MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
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Got a drilling job tomorrow morning. I've got the corded old faithful, but was thinking of going out today to buy a cordless for the job. Will I be thwarted by a 48-hour initial charging time or something?
Cheers
Decent modern cordless will be 20 mins to charge. Even a cheapy will only be an hour or two
Decent modern cordless will be 20 mins to charge.
Read up though - to hit bargain price points for the big retailers some manufacturers spec lower priced slower batteries /chargers in what looks like big-brand trade spec kit. Makita LXT stuff charges in 20 mins but the IcantbeleiveitsnotLXT drivers that B&Q sell take over an hour. Not a massively big difference but the batteries themselves are quite low capacity so if you're doing a lot of drilling you can run them down faster than you can charge them up.
Even some Li-ion batteries tools can come with very slow chargers - green bosch 10.8v kit can have pretty slow charging (and often comes with only one battery) and smaller tools with built in batteries can be an overnight charge still
While we are here gents......
When drilling holes in the wall at my shop I would say half of them go in a few mill and then I hit some impenetrable barrier.
I then have pot luck in finding another area where I can get 3 holes in the wall. Next week I have a job and there is no leeway in where the holes go.
Why do I hit something really hard and are there some mega killa drill bits that will go through everything?
...go in a few mill and then I hit some impenetrable barrier.
Sounds like you're going through the plaster before hitting hard brickwork/blockwork. The pot luck bit is probably you finding a joint in the brickwork.
Buy/hire/borrow an SDS rotary hammer drill.
Get a stud detector.
Read up though - to hit bargain price points for the big retailers some manufacturers spec lower priced slower batteries /chargers in what looks like big-brand trade spec kit.
Not as bad as you think.
The basic Blue Bosch charger (AL 1820) charges at 2Amps, so will charge a 1.5Ah battery in under an hour from flat.
Some amazing bargains out there at the moment e.g. http://www.screwfix.com/p/bosch-gsb18-gdr18-18v-1-5ah-li-ion-cordless-combi-drill-impact-wrench-twin-pack/3913r
I know the decent ones are pretty quick to charge. Just worried about an extended initial charge from new.
Just worried about an extended initial charge from new.
Battery will leave factory about 50% charged and self discharge rate is pretty low for Li-ion, so you're not charging from flat with a new drill.
I'm halfway through a job that requires 200 holes being drilled into brick walls. My Makita LXT battery drill wasn't very good at it and started getting hot. My Titan rotary hammer is heavy, fills the house with dust, and is a bit brutal so the holes end up much bigger than the nominal size of the drill bit.
I went down to B&Q and bought a corded MAC hammer drill for £24 and it's doing a great job. Not perfect, obviously, the chuck slips now and then but a good decision. If it dies at the end it will have paid for itself.
If you don't use a battery drill regularly the battery will fade away.