Thread: Plunge Drill Resurrection

I just love my plunge drill.

There is nothing like it on the market - not that I can afford anyway. No, I cannot afford a wrist snapping Panasonic - as much as I would like one. I had one of the first Tritons on the market and perhaps it is a surprise to most people with how long I've managed to keep it running. Mind you I've also just kissed my 7.6V Ryobi goodbye after 9 years on the one battery. Close attention to discharge/recharge cycles helps a lot. Fast charging surely kills batteries.

Finally the 18V Batteries have died.

!8Volt battery packs for the Triton Plunge Drill no longer exist. You can repack the battery by buying in packs of individual batteries from the USA. Don't even think about buying any in Australia - "You want HOW MUCH?". Even still, enough batteries to reconstitute the two packs will still set you back around $A100. Then there is the assumption you can solder with accuracy and have no dry joints. Not for me.

So - out with old in with the new. .

3 x 6 Volt 5 Ah Sealed Lead Acid batteries (DOSS brand) will set you back around $47 and a nice little 6 Volt SLA Trickle Charger will cost you around $24.
These little beauties last a long long time. I've got two DOSS 12Volt SLAs from Radio Spares that I've used in a spot light and they're 5 yrs old and still going strong. Your rather more expensive NiMh batteries and Lithiums will need a bank loan.

Yep - that's right 5 Amp Hours!!
You will always win out on a "mines bigger than yours" show. Size does count.

Remove the innards of the pack. Undo the screws and push the solitary top cell in the turret down from the top. Toss the lot into the recycler.

This lightens the unit by 750 grms (or 1 lb 10oz for we of the toothless and incontinent brigade) which is much better on the wrist. If your wrist or wrists are a tad damaged like mine - then you appreciate the lighter unit. In the past I knew I could only hold the drill up for a certain length of time before I had to let go when the wrist turned to Gorgonzola.

Connect wires to the internal contacts in the drill handle.
I simply used two alligator clips reaching up into the handle and kept separated with a rolled wedge of foam plastic to prevent short circuiting.

Because I used these clips I had trouble getting contact up the black turret of the battery case, so I simply hacksawed it off (Photo 05a) level with the battery top and used a bit of gaffer type tape near the front of the battery case to help secure it on. I did not rescrew the top back onto the battery basebox because it made it too difficult to get the clip contacts in place. Perhaps someone else can come up with a better attachment system. You will still need those orange press clips. Now it all holds together quite firmly. I'm not likely to need to detach the base box on a regular basis at all, I should think.

Chop out a small hole in the back of the box (Photo 01)for your selected cable - I've used a surplus length of domestic light cable (far too long as you can probably see).

Crimp on some small spade connectors to the battery end of the cable and connect the three batteries in series as per the photo (Photo 06a). Just make sure you have the correct polarity - the (+) terminal is at the front of the drill and the (-) is at the heel of the base (see Photo 04)

Recharging is a simple case of pulling off the connectors and attaching your trickle charger.
As I have both a 6V and a 12V SLA charger, it can all be completed rather quickly as I can do all three batteries simultaneously.

MInd you - the 5Ah capacity is in excess of almost any drill I know of.

How wonderful to once again appreciate the force of a "new" full power battery.

My next step is to make a shoulder bag to carry the battery around when I'm up ladders.

Quite a fashion statement I shouldn't wonder.