Lithium Cordless Power Tools

[JThiessen]

I'm currently in the middle of my Christmas vacation project - about 7 years ago I completely gutted a portion of our house, which included both upstairs bathrooms. Well, I managed to complete the first bathroom way back then, and the master bath has sat since. Up until a week ago it was bare studs and open to the attic. I decided to refinance, and the bank wanted the bathroom complete to do the refi. Soooo, with the bad weather, I decided it was a good time to stay home and finally get it done (and scored major points with the DW).
Tonight, I was using a 2" forsner bit to bore holes through my studs for vent pipes and drain pipes. I was using a crappy GMC 18V brand cordless to do the drilling. I had picked this up at Lowes for about 30 bucks a couple years ago, in addition to a 14V that I keep in our fifth wheel.

I put a fresh battery in the drill, and managed to get about a hole and 3/4 of another hole drilled before the battery died. My other one had been on the charger for about 3 hours, and it still didnt show that it was complete (I ran it down yesterday). So, I remembered that when I was at Home Depot earlier, they had a RIGID 18V Lithium combo pack for $199. Darn good price for a lithium combo set up, and with a lifetime warranty, how bad could it be? It came with an impact driver, a drill, a radio, and flashlight. I also hadn't yet purchased my "DIY payback tool" - everytime you do a project yourself, you buy a tool to compensate yourself since you didnt pay someone else!!
Well, after getting it home, I stuck one of the 2.5AH packs on the charger, and proceeded to risk my limbs boring a couple holes using my Dewalt 1/2" chorded drill. That thing will twist an arm in half if your not careful - and it doesnt stop turning right away when you let off the trigger. Try that with a 2" bit in soft fir....not fun.
When the battery was finally charged, I plugged in the battery, and ran it couple times. The first thing I noticed was a lot of sparks from the motor vents, and that brushed motor smell...so I ran it at low speed for a few minutes, and the sparking and the smell seemed to go away.
So off I went to drill some holes with my new toy. I made it through one hole, and started the second. Made it about 1/4 the way through, and the LVC kicked in. THe whole thing was very warm..I could keep my hand on it for about 10 seconds before it became very uncomfortable - including the battery.
So far, I'm definitly not impressed. It's not lighter than my other one, althoug a little more compact. The battery is lighter, but the drill itself is quite a bit heavier, and not balanced all that well. The RIGID also have these LED lights that are directed at the point you are drilling, but no way to turn them off. THey actually got irritating after a bit. We'll have to see if the batteried take a better charge after a use or two.

[lincpimp]

If you want a good litium product, get the milwaukee v28 stuff. No heavier than my dewalt 18v, but the drill is potent, and the 6.5 circular saw is badass too. I pieced my setup together, and payed about 300 for 1 batt, drill, saw and charger... Not cheap, but well worth it.

I don't have a whole lot of experience with the newer lithium power tools. I have a couple of pieces of a discontinued mastercraft maximum series. The impact driver has been very good so far though, and I don't charge it as often as I do the older makita or mastercraft drill. I haven't taken on a project with it yet though. I got it after I renovated the basement.

Anyway, your situation doesn't sound right. Either you've got a dud drill or battery from the store, or there are other problems. I'm curious as to why you're using a forstner bit though. If you're going through studs, a holesaw would be a much better idea. Forstner bits in my experience are good for flat bottom holes, like you would for a cabinet door hinge. They "bore" out the entire hole, so, for the most part, they're good for if you want a hole that doesn't go all the way through. Holesaws only cut the outer edge, so its only useful for going all the way through, like you would for holes for pipes. Stresses the drill a lot less than the forstner bit for sure!

Maybe that'll help, but I'm still a bit suspect if its having trouble like you say =/

.dk

[BrianG]

Well, if the battery is too hot, just gear down.

Seriously, no matter what, drilling fairly large holes into wood is gonna take some power. Even though the adverts say "heavy duty" or whatever, they apparently are not truly made for that application. Gotta figure the power requirements too. A corded drill that pulls say, 5A @ 120V AC is 600w. To get that same power out of 18v, you need 33.3A. A 2.5Ah pack will only last 4.5 minutes. Reduce that runtime further by the higher loads. Not to mention you need a continuous C rating of 13.32, and that's assuming a 5A draw - it could be higher.

Just like BL, HV is king for high power, which is why 120V excels.

[What's_nitro?]

Originally Posted by lincpimp

If you want a good lithium product, get the Milwaukee V28 stuff. ... Not cheap, but well worth it.

What he said.

I used to have the Craftsman Pro 24V drill... Talk about a beast- if you can't do the job with 520 in/lbs, it isn't getting done. I used this drill to make 12" speaker cut-outs in 3/4 MDF with one of those adjustable carbide hole saws. The V28 is the only drill I know of that comes close to the same power output (it actually claims 600 in/lbs). So, if you're like me and you want the biggest/baddest/best just so you know it will git 'r done, then get the V28.

[TDC57]

Wait a minute guys.. we are missing something here..

you put down the Dewalt 1/2 (BAD BOY) and spent how much money to do the same thing??

WHY??? why go from the Porsche to a Chevy??

You’re talking about this drill right??

[TexasSP]

Originally Posted by lincpimp

If you want a good litium product, get the milwaukee v28 stuff. No heavier than my dewalt 18v, but the drill is potent, and the 6.5 circular saw is badass too. I pieced my setup together, and payed about 300 for 1 batt, drill, saw and charger... Not cheap, but well worth it.

