|
|
|
Best cordless drill? |
|---|
| message from Bobby on 12 May 2004 |
I need a new cordless drill and being pretty hopeless at DIY I don't have a
clue which one to buy. Any ideas? I don't want to spend a great deal of
money. It's only for odd-jobs around the house. One with a screwdriver
facility sounds good. And maybe a hammer drill.
Are there particular features I should look-out for?
Where's the best place to buy one?
Cheers.
Bobby
|
| Christian McArdle replied to Bobby on 13 May 2004 |
Don't bother with hammer. You really need a mains drill for that. A cheap 15
quid job would be fine for knocking in occasional rawl plug holes.
Features that are useful:
1. Extra battery
2. Torque control
3. Reverse
4. Rotor brake (good for safety and screwdriving)
5. Variable speed with touch sensitive trigger
6. Hi/Lo gears
I'd recommend 12V minimum, more for cheap brands, as their volts aren't as
good as brand names.
Christian.
|
| Ian Stirling replied to Christian McArdle on 14 May 2004 |
There are awesome battery hammer drills out there.
Expensive though.
And heavy.
|
| Christian McArdle replied to Ian Stirling on 14 May 2004 |
I doubt the OP is interested in spending hundreds on a 24/32V professional
job, which you need to do if you actually want hammer action rather than
just curious wobble action.
Christian.
|
| Ian Stirling replied to Christian McArdle on 14 May 2004 |
True.
The one I saw was about twice as good as my 9.99 mains one from Focus.
I have a 12V 9.99 focus rechargable drill.
The rechargable drill is handy for the occasional hole, or driving
many screws.
(a tiny pot of grease will dramatically extend battery life if used
on screwheads)
Sharp drills are also vital.
For hammer, the mains one is actually lighter than the battery
drill, and extension flexes are cheap if it won't plug in.
The nice variable speed mains drill gets pulled out if more
than a hundred screws need screwed in, or if many big holes need drilled.
And the cheap SDS gets pulled out if I need a meter long hole in something.
|
| usenet replied to Ian Stirling on 14 May 2004 |
You don't really mean on screwheads do you?
|
| Ian Stirling replied to usenet on 14 May 2004 |
I don't.
|
| Christian McArdle replied to Ian Stirling on 14 May 2004 |
It's got to the point where my old mains drill is only used to stir cement.
The battery drill does everything, except things reserved for my SDS drill,
such as removing tiles, general demolition and anything to do with masonry.
Rather than buy a pack of 7 conventional masonry bits every few months, just
because you need the 7mm (I only use brown plugs, period) and it is the same
price as a single, I've bought a single 7mm SDS drill bit. It can be
attached in a second or two and is very distinctive in the box, particularly
as it is the only small SDS bit I own. SDS bits tend to last much longer
than conventional ones, too.
I'll condede I used the old mains drill the other day, though, for screwing
down the plywood floor in the kitchen. The battery drill could have done it,
but I'd have got through about 10 batteries trying.
Christian.
|
| usenet replied to Christian McArdle on 14 May 2004 |
Yes, that's pretty much where I am. I have a couple of cordless
drills, an old[ish] Skil 12 volt one and a new Bosch 9.6 volt one.
These two do 99% of screwing and light drilling. For making holes in
the walls (which are hard in our house) I use the SDS drill.
|
| Bobby replied to Christian McArdle on 13 May 2004 |
What difference does the voltage make?
|
| Dave Plowman replied to Bobby on 13 May 2004 |
Because the cells are all standard sizes they have a maximum capacity in
amp hours. Increase the voltage and everything else being equal, the amps
drop so the battery lasts longer.
|
| Christian McArdle replied to Dave Plowman on 14 May 2004 |
Except that cheap brands use lower quality cells and lower quality, less
efficient motors, so, IME, a 12V brand name performs like a 18V cheapie.
Christian.
|
| Dave Plowman replied to Christian McArdle on 14 May 2004 |
Indeed. That's why I put 'everything else being equal' ;-)
|
| Chris replied to Bobby on 13 May 2004 |
I'm not sure how scientific this is, but pick up the battery. Compare its
weight to a brand-name battery. If it's substantially lighter I think that
you can assume that it will hold correspondingly less charge.
|
| usenet replied to Chris on 13 May 2004 |
They'll all surely be pretty well the same weight, good or bad, won't
they.
|
| Dave Plowman replied to Chris on 13 May 2004 |
Heh heh - I've not noticed any difference in weight between cheap and
good Ni-Cads.
|
| Christian McArdle replied to Dave Plowman on 13 May 2004 |
Not directly relevent, I've noticed this on 'D' type cells. Looking at the
specs, some manufacturers just produce the innards of a 'C' type in a 'D'
type case.
Christian.
|
| usenet replied to Christian McArdle on 13 May 2004 |
Ah yes, but that's quite different game. Just about all cordless
tools have C cells and this is one of the reasons they are cheap, a
huge market. Hence many D sized cases have C cells stuck in them,
it's pretty obvious however because of the *much* lower capacity
(usually around 2Ah) as opposed to real D cells which have a capacity
of 4Ah or more.
|
| Dave Plowman replied to usenet on 13 May 2004 |
Being a pedant, they're not C cells, but so called industrial sizes, sub-C.
A C cell is bigger.
|
| BigWallop replied to Bobby on 12 May 2004 |
B&Q are doing some good deals on these types of tools at the moment.
|
| Ian Stirling replied to Bobby on 12 May 2004 |
Are you sure you need cordless?
For most jobs around the house, a variable speed mains hammer drill is both
cheaper and more capable.
Add an extension flex, and the jobs that you need the battery one
for are really quite limited.
|
| Rob Graham replied to Ian Stirling on 13 May 2004 |
Another point ot consider based on the above is just how much are you
going to use it. NiCds don't like not being used - sitting around
doing nothing deteriorates them and they lose their capability to hold
a decent charge. There's a lot to be said in buying a cheap one to
begin with to see how much work you are going to do with it and then
get something betterwhen it falls over due to over work !!
Rob
|
|
