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Poor Man's Battery Powered Tools

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Brazen Bull

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I took the crappiest plastic 14v 6 1/2" battery powered circular saw on the planet, and tried it with a 12v sealed lead acid battery.
It worked pretty good on some pine stock! It struggled a bit with some hard maple. But I don't think this saw was ever very good even at its rated 18v anyways.
But on 12v, totally useful and usable! And for free as a discarded saw....whats to complain about?

I'm putting together a little 12v tool bag with a drill, saw, and angle grinder.

With my arsenal of trashpile 18v type power tools converted to 12v, hooking a trickle charge solar panel to the car battery, I can do light woodworking and grinding in my backyard.

I own real corded power saws but I wanted to see if I could make this stuff work on 12v.

Naysayers will and do laugh at the idea, but I tried it for a Sunday afternoon tinker project.

I can see a use for these tools converted for 12v for certain situations, if you can't oh well.
I made something useful out of landfill fodder. And it made me happy doing it.
 

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woody 73

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OP I have been in your shoes many a time, but what I found out, (just for me at least) is every time I am at junk shops I can find those old powered circular corded saws for not that much money, along with cheap cords also for sale. As far as saw blades these junk shops are always trying to sell used saw blades for scrap prices, but you will need a file to sharpen the saw blades if you go this route.

What I find is those old, corded saws have lots of power to cut most anything, but OP I can understand if you have no power outlets in your yard then you would need the cordless models.
 
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dnschmidt

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Where in the hell did you see $588.00 for a Milwaukee cordless circular saw. Last Christmas I bought two saws (7 1/4" and 6 1/2") at the Depot and got a free 8.0 Forge battery for the same price as the bare tool which was nothing close to that. Hell, the Milwaukee track saw goes for $450.

I have at least 50 Milwaukee batteries, the real ones not the fake ones, 2 Supercharges, 4 Rapid charges, and two six bay charges one rapid (3 M18 and 3 M12 at a time) the the second a six bay normal speed M18 sequential charger. Is your HD run by Jesse James?
 
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Brazen Bull

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dnschmidt said:
Where in the hell did you see $588.00 for a Milwaukee cordless circular saw. Last Christmas I bought two saws (7 1/4" and 6 1/2") at the Depot and got a free 8.0 Forge battery for the same price as the bare tool which was nothing close to that. Hell, the Milwaukee track saw goes for $450.

I have at least 50 Milwaukee batteries, the real ones not the fake ones, 2 Supercharges, 4 Rapid charges, and two six bay charges one rapid (3 M18 and 3 M12 at a time) the the second a six bay normal speed M18 sequential charger. Is your HD run by Jesse James?
Click to expand...
 
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Brazen Bull

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OP
B

Brazen Bull

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woody 73 said:
OP I have been in your shoes many a time, but what I found out, (just for me at least) is every time I am at junk shops I can find those old powered circular corded saws for not that much money, along with cheap cords also for sale. As far as saw blades these junk shops are always trying to sell used saw blades for scrap prices, but you will need a file to sharpen the saw blades if you go this route.

What I find is those old, corded saws have lots of power to cut most anything, but OP I can understand if you have no power outlets in your yard then you would need the cordless models.
Click to expand...
Guys, corded stuff is CHEAP. To easily be had in thrift stores, pawnshops, etc; they ARE cheap.
I'm saying ready to rock battery powered stuff especially circular saws.
Coming packed with the battery packs, the chargers. They want pretty good coin.

I converted some **** to 12v so I could do some light woodworking in my backyard off an old car battery.
And I thought it was fun doing it on a Sunday afternoon.
Figured somebody might even find it useful. People living off the grid with photovoltaic power systems or whatever.

EXCUSE ME ALL OVER THE PLACE veteran gaslighters, tool elitists and armchair smart butts!

I also noticed that it was a LOT quieter on 12v, and yes it will be less powerful, but I just had...what is that thing called.....oh... PATIENCE
and went slowly through what I was cutting. Why does everything need to be a race?
At 12v this stuff will probably last longer too.

I said my piece, forget it.
 
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mike93lx

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Brazen Bull said:
Its convenient for me, because this modification means the difference between being able to use power tools in my backyard and NOT being able to use power tools AT ALL.
Click to expand...
I'm glad that it's doing what you need.

Its incredibly easy to spend less than that on real cordless tools. But if this is the way you want to do it, send it
 
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mike93lx

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Brazen Bull said:
EXCUSE ME ALL OVER THE PLACE veteran gaslighters, tool elitists and armchair smart butts!
Click to expand...
Its always interesting seeing posts here that contain objectively impractical and usually illogical stuff then seeing the OP get defensive when he doesn't just get praise for doing it.

Not everything that we all do makes sense to everyone. That's ok.

And sarcasm/fun jabbing doesn't always come across in text.
 
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zendriver

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If the OP enjoys his tool setup, then have at it.

If others disapprove, it matters none.

Personally, I'll draw the line at Harbor freight.
 
