Porter Cable PCL180DK 2 18v Half Inch Lithium-Ion Cordless Drill Review

Posted on 2011/05/01 by admin

If you find the job of finding a suitable cordless drill for use at home or even for carrying professional work in workshops to be quite daunting, here’s a good news for you. The Porter-Cable cordless drill is a remarkable tool. It’s lightweight and therefore comfortable to use and successfully delivers the results that are expected of handheld cordless drills. Despite its compact size, it gives extraordinary performance and has impressive looks. You’ll surely find it handy for doing all the miscellaneous jobs at home and even in the workshop.

Apart from performing its intended function of drilling, the next most important feature that one looks for in a cordless drill is the capacity of its battery. It’s a very frustrating experience if the battery suddenly runs down when you are in the middle of an important operation. It will be big relief for you to know that this cordless drill is provided with batteries that have proven long life and get charged very fast. Li-Ion batteries get charged in less than an hour. Moreover, the charge lasts much longer than the Ni-cad battery. You’ll not feel the sudden loss of charge, as you are able to feel the gradual loss of power, which is a good indication that the battery needs to be charged.

This 18 V cordless drill is designed to function and deliver the performance expected of an 18 V handheld drill. It has the power and the torque, yet wonderfully suffices to carry many simple jobs that don’t require so much of power for doing the job perfectly well.

This cordless drill is designed to have a 2-speed ½ inch keyless chuck. You can choose to use this drill at different speeds that can be easily adjusted, making it the most preferred machine. As you know, the drill speed has to be adjusted as per the material being drilled, you can use this drill for wider applications. Further you can adjust its torque to 24 positions. For all the jobs around your home, like screwing or unscrewing the toys and kitchen utensils, you should be using only low speed , for using it at high speed for such jobs would rip off the head of the screw.

However, there is a design limitation with the Porter-Cable cordless drill. Its design includes an LED fixed just above the trigger. That is not a very ideal position for the LED. In its present location it makes the tip of the drill to be covered by the shadow of the keyless chuck. If the design could be slightly modified to shift it to a more comfortable position it would be of immense help.

Porter-Cable is a name reputed for reliability among power tools. This powerful tool facilitates handling of tough tasks. It sells for $189.99, which is quite affordable if you are looking for a dependable cordless drill for normal household jobs and even for small workshops. You may order your Porter Cable cordless online or procure one from your local hardware store, though you get the best prices when shopping online.

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Choosing The Best Lithium-Ion Cordless Drill

Posted on 2011/03/04 by admin

One very common and important tool in the toolbox of any DIY enthusiast and a professional is a cordless drill. This important tool is available in wide ranging specifications and you are likely to find about fifty models of this equipment in any hardware store.

Availability of this useful tool in such a large range of specifications could make it quite difficult for one to choose an appropriate machine that would best suit the requirements. So, here’s a brief description of some of the more popular rage of cordless drills, which should come handy if you are considering buying one for your toolbox.

Battery Type

Usually, nickel-cadmium (NICAD) batteries have been employed for the operation of such drill machines. A major difficulty with use of NICAD batteries has been that they develop” memory effect”. The battery gets prone to remain charged partially, but gives the indication of being fully charged, thus giving you substantially reduced time of operation.

Newer models of cordless drills are beginning to come with lithium-ion (Li-Ion) batteries. Li-Ion batteries have some definite advantages, compared to NICAD batteries. For one they don’t have “memory effect”, thus offering longer hours of operation. They last longer and deliver more power. Another good thing about lithium-ion cells is that they are lighter in weight than equivalent NICAD cells.

You can get these drills with battery packs that offer voltage varying from 9.6 to 24 volts. You also get batteries delivering higher voltage of 18 to 24 volts, but these are mostly used for operation of industrial impact wrenches and hammer drills.

Though cordless drills with lithium-ion batteries are a bit more expensive than the ones with NICAD batteries, it’s worth investing a bit more if you want to derive the benefits already pointed out.

Drill-Drivers are certainly the most popular kind of cordless drill. They perfectly fit the requirements of most household jobs and may even be used for light constructional jobs. You get these with a chuck size of 3/8 or ½”. For any DIY enthusiasts, 3/8” size proves worthwhile. Drills with a chuck size of ½ “ can be used for a wider range of applications as they offer more torque but are heavier and bulky.

The development of technology for making improved Lithium Ion battery has led to the development of compact drills, which are but smaller versions of drill-driver machines. Professionals as well as hobbyists will find them useful for reaching restricted areas for light to medium duty drilling operations. Some of them are so designed that you can easily carry one in the pocket of your jacket or pant. Their compact size and lightweight finds favor with women who like to use drilling equipment for whatever purpose.

