Cordless Tool Observations

[DPG]

My dad used to work on dairy equipment in Southern California. I would go with him on service calls and my job was to roll out his extension cords for his drill / driver, hammer drill, etc. and then just watch him repair whatever was not working. Fast forward many years when I was framing houses and I got my 1st cordless drill. It was a Panasonic and I loved it. I would use it to drive 1/4” lags in 3x12 stair stringers. A few more years down the road and I’ve used Mikita, Bosch, Dewalt and Milwaukee. These days, I buy Dewalt stuff for my guys and to keep separation from my employer, Milwaukee for my personal stuff. My dad was long gone before he got to really play with the good cordless stuff. He would have loved it all. So my thoughts after 30 plus years as a hands on commercial general contractor - all 4 that I mentioned above are excellent. They take abuse, neglect and keep going unless you hand them to the totality inept. Pick what ever makes you happy and are comfortable with. I was fortunate enough to take a tour of the Peterbuilt factory in Denton Texas a few years ago. They had an amazing amount of Makita cordless stuff that they use. The electricians on my projects use Milwaukee. Framers, plumbers and drywallers like Dewalt. Last couple of years, I’m seeing the framers are trading in their Skill 77s for the Dewalt 60v 7 1/4 saws. I must admit that I was put out with Dewalt when they went from 18 to the 20 v. We had a big investment in the 18v stuff, but after a while it is obvious that the 20v is hands down the better. I just hope that if they do it again, they will keep the same physical battery size. Most of the stores where we buy tools in Colorado have big selections of Dewalt and Milwaukee. About half as much stuff from Bosch or Makita. Too bad because the Makita stuff is well made. Bosch don’t seem to have as much offerings. I have no personal experience with Ryobi stuff. I see it on my job sites for a while and then they seem to disappear and get replaced with one of the 4 mentioned above. I have never seen Hitachi cordless tool on my jobs, yet the NR 83A is the gold standard of framing nailers.
In my 6 years or so on GJ, this is by far the longest post I have ever wrote. I hope someone gets some usable info from it!

 

[Paul_The_Builder]

I'm 33. When I was a kid and I helped my dad with stuff around the house it was all corded stuff. By the time I got into the trades, the 18v Lithium tools were just hitting the market. I bought into the Makita LXT system back when they only offered like 12 tools.

I often think at work, "how much more difficult would it be to do what I'm doing if quality 18v cordless tools didn't exist?". I was going through my work truck about a year ago, and found 3 extension cords. I then realized that I no longer had any corded tools, after I had replaced my SDS hammer drill with an 18v model.

As much as people like to **** on cordless tools for being disposable or whatever, they sure are convenient.

 

[Ign]

I'm 33. When I was a kid and I helped my dad with stuff around the house it was all corded stuff. By the time I got into the trades, the 18v Lithium tools were just hitting the market. I bought into the Makita LXT system back when they only offered like 12 tools.

I often think at work, "how much more difficult would it be to do what I'm doing if quality 18v cordless tools didn't exist?". I was going through my work truck about a year ago, and found 3 extension cords. I then realized that I no longer had any corded tools, after I had replaced my SDS hammer drill with an 18v model.

As much as people like to **** on cordless tools for being disposable or whatever, they sure are convenient.

Not only that but if you're getting paid for the work being completed, time is money. Who cares if they're (somewhat) disposable or more expensive? In my cases they pay for themselves in short order with increased convenience and productivity. After that everything is gravy.

 

[richfinn]

I'm 33. When I was a kid and I helped my dad with stuff around the house it was all corded stuff. By the time I got into the trades, the 18v Lithium tools were just hitting the market. I bought into the Makita LXT system back when they only offered like 12 tools.

I often think at work, "how much more difficult would it be to do what I'm doing if quality 18v cordless tools didn't exist?". I was going through my work truck about a year ago, and found 3 extension cords. I then realized that I no longer had any corded tools, after I had replaced my SDS hammer drill with an 18v model.

As much as people like to **** on cordless tools for being disposable or whatever, they sure are convenient.

Definately a time and place for cordless tools in the right hands

Less so in the Automotive Trades, in my opinion at least

 

[subroc]

I am in love with the modern battery powered tools. All of them. I worked as an auto mechanic, a small engine mechanic as well as some heavy equipment repair. All that work was done with air tools. Spent 30 years at a shipyard. Most of that work was done with air tools and corded power tools. Dragging air lines and extension cords down to the ship was a challenge in itself. My introduction to modern battery powered tools was a 14.4 Dewalt battery powered drill. That was a nice tool. I paid a premium for it too. Retail. No sale price. Used it for years. I sold it an bought my 18 volt Dewalt kit. I still have a couple of the tools and use a battery adapter to power them. I have 25+ battery powered tools between the Dewalt 18 volt tools that I power with 20 volt batteries and adapters, 20 volt tools including yard tools and a 60 volt saw. I like them all. I still use some air tools. Have all my old mechanic stuff and a few of my nailers are air driven. but given an opportunity I will cut the cord or the air line and go with a battery powered tool when possible.