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dscheidt

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zendriver said:
If the OP enjoys his tool setup, then have at it.

If others disapprove, it matters none.

Personally, I'll draw the line at Harbor freight.
Click to expand...
given a choice between HF's current offering, and an ancient tool run by a car battery, I'm going HF. ( I do find the OP's work pretty clever, and if it works for him, great. I'll use hand tools.)
 
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Brazen Bull

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I'm not seeking praise here to polish my ego. I have sour grapes and I am bewildered because of the instant gaslighting and unkind comments from some of my eminent peers for something merely novel I wanted to share, meant to amuse the experts and to impress nobody.
 
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KnurledNut

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Brazen Bull said:
I took the crappiest plastic 14v 6 1/2" battery powered circular saw on the planet, and tried it with a 12v sealed lead acid battery.
It worked pretty good on some pine stock! It struggled a bit with some hard maple. But I don't think this saw was ever very good even at its rated 18v anyways.
But on 12v, totally useful and usable! And for free as a discarded saw....whats to complain about?

I'm putting together a little 12v tool bag with a drill, saw, and angle grinder.

With my arsenal of trashpile 18v type power tools converted to 12v, hooking a trickle charge solar panel to the car battery, I can do light woodworking and grinding in my backyard.

I own real corded power saws but I wanted to see if I could make this stuff work on 12v.

Naysayers will and do laugh at the idea, but I tried it for a Sunday afternoon tinker project.

I can see a use for these tools converted for 12v for certain situations, if you can't oh well.
I made something useful out of landfill fodder. And it made me happy doing it.
Click to expand...
Man, I hate you edited your post. It had good info. You obviously understand electrical theory, not to mention being handy within your means and enjoying tinkering. I enjoyed reading your thoughts.
I have done something very similar with a cordless hydraulic rebar cutter. This tool costs a couple thousand dollars new but the batteries were old and NLA.
I know guys that keep an old 12v cordless drill in their rig with long leads to clamp directly to their battery as part of their emergency kit.
Thanks for your contibution and don’t be discouraged!:beer:
 
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Brazen Bull

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dscheidt said:
given a choice between HF's current offering, and an ancient tool run by a car battery, I'm going HF. ( I do find the OP's work pretty clever, and if it works for him, great. I'll use hand tools.)
Click to expand...
Harbor Freight, I don't have any of their tools, never seen them around where I am or loose at thrift stores or bins.
But I hear they are getting better and better with time, their quality coming up rapidly the past few years.
 
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dscheidt

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Brazen Bull said:
Harbor Freight, I don't have any of their tools, never seen them around where I am or loose at thrift stores or bins.
But I hear they are getting better and better with time, their quality coming up rapidly the past few years.
Click to expand...

HF still sell some absolute garbage, but the current cordless tools are apparently pretty good, mostly.
 
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Oregon Dave

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I have done the same thing to DeWalt 14.4V tools (also in the not so desirable category) & jumper leads; keep a set in the pick-up tool box and a set in the boat - just in case.
 
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neophyte

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Cordless tools generally didn’t have anywhere near the claimed power level or runtime till Lithium batteries became common in the cordless tool market.
This was especially true for any tools other than cordless drills.
If a cordless circular saw claimed a 15 minute runtime with the highest duty battery the manufacturer made, usually, 5-6 minutes was about how long the batteries used to last.
That was with the better “professional brands”.
If you want to try running a cordless tool off a lead acid battery, why not?
The worst I can think that might happen if the battery has a higher voltage rating than the battery, is higher amperage draw, resulting in higher heat, and maybe some melted solder connections.
Just watch out for kickback with a circular saw, since lower speeds can lead to more likely kickback. (Watch out for your fingers, circular saws can be just as likely to take them as tablesaws).
 
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Brazen Bull

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KnurledNut said:
Man, I hate you edited your post. It had good info. You obviously understand electrical theory, not to mention being handy within your means and enjoying tinkering. I enjoyed reading your thoughts.
I have done something very similar with a cordless hydraulic rebar cutter. This tool costs a couple thousand dollars new but the batteries were old and NLA.
I know guys that keep an old 12v cordless drill in their rig with long leads to clamp directly to their battery as part of their emergency kit.
Thanks for your contibution and don’t be discouraged!:beer:
Click to expand...
I had to, I felt I was rambling and I was also feeding the naysayers with too many treats.
Thank you for the kind words.
Ah "emergency kit" that's the wording I was searching for!
 
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PugetDude

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Brazen Bull said:
I took the crappiest plastic 14v 6 1/2" battery powered circular saw on the planet, and tried it with a 12v sealed lead acid battery.
It worked pretty good on some pine stock! It struggled a bit with some hard maple. But I don't think this saw was ever very good even at its rated 18v anyways.
But on 12v, totally useful and usable! And for free as a discarded saw....whats to complain about?

I'm putting together a little 12v tool bag with a drill, saw, and angle grinder.

With my arsenal of trashpile 18v type power tools converted to 12v, hooking a trickle charge solar panel to the car battery, I can do light woodworking and grinding in my backyard.

