230/240v combi drills - any practical experience.

[chrishawley]

Most of my cordless combi drills (mostly Dewalt) have come to the end of their service and battery life pretty much simultaneously. Rekiiting with cordless is going to be £££lots. Meanwhile while my 240v Bosch combi is still going strong after 30 years. So, I'm thinking, why not have mainly 230/240v drills? And maybe just one cordless for 'on the move' jobs.

But does anyone have advice on 230/240v drills? Paricularly the power, capabilities of the chuck and durability of the gear box. My tools get a hard life.

I already have a 'big' 230v Dewalt for masory work and it's stood the test of time - but too big for car work.

Any tips or experience wouldbe much appreciated. One option might be DeWalt DWD024K-GB if it operates up to the same level as, say, a DC725. (?????)

 

[Badwolf]

No tips on mains powered but, as most here know, I have a passion for the Lidl 20 volt battery tools, which I have found to be superb for my use and have the advantage that the batteries power a vast array of other tools in the Lidl catalogue. Aldi also do a range which are not directly compatible but an adapter might be available to convert the battery packs (I have no experience of these)

[Clive]

If your tools get a hard time, I would suggest something better than the DIY end of the market, and those dewalts you mention are just that. Fesstool are brilliant, as are the pro versios of Bosch, Makita etc. But several times the price. 

Flipside is I have an erbauer twinset (screwfix own brand) that has had intermittent use for 5 years, but when used they are used hard for a couple of months, then it can be a couple of months before used again. Doing very well.... (I do some property refurb/maintenace as part of my multifaceted job)

And cordless stuff is just so much more convenient. I have a decent bosch SDS drill, but being honest, I too have been impressed with the lidl tools, and now have a 1/2"impact wrech (brilliant) circlar saw, bit light duty but really useful for floorboards etc and coped with kitchen worktops, multitool, and now a spare drill. All their 20V range. Very happy that they will last a reasonable length of time, and are coverd by a no quibble 3yr warranty. Bare saw was £30, the battery drill was £40 with one battery and charger, so cheap as chips. 

[Peter Truman]

I use DeWalt and have done for 30 years, reliable kit, around 8 years ago I added to the old NiCad 3/8in drill, saw's, torch etc with new Li-on brushless 1/2in drill and impact drill BUT I brought the skins, batteries (2*4Ahr), and charger separately off eBay and Gumtree rather than the kit costing around $700 ex wholesaler I only spent just over $200.

I did have an issue with the Li-on charger but a trip to the local Elect Tool Retailer fixed that for $15, I was telling him about my exploits and he said the  NiCads have no electronics/chips and will still be working in 30 years and NiCad batteries ex Taiwan or Hong Kong are dirt cheap (cheaper than buying and replacing the batteries DIY), whereas the Li-on are full of circuit boards, diodes chips and not worth fixing, throw away society! All that said I wouldn't be without the Li-on Impact Gun I use it extensively to undo and do up all the car nuts and bolts, getting lazy with old age!

The irony of all this my Daughter in Law is Taiwanese and her dad is VP to one of the biggest tool manufacturers in Taiwan' they make mains power and battery drills and other equipment for many of the major manufacturers, as well as supplying brushless motors to a lot of them, whenever he visits here he checks my power tools out and gives me the thumbs up! Since Covid his company have been concentrating manufacture on their personnel exercise equipment products and are working 2 shifts 6 days a week and have been shipping up to 200 containers weekly to the States! There's a light at the end of every tunnel!

 

[Pete Lewis]

as for failing batteries i have used Rob at Recell your battery for a economical refurb 

https://toolbatteriesrepair.co.uk/

[chrishawley]

It's a well made point that using a Dewalt DC725 (or its current equivalent) as a reference point is hardly setting a high standard. But for my purposes it would be a minimum standard. If typical 240v combis didn't even meet that level of capability then that would rule them out from further consideration. On the other hand my 'big' 230v Dewalt  is a 218055 and is only 710w but has the capability/durability for everything I need - if only that level of performance were available in a physically smaller unit.

A part of the equation is that I have to share my tools across hobby and work and the latter results in 'disappearance' and 'abusebyotherstodestruction' with depressing frequency which rather inhibits the wllingness to spend on the best.