 

[DSLTECHMEDIC360]

My dad used to work on dairy equipment in Southern California. I would go with him on service calls and my job was to roll out his extension cords for his drill / driver, hammer drill, etc. and then just watch him repair whatever was not working.

I used to live in Chino. I grew up on a dairy and my grandparents also had dairies there to.

I’m a diesel mechanic and all my stuff is Milwaukee. Milwaukee, MAC tools/Dewalt, and snap on are the big 3 i see. I could careless for Snap-on. I hardly use my air tools any more. My die grinder and cut off wheel are the only air tools I use on the regular now.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Downwindtracker 2]

I started my Carpentry apprenticeship in '71. The first cordless electric tool I saw was the Skil drill with the battery pack that hung on your belt. An electrician had it. I used the company 9.6 Makita for driving trailer screws 10 years later. Handy, but nothing worth buying for myself. I did pick up a 14.4 Dewalt drill driver, but rarely used it, the battery was either always dead or needing replacement. Not impressed. I got stuck trying to nail/screw backing blocks in tight hole in the wall after some plumbing. I got one of the new brushless DeWalt 1/4" impact drivers. It was compact enough to fit. Boy what a pleasant surprise. The 20volt lithium-ion battery keeps a charge, I haven't replaced any, and was useful until it was dead, dead. No half speed. That tool was a revolution. One of the three in the last 50 years. I got a 1/2 impact to work on my truck in a campground. If I have air, I prefer my air impact, much lighter and more powerful. 35 years ago I switched trades to millwright, so I had al lot of experience with impacts. . I needed a battery for the impact so I picked up a 3/8 drill driver kit as well. With the small battery, I like it . With a large battery, it would be the same as dragging cords.

Cordless sawsalls have taken over from small chainsaws for quartering elk and moose. I should get one.

 

[icthruu74]

Yep my father did a lot of woodworking, home improvement, and as a sideline fiberglass work. I remember helping build forms for fiberglass work by drilling and driving slotted screws with a corded drill. With a keyed chuck.

Somewhere along the line he got a CM 12v drill with a keyless chuck, that was a game changer. Then a flip bit and switched to Phillips screws. Maybe 25 years ago I got a Dewalt 14.4 volt drill with 2 batteries! So one could be on the charger while you used the other. I still have the drill but the batteries are shot, I loved that drill so much I can’t bring myself to throw it out. Then maybe 20 years ago I was gifted a ryobi 18v set. I almost never break out the corded skilsaw, sawsall, or dril anymore. And I’ve added to it. And of course upgraded from NiCad to lithium batteries. I think Ryobi did it right by keeping the same battery system, as a home gamer, I still use some of those old blue tools, although the brushes are going in the drill. I went over to help the MIL with some work and even though I put an extension cord in the car I never even took it out. The only corded tool I used was the miter saw, and air compressor & nailer.

BTW, I’m going to ruffle some feathers here, but Dewalt 20V tools are actually 18 volts, they just named them 20V to distinguish them from their prior line. A lot of others have done similar - there is no true 12v battery tool, they are all 10.8v.

 

[anavrinIV]

I'm just a DIY guy and can buy any number of cordless tools and batteries for the price of a good air system. Air is great in a big shop or when you need to use it continuously for long periods but I do not have the space or power for a setup that will run that way, and the constant compressor noise from smaller tanks is beyond irritating in a 2 car garage.

I bought into Makita LXT about 5 years ago thanks to my now-father-in-law, he is a Makita dealer. I have since used plenty of Milwaukee M18 and Dewalt 20V, all of them are about the same as the other. The Dewalts, size for size, seem to be a bit weaker in some areas but still incredibly usable tools.

 

[subroc]

One interesting side note is power. These new battery powered tools have all the power needed to perform the given tasks. Clearly if manufacturers needed to really power a tool they could do it with a cord. But, manufactures know what the power requirements really are and give us tools to get the job done. Rarely, these days, do you hear the "old saw" that says these battery powered tools will never perform like a corded one. Dewalt even has a 12 inch miter saw that runs off batteries. The LI batteries have really changed the game.

 

[tyyost]

When the OP mentioned the Peterbilt factory I was struck by a production line choosing cordless battery tools rather than air or even corded electric given that would be easy to add in a manufacturing cell. In construction it always made sense to clear the clutter of cords. In a plant you can rout them from the ceiling or anywhere else to be convenient. I saw a similar setup with Milwaukee cordless at the KME Firetruck plant.

One of the things that have advanced battery tech beyond improvements in batteries and brushless motors is the efficiency of modern blades. Thin kerf blades changed how much raw torque was needed to run a saw of good quality. I’ve had cordless saws in Makita 9.6 - 3 3/8 blade, dewalt 18 volt 5 3/8 blade, makita 18 Li ion 6 1/2, and now I use a Milwaukee 6 1/2. Each one was a significant step up from useless to indispensable.

Long live cordless tools!