I own real corded power saws but I wanted to see if I could make this stuff work on 12v.

Naysayers will and do laugh at the idea, but I tried it for a Sunday afternoon tinker project.

I can see a use for these tools converted for 12v for certain situations, if you can't oh well.
I made something useful out of landfill fodder. And it made me happy doing it.
Click to expand...
I have been working on powering all my cordless tools with a wireless nuclear reactor, but I'm not quite there yet.
 
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rust in the eye

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Sorry BB if my post offended.
Not knocking your resourcefulness just the Rube Goldbergness of it but it you are happy with it so am I. As long as you are now tethered may as well hook it up to a more serious battery, such as one from a car. Speed will remain reduced but it won't stall (burn perhaps) in the hardwood, even with that blade.
Cheers
 
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Brazen Bull

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rust in the eye said:
Sorry BB if my post offended.
Not knocking your resourcefulness just the Rube Goldbergness of it but it you are happy with it so am I. As long as you are now tethered may as well hook it up to a more serious battery, such as one from a car. Speed will remain reduced but it won't stall (burn perhaps) in the hardwood, even with that blade.
Cheers
Click to expand...
It is my intention to use a car battery for using this in my backyard or if need be off a solar panel system,
I just had that sealed lead acid battery handy for test purposes.
I never meant to imply that converting these tools to 12v meant they are portable hang off the belt tools anymore.
The intention is to make useless junk useful and to work with the ubiquitous 12v battery in emergency/solar/automotive use.
 
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BombShelter

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Fun times although the saw might cut 100x better with a good Freud/Diablo Carbide Blade!

This guy on YouTube is great, he finds cool stuff, sometimes unbelievable, in the local scrap yard and fixes it up, the last one had power tools!


www.youtube.com

The Post Apocalyptic Inventor

This is a science and technology channel mainly focused on electrical and mechanical engineering. https://www.patreon.com/TPAI https://www.subscribestar.com/TPAI
www.youtube.com www.youtube.com
 
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neophyte

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Brazen Bull said:
It is my intention to use a car battery for using this in my backyard or if need be off a solar panel system,
I just had that sealed lead acid battery handy for test purposes.
I never meant to imply that converting these tools to 12v meant they are portable hang off the belt tools anymore.
The intention is to make useless junk useful and to work with the ubiquitous 12v battery in emergency/solar/automotive use.
Click to expand...
The original “cordless” tools, used to use a separate larger battery pack, connected to the tool by a cable, If I’m not mistaken.
 
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dclark2171

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Feb 19, 2024
Messages
186
Brazen Bull said:
I took the crappiest plastic 14v 6 1/2" battery powered circular saw on the planet, and tried it with a 12v sealed lead acid battery.
It worked pretty good on some pine stock! It struggled a bit with some hard maple. But I don't think this saw was ever very good even at its rated 18v anyways.
But on 12v, totally useful and usable! And for free as a discarded saw....whats to complain about?

I'm putting together a little 12v tool bag with a drill, saw, and angle grinder.

With my arsenal of trashpile 18v type power tools converted to 12v, hooking a trickle charge solar panel to the car battery, I can do light woodworking and grinding in my backyard.

I own real corded power saws but I wanted to see if I could make this stuff work on 12v.

Naysayers will and do laugh at the idea, but I tried it for a Sunday afternoon tinker project.

I can see a use for these tools converted for 12v for certain situations, if you can't oh well.
I made something useful out of landfill fodder. And it made me happy doing it.
Click to expand...
I don't see a problem with it. You are getting good use out of older tools which would be tossed.
 
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Brazen Bull

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I remember watching cartoon Beetlejuice in the 90's as a kid, there was one episode where I kinda remember Lydia being somewhere with a laser pistol and it was connected to a power box on her belt by an umbilical cable; I liked that idea.
I like the idea of 3D printing a box that can clip to my belt like a tape measure with the 18650s in it and having a cable going to my Milwaukee Fuel M18 drill with a blank piece also 3D printed for the **** of the drill.
It would take some weight out of the drill for my scrawny arm. And potentially I could make use of any 18v power pack
and not Milwaukee's proprietary over priced lithium battery packs that DON'T do cell charge balancing.
 
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neophyte

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Brazen Bull said:
I remember watching cartoon Beetlejuice in the 90's as a kid, there was one episode where I kinda remember Lydia being somewhere with a laser pistol and it was connected to a power box on her belt by an umbilical cable; I liked that idea.
I like the idea of 3D printing a box that can clip to my belt like a tape measure with the 18650s in it and having a cable going to my Milwaukee Fuel M18 drill with a blank piece also 3D printed for the **** of the drill.
It would take some weight out of the drill for my scrawny arm. And potentially I could make use of any 18v power pack
and not Milwaukee's proprietary over priced lithium battery packs that DON'T do cell charge balancing.
Click to expand...
Hilti used to make a system like that for one of the older battery series.
 

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