Thread: Best Drill/Driver for Joinery/Cabinetmaking

Hi bhos0344 and welcome...

I would not go for a dedicated drill driver in your type of work....an absolute pain in the ass changing from one function to the next.

I saw the light a few years back and now operate two drills and an impact driver when assembling cabinets....best move I ever made. The impact driver gives you far more control when driving screws...especially into melamine board....and when your doing it all day you appreciate the lessened torque loading on the wrist if using a drill to drive screws.

Cheers

John M

Many times this question has been asked and many more answers you will find on here.

Get a drill for drilling and a driver for driving, not one for both. The big trade names will serve you well but notice I mention the "T" word, TRADE. Panasonic, Makita, Milwaulkee, Hitachi, that sort of stuff. Get anything less and you are a fool for not taking advice.

Also, look over your shoulder and see what the others are using. There'll be half your answer right there.

G'Day & Welcome "bhos0344" to the forum.
Congratulations on your apprenticeship.
As "dakotax3" and "John M" said, it's better to buy both, but for my "two bobs worth";
save up and purchase the best trade quality tools you can afford, a brand with a good name plus long warranty on the tools & batteries.
<O</O
Different tradesmen will all have their own preferred brand but if you can borrow a mates for a half day and use it;
see if the balance & ergonomics are good for you plus of course test the performance of the tool yourself.
<O</O
A good tool will make and save you money while the price you've paid will be returned in longevity.
<O</O
Also try to settle on a brand that has the range of other tools you’d like to in the further to add to your kit;
that's so you don’t end up with 2 or 3 different charges & batteries.

A bit long winded, I hope it helps
Cheers, Crowie

One other thing....stick with a 12-14volt driver...don't go all gung-ho and get the highest voltage unit on the market, otherwise at the end of the day you wont be able to lift your arm let alone a beer.

Cheers

John M

Ive heard of the:

Bosch GSR 10.8V-LI-2

Bosch GSR 10.8V-LI-2 cordless screwdriver | The H Price Insight / UK

and

Bosch Cordless Drill/Driver GSR 10.8 V-LI

Hardware&General

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They could soley be used as one-by-one. Obviously the first one as the drill, and second as the driver.

They have many positives, small, compact, lightweight, low voltage, and pack a punch.

What do you all think?

Hitachi or panasonic kits. Currently using Panasonic. Plenty of guts, fine control. 14.4 volt is all you need.

Cheers

Originally Posted by bhos0344

Ive heard of the:

Bosch GSR 10.8V-LI-2

Bosch GSR 10.8V-LI-2 cordless screwdriver | The H Price Insight / UK

and

Bosch Cordless Drill/Driver GSR 10.8 V-LI

Hardware&General

While they call this a drill/driver you will need either a special chuck that has a hex shank or individual hex shank bits....works out a bit expensive and you loose a lot of flexibility.

Cheers

John M
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Yeah that is true, but wouldn't be too much of a pain would it?
You could probably buy a set of hex shank drill bits for $200 - $300. You'd be set after that.

In my opinion...

Best value: Hitachi.

Best all-round: Panasonic.

Most versatile: Festool kit. (Very wallet punching, but awesome if you need to do much "tricky" drilling in tight spaces.$

Originally Posted by Scissors

In my opinion...

Best value: Hitachi.

Best all-round: Panasonic.

Most versatile: Festool kit. (Very wallet punching, but awesome if you need to do much "tricky" drilling in tight spaces.$

That would also be my experience!

Cheers

With regards to the 10.8v Bosch; don't get me wrong I've got a 10.8v Makita myself, but I don't think the 10.8v tools would live up to proper trade use. They are more of a secondary/tight spaces tool, as a kitchens guy you will be using your drill/driver a lot. Go Hitachi or Panasonic, or better yet, have a chat with the tradies and senior apprentices at work, see what they recommend.

Thanks for all the replies. Workmates at work - one has a Festool Driver, another as a Hitachi Drill.
Both are fantastic, I may opt for one of each or something alike.

However, Im keen to give the Bosch 10.8v a go, they are reasonably new. No harm in trying I suppose.

Also, you can tell the quality difference, just in price, Panasonic and Festool products are nearly double that of brands such as Bosch and Makita.

Excellent advice above.

May I add one more criteria - one which is especially critical as one gets further from the centres of the major capital cities - and that is the quality of service provided by the retailer. Some are much better than others, some branches of major chains are better than others - some manager's are d***heads !

If something goes wrong you do not need to spend hours making what should be a simple warrantee claim.

Cheers

Graeme

Originally Posted by bhos0344

Thanks for all the replies. Workmates at work - one has a Festool Driver, another as a Hitachi Drill.
Both are fantastic, I may opt for one of each or something alike.

However, Im keen to give the Bosch 10.8v a go, they are reasonably new. No harm in trying I suppose.

Also, you can tell the quality difference, just in price, Panasonic and Festool products are nearly double that of brands such as Bosch and Makita.

G'Day Again "bhos0344",
May I suggest that you settle on a single brand so to have interchangable batteries and chargers.
Also have a second look at the "Bosch Blue" professional range,
plus Milwaukee M18 series and the Metabo range....
all trade quality tools.
Cheers, Crowie