 

[Paul_The_Builder]

When the OP mentioned the Peterbilt factory I was struck by a production line choosing cordless battery tools rather than air or even corded electric given that would be easy to add in a manufacturing cell.

One of the things that have advanced battery tech beyond improvements in batteries and brushless motors

Brushless motors are the real unsung heroes of the current and future dominance of cordless tools. Once you have a microcontoller controlling a brushless motor, there are all sorts of cool things you can do with it, and once the circuit is made and the code is written, it generally doesn't add that much cost to the tool. That's why all the newer impacts from the major manufacturers have all sorts of neat features - auto stop, self tapper mode, speed select, etc. All those features are difficult (read: expensive) to implement on a corded tool, but not difficult nor terribly expensive to implement on a mass manufactured brushless cordless tool once the R&D has been done.

Its only going to get better in the near future. 10 years from now I'm pretty sure all major brand cordless saws will have advanced anti kickback features, drills and impacts will have all sorts of fancy speed/power select. Maybe impact wrenches will start having semi reliable torque settings.

It'll be like smartphones. Once smartphones reached a certain threshold of standard features, they could do all sorts of things that 10 years ago seemed like science fiction.

 

[lardy1]

I'm one of those dinosaurs that isn't going to replace high quality corded tools that he's used for years that still work just fine and dies from tripping over his power cord.

 

[vavet]

This is why I've started selling off some of my infrequently used corded tools. I sold a corded DeWalt recip saw and a corded DeWalt driywall screwdriver last week. I have a cordless recip saw and I hope never have to do drywall work again.

I have no plans to replace my corded belt sander or router. I don't use them enough to justify an investment in a cordless model. A cordless jigsaw would be nice and if the right deal came along, I might go for it. For me, it's about less clutter in my workspace, and not having to switch which cord if plugged into the extension cord that makes the cordless tools worthwhile.

I have a ~18 year old C-man corded circular saw and a Ridgid cordless. I'm keeping both because it's nice to have different blades set in them when working on a project. If it was frequent, I would buy a second cordless unit, but not for how i use them.

I predict my next major purchase will be an upgraded air compressor.

 

[Downwindtracker 2]

On large construction sites, cords were a pain. The cords were heavy SO rubber covered 12 guage. They were expensive as well. A cord would cost more than the Skilsaw it ran, twice as much if you had to run two. Two on your shoulders and you knees would buckle. Generators were heavy unreliable units that produced power of highly questionable voltage. My wife packs a suitcase heavier than 2000 watt inverter generator. If we could get away with just using a handsaw, we did.

 

[DPG]

I used the company 9.6 Makita for driving trailer screws 10 years later. Handy, but nothing worth buying for myself.

I remember those!



BTW, I’m going to ruffle some feathers here, but Dewalt 20V tools are actually 18 volts, they just named them 20V to distinguish them from their prior line. A lot of others have done similar - there is no true 12v battery tool, they are all 10.8v.[/QUOTE]

Then why do the 20v work so much better?



I'm one of those dinosaurs that isn't going to replace high quality corded tools that he's used for years that still work just fine and dies from tripping over his power cord.

If I’m doing a lot of respective cuts, it’s always the Skill 77. Still.



If we could get away with just using a handsaw, we did.

I actually had a guy tell me that he was having problems with his compressor one day and that he would not be able to nail off the item on his punch list. Him and his helper both had hammers on their tool belts. I don’t know what the problem was. Kinda funny these days that I see the guys with the expensive hammers -Stiletto? Yet I never see them use them. Never a hand saw!

 

[DeeKay]

Then why do the 20v work so much better?

The voltage is still the same(18v nominal, 20v max) but the cells are getting better and better, the motors are more powerful and efficient, programming is smarter etc.

All 20 volt batteries are 18 volt batteries and all 18s are 20s if that makes any sense. Same as Milwaukee but they just marketed it differently. Dewalt decided to use the 20V MAX name because, well it sounds better, 20 is a bigger number than 18 so it must work better. And Max sounds cool....

 

[subroc]

The voltage is still the same(18v nominal, 20v max) but the cells are getting better and better, the motors are more powerful and efficient, programming is smarter etc.

All 20 volt batteries are 18 volt batteries and all 18s are 20s if that makes any sense. Same as Milwaukee but they just marketed it differently. Dewalt decided to use the 20V MAX name because, well it sounds better, 20 is a bigger number than 18 so it must work better. And Max sounds cool....

I am still using many of the 18v tools including 2 grinder/ cutoff tools, a cut out tool, circular saw, reciprocating saw among others with adapters and powering them with the 20 volt LI batteries. The adapters work fine. I believe in some foreign countries the LI batteries are badged and identified as 18 volts.

 

[Downwindtracker 2]

The most important difference with 20 volt DeWalts and the other 18 volt ones is that they are yellow. Chuckle.

 

[American Locomotive]

Then why do the 20v work so much better?

Lithium batteries can deliver a lot more current and instead of using small off-the-shelf metal-can DC motors, they switched to much larger completely custom bespoke motors. The newer brushless tools take that a step further.