On Wed, 19 Mar 2008 18:53:06 -0500, Mike Paulsen wrote:

Doc wrote:
Issue 1

Harbor Freighr had a number of cordless drills
(snip)

If you need to do one small job, and it's cheaper to buy a Harbor
Freight tool than rent one for the day, and you have a high tolerance
for pain, and you're feeling lucky, then you might make out OK.


My experience with HF brand is that the battery dies quickly. My son's
would not even finish one room of changing out outlets before the battery
died. From what I see you can either buy a good brand (NOT B&D or Skil) or
you can buy a HF brand and buy lots of extra batteries and chargers to keep
going. Dewalt, Milwaukee, Makita, Hilti, Hatachi, etc., from a pawn shop
will cost as much as a new HF with enough batteries to get the job done
with no downtime. I would strongly recommend a minimum of a 12v system.


Out of curiosity, how much cordless drill do you feel is enough to do
drywall?
(snip)

It doesn't take much torque to drive drywall screws. I use a 12V DeWalt
and prefer it to the 14.4 or 18V.


Issue 2

The reason I went on a quest for another drill is that the
aforementioned B&D 4.5 Amp drill has gotten to where it only wanta to
run when the drill is held at a certain rotation, typically with the
handle parallel to the floor.
(snip)

My first guess would be the cord, second would be brushes.

My guess is it is a B&D. The ones I had needed a rebuild every month or
so. The repair shop knew me by name. I don't know why my dad stuck with
that stupid drill. Circular saws similar experience. My Skil built an
entire house and then some and is still going strong, though after 18 years
of heavy use (for a home owner) the bearing is getting noisy.