RightCoastBias
F8TRED
Pretty much anything but Black and Decker, they make garbage tools.
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Power tools: cordless for general purpose around the house..
- Thread starter V4
- Start date
TheRobSJ
May lose 10mm sockets if distracted
Stanley Black&Decker is the parent of...
Stanley and B&D tools of course
Dewalt
Mac Tools
Porter-Cable
and a shitload of others
Once upon a time they owned...
Husky
Kobalt
And even Craftsman
Granted the B&D brand name is pretty much the quintessential hardware aisle at Target kind of tool. But you can't be rolling in a Cadillac and proclaim that Chevys are garbage.
TheRobSJ
May lose 10mm sockets if distracted
And for the OP, put down another vote for Milwaukee's line of 18v lithium stuff. I have the 18v drill at home and use the 18v impact at the shop.
RightCoastBias
F8TRED
Sure you can. There are plenty of parent companies the own high end and low end brands.
MrIncredible
Is fintastic
Blankpage
alien
The cost of batteries is ridiculous. I wanted to buy a couple of Dewalt 20V batteries. It was cheaper to buy the whole drill which comes with a charger and two batteries than it was to buy just the 2 batteries.
So now I have two of their drill. One I've never used and the other so rarely that the batteries are always dead when I need it.
I tried to drill into concrete with the Dewalt using the proper bit and in hammer mode, didn't do shit. Bought a Hilti TE4 for work and drills concrete like butter. First tried a Milwaukee and it sucked ass. Work also has a few Hilti TE7 plugins and they drill concrete like melted butter.
But these are more than needed for around the house stuff.
So now I have two of their drill. One I've never used and the other so rarely that the batteries are always dead when I need it.
I tried to drill into concrete with the Dewalt using the proper bit and in hammer mode, didn't do shit. Bought a Hilti TE4 for work and drills concrete like butter. First tried a Milwaukee and it sucked ass. Work also has a few Hilti TE7 plugins and they drill concrete like melted butter.
But these are more than needed for around the house stuff.
tzrider
Write Only User
I used the same Makita cordless to cut all the mortises and tenons for this furniture:
And for every hole drilled and screw screwed in this treehouse:
I generally use it for almost anything I'd use a corded drill for, short of drilling large hole in steel plate. Even then, it would do a few of those on a charge.
TheRobSJ
May lose 10mm sockets if distracted
Unless you have an Early Caddy, back when each division was making their own motors.
They're better off with "global" engines. Or do I have to bring up Saturn?
NorCalAthlete
O_o
My cordless milwaukee stuff has been really quite nice-powerful, light, good battery life.
Honestly your best bet is to go to your local store and buy something that has 8 tools that all work off the same set of batteries-it'll make your life more straightforward.
+1 for both of these. I've used Makita, Milwaukee, DeWalt, and Craftsman. Any will do with 0 issues, but for simple around the house stuff I'd take DeWalt off the list as it's pricier. You get a lot of bang for your buck with the other three.
I mainly use a cordless impact driver + screwdriver attachments that I can swap between allen keys, torx head, phillips, flathead, etc. Couple of 8" crescent wrenches, a decent set of vice grips, needle nose pliers, wirecutters, and there's not a lot you can't do around the house. It's once you start building stuff that a saw or something larger may come in handy but 90% of the stuff you'll probably do you can get done with what I just listed.
edit - something like this:
http://www.homedepot.com/p/DEWALT-MaxFit-Screwdriving-Set-32-Piece-DWA2SLS32/204786416
http://www.craftsman.com/craftsman-...p-00917080000P?prdNo=9&blockNo=9&blockType=G9
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V4
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE
Thanks for all the insight...
At least everyone agreed most are good but to avoid black & decker...
How much should I spend for a very decent one...?
I'm seeing the prices vary from $75 -$200 ...stand alones and combo packages (driver and drill or with standard tools along with power tools and some with two batteries..)
At least everyone agreed most are good but to avoid black & decker...
How much should I spend for a very decent one...?
I'm seeing the prices vary from $75 -$200 ...stand alones and combo packages (driver and drill or with standard tools along with power tools and some with two batteries..)
greener
The ass is always greener
- Joined
- Mar 20, 2006
- Location
- San Francisco
- Moto(s)
- 1998 Honda XR400, 2010 Triumph Tiger 1050 SE ABS, Tiger 800
- Name
- Dave
Keep it real yo
For umpteen years I've used the corded Milwaukee 1/2 inch Magnum drill for everything.
I recently got a Milwaukee 18 volt M18 Fuel whatever it's called driver/drill/hammer drill big battery pack thing. Holy shit where have I been. Welcome to 2005! The Magnum sits on the shelf now.
This thing has some serious grunt. The best feature is the 2 speed gear box that is awesome. Flip the lever to Low for larger drills and screws and High for smaller stuff. This frickin 'toy' as I thought it would be didn't have a problem drilling a 1/2 inch hole through a 1 inch thick steel plate. The battery lasts forever and with even one of the four or five charge indicators lit it still will do anything.
Gotta give kudos to the electrical designers as they have done their homework on the control circuitry. The throttle is very linear and whatever frequency range they use to drive the motor is spot on. At low revs the torque power is very good and throttling up is very progressive.
I've used other units and when you cut the revs back the power drops off drastically. Throttle them up a bit and suddenly the motor goes ballistic.
I haven't used the hammer drill function yet but as the thing simply doesn't have a lot of mass I'd expect it to not be the best on say poking a 5/8" hole in concrete. I'll just pull out the old Hilti for that.
My kid has the 12v model and I like it as it's smaller and significantly lighter. But the small battery size is sucky as you can run it down pretty fast.
