What’s up with cordless drills these days?
Happy woodworking!
I have a topic I would like to bounce off of all of you to see what you think.
I have been shopping for a new cordless drill/driver to replace my old trusty DeWalt 14.4v 3/8 NiMH drill I have had for a decade. It’s showing its age and the new Li Ion drills are a lot lighter and more powerful. To that end I have been shopping all the brands doing comparo’s etc… I’m not going to ask you which one to buy because that’s not my issue. My issue is that all the drills I have looked at or bought and returned… all have the same problem.
The chucks wobble !!
What the hell?? Can’t any manufacturer make a drill with a chuck that runs true? It’s really rediculous. Here is a short list of the ones I have looked at tested.
DeWalt, Makita, Milwaukee, Rigid, Bosch, and most recently Hilti. Yes I just said H i l t i.
First I bought the DeWalt 20v (being a loyal DeWalt user) and its chuck was off by almost 40 thousandths. 40! Try to drill a hole on a mark (especially in metal) with the bit walking by that much. I went to 3 stores and also bought one on Amazon and all of them had the exact same wobble. I looked at the Bosch at a woodworking show and it was off too. I’m not looking at lower priced tools because I’m not the type who buys cheap twice. I have not seen the Hitachi yet. It’s like they are all buying the same bad transmission part from the same Chinese factory and there is NO QC going on.
My old beaten up DeWalt 14.4 runs true still (to about 2.5 thousandths per my dial indicator) and it has been repaired once and really abused on some projects. The Hilti I just bought (figuring if I spend that much and get European engineering I can’t go wrong) is off by 6 thousandths. Ok so this is not a lot, but it’s easily visible and will make a longer bit walk when you are drilling something other than wood and if you are drilling wood it will make the bit egg out the hole if you are not careful. All the tool reviews I have seen to date are ignoring the issue. Understand this. When you are a machinist, making a part for a tool, 5 thousandths off is a discard! Your variance should be less than a thousandth. Frankly, it’s not that hard!!
I’m trying to raise awareness and force the manufacturers to stop their sloppy build process and get it right.
What do you think? Am I being too picky?
Thanks,
Kevin
ps. I’m sorry if you now notice this on your drill…
Replies
Perhaps your drills are crooked. Thanks a lot. I was about to go to bed and now I have to gown to the shop to see if mine are doing the same thing.
Whoa there big fella
I don't spell so goode so tell me I got it wrong when I thought I read that you were up late and decided to go down to your shop in your gown to test your drill.
: )
I would relax guys , not about Swenson and his gown ( that is still deeply worrying ) , however I think if you had a chuck wobble you would have noticed by now. That is his point ; the chucks wobble so badly he can't ignore them; or use them.
Hey Swen . . . aaaah . . . by the way . . . who has the best selection? Any sales coming up I need to know about?
harumph that is . . . I mean . . . never mind . . . I'll send a privet message for more info.
( nah, nah, just kidding around ) stop looking at me like that.
Well what do you wear...
when you drink your before bedtime sherry? If you watched Downton Abbey instead of Tommy "sweeeet, guys" Mac you would know about these things. A dressing gown, not a ball gown silly.
Ah !
Cordless drill holster comes standard I imagine then ?
>silly<
No mearly rediculous. I haven't earned my silly credentials yet but am taking night courses. One day, one day.
Ah A Voice In The Wilderness
All this talk of precision and dial indicators and thousandths and stuff.
Does a person good to hear such things.
Welcome brother. Welcome !
Have you traveled far ? Have you seen others in the bush ?
(hey a whispered word o' warning go easy on the thousandths talk. Scares the locals. Makes 'em get a little lingalingaling. Starts em whispering witch and before you know it you will find yourself in the water to find out if you float or sink. Yah . . . Xnay on the thousandths-nay.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpMjakNhZTc
I can't help you otherwise. I have many drills from the nineties and earlier, if you can imagine, I have