Battery hammer drill/driver

[Jaded]

After another battery failure I'm in the market for either:

a good value supplier of batteries for a 5 year old Bosch drill

or a recommendation for a good new drill. It's for up ladder stuff, and use where electricity is difficult... (I have a power drill that I use for most hammer stuff, etc)

I'd prefer something with a bit of power, nothing too feeble.

[Valiant]

I have a Dewalt DC721KA 18V that I brought at the start of the year and it's been abused and is still going like new. The 1hr fast charge is handy too. It's seen me build over 30 cabs, and 5 sets.

[Valiant]

Screwfix have an end of catalogue sale on at the moment.

[PhilO]

If you can open up the case there's a fair chance that the battery will be made up of standard tabbed cells. Do you have the time/inclination to do a rebuild?

[Jaded]

Phil, I did open it and have a look, however there are a lot of cells and they are soldered. Something primeval in me makes me afeared of soldering battery cells!

[PhilO]

I've made a few battery packs for lamps by just soldering AA NiMh cells together. Not had a problem yet - although the heat can't do them any good. I use a 400w 'pistol style' soldering iron to do it quickly.

However, if you get tabbed cells you solder the tabs together and the cell shouldn't be subjected to heat anyway. 

The issue will be identifying the cell size, I suspect. The proportions look like Sub C, but it should be possible to check the dimensions against other sizes.

Of course, it's highly debateable whether it's worth the trouble. I've always felt n+1 applies to tools!   

[Jaded]

Hmmm. Potentially (with 10 cells) that is c £40 per battery, so £80. Plus a fair amount of fiddling and soldering.

Time for a cup of tea, I think!

[LittleWheelsandBig]

I like this battery drill

[Zoidburg]

I like this battery drill

Single use bit of kit.

You would want a drill driver as well to go with it or to buy a combi drill.

[PhilO]

Hmmm. Potentially (with 10 cells) that is c £40 per battery, so £80. Plus a fair amount of fiddling and soldering.

Yeah - that's why I've always just soldered directly to the cells instead of buying tabbed ones... 

Probably only worth doing for the satisfaction of keeping the kit going, rather than economic reasons.

[Alfie]

Get a MAKITA 18v hammer drill from Robert Dyas.

These are professional grade drills and are half price promotion at the mo. i got one

[Zoidburg]

I would watch the Makita range, they do make less expensive combi drills.

They only have a 1.3 Amh battery and the gear boxes are lightweight, just breathed on versions of the basic drill drivers. The more sturdy ones that I would describe as suitable for on-site and work use are still an expensive bit of kit.

[rae]

I looked at building new 18v battery packs for my Dewalt kit - but grey imports on eBay were cheaper and higher capacity than anything I could build myself.

If you're buying a new one, the Dewalt 18v kit is hard to fault.  The decent drills (XRP) are pretty much bombproof - mine is currently on the 3rd house renovation, and still perfect.   They're good drill/drivers, and make a good show of non-SDS masonry.  I've also got a dedicated SDS one that I got "naked" with no batteries - so pretty cheap.  Ebay is the place for 18v dewalt kit - literally half the price of everywhere else.

[Jacomus]

My Dad has a couple of Metabo drills, both cordless and power drills, and he rates them pretty highly.

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