot of other tools that can be powered by the same battery. One of my favorites is the caulking gun, it makes laying a professional bead very easy and your hand never gets tired.

The keyless chuck on the Milwaukee is my favorite. It clamps down with incredible force. My Milwaukee tools that I have are the V18 series that will use both the lithium and the Ni-cad batteries. I have the 1/2" hammer drill, sawsall, hatchet sawsall, metal cutting circular saw, 6 1/2" circular saw flashlight, 3/8" impact driver, 1/2" impact driver and the SDS hammer drill. They are all great tools.

I have the lithium ion Makita drill, Reciprocating saw, 3/8 inch impact driver and flashlight. I have the Dewalt 18 volt Drill, reciprocating saw, 4-1/2" angle grinder/cut off tool, 3/8" impact driver and spiral cut saw. I have the Dewalt 36 volt reciprocating saw, 7-1/2" circular saw, 1/2" hammer drill and flashlight. These tools have the power of corded tools but weigh a little more than you might expect.

I think I have every Craftsman 19.2 volt tool made. They are hard to beat for the price and variety. I have not had a battery go bad on me yet, but the Lithiums are scarry. They will work at full power, then the next time you pick it up it won't even try to start. The first time I did this I thought I had broken the tool.

I use my Milwaukee tools more than any of the others probably because of all the sawsall work I have been doing lately. If you look them up on Amazon you can find detailed Milwaukee V18 reviews. Many of them written by me.

I use my 1/2" drive Milwaukee cordless impact to rotate the tires on my one ton dualley and to change the blades on my 60" zero turn. It makes the task painless. A complete tire rotation takes almost nothing out of a fully charged battery.

 

[jimmyj]

My neighbor ordered instructions on how to rejuvinate dead rechargable drill batteries. I'm going by memory but I think this is what you do:

1. You have to get a good, charged batter that is bigger than the dead one. Say you have a dead 14.4v battery, then you'd need a charged up 18v to use to fix the 14.4.

2. Get some 14/2 wire, strip the ends

3. (this is where my brain gets fuzzy, but I'll check and repost). Connect the negative on the 2 batteries with one of the wires.

4. Connect the other wire to the positive on the bigger, good battery.

5. Tap the hot wire from the good battery on the positive for about 1 second over and over again for about a minute.

6. Charge the previously dead battery.

It is all about somehow resetting the battery "memory" or something like that. He says it works, I have not tried it yet.

 

[heehaw]

i am sold on the ridgid brand: because of their lifetime service agreement: it includes the battery: buy them at home depot or on line: but remember to register them with ridgid or the lifetime thing is void: but they do have a 3 year warranty anyway.
heehaw

 

[Steve C]

My neighbor ordered instructions on how to rejuvinate dead rechargable drill batteries. I'm going by memory but I think this is what you do:

1. You have to get a good, charged batter that is bigger than the dead one. Say you have a dead 14.4v battery, then you'd need a charged up 18v to use to fix the 14.4.

2. Get some 14/2 wire, strip the ends

3. (this is where my brain gets fuzzy, but I'll check and repost). Connect the negative on the 2 batteries with one of the wires.

4. Connect the other wire to the positive on the bigger, good battery.

5. Tap the hot wire from the good battery on the positive for about 1 second over and over again for about a minute.

6. Charge the previously dead battery.

It is all about somehow resetting the battery "memory" or something like that. He says it works, I have not tried it yet.

I have just revived a almost brand new Craftsman 19.2 volt battery that had been "flat lined". I have a radio that uses this battery. It had been left "on" for about 6 months. I probably accidently turned it on when putting it away. This battery had been drained as far as it is possible to drain one.

When I put the battery in the charger, the charger refused to do anything with it except to register that it was defective and should be discarded according to the owners manual.

I have read that some cells in the ni-cad batteries can actually reverse polarity when they are drawn down like this. At any rate I thought what the heck, the battery is already junk, there is nothing I can do to it to make it more junk so I devised a plan.

I made up a set of small jumper wires with a spade connection on one end and the other end left bare. I then got a fully charged 19.2 volt battery and installed the 2 wires on the positive and negitive terminals using the spade connectors. I then touched the coresponding terminals on the dead battery with the bare ends of the wire, positive to positive, negative to negitive for a short moment, got a spark and took a voltage reading, it was around 8 volts. I touched them again and brought the voltage up to around 12 volts. I then put the revived battery in the charger and it charged up just fine.

Money saved to spend on more tractor stuff

Don't do this.

It could blow up or catch on fire....but if you think you need take such a risk to save a lousy $50 or $100 make sure that you protect your eyes with safety glasses/googles and protect your hands with gloves.......

 

[Bedlam]

This is the post I was searching for for some time today...Im saving it to try now LOL

 

[BruceWard]

I think I have every Craftsman 19.2 volt tool made. They are hard to beat for the price and variety. I have not had a battery go bad on me yet, but the Lithiums are scarry. They will work at full power, then the next time you pick it up it won't even try to start. The first time I did this I thought I had broken the tool.

I have several Craftsman 19.2 volt tools and have given sets to my Dad and one Brother. My experience with these tools goes back about 5 years. Most of my 19.2 tools were purchased off of ebay used for less than 1/4 of retail. I have broken a used drill and circular trim saw. My experience has been great. I have used the drills for crazy things like 1/2" holes through 1/4" steel, 3/8" holes through railroad ties and ripping 2x12s with the trim saw. Every 19.2 volt tool I have used has worked great. The flourescent flashlights are great when the power goes off. I have 3 of them. They light a whole room and run all night on a battery. I currently have 1/2 drill (2), 3/8 drill, sawzall, circular saw, 1/4" impact, spot light, flourescent light (3), staple gun, vacuum cleaner and a jig saw. The batteries have held up well. The only battery failures have been batteries that came with used tools.