Looks like 'going 240v retro' is not that promising. Since I'm in for £££lots to rekit anyway I guess I just have to bite the bullet and buy some stuff and see what it's like in practice. But I remain open to suggestions before unpadlocking the wallet(!).

[Badwolf]

Sounds like you need to padlock the toolbox not just the wallet

[chrishawley]

Batteries v 240v drills. I've got something of an answer now. I borrowed a load of drills and did some bench tests and applied them to some practical tasks. I won't tediously go into all the details but it gist is this: Where 18v drills are concerned there is a direct correlation between price point and function. A £200 Hikoki outperforms a £100 Dewalt outperforms a £60 Bauer and so on. There are no bargains!

But the best of the 18v drills was about comparable to a second hand Bosch CSB500 240v. This really showed up when drilling out some manifold studs on which the Bosch performed faultlessly - partially I suspect by virtue of having a decent Jacobs keyed chuck.

 No hard and fast conclusion here. But I'm sold on the idea that a proper branded 240v is a very good thing to have. But I've also learnt that you get exactly what you pay for. Economy products (Silverline, McAlister, unbranded Chinese, 18v or 240v) are simply a waste of money.

Because I was testing things systematically I also got a more profound insight in what a GOOD THING cutting fluid is when drilling steel. But that's another story.

[Colin Lindsay]

1 hour ago, chrishawley said:

 No hard and fast conclusion here. But I'm sold on the idea that a proper branded 240v is a very good thing to have. But I've also learnt that you get exactly what you pay for. Economy products (Silverline, McAlister, unbranded Chinese, 18v or 240v) are simply a waste of money.

I ended up looking at what the professionals use after my cheapie Black and Decker, and my really cheapie Parkside screwdriver / drills gave up the ghost. Milwaukee seems to be a good brand, certainly they're heavily promoted in the Builders Merchants' I use, but I went for a De Walt at just over £100 and it's tremendous. I've just used it on two front suspension units and it turned the spring compressor faultlessly. 

This morning I was at both the Shotblasters (who does metal fabrication as his main job) and the In-Law's Engineering Works and they were both drilling away with milky cutting fluid running everywhere. The thickness of steel that they drill would burn out any tools I have in seconds.

[PeteH]

34 minutes ago, Colin Lindsay said:

milky cutting fluid

What in my days on machine maintenance was referred to as "Bosh", no idea why?. It is/was a water based lubricant emulsion designed to remove excess heat and lubricate the tool(s). (And according to my Dermatologist, largely responsible for my tendency to intolerance to many "oils" these days!!), believe it or not we often washed our hands in it at the end of a shift! Modern H&SE would have gone potty!. Guys who smoked would transfer it from fingers to their "roll-ups" and continue smoking!.

[daverclasper]

1 hour ago, PeteH said:

Modern H&SE would have gone potty!.

Good ole (or modern) "Elf and Safety" then, I reckon, on some levels

[ahebron]

One school of thought is go buy the cheap tools abuse them and take them back under warranty for replacement.
Not something I personally do as using them for work I need good stuff but a powdercoater I knew got sick of his staff abusing the tools so he went to the hardware shop and bought cheap ones and replaced them regularly at no cost to himself.

[Peter Truman]

I use DeWalts & have done for 30 years I upgraded to brushless and Lion batteries around 5 years ago, my son needed a bigger replacement for his AG? battery drill so he brought a Bunnings 20v Ozito cheapie, powerwise it is within a midgies dick of my DeWalt, it comes with two 3Ah Lion batteries and charger, guaranteed for 5 years nonprofessional use, and cost only 1/3 of my deWalts, I'm impressed and he's happy, esp because I paid for it!

I still use my old DeWalt NiCad 14v drill the most, no electronics in either the battery or drill it'll just keep going, unbustable & it's light!

 

[PeteH]

Surprisingly, I have a now 20+year old B&D NiCad Hammer drill. Which saw sterling service and abuse during a 2+ year house build which is still going, it can still punch it`s way through 2 leaf`s of house wall! with an 8 or 12mm drill from a standing start. I can still get the batteries off the net at around 15quid each. The same battery(s) run another 2 drill`s and the Hedge trimmer. All B&B. I understand the same batteries will fit the Early DeWalt NiCad kit as well?.

Pete