Been reading for a while, but finally time to ask a question….
I’m just getting started in woodworking, averaging 2-3 projects per year (furniture for the home), along with the occasional fix-it-up project like replacing old deck boards. It’s time to get a cordless drill/driver and I was about to go with the Panasonic 12 or 15.6 volt. But I couldn’t pass up a local deal at half price for a Bosch 18 volt, model 33618.
Two questions: For a guy who hopes to do mostly woodworking and won’t be driving hundredes of screws at a time, is 18 volts too much? Would a lighter drill be more appropriate? !2 volt? 14.4? 15.6? What are your opinions?
Second: The battery type is listed as “2.24 Ah” I’m not familiar with this type of battery. A review on Amazon poo-pooed the drill because it has a NiCad battery. Anyone familiar with what an Ah battery is? Is it different from NiCad?
AJ
Replies
I was buying a cordless earlier this year, I had the same questions. I went to a home depot and handled them all, in the end the most comfortable drill with a quality feel was a Milwaukee 14v. I have used it a lot and found it can do a lot between charges, the worklight with it wasn't something I was going to buy but glad I did now. It took me quite a while to choose over a panasonic, I probably would have been happy with that too.
David
AJ;
I bought an 18 volt Panasonic drill because I thought it was best - and found the drill very heavy to use - next drill will be with a smaller battery!
twotowers
I haven't done a lot of homework on these battery differences, but there is a lot of talk in the forums, like this one, to satisfy any need you may have about telling the worth of one battery from another. The Ah relates to amp/hours rating to tell you how long your battery will run as best as I can tell. The one thing I do know is that those 18 volt drills are heavy. If you do not need to maximize the work load of your drill, there are lighter tools to use than the 18 volt drills. I use 18 volt drills myself, but I bought them to be able to work all over a large building without having to recharge. The smaller drills are alot more user friendly on the wrists. Good luck on your choice.
You're right about the Ah designation. It has nothing to do with power, but is some sort of a rating on how long a battery will last before it needs to be recharged. At the moment, 3.5Ah is the top rating (Panasonic), and theoretically, the charge would last about 1 1/2 times compared with a batery with a 2.0 Ah.I'm sure there is a better, more technical explanation --but that's the gist of it.********************************************************
"It is what we learn after we think we know it all, that counts."
John Wooden 1910-
AJ, 2.4 AH is a measure of how much charge the battery can hold, not the type of battery. A 2.24 AH battery can supply (roughly) 2.24 amps for one hour or one amp for 2.24 hours or any combination that divides out to 2.24 AH.
If the battery is a NiCd, it is a nickel-cadmium battery. These are the oldest type of modern rechargeable battery - a lead acid battery is the other type, but they seldom have appeared in small tools. NiCds are no longer state of the art. They don't have the best charge holding capacity and have the fault of having a "memory" (something that many of us no longer suffer from!) That means that the battery must be totally discharged prior to recharging or the capacity will steadily decrease unless the battery goes through multiple charge/recharge cyles on a pre-determined schedule ("refreshing" the battery.)
A newer chemistry for tools is the NiMH or Nickel metal hydride battery. These batteries have better capacities and don't have any memory. They are more forgiving and will last much longer.
The best of the newer battery chemistries is the Lithium Ion battery. These batteries have primarily been used for lower current applications due to design limitations. They are state of the art in digital cameras, PDAs,etc. But now, newer lithium ion batteries are slowly supplanting NiMH batteries even in such current hungry applications as hybrid vehicles because of their superior charge capacity.
By the way, I still use my 9.6 V mikita 15 years later although the batteries are getting harder to find.
Let me throw out my ignorance in on NiCad memory. As I understand and have practiced, memory does not really exist in NiCad or Nmh.
Most (all?) of the chargers for NiCad and Nmh work by something called delta peak. That is to say, they sense a given peak temperature in the battery and use that as an auto shut down for the charger.
