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UK diy (uk.d-i-y) For the discussion of all topics related to diy (do-it-yourself) in the UK. All levels of experience and proficency are welcome to join in to ask questions or offer solutions. |
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#1
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Cordless drill - best for occasional use
I've just decided the cheap and nasty cordless drill isn't ever going to
suddenly hold better charge. The trouble is that it can go months between use, and a NiCd battery is not ideal if you never really run it down fully. Is anyone aware of a decent brand where I can look to spend up to £40 on a cordless chuckless drill that I can expect to get several years occasional use out of without having to concentate on battery maintenance (presumably I'd be looking at NiMh for that). Brands and models ideally. Cheers |
#2
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Cordless drill - best for occasional use
As far as I'm aware, you'll be looking at more than £40 for battery
longevity. Bascially cell quality and price go hand in hand. Li-ion cells are becoming available in the professional market, with no memory effect, but still way out of your budget for the time being. |
#3
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Cordless drill - best for occasional use
wrote in message oups.com... As far as I'm aware, you'll be looking at more than £40 for battery longevity. Bascially cell quality and price go hand in hand. Li-ion cells are becoming available in the professional market, with no memory effect, but still way out of your budget for the time being. OK, so in your experience what would I pay for what I want, and what brand / model would you recommend ? |
#4
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Cordless drill - best for occasional use
OK, so in your experience what would I pay for what I want, and what brand /
model would you recommend ? Basically the pro stuff probably starts around £75-80, and as far as I'm aware they're all pretty good. You should get a fast charger and a couple of batteries (which means the flat one will recharge before you exhaust the in-use one). There's quite a few discounts about - bosch (the pro blue stuff) and makita are the sector leaders - but don't overlook the others - hitachi, fein(very nice), panasonic etc. Here's the kind of thing I mean: http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/...43112&id=30227 |
#5
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Cordless drill - best for occasional use
OG wrote:
I've just decided the cheap and nasty cordless drill isn't ever going to suddenly hold better charge. The trouble is that it can go months between use, and a NiCd battery is not ideal if you never really run it down fully. Is anyone aware of a decent brand where I can look to spend up to 」40 on a cordless chuckless drill that I can expect to get several years occasional use out of without having to concentate on battery maintenance (presumably I'd be looking at NiMh for that). Alas you have conflicting requirements... NiMh do not suffer memory effects and hence be better for ad hock recharging from an unknown state. However they often have worse auto discharge performance - hence will tend to run flat sitting on a shelf even sooner than NiCd. The best batteries for shelf life will be the newer Lith-Ion ones, but tools that use those are not in the £40 bracket. Your best bet might be a decent drill with good fast charger and two or three batts, and just accept that if you pull it out of the cupboard after six months of non use you will need to spend 20 mins charging it first. Again getting the above for £40 is going to be a non starter (the battery pack alone will cost that). If youy could run to £60 then there are some that might fit your spec. See the first one on the page he http://www.lawson-his.co.uk/scripts/...0Drivers%2012V FAQ on cordless tools: http://www.diyfaq.org.uk/powertools/cordless.htm And on drills: http://www.diyfaq.org.uk/powertools/drill.htm -- Cheers, John. /================================================== ===============\ | Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk | |-----------------------------------------------------------------| | John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk | \================================================= ================/ |
#6
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Cordless drill - best for occasional use
"John Rumm" wrote in message ... OG wrote: I've just decided the cheap and nasty cordless drill isn't ever going to suddenly hold better charge. The trouble is that it can go months between use, and a NiCd battery is not ideal if you never really run it down fully. Is anyone aware of a decent brand where I can look to spend up to ?40 on a cordless chuckless drill that I can expect to get several years occasional use out of without having to concentate on battery maintenance (presumably I'd be looking at NiMh for that). Alas you have conflicting requirements... NiMh do not suffer memory effects and hence be better for ad hock recharging from an unknown state. However they often have worse auto discharge performance - hence will tend to run flat sitting on a shelf even sooner than NiCd. The best batteries for shelf life will be the newer Lith-Ion ones, but tools that use those are not in the £40 bracket. Hi John, thanks for the response. I don't mind having a flat battery when I pick it up, because I'm quite good at postponing a job for 24 hours (at least!) - so a slow charger and a single battery would be OK, but I'm fed up with tools that need to be replaced after just a couple of years occasional use. I'd have thought that Li-Ion would be worse than NiMh for a long life as Li-Ion have a built-in decay mechanism that limits them to 3 or 4 years only (as iPod users know to their cost). FAQ on cordless tools: http://www.diyfaq.org.uk/powertools/cordless.htm And on drills: http://www.diyfaq.org.uk/powertools/drill.htm I had already seen these, which is why I thought I'd ask for specific recommendations here. |