Impact drivers are only used for driving of nuts and bolts. These are most suited for auto technicians who are required to change tires frequently or those specializing with break work. Their design is not suitable for other applications like boring of wood. However, some are specifically designed to be used for driving and boring applications as per requirements.

Hammer drills are the largest of cordless drills. Some models are as big and powerful as their corded counterparts. These drills are mostly used for boring holes in concrete and for not so heavy masonry work. You need them quite often for home construction for fastening studs to the concrete.

The above information, though quite primary, should come handy while buying an appropriate drill for the kind of work you may be handling more often and thus save you a lot of time and money.

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Makita 18v Lithium Ion Cordless Drill Review

Posted on 2010/12/01 by admin

There are two models of 18v lithium ion cordless drills offered by Makita. These are: the BDF451 and the BDF452. Though the two have many features in common, the two are quite different, including a price difference of $100. The two are distinguishable from the color as the BDF451 comes in blue color, while the BDF452 has a white color. To make the comparison we’ll address them by their color.

The White one is meant for homeowners and low-end contractors, whereas the more expensive Blue is intended for professionals who regularly need to use cordless drills. The dissimilarity, and the disparity in price, is understandable.

Let’s look at the technical specifications of the two. The Watt Hours of the batteries employed in two is different. The Blue has 3 AH batteries at 18V, giving an output of 54-Watt hours, whilst the White comes with 1.5 AH batteries at 18V, yielding 27-Watt hours. So, the running time of the Blue is double of the White, provided with cheaper batteries to match its low price. Even the chargers are different. Though both the models include a fan, the Blue’s charger has an optimum temperature controller that gives a more uniform charge.

Now, let’s consider the torque rating of the two. The white one using a two-speed transmission delivers a torque of 450, compared to 560 of the Blue that employs a three-speed transmission.

Of course, both the models have the high quality and durability for which Makita is reputed. So, your choice of model will be decided by the frequency of use and the duration of each use. The White one would ideally suit a homeowner that is surely an improvement from the 18v Ni-Cad models, though the professional will be pleased to get the Blue one for its longer running time and higher torque rating.

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How To Buy A Lithium Drill

Posted on 2010/11/26 by admin

With the introduction of lithium drills, the cordless tool market is undergoing a change, and for a good reason. Lithium drills provide more and that in any case is welcome. It also reduces the overall weight of the equipment, being lighter in weight.

Most of the known manufacturers are now offering lithium drill. So, you get a wide selection to choose from. Rather than specifying or recommending a particular tool to my clients, I believe in making them aware of the plus or minus features of the device and let them choose what they like. Here, I give you some information on lithium drills that would prove helpful to you in understanding the characteristics of lithium drills and thus enables you to make a wise decision.

Lithium batteries are quite different from the NiCad and NIMH batteries that you might have been using all this while. They can offer a lot more energy in a smaller package and knowing what they can or can’t offer in a lithium drill can save you of some frustration.

Another feature of a lithium drill is that it sustains its power till the battery gets drained, and then it just quits. Now, when you go to a site and the battery is dead, on charging it for 5-10 minutes, you will get full power (mind you full power, not full run time). You need the full charge for both!). Now that’s a great feature of the lithium drill and many of the jobs will find this feature of great help.

A lithium battery is far lighter than a comparable battery of the same voltage. That goes to reduce the overall weight of the tool you are handling, thus reducing strain on the muscles. Remember, power equals voltage multiplied by current. So, when you use a 12 volt, an 18 volt or even a 36 volt lithium drill you get much more power and still get the same run time of 12 volt, keeping almost the same weight.

Well there are two sides to any coin and so has this drill. It has certain limitations. At the outset is its cost, but with an increasing number of manufacturers coming out with such machines, the price is gradually coming down. Then, lithium drills have an inherent problem to its functioning in winters. Lithium batteries wouldn’t take full load when it becomes too cold. Under such weather, you need to warm the battery a bit. This could be as simple as keeping the battery in your pocket for sometime to get it warmed up. Alternatively, just run the drill without any load till it gets warmed up. Keeping this in mind will save you a lot of irritation when you are new to using lithium batteries.

There are many who think that this new battery technology is just a sales gimmick to push up sales of a new tool. Don’t think on those lines, for the new lithium drills are a world apart from the Nickel-Cadmium and NIMH tools. As a matter of fact the old version of DeWalt tools can work with lithium batteries.

If you are on the look out for a new cordless drill, don’t overlook a lithium drill. Its price is going down while the performance is moving up.

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