We humans are always in a big hurry to get that battery on the charger so it is ready in short order so we can drive some more screws quickly. In doing so we throw the battery on the charger just after we yank it out of the tool. This happened just as the power dwindled one screw shy of the finished project, of course. As the charger just received a battery that was pretty hot already, it doesn't take long for the battery to reach delta peak and the charger to auto shut off--thus giving only a partial charge.
No need to run the battery into nothing before charging, just let it cool off for about 15-30 minutes before charging. I've been doing this for years on all of my tools and radio control NiCads and have never experienced the dreaded memory.
I would personally go with a smaller one, having just gone through that decision myself. I just today sold my Porter-Cable 19.2V on craigslist. It did work great. Good design, plenty of power, etc. But my wrist gets pretty tired after just a few minutes of continuous use. My understanding is that the voltage ratings on these tools are more related to battery life than power. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. But even if so, I think for general woodworking applications, my 19.2 was overkill. I was able to sell it at a good price to someone who would appreciate the juice.
I actually ordered a 14.4V Bosch today. Was looking at the 12V but the 14.4 has a drill/circular saw combo kit refurbished on amazon.com for a good price. Anyone has experience with Bosch and/or refurbished (battery condition, etc.)?
I had a Ryobi 14.4 with a flashlight given to me as a present. I've used both almost daily for two years. I've been flat out amazed by how well it has worked, under jobsite conditions. Batteries are cheap, it's relatively light and compact, the clutch works, plenty of power that lasts. I don't baby it or the batteries and I blow the doors off big yellow ones. You don't have to spend close to $300 unless you want to.
Beat it to fit / Paint it to match
Hi AJ:
Just had to replace my old cordless drill because the batteries had died. It would have cost more to replace the batteries than buying a new drill even though the drill itself was still good. (A sad comment on the times we are living in)
Anyway, I recommend a 12 or, at the most, 14.4 volt drill. They will handle anything you will come across in woodworking and will be comfortable to use all day. The drill I ended up with is under 4 pounds with nice balance. Try them all and see which brand is comfortable for you.
I also recommend that you get a drill with a single-sleeve keyless chuck. With that type of chuck you can insert or remove a bit with one hand which is a huge time saver. Most of the more expensive drills have that type of chuck.
Anyway I hope this helps.
Be safe,
Dennis
AJ
I'm an expert on what you don't need in terms of a cordless drill coz at last count I've got 10 of the buggers ranging from 7.2 to 18 volts.
14.4 volts are put forward by my other experts, (these are my 2 apprentices, who by the way are pretty quick to tell the boss when he's wrong) as the ideal size for most workshop situations. They handle most drilling/driving tasks & are relatively (when compared with 18, 19.2 & 24v) easy & light to use. They are not brilliant if you are a roofer, or if you use them to mix render.
The voltage has quite a bit to do with the power but not much to do with the useage between recharging. This is more closely related to the ah rating & the actual state of the batteries, ie: in good nick or nearly stuffed. It only takes a couple of dud cells to discharge the otherwise healthy cells & reduce the life between recharging & ultimate demise of the battery pack. [For those who are unaware there a bunch of 1.2 volt sub C cells linked together in series in a typical battery pack, hence voltages such as 14.4v (12 cells) & 18v (15 cells) etc exist.]
It seems that in our workshop batteries are the weak link. Having said that they probably get treated pretty well as they don't discharge by sitting around but rather thru use. We have found that good average drills are better buys & usually buy a couple at a time & get 3 or 4 batteries. When the batteries have had it either buy new ones, if the manufacturer hasn't changed them, or on rare occassions throw them out & buy a new kit. We have never worn any drill out, just batteries & the prices ranged from about $80 to $200. Have had no experience with the sub $20 offerings from China.
Hi,
I bought myself a DeWalt 14.4 drill and I use it all the time and for me it works great. The following Christmas LOML bought me an 18 volt DeWalt tool kit with trim saw, recip saw and 1/2-inch hammer drill.