#7
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Cordless drill - best for occasional use
OG wrote:
I don't mind having a flat battery when I pick it up, because I'm quite good at postponing a job for 24 hours (at least!) - so a slow charger and a In which case a good tool with decent quality NiCds would probably do what you want. I would stear clear of slow chargers though since most of these are crude. A decent delta peak detecting charger will still be able to fast charge a partially discharged cell without cooking it. single battery would be OK, but I'm fed up with tools that need to be replaced after just a couple of years occasional use. The advantage of more than one is continous working. You can also get the thing out of store, stick one on charge and set about working with whatever charge remains in the other one. I'd have thought that Li-Ion would be worse than NiMh for a long life as Li-Ion have a built-in decay mechanism that limits them to 3 or 4 years only (as iPod users know to their cost). Long life is different again from auto discharge. Left for six weeks the LiIon will hold more charge than a NiMh. As to which has the longer total life all other things being equal I am not sure. I had already seen these, which is why I thought I'd ask for specific recommendations here. As Andy said, 12V or 14V entry level pro tool, and look about for special offers. -- Cheers, John. /================================================== ===============\ | Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk | |-----------------------------------------------------------------| | John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk | \================================================= ================/ |
#8
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Cordless drill - best for occasional use
On Sun, 28 May 2006 16:47:48 +0100, OG wrote
(in article ): I've just decided the cheap and nasty cordless drill isn't ever going to suddenly hold better charge. The trouble is that it can go months between use, and a NiCd battery is not ideal if you never really run it down fully. Is anyone aware of a decent brand where I can look to spend up to £40 on a cordless chuckless drill that I can expect to get several years occasional use out of without having to concentate on battery maintenance (presumably I'd be looking at NiMh for that). Brands and models ideally. Cheers I don't think that you are going to get all of these requirements out of one battery technology, let alone the price tag. NiMh don't have the memory effect of NiCd batteries and will tolerate being fast recharged from an arbitrary level of charge. However, they will self-discharge. Much of the price difference between entry level and reasonable quality cordless tools is with the battery quality. The better ones, apart from giving better results will tolerate more varied usage patterns However, you need to be willing to spend £60-80 or so to get to that - products such as the smaller Makita models with 12 or 14.4v batteries are often on offer, or there are their entry level Maktec products. The batteries on these will take a lot of abuse and can be replaced in years to come if you need to do that - most of the major manufacturers keep the same mechanical form factor for batteries for some years. The other approach is to go for one of the Hu Flung Dung products, finding one with a 2 or 3 year warranty, abuse the batteries as you like and expect to return it to the store several times during the warranty period. If you don't associate cost with the time taken in doing this, plus the actual travel cost, then it could be reasonable. If you do, then you are going to spend several times the difference between an HFD and a better product. |
#9
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Cordless drill - best for occasional use
On Sun, 28 May 2006 18:38:45 +0100, Andy Hall
wrote: On Sun, 28 May 2006 16:47:48 +0100, OG wrote (in article ): I've just decided the cheap and nasty cordless drill isn't ever going to suddenly hold better charge. The trouble is that it can go months between use, and a NiCd battery is not ideal if you never really run it down fully. Is anyone aware of a decent brand where I can look to spend up to £40 on a cordless chuckless drill that I can expect to get several years occasional use out of without having to concentate on battery maintenance (presumably I'd be looking at NiMh for that). Brands and models ideally. Cheers I don't think that you are going to get all of these requirements out of one battery technology, let alone the price tag. NiMh don't have the memory effect of NiCd batteries What is this 'memory effect' of which you speak? Is it the effect only ecperienced when you are powering say a satelite from a battey solar panel where the energy use & charge periods are highly repetitive? And should you actually get into this state *one* change of charge / discharge will break the 'effect' ..? I have had Nicads in many forms and uses over many years and never experienced this 'memory effect' ? Of all the rerchargables I have had so far the Nicads have shown to be the most durable .. All the best .. T i m |
