On Nov 22, 2:10 pm, David Robinson
wrote:
I bought this drill...

http://www.screwfix.com/prods/83834/...s-Drills/Makit...

(but for £100 - don't know why Screwfix made that price up!)

I'm concerned the clutch (or whatever it is that lets the drive slip)
isn't quite right. On the screw driver setting, even at the _highest_
torque setting, I can stop the shaft turning just by holding the chuck
with my hand. On the drill setting, the clutch has no effect (i.e. the
drill turns unless it can't - it doesn't intentionally slip). The gap
between highest torque and no slip seems ridiculously large. I was
using one of the hex bits to drive a bolt into a wall, and it didn't
go in at all on the screw driver setting. It went in fine on the drill
setting, but then nearly broke something at the end.

On both my previous drills, the top setting was far far stronger. On a
cordless I borrowed there was still a slightly annoying gap between
the top setting and the "drill" setting - but nothing like this! On my
old mains drill, the range was continuous, which was ideal.

Is this new drill faulty, or is it a design fault, or is it just crap?
It's possible, when changing gears or direction, to get the clutch
stuck "open", but that's not what I'm talking about here. Even when it
seems to be engaged, it doesn't seem to be as strong as I'd like.

The batteries don't seem to be that great. I posted a thread on here a
few weeks back asking about cordless vs mains. As I drilled a 15mm bit
through stone at the weekend, I was wishing for a mains drill - the
cordless got through in the end, but it was so slow and kept stopping
completely when the bit caught. (There wasn't quite room for my SDS).
I thought the batteries were getting flat, but swapping to a freshly
charged one only improved things for a few seconds.

Cheers,
David.

suspect a 15mm masonry bit was pushing the envelope for a 18v
combi !!!

similarly re torque settings - remember they are designed for screwing
*screws* without snapping them - your hex head bolt sounds somewhat
more "torque hungry" than a woodscrew?;)

You could try it with a mains drill - and prepare yourself for the
snapping sensation and the fun of extracting the broken bolt out so
you can have another go....

perhaps lower your expectations a bit for £100 & battery power?

Jim K