Pimp My Drill

[whiteknight38]

Another of my Makita combo/hammer drills has recently died and gone to drill heaven. I've been going through them at a rate of about one every three years, therabouts.
Not a big deal, I've been telling myself, as the model I use, (the last was HP 1501, and was very similar to the last two) sold for only about 150 bucks.
Well, I just made the move to cordless.
I bought a RIDGID 24 Volt Lithium-Ion Hammer drill.
Verdict?
It rocks!
It's only slightly heavier than my cordless, but without the cord in the box, the box is lighter, which is a big bonus.
The torque power was a huge surprise. I just did an install on an oak door, and it plowed through the oak, easier than my old drill ate pine.
Amazing.
The cost was 450 (in Canadian money) which seemed steep, but the stunning thing, is that Ridgid warantees the whole thing, including batteries for life. When the batteries die, they replace them.
Anybody else thinking of making the move to cordless?
I'm giving this thing two thumbs up.

[NIC]

I use impact drivers.They are small and they have twice the power of a normal cordless. i know impact drivers are normally good for screwing stuff, but they sell a chuck you can clip on to it.

[Shrub]

I use cordless but just buy the cheapo ones now and they seem to last just as long and also come with a lifetime guarentee, by cheap i mean possably around $60 ish, if they break throw them away and buy another, im still on my first cheapo one where as an expensive one would have died before now,

[arris]

sounds good,

ive been looking for a drill just to have one incase i want to do something,

shrub what one do you use? got a chance of swapping soemthing i dont use for a top of the range makita drill, worth like £300!

but unsure if i need one worth so much..

[paul1982]

I use Makita i used others but found these to be so so so much better. One battery will last me pretty much all week. It's a relatively new model and has plenty of torque. You have to be careful with cheap screws as they can easily chew them up. They are slightly heavy and not as well balanced as my other Makita. The built in L.E.D'S are brilliant and do come in very hany in awkward places where you can't hold a torch and that etc. Even the charger play's a tune, that you can choose to tell you when your battery is charged.
I use my drill mainly for fitting new locks or boarding up on rare occasions ang general D.I.Y. I also bought the battery powered circular saw that runs on the drill batterys again absolutely brilliant.

DRILL: http://www.makita.com/menu.php?pg=produ ... tag=BDF451
SAW: http://www.makita.com/menu.php?pg=produ ... tag=BSS610

[arris]

yeah very nice, paul how much it set you back the drill?

[Shrub]

Ill grasb you the name and model of mine later, its a dewault copy that costs around £30, comes in a hard case with two batteries the charger and mini tool kit along with bits etc, its a small box however so dont think its one of these big cheapo sets,

Its not let me down yet, i use it daily and only have to charge it once a week on its fast charger (15 mins i think),

Lots of power and has a torque adjustment,

Ive not used my mains powered one for ages now,

[RangerF150]

I've gone through two DeWalt's and one Makita in about two years!
My present one is a Festool, it's crazy expensive ( near Euro 500), but the best cordless drill I have ever had the pleasure to use.
It's small, light, and amazing torque, great battery life and a truck load of cool add on bits

I also got a new DeWalt cordless for "mucky" work , less than half the price but not nearly as good as the Festool.

[paul1982]

yeah very nice, paul how much it set you back the drill?

The drill cost me £290 with 3 batteries and the circular saw cost me £308.

[whiteknight38]

Yeah, that's a nice tool Paul. I looked at it very carefully, and almost got the X1 which has a hammer drill switch.
Both models a beautifully light, and compact. Moreso than my Ridgid, and cheaper by a hundred bucks Cdn.
I need a hammer drill very rarely, mostly for the few and far between occasions where I have to put Tapcon screws into concrete.
I almost went for the newer X2 which is so new it's not even in the Makita catalogue yet. (It is a FIVE in one, with a two-speed drill, low-speed screwdriver mode, hammer drill AND impact mode.) It's basically an impact drill, with the kind of quick-release keyless chuck NIC mentioned. The sell feature on the Ridgid for me was the warantee.
Lithium batteries cost over a hundred bucks, and while they last three times as long as NicCads, they do die eventually.
I'm positive that the free replacement warantee will pay for itself.

[paul1982]

I personally prefer the makitas and i would happily buy another. Just like i said before its just being careful with that torque on cheap screws and flat blade screws, it will chew them up like they are made of plastic. The hammer action will drill into concrete with ease. Used it few times when drilling holes for some garage locks

[mojomojo]

I would say that after dealing with makita and dewalt I prefer my dewalt hammer drill. Thr hammer action works like a hot knife going through butter but of course with the masonary drill bits

[butterboy]

I didnt know fesstool made drills?
As a carpenter in the past, wed had a fesstool saw.
Has anyone ever used one?
It has a guide that the saw slides on, its a piece of alluminum that wont slilde, and you can streight edge any your boards.
Hope I explained it so you guys can understand.
Any way its a great saw and yes very expencive, Im gona do a search for their other tool.
And yes ive only head good things about Rigid tools.
Life time battery seem to be quite the deal , it would definitly pay for itself.

[NIC]

I didnt know fesstool made drills?
As a carpenter in the past, wed had a fesstool saw.
Has anyone ever used one?
It has a guide that the saw slides on, its a piece of alluminum that wont slilde, and you can streight edge any your boards.
Hope I explained it so you guys can understand.
Any way its a great saw and yes very expencive, Im gona do a search for their other tool.
And yes ive only head good things about Rigid tools.
Life time battery seem to be quite the deal , it would definitly pay for itself.

Ya i saw that on 'ask this old house' !!

[ufd538]

Well if you are happy with your ridgid, don't go to the ridgid forums....alot of people complaining about the cordless stuff, and the warranty is nice, but the big complaint on that is it takes at least a month to get the tool back....what do you do in the mean time? I just bought a ridgid corded drill, I am extremely happy with...could find any complaints about corded drills, but no praises on the forum either...so i took a chance.

I have had a couple dewalt xrp drills cordless, can't complain one bit, other than the first one was stolen. One of the most important things I look at with drills is the chuck. Dewalt has two lines of cordless, xrp and the cheaper line, the xrp has carbide inserts in the chuck, so it doesn't wear, and holds bits tighter. Being that I do alot automotive, I occassionally have to drill out ignitions when they fail, with a cheaper chuck the bit catches and slips in the chuck alot, not had a problem since I got the dewalt....I believe most ridgids have the inserts and some milwaukees, and probably a few others. I had a black and decker anniversery edition cordless that I got at sears on clearance for $25...surprising torque, had the drill rip out of my hand a few times, but the chuck didn't hold a drill bit worth a crap, but someone at the shop must of thrown the charger out and a charger costs more than I paid for it, so I gave it to someone I knew who had an identical drill. if I get a deal like that again, I would probably get it, and put another chuck on.


My cousin has a cheaper dewalt, I end up putting a keyed chuck on it...

Anyways, What I am saying is for automotive work, drill ignitions, where hard plate can be involved, get a nice chuck.