#10
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Cordless drill - best for occasional use
On Sun, 28 May 2006 18:58:52 +0100, T i m wrote
(in article ): On Sun, 28 May 2006 18:38:45 +0100, Andy Hall wrote: On Sun, 28 May 2006 16:47:48 +0100, OG wrote (in article ): I've just decided the cheap and nasty cordless drill isn't ever going to suddenly hold better charge. The trouble is that it can go months between use, and a NiCd battery is not ideal if you never really run it down fully. Is anyone aware of a decent brand where I can look to spend up to £40 on a cordless chuckless drill that I can expect to get several years occasional use out of without having to concentate on battery maintenance (presumably I'd be looking at NiMh for that). Brands and models ideally. Cheers I don't think that you are going to get all of these requirements out of one battery technology, let alone the price tag. NiMh don't have the memory effect of NiCd batteries What is this 'memory effect' of which you speak? Is it the effect only ecperienced when you are powering say a satelite from a battey solar panel where the energy use & charge periods are highly repetitive? And should you actually get into this state *one* change of charge / discharge will break the 'effect' ..? Voltage depletion is probably a more accurate term, but most people haven't heard of that, so "memory effect" has become used to refer to a number of phenomena that cause problems where poor quality NiCds are charged inappropriately with poor quality chargers. I have had Nicads in many forms and uses over many years and never experienced this 'memory effect' ? Of all the rerchargables I have had so far the Nicads have shown to be the most durable .. Provided that they are good quality ones, properly charged with a decent charger then that may well be true. That isn't the application here though. All the best .. T i m |
#11
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Cordless drill - best for occasional use
On Sun, 28 May 2006 19:57:15 +0100, Andy Hall
wrote: NiMh don't have the memory effect of NiCd batteries What is this 'memory effect' of which you speak? Is it the effect only ecperienced when you are powering say a satelite from a battey solar panel where the energy use & charge periods are highly repetitive? And should you actually get into this state *one* change of charge / discharge will break the 'effect' ..? Voltage depletion is probably a more accurate term, but most people haven't heard of that, so "memory effect" has become used to refer to a number of phenomena that cause problems where poor quality NiCds are charged inappropriately with poor quality chargers. Ok .. (we could give the viewer the benefit of the doubt not propogate a myth / poor terms though eh ...) ;-) I have had Nicads in many forms and uses over many years and never experienced this 'memory effect' ? Of all the rerchargables I have had so far the Nicads have shown to be the most durable .. Provided that they are good quality ones, properly charged with a decent charger then that may well be true. That isn't the application here though. Isn't it? I suggest (within reason) any production battery / charger / portable drill used *properly* will do what the OP requires but none will do what he hoped ;-) All the best .. T i m |
#12
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Cordless drill - best for occasional use
On Sun, 28 May 2006 20:04:52 +0100, T i m wrote
(in article ): On Sun, 28 May 2006 19:57:15 +0100, Andy Hall wrote: NiMh don't have the memory effect of NiCd batteries What is this 'memory effect' of which you speak? Is it the effect only ecperienced when you are powering say a satelite from a battey solar panel where the energy use & charge periods are highly repetitive? And should you actually get into this state *one* change of charge / discharge will break the 'effect' ..? Voltage depletion is probably a more accurate term, but most people haven't heard of that, so "memory effect" has become used to refer to a number of phenomena that cause problems where poor quality NiCds are charged inappropriately with poor quality chargers. Ok .. (we could give the viewer the benefit of the doubt not propogate a myth / poor terms though eh ...) ;-) Point taken I have had Nicads in many forms and uses over many years and never experienced this 'memory effect' ? Of all the rerchargables I have had so far the Nicads have shown to be the most durable .. Provided that they are good quality ones, properly charged with a decent charger then that may well be true. That isn't the application here though. Isn't it? I suggest (within reason) any production battery / charger / portable drill used *properly* will do what the OP requires but none will do what he hoped ;-) The trouble is that the hoped for use and doesn't equate very well to "properly", and will be exacerbated in an entry level product |
#13
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Cordless drill - best for occasional use
On Sun, 28 May 2006 19:57:15 +0100, Andy Hall
wrote: Voltage depletion is probably a more accurate term, Voltage depression if you really want to be accurate. It is caused by overcharging - nothing whatsoever to do with the mythical "memory effect". but most people haven't heard of that, so "memory effect" has become used to refer to a number of phenomena that cause problems where poor quality NiCds are charged inappropriately with poor quality chargers. Which of course affects NiMH far more severely than NiCd. Of all the rerchargables I have had so far the Nicads have shown to be the most durable .. Provided that they are good quality ones, properly charged with a decent charger then that may well be true. NiCd is always more durable than NiMH with an equivalent quality (or lack of) charger. The ones to avoid are the "5 hr" chargers. NiCd can be happily charged at a 10 hour rate with almost anything, and will tolerate 36 hours at this rate quite happily. NiMH won't. Either, with an appropriately designed charger, can charge in anything from 30 mins to an hour - but it reduces cell life, more so for NiMH than NiCd. In any situation NiMH is good for about half the number of recharge cycles of a similar NiCd battery. The problem with the 5hr (or thereabouts) chargers is that they are essentially uncontrolled and a 5 hour rate cannot be sustained for any length of time without damaging the battery. Used with a time switch they are adequate but no more. The safest way of charging batteries, and the one which gives best battery life, is to charge at one tenth of the cell capacity for about 11 hours. -- Peter Parry. http://www.wpp.ltd.uk/ |
#14
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Cordless drill - best for occasional use
In article ,
Peter Parry wrote: The problem with the 5hr (or thereabouts) chargers is that they are essentially uncontrolled and a 5 hour rate cannot be sustained for any length of time without damaging the battery. Used with a time switch they are adequate but no more. The safest way of charging batteries, and the one which gives best battery life, is to charge at one tenth of the cell capacity for about 11 hours. I have to agree. *Any* fast charger - don't care how clever - shortens the service life of Ni-Cads. Of course a nasty fast charger even more. -- *Shin: a device for finding furniture in the dark * Dave Plowman London SW To e-mail, change noise into sound. |
#15
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Cordless drill - best for occasional use
"Andy Hall" wrote in message ... On Sun, 28 May 2006 16:47:48 +0100, OG wrote (in article ): Is anyone aware of a decent brand where I can look to spend up to £40 on a cordless chuckless .................. Can I suggest you forget the chuckless idea, they all come with a chuck, if you wish you can always remove it yourself. :-) |
#16
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Cordless drill - best for occasional use
"Scabbydug" wrote in message ... "Andy Hall" wrote in message ... On Sun, 28 May 2006 16:47:48 +0100, OG wrote (in article ): Is anyone aware of a decent brand where I can look to spend up to £40 on a cordless chuckless .................. Can I suggest you forget the chuckless idea, they all come with a chuck, if you wish you can always remove it yourself. :-) Whoops, but you know what I meant. I'm sure it gave everyone a chuckle though :+) |
#17
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Cordless drill - best for occasional use
In article ,
OG wrote: I've just decided the cheap and nasty cordless drill isn't ever going to suddenly hold better charge. The trouble is that it can go months between use, and a NiCd battery is not ideal if you never really run it down fully. It's a myth you have to discharge Ni-Cads fully. Is anyone aware of a decent brand where I can look to spend up to £40 on a cordless chuckless drill that I can expect to get several years occasional use out of without having to concentate on battery maintenance (presumably I'd be looking at NiMh for that). Decent Ni-Cads hold a usable charge for a few months. If they're don't they're faulty or poor quality. Unfortunately, NiMH don't hold a charge as long. Weeks, more like. If you really must have a cordless drill that is ready to go at any time in peak condition you'll need to arrange some sort of timed charge. -- *Eat well, stay fit, die anyway Dave Plowman London SW To e-mail, change noise into sound. |
#18
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Cordless drill - best for occasional use
In message , "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote Decent Ni-Cads hold a usable charge for a few months. If they're don't they're faulty or poor quality. Unfortunately, NiMH don't hold a charge as long. Weeks, more like. If you really must have a cordless drill that is ready to go at any time in peak condition you'll need to arrange some sort of timed charge. I have a cheap (£20) cordless drill that came with two batteries. The problem that I have with infrequent use is that the charger is a one shot operation. It charges up the battery when it is placed in the holder but once charged it switches off forever allowing the battery to self discharge over time. This usually results in both batteries having a low charge when required for that quick unexpected job. I am contemplating opening up the charger to see if I can find a suitable way of adding a diode/resistor to allow a constant trickle charge. -- Alan news2006 {at} amac {dot} f2s {dot} com |
#19
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Cordless drill - best for occasional use
On Sun, 28 May 2006 19:12:34 +0100, Alan
wrote: In message , "Dave Plowman (News)" wrote Decent Ni-Cads hold a usable charge for a few months. If they're don't they're faulty or poor quality. Unfortunately, NiMH don't hold a charge as long. Weeks, more like. If you really must have a cordless drill that is ready to go at any time in peak condition you'll need to arrange some sort of timed charge. I have a cheap (£20) cordless drill that came with two batteries. The problem that I have with infrequent use is that the charger is a one shot operation. It charges up the battery when it is placed in the holder but once charged it switches off forever allowing the battery to self discharge over time. This usually results in both batteries having a low charge when required for that quick unexpected job. I am contemplating opening up the charger to see if I can find a suitable way of adding a diode/resistor to allow a constant trickle charge. Try plugging it in via a cheap 7 day time switch set up to apply power once or twice per week. Hopefully when the power comes back on it will restart from square one. Unless there is *Charge" button you have to press to initiate charging. :-( DG |
#20
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Cordless drill - best for occasional use
In message , Derek ^
wrote I am contemplating opening up the charger to see if I can find a suitable way of adding a diode/resistor to allow a constant trickle charge. Try plugging it in via a cheap 7 day time switch set up to apply power once or twice per week. Been there - it doesn't work. It appears that the only way of switching it to a charge cycle is to physically fit the battery into the holder. -- Alan news2006 {at} amac {dot} f2s {dot} com |
#21
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Cordless drill - best for occasional use
The message
from Alan contains these words: The problem that I have with infrequent use is that the charger is a one shot operation. It charges up the battery when it is placed in the holder but once charged it switches off forever allowing the battery to self discharge over time. Wish mine did that. Instead it charges forever, which if you forget to stop it doesn't do the batteries any good. You could use a 7-day timer to start it over again once a week. -- Skipweasel Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain. |
#22
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Cordless drill - best for occasional use
OG wrote:
I've just decided the cheap and nasty cordless drill isn't ever going to suddenly hold better charge. The trouble is that it can go months between use, and a NiCd battery is not ideal if you never really run it down fully. Is anyone aware of a decent brand where I can look to spend up to ?40 on a cordless chuckless drill that I can expect to get several years occasional use out of without having to concentate on battery maintenance (presumably I'd be looking at NiMh for that). Completely ignoring your question, in the finest traditions of usenet. 20-30 quid of extension flex, and 10-20 quid of mains drill will generally work much better for occasional use. It depends where you do your DIY of course. Personally, I've never found dragging an extension cord out for the occasional job to be a problem. Something to consider. |
#23
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Cordless drill - best for occasional use
OG wrote:
I've just decided the cheap and nasty cordless drill isn't ever going to suddenly hold better charge. The trouble is that it can go months between use, and a NiCd battery is not ideal if you never really run it down fully. Why, to the latter? Is anyone aware of a decent brand where I can look to spend up to £40 on a cordless chuckless drill that I can expect to get several years occasional use out of without having to concentate on battery maintenance (presumably I'd be looking at NiMh for that). Buy new cells and re-do the battery. |
#24
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Cordless drill - best for occasional use
On Sun, 28 May 2006 16:47:48 +0100, "OG"
wrote: I've just decided the cheap and nasty cordless drill isn't ever going to suddenly hold better charge. The trouble is that it can go months between use, and a NiCd battery is not ideal if you never really run it down fully. Is anyone aware of a decent brand where I can look to spend up to £40 on a cordless chuckless drill that I can expect to get several years occasional use out of without having to concentate on battery maintenance (presumably I'd be looking at NiMh for that). Brands and models ideally. Cheers Hi, NiCd should hold charge fine, one thing that can really stuff battery packs is using them until exhaustion as one or more cells may get reverse charged. So best go for something with 2 or more packs, use in rotation and charge AS SOON as they start to fade. That way you already have a fully charged pack standing by, so even if the one in the drill hasn't much charge it doesn't matter. Two gears are well worth having too, giving better torque or speed which can help battery life. Find the best deal you can on something like a Makita, then the same for a cheap make, and then decide if the extra money is worth it or not. cheers, Pete. |