I am with linc on this all the way. 8-10 years ago I swore by Dewalt and wrote off Milwaukee as they went to crappy motors and even crappier plastic gears. Milwaukee was no better than black & decker in my opinion. Recently though Milwaukee got back to making great tools and I am a fan once again. I bought 4 of the 28v drills which like linc said are no heavier than the 18v dewalts along with the sawzall, circle saw, flashlight and other pieces. My guys that worked for me loved them too. They finally had the power of a corded drill in a cordless that also didn't weigh a ton and a half.

Even for home why buy junk you will replace quickly and spend just as much as had you bought the quality tools.

[Arct1k]

It like the Makita - I have the 18v lion...

[JThiessen]

Originally Posted by dkexige

I'm curious as to why you're using a forstner bit though. If you're going through studs, a holesaw would be a much better idea.

I was wondering if someone was going to catch me on that. First answer is - because. Second answer is I HATE having to pry out the ring of wood....so I thought I'd try out the new bit set I picked up.....just cause I can!

Originally Posted by BrianG

Well, if the battery is too hot, just gear down.

Just like BL, HV is king for high power, which is why 120V excels.

This thing actually gears down automatically. One of the "new" features I guess. Its kinda weird when it does it - not sure that I like it or not yet. I went back and forth a few times between automatic and the manual speed selection.

I considered picking up one of their 3.5 packs. But since I wasn't sure how the thing was going to function in the first place, I didnt want to buy more than I needed.

Originally Posted by TDC57

Wait a minute guys.. we are missing something here..

you put down the Dewalt 1/2 (BAD BOY) and spent how much money to do the same thing??

WHY??? why go from the Porsche to a Chevy??

You’re talking about this drill right??

Yes, that's the one! My issue with using it is that I dont have the handle that screws into the side. I had to remove the rear handle to fit it between the studs, and my knuckles look like hamburger from it twisting on me (I'm a fairly big guy, so it's a compliment to the torque that I cant hold it). And I hate extension cords....and all my good ones are currently tied up in christmas lights (gotta try to the DW to take them down today!).

I looked for a handle for it last night, but they didnt have any.

That's one of the other downfalls on the RIGID - it doesnt have that extra removable handle either. I actually use them quite often, and 18V puts out enough torque to need it at times.

I think I'll take it back today, and probably pick up a single unit driver.
I dont think I'm going with Milwaulkie - we switched to those at work about a year ago, and we are all ready to go back to DeWalt. The Dewalts are lighter, actually held up longer (we analyzed our replacement rate recently). I am going to look at the Makita and the Bosch - I've always had good luck with them.

[JThiessen]

Hey, TDC - are all your plastic cases empty too? That is one thing I like about the RIGID is their nice tool bag that they come with.

[sikeston34m]

We have just finished adding onto our home. 2 Bedrooms and a Bath.

Before I started this project, I bought the 36 volt Dewalt Cordless Tool Set.

This included:

7 1/4" Circular Saw
1/2" Hammer Drill
Sawzall
36 volt Snake light

Charger and 2 Batteries

Throughout this project, the entire tool set has performed flawlessly.

The 36 volt Drill would cut those holes and not break a sweat. In fact, I did use several wood bits for wiring and a larger size for water piping through the wall studs.

I also used it to drill 1/2" holes in the concrete to install anchors.

Very happy with these products.

[What's_nitro?]

I was leaning away from the DeWalt 36V simply because of the price tag. The drill alone sells for $600. Although I can vouch for it's power. The drill is rated for 750W continuous output, and it has DeWalt's 3 speed gearbox. They use A123 cells, too.

[TexasSP]

Originally Posted by What's_nitro?

They use A123 cells, too.

They used to. Dewalt has now switched to a cheaper alternative that does not hold the specs like the A123 cells do.

[jayjay283]

my wife bought me a big bag of ryobi(sp?) tools, sawzall, drill, router, mini router, thing vacuum etc for xmas last year, I know they are a crappy brand but you cant diss a gift from your woman, anyway they havent broken lol Not a bad deal for about $200

[JThiessen]

Hmmm...after reading specs, it looks as though Makita uses a brushless motor (I assume that because of the 4 pole reference). It also offers the most torque for the 18V systems out of the box.

Step-up to Makita’s new lxt 18v lithium-ion cordless driver-drill. Lithium-ion delivers 280% more work over the lifetime of the battery and gives you 2 times more cycles than traditional ni-mh batteries. How did we do it? Take lithium-ion and a new 4-pole motor that delivers more power. Next, add the motor with a new 3-speed all metal transmission and you've got 18 volts of power with 560 in. Lbs. Torque and 40% less weight. Quality built, this driver-drill can take the punishment of a jobsite day after day and still ask for more. Ergonomically designed, the lxt driver-drill fits comfortably in your hand. The driver drill has a compact design at only 9-3/8" length and weighs only 4.6 lbs. For less operator fatigue. A 30-minute optimum charger and 18v li-ion battery communicate throughout the charging process using a built-in chip in the battery and a computer processor in the charger. Lxt comes with a 3-year tool/ 1-year battery and charger warranty.

Max torque: 560 In. lbs.
3 speed: 0-300, 0-600, 0-1,700 RPM
Comfortable grop and weight: 4.6 lbs.
3-year tool, 1-year battery and charger warranty
MFG Brand Name : Makita
MFG Model # : BDF451
MFG Part # : BDF451