drills

**Handyjack** · 1st May 2011, 07:39 PM

Originally Posted by Looneytoones

i would suggest that unless you will be using it somewhere without 240v supply forget the cordless.
for what you intend to spend you can get 2 x 240v drills, without wasting money on batteries that unless stored & used correctly will die from old age.

If you are drilling or using a hole saw or spade bit a mains power drill is great.

However watch out if the bit jams - it can hurt.

Remember it was not too long ago that everybody used a cordless drill to drill holes - the battery never went flat - just that the hand and arms got sore turning the handle!

If you are using a tool for driving screws then a battery driven tool with a clutch is the way to go.

I do most of my work on site and my best friend is the cordless drill, but in my vehicle is a corded tool in case both of my batteries are flat or I need just that bit extra grunt. As I said you do need to be careful though. I was using a hole saw with the corded drill and as it broke through I had kick back.

Luckily I was not hurt.

The lithium iron batteries on the Makita are good as they charge in about half an hour for 1.3AHrs, and you can use them if not completly recharged, compared to at least an hour for NiCad.

Lots of choice, horses for courses, what is right for me, may not work for you.

**Looneytoones** · 1st May 2011, 11:04 PM

i only speak from experience passed on by a tool repairer i knew.
he had so many customers who felt they could buy a cordless tool, not bother to learn how to correctly treat the batteries to provide acceptable life, then have the hide to complain that 18 months - 2 years is not enough battery life for what they spent.... gave him a giggle every time. 240v tools are powered by giant coal burning power stations, cordless are powered by a couple of chemicals in a can - HUGE difference.
oh and you can purchase a 240v screwdriver or impact driver for driving fasteners, with plenty more power than a cordless.

**The Bleeder** · 2nd May 2011, 09:31 AM

Originally Posted by pellcorp

However for driving screws a cordless is essential.

However the weight of the corded drill NZStu is attractive - 1.2kg would certainly save some fatigue in the workshop, perhaps it's worth a rethink!

Originally Posted by NZStu

You can drive screws in with a corded drill. You just have to not place a very high value on your screwheads or driver bits...

For driving screws using a Impact Driver is the only way to go. You can get corded and cordless impact drivers. Once you used one to put screws in you will never use a drill to put screws in.

**hybridfiat** · 4th May 2011, 01:38 PM

Originally Posted by The Bleeder

For driving screws using a Impact Driver is the only way to go. You can get corded and cordless impact drivers. Once you used one to put screws in you will never use a drill to put screws in.

I have to agree. My builder mate who helped us put our roof on let us use his to drive some 120mm coachbolts into jarrah and it was laughingly easy.

**metester** · 5th May 2011, 09:16 AM

I have to agree about the impact driver. You have much more control and less chance of stripped screw heads.

**Poppa** · 5th May 2011, 04:36 PM

I've got a couple of cordless drills, an 18v Ryobi Li-ion One+ drill (just the basic one) and one that I picked up at Aldi - 14.4 Li-ion drill. Both do a good job at light duty work, which is all I expect from them. Battery life is not terrific, because the batteries are all low aH rated, but I don't expect a lot and I'm typically using them for home use applications rather than anything heavy or constant. I also have 3 corded beasties for drilling big holes (2 Makitas and an old B&D that doesn't seem to want to die no matter what I do to it), and if I have heavy duty work to do that's what I use.

I've also used one of the corded Makita big beasties to drive in hundreds of screws for a particular job that I did in my darling's warehouse putting in a mezanine floor, and I have to say that once I got used to the massive torque that a big Makita corded beastie applies, it made the job easy and quick, because the power is amazing. I got quite good at controlling the speed using the variable trigger, and once I got used to it I found I drive a screw through yellow tongue and into the pine supporting joists with no pre-drilling with just one press of the trigger. Very easy to strip a driving bit though, or twist the head off a brass screw.

**Oldneweng** · 7th May 2011, 01:02 PM

Originally Posted by Looneytoones

240v tools are powered by giant coal burning power stations, cordless are powered by a couple of chemicals in a can - HUGE difference.
oh and you can purchase a 240v screwdriver or impact driver for driving fasteners, with plenty more power than a cordless.

Have seen this misconception a few times before. Everything that is plugged into a power point gets its power from the same giant coal burning power station. Cordless or corded. Cordless tools are less efficient than corded tools as there is an extra step which causes power loss, the charging cycle. Compare equal rated tools and cordless uses more power to do the same job. Also batteries loose charge over time, some more than others. However the total use of power is very small. I would suggest that power use can be ignored in most cases.

This thread made me chuckle as I read it as I agree with many opinions. I tend to think that corded tools are better but if I want to drill a hole in anything but steel in my shed I always reach for the cordless drill. In fact my corded drills don't get used very often at all these days.

Dean

On rereading this post I realised you were talking about output power not input power

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