On 26 Oct 2004 11:44:16 GMT, wrote:

I'm thinking of buying a cordless drill specifically for the task of
screwing 6 x 100 and/or 8 x 100 screws into fence posts. (Those are
mm sizes, TurboGold screws)

My (very) old 12 volt Skil cordless managed the 6 x 100 OK but is
beginning to feel its age now (it's probably 8 or 10 years old),
and it will probably find the 8 x 100 screws rather hard going.

I already have a cheap Ferm 24 volt cordless combi which is fine for
what it does but it's a bit big and heavy for driving screws and I'm
not really sure that it has much more torque than the Skil anyway.

My criteria are something like the following:-
Probably 12 volt or 14.4 volt to keep size/weight manageable
Probably a 2-speed gearbox for the torque I need
Compact and light (ideally in the 1.5/1.6/1.7kg range)
Maximum torque at least 30Nm, I'd really like 50Nm
Less than £100 if possible though I realise it may not be
Two batteries

What would people recommend? The torque requirement rules out most of
the really cheap ones I think, they either don't state the torque or
it's around 15 to 20Nm. On the other hand I'm not after a tool that
can handle lots of abuse and last for ever on a building site, I'm
really not going to work it that hard.

DeWalt and Makita both have models which do what I want but the ones
that have lots of torque also tend to be the expensive ones (not
surprisingly). There are a couple which hover around the £100 mark
though, any preferences?

There's a really nice Metabo one at around £150 that I covet but I'm
not really sure I can justify spending that much.

Panasonic and Hitachi don't seem to have anything really outstanding
in this area.

What about B&D? I can't find any torque figures for their drills at
all.


www.karman.demon.co.uk

frontgarden09
fenceslats01

Put that together from scratch/scrapwood with my Bosch PEX400 sander
and Bosch 24V cordless drill - can't fault the drill for torque, put
four screws in every plank - there's another 4 panels at the other
side of the drive so that's around 500 odd screws. ;-)


Cordless drill/driver - with hammer action
24v rechargeable 1.3Ah battery
Charging time 1 hr
13mm chuck
Variable speed and reverse
Max drilling dia: wood - 30mm, steel - 13mm,
masonry - 15mm

Think it's that one. You can feel the torque when you pull the
trigger as it twists in your hand. ;-)

I did pre drill the planks as they are reclaimed and didn't want them
splitting.

Mark S.