I thought what am I going to do with two drills? Well I use them both. I use the smaller more for sure, but the big one sure comes in handy sometimes too.
So if you already bought the biggun, use it until your wrist starts to hurt, then get the smaller one!
David C
Hi AJ,
I'm a full time woodworker and was quite happy with my DeWalt 14.4 when an elbow pain developed. I couldn't not use my elbow so I bought a 9.6. That was the only change in my routine and the pain disappeared. In the month or so since getting the 9.6 I've not once needed the extra power of the 14.4.
Hope this helps, Steve
What you need is determined by what you will use it for. Having said that, look toward the future and think about what you MAY need it for, too. If you find that you need to drive big lag bolts, a hammer drill makes it really easy and there are some out there that aren't terribly expensive. For most use, a 14V should be fine. Get the highest Amp-Hour rating you can afford. AH is actually a discharge rate, just like on your car battery(ex. 2.4Ah = 2.4 Amps of draw for 1 hour, or any division/multiple of that, like 1.2 A for 2 hours). Under heavy use, any drill/driver can be damaged, and the main killer is heat, specifically overheating the batteries or motor by running them down too far and continuing to use it. If you use it overhead a lot, weight will be a consideration unless you have pipes like Arnold.
I appreciate the input from everyone. Hadn't even stopped to consider Ah is about Amp Hours. I was just presuming the box (hadn't opened it up yet in case I wanted to return it. I imagine the manual gives more details) would list what type of battery it has -- NiCd or NiMh -- and so I figured Ah was a new type I hadn't heard of yet. I wouldn't suppose Bosch would use inferior batteries in a rather high end drill.
So my dilemna remains...keep it and get sore wrists and elbows for now or shell out another $70-80 for a smaller voltage?
Again, if I went with something else, I'm probably leaning most heavily toward Panasonic. Can anyone tell me how much the 15.6 weighs compared to the 12 volt?
AJ
I'd use it. I use a 18 volt Dewalt hammer drill all the time, because I needed a cordless hammer drill when I bought it, and it is what I now have. Its overkill, but there is nothing that I've encountered that requires more power. It's not like your using a cordless drill enough in a woodshop to get fatigue. If you are, you need to practice the joinery a bit.
Steve
Based on a review in a recent mag, I decided to get a hammer drill for driving difficult screws. I got the Craftsman that got "Best Value", but for $30 cheaper than normal due to a sale. Just yesterday I used it to put together a little project that needed about 60 screws and that little 14.4 just blazed through it all on one battery. I stripped out two screws in that lot, and I was moving very fast.
If you don't want to carrry a monster, consider a drill and a separate driver. It was very handy for me to have a drill bit chucked into the drill, and the phillips adapter on the driver.
Basically I'm agreeing with highfigh -- pick based on what you need to do with it. If it's driving screws at least consider an impact driver, as driving screws with 'em is very easy on you.
First, Bosch makes great tools. You got a good deal & the drill will serve you well for years. As a hobbyist making 2 or 3 projects a year, you are NOT going to be using this drill for hours on end every day over your head or on a ladder. Don't worry about the weight, or the battery type. When the batteries wear out in 3 or 4 years, you can either replace/rebuild the batteries, or base your next purchase on your own experience. I personally use my higher-voltage drill more than the lighter one -- I prefer the extra muscle it provides. Like another poster, I got the bigger drill as part of a 2-tool kit that was a gift from my wife -- a drill and a trim saw. (The trim saw was what she was intending to purchase and was able to get one as part of a kit for less $$ than the one sold seperately.) I didn't think, I needed a second drill, but now I see the error of my ways and am glad to have it -- and I use it more than I use the saw. If I had to give one up, I'd keep the jumbo.
smaller batteries last longer, cost less, 18 volt is too heavy for anything but construction ..
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