I recently got a Milwaukee 18 volt M18 Fuel whatever it's called driver/drill/hammer drill big battery pack thing. Holy shit where have I been. Welcome to 2005! The Magnum sits on the shelf now.
This thing has some serious grunt. The best feature is the 2 speed gear box that is awesome. Flip the lever to Low for larger drills and screws and High for smaller stuff. This frickin 'toy' as I thought it would be didn't have a problem drilling a 1/2 inch hole through a 1 inch thick steel plate. The battery lasts forever and with even one of the four or five charge indicators lit it still will do anything.
Gotta give kudos to the electrical designers as they have done their homework on the control circuitry. The throttle is very linear and whatever frequency range they use to drive the motor is spot on. At low revs the torque power is very good and throttling up is very progressive.
I've used other units and when you cut the revs back the power drops off drastically. Throttle them up a bit and suddenly the motor goes ballistic.
I haven't used the hammer drill function yet but as the thing simply doesn't have a lot of mass I'd expect it to not be the best on say poking a 5/8" hole in concrete. I'll just pull out the old Hilti for that.
My kid has the 12v model and I like it as it's smaller and significantly lighter. But the small battery size is sucky as you can run it down pretty fast.
MrIncredible
Is fintastic
Whatever you're comfortable with? From your likely usage rate it sounds like anything you buy will probably not get worn out/bounced off the truck/left at a job site/stolen by a coworker-I'd just go with middle of the road as fine.
Most people don't complain about having bought the best they can afford, either.
Poke around CL for good used deals.
tzrider
Write Only User
For lighter projects I have a few of the Milwaukee M12 tools. It started when I got an inspection camera at a pretty good price. It came with a small drill driver which worked well enough that I picked up another combo that included a right angle drill and small one-handed sawzall thing. There are certainly limits to the tools' power, but the batteries charge quickly and I generally have a battery ready to go by the time another one runs out.
The first of any of these tools is usually the Trojan Horse that gets you to buy into that system, provided you liked the original tool.
cencalballer
New member
As a heads up almost all the milwaukee stuff is on clearance at fastenal right now. 12 or 18v
I like bosch as well but it's pricey. Milwaukee has the best support from what I'v experienced.
I like bosch as well but it's pricey. Milwaukee has the best support from what I'v experienced.
Last edited:
Eldritch
is insensitive
I used the same Makita cordless to cut all the mortises and tenons for this furniture:
I generally use it for almost anything I'd use a corded drill for, short of drilling large hole in steel plate. Even then, it would do a few of those on a charge.
Awesome! I tend to do a lot of work with metal and stone though, so anything with natural wood is considered, "light work," by me.
tzrider
Write Only User
Normally I'd look at it that way too, though when you bind a 2.5" Forstner bit and the drill almost breaks your wrist, you start to appreciate that these things have some serious torque.
TheRobSJ
May lose 10mm sockets if distracted
You have Makita, yet Milwaukee is too expensive?
Did all your Makita stuff fall off the back of a truck or something?
tzrider
Write Only User
By now, OP has probably picked out whatever he needed, but here's an experience that might be of some use to someone:
Last summer I'd gotten a light duty 18V Ryobi yard blower for casual cleanup. It worked pretty well for a couple of months and then one day the battery wouldn't take a charge. The charger would immediately display a red flashing light, indicating the battery is defective.
Reading online, I found that a large number of people have had unsatisfactory experiences with these batteries and that Ryobi consistently blames misuse as the cause of the trouble. I put the tool aside and bought a higher powered blower of a different brand.
Yesterday I found an article that described the cause of the Ryobi battery problem and that suggested a fix. The battery management system has logic that will report the battery as bad if the cell voltages drop below a certain threshold. You can kill your battery after the first use if you run it down and leave it in the tool with the power switch on. Though the tool won't run, it's still drawing the cell voltages down until they are below the BMS threshold. This had happened with my blower when I transported it in the car and the power switch got bumped on.
It turns out the charger supports charging a couple of battery types. You can fool the charger into thinking this lithium ion battery is a nicad by taking the battery case off and jumpering the charger to a couple of contacts on the PCB. After 10 or 15 repetitions of allowing the charger to supply current to these contacts for a few seconds, the cell voltage rises above the BMS minimum threshold. Reassemble the battery case and charge normally. It worked.
More info on the specific battery and this remedy:
http://toolboyworld.com/eBay/Ryobi_P102_Battery.htm
Last summer I'd gotten a light duty 18V Ryobi yard blower for casual cleanup. It worked pretty well for a couple of months and then one day the battery wouldn't take a charge. The charger would immediately display a red flashing light, indicating the battery is defective.
Reading online, I found that a large number of people have had unsatisfactory experiences with these batteries and that Ryobi consistently blames misuse as the cause of the trouble. I put the tool aside and bought a higher powered blower of a different brand.
Yesterday I found an article that described the cause of the Ryobi battery problem and that suggested a fix. The battery management system has logic that will report the battery as bad if the cell voltages drop below a certain threshold. You can kill your battery after the first use if you run it down and leave it in the tool with the power switch on. Though the tool won't run, it's still drawing the cell voltages down until they are below the BMS threshold. This had happened with my blower when I transported it in the car and the power switch got bumped on.
It turns out the charger supports charging a couple of battery types. You can fool the charger into thinking this lithium ion battery is a nicad by taking the battery case off and jumpering the charger to a couple of contacts on the PCB. After 10 or 15 repetitions of allowing the charger to supply current to these contacts for a few seconds, the cell voltage rises above the BMS minimum threshold. Reassemble the battery case and charge normally. It worked.
More info on the specific battery and this remedy:
http://toolboyworld.com/eBay/Ryobi_P102_Battery.htm