I can’t believe I’m doing this, but… Singletrack hive mind: Which cordless drill do I want?

It’s for metal work, mostly. I want something for drilling vent holes in things.

I figure there’s enough middle class house refurbishers here that you’ll all have opinions!

for metal work wouldnt you be better off with a pillar drill or at least a pillar assembly for a corded drill?

My thread of last month with some good suggestions.

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/cordless-drills

One with a cord [/stw]

Depends on what sort of metalwork & how thick the metal is too, as the drill bit can make a lot of difference.

Personally I really like my 18v Erbauer from Screwfix, been doing fine work for the last 3 years, drilling into wood, brick, occasional metal as well as doing screws..

As above, go with whatever is on offer at Screwfix. I got this one earlier in the summer:
http://www.screwfix.com/p/bosch-gsb-18-2-li-plus-18v-4-0ah-li-ion-cordless-combi-drill/7434k

Most of the packages seem to have the choice of a single big battery or 2 small batteries. I guess it depends on what type of person you are, will you remember to check if it’s getting low or will you need a spare fully charged and waiting? 😉

I have been impressed with the battery life, I’ve put about 600 screws into the garage and various other jobs around the house and I think I’ve charged it twice so far.

The only thing it sucks at is masonry, anything more than 30 seconds on hammer and the chuck comes loose so the bit wobbles. Means my big corded drill still comes out occasionally.

For metal you’ll want good speed control and good bits are more important. A pillar drill would be much better if you have space. There are some pretty decent ones for not too much money. If you stick with cordless I’m a big fan of the makita lxt range. Good all rounder. Well made. Plenty of power. Noticeably better than the cheapo drills

Stay away from the De-Walt deals all over the place at the moment. I use a cordless on a daily basis. Makita was getting a bit old so thought I would replace it with the De-walt for £100 with two Li-ion batteries how could I go wrong? The batteries last 10 mins and have a safety circuit cut out built-in so once under strain must be completely re-charged.
Chuck is a total joke.
Avoid.

The bosch blue range seem particularly good value at the moment.
http://www.axminster.co.uk/bosch-gsb-18-2-li-plus-combi-drill-in-l-boxx-18v-4-0ah-wireless-719286

I haven’t checked if the charger is a fast one though (maybe not if it’s wireless).
1 battery is fine as long as it’s a fast charger. 5mins charge while having a brew lasts me the whole day.

I have gone over to Metabo for most of my power tools in the past few years. Before that I was Makita, but the quality has been falling to match the price point. The Metabo stuff still seems well put together with more metal bits where others now use plastic. When it comes to drilling through 10 mm RSJs the power and stability of the chuck on the Metabo makes it a doddle rather than the chore it used to be.

What’s your budget , and what size holes in what thickness metal ?

And how often do you use it? If daily, then cordless is fine. If it can be a month between uses you’ll kill the battery and be better off with a cheap corded.

I have a couple of cordless that I use daily but when I needed to cut an 80mm hole through 25mm MDF the 40 yr old Black & Decker was the tool for the job.

I haven’t checked if the charger is a fast one though (maybe not if it’s wireless).
1 battery is fine as long as it’s a fast charger. 5mins charge while having a brew lasts me the whole day.

Wireless won’t be fast. Basic Bosch blue charger is 2 Amp charge, standard model is 6A charge. So a 4Ah battery will need 30mins to get to 75% which is about the max you can get to quickly before the charge current drops off / cells get too hot.

I’ve got a big old pillar drill already: this cordless one will just be for quick little jobs in awkward places. Nothing thicker that 2.2mm really, generally nothing bigger than 5mm holes. It’ll be used pretty much daily. Budget is whatever it needs to be to be actually good and reliable…

2nd the Metabo stuff for mid range. Mates got a METABO SB18 LTX and it’s a very capable drill, would be good for the metal thickness you want to drill. As above, get some quality bits, and use a centre punch .

Our ancient works Makita is like a world war two Luger found at the bottom of a canal. Still works perfectly

Been very impressed with a Bosch blue 18v with 2*2ampH batteries that cost about £100 from screwfix 18-24 months back. Had a fair pounding in dig terms in that time. Definitely better than the Bosch green it replaced, in every way.

If you want one cheap, I have the recommended Bosch’s green brother going – fairly light use as I still have its predecessor down south where I used to do most of my work, which is about 10 years old and going strong, but foolishly I decided to invest in a pro grinder for my new house refurb I am just getting into, which I thought would use the same batteries, but turns out it doesn’t, and the cheapest way to get some is to buy that drill posted above! Its cheaper than the batteries and charger alone.

Its this Drill but my one comes with 2 18V 2AH cells (rather than the 1.5s listed on this one) and the charger, boxed, all pretty much as new. £40 posted if you want it.

Gone to milwaukee brushless over here. Nice kit. Box annoys me though as there’s **** all room for anything else in it.

Box annoys me though as there’s **** all room for anything else in it.

I bin the boxes straight away and just cart tools around in open trays..