#25
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Cordless drill - best for occasional use
OG wrote:
Is anyone aware of a decent brand where I can look to spend up to £40 on a cordless chuckless drill that I can expect to get several years occasional use out of without having to concentate on battery maintenance (presumably I'd be looking at NiMh for that). Wickes have an 18v hammer drill driver with a 2 speed gearbox and a one hour charger for £26.49 and you get a 2 year warranty. The Wickes stuff is pretty good for the money IMO. -- Dave The Medway Handyman www.medwayhandyman.co.uk 01634 717930 07850 597257 |
#26
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Cordless drill - best for occasional use
The Medway Handyman wrote:
Wickes have an 18v hammer drill driver with a 2 speed gearbox and a one hour charger for ï½£26.49 and you get a 2 year warranty. The Wickes stuff is pretty good for the money IMO. Grey or Black plastic? (The grey stuff is often a decent brand with a wickes badge on it, the black tends to be run of the mill Chinese stuff) -- Cheers, John. /================================================== ===============\ | Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk | |-----------------------------------------------------------------| | John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk | \================================================= ================/ |
#27
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Cordless drill - best for occasional use
John Rumm wrote:
The Medway Handyman wrote: Wickes have an 18v hammer drill driver with a 2 speed gearbox and a one hour charger for £26.49 and you get a 2 year warranty. The Wickes stuff is pretty good for the money IMO. Grey or Black plastic? This is the black one. Chinese probably but 18v with a one hour charger it could well meet the OP's needs. (The grey stuff is often a decent brand with a wickes badge on it, the black tends to be run of the mill Chinese stuff) I bought the 14.4v grey combi drill driver recently. 2 x 2 a/h batteries, 3 year warranty, Jacobs chuck, Johnson motor at around £80. Very pleased with it. -- Dave The Medway Handyman www.medwayhandyman.co.uk 01634 717930 07850 597257 |
#28
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Cordless drill - best for occasional use
The Medway Handyman wrote:
(The grey stuff is often a decent brand with a wickes badge on it, the black tends to be run of the mill Chinese stuff) I bought the 14.4v grey combi drill driver recently. 2 x 2 a/h batteries, 3 year warranty, Jacobs chuck, Johnson motor at around ï½£80. Very pleased with it. I was eyeing up a grey router that was obviously a badged Freud FT2000E once... only problem was the price - they wanted more for it than Screwfix did for the Freud! -- Cheers, John. /================================================== ===============\ | Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk | |-----------------------------------------------------------------| | John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk | \================================================= ================/ |
#29
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Cordless drill - best for occasional use
The Medway Handyman wrote:
Wickes have an 18v hammer drill driver with a 2 speed gearbox and a one hour charger for £26.49 and you get a 2 year warranty. The Wickes stuff is pretty good for the money IMO. Does it come with two batteries? Having two is really useful. |
#30
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Cordless drill - best for occasional use
Chris Bacon wrote:
The Medway Handyman wrote: Wickes have an 18v hammer drill driver with a 2 speed gearbox and a one hour charger for £26.49 and you get a 2 year warranty. The Wickes stuff is pretty good for the money IMO. Does it come with two batteries? Having two is really useful. For £26 you are lucky to get one battery :-) -- Dave The Medway Handyman www.medwayhandyman.co.uk 01634 717930 07850 597257 |
#31
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Cordless drill - best for occasional use
The Medway Handyman wrote:
Chris Bacon wrote: The Medway Handyman wrote: Wickes have an 18v hammer drill driver with a 2 speed gearbox and a one hour charger for £26.49 and you get a 2 year warranty. The Wickes stuff is pretty good for the money IMO. Does it come with two batteries? Having two is really useful. For £26 you are lucky to get one battery :-) I got a cordless drill from Aldi, 2 batteries + "one hour" charger, for £22ish ISTR, but the batteries are 18v, 1.2AH so don't last as long. It hasn't had the "hammering" that a similarly-sourced SDS drill has had, but it's not too bad for the price. ISTR "Johnson motor" was mentioned as a selling point. No idea what make the keyless chuck is. |
#32
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Cordless drill - best for occasional use
"OG" wrote in message ... I've just decided the cheap and nasty cordless drill isn't ever going to suddenly hold better charge. The trouble is that it can go months between use, and a NiCd battery is not ideal if you never really run it down fully. Is anyone aware of a decent brand where I can look to spend up to £40 on a cordless chuckless drill that I can expect to get several years occasional use out of without having to concentate on battery maintenance (presumably I'd be looking at NiMh for that). Brands and models ideally. Cheers Thanks for all the feedback, looks like there's not much chance of getting a decent unit in my pricerange. However, I was inspired to open up the power pack and can see that at least one of the old cells has 'burst', which is presumably why there is practically no power left in it. Given that most units have the same general shape I wonder if I could get a stand alone 18V replacement unit from another brand and swap the cells so I can use them in my existing machine. Anyone tried this? There is a very similar looking unit at http://www.tooled-up.com/Product.asp...18035v-Cp1801v |
#33
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Cordless drill - best for occasional use
OG wrote:
Thanks for all the feedback, looks like there's not much chance of getting a decent unit in my pricerange. However, I was inspired to open up the power pack and can see that at least one of the old cells has 'burst', which is presumably why there is practically no power left in it. Given that most units have the same general shape I wonder if I could get a stand alone 18V replacement unit from another brand and swap the cells so I can use them in my existing machine. Anyone tried this? For the price, I'd be inclined to look around for another cheap one, with two batteries and fast charger. They do exist. If you can wait a month or two, keep an eye on some well-known discount supermarkets. You could even look at: http://www.tesco.com/electrical/Product.aspx?R=8229406 although the machines from WKDS could well be half the price. For instance, I bought a cement mixer at Aldi for £130, offered by Tesco for £200! |
#34
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Cordless drill - best for occasional use
OG wrote:
Thanks for all the feedback, looks like there's not much chance of getting a decent unit in my pricerange. However, I was inspired to open up the power pack and can see that at least one of the old cells has 'burst', which is presumably why there is practically no power left in it. How about: http://www.re-cell.co.uk/ -- Cheers, John. /================================================== ===============\ | Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk | |-----------------------------------------------------------------| | John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk | \================================================= ================/ |
#35
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Cordless drill - best for occasional use
"John Rumm" wrote in message ... OG wrote: Thanks for all the feedback, looks like there's not much chance of getting a decent unit in my pricerange. However, I was inspired to open up the power pack and can see that at least one of the old cells has 'burst', which is presumably why there is practically no power left in it. How about: http://www.re-cell.co.uk/ Hmmm, £53 for an 18V battery replacement. |
#36
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Cordless drill - best for occasional use
In article ,
OG wrote: Hmmm, £53 for an 18V battery replacement. Think I saw a PP 18 volt replacement for under 20 quid in B&Q. -- *Organized Crime Is Alive And Well; It's Called Auto Insurance. Dave Plowman London SW To e-mail, change noise into sound. |
#37
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Cordless drill - best for occasional use
OG wrote:
Hmmm, ï½£53 for an 18V battery replacement. You will probably find it makes a massive improvement to the performance of the drill though - probably better than new. (failing that, recell it yourself. You can get sub C cells from www.cpc.co.uk) -- Cheers, John. /================================================== ===============\ | Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk | |-----------------------------------------------------------------| | John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk | \================================================= ================/ |
#38
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Cordless drill - best for occasional use
In article ,
OG wrote: Given that most units have the same general shape I wonder if I could get a stand alone 18V replacement unit from another brand and swap the cells so I can use them in my existing machine. Every single cordless drill pack I've taken apart uses the same physical size cells - so assuming the layout of them is the same you should be ok. However, have you tried getting the correct pack? B&Q sell ones for quite old PP types. -- *Constipated People Don't Give A Crap* Dave Plowman London SW To e-mail, change noise into sound. |
#39
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Cordless drill - best for occasional use
"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message ... In article , OG wrote: Given that most units have the same general shape I wonder if I could get a stand alone 18V replacement unit from another brand and swap the cells so I can use them in my existing machine. Every single cordless drill pack I've taken apart uses the same physical size cells - so assuming the layout of them is the same you should be ok. However, have you tried getting the correct pack? B&Q sell ones for quite old PP types. I'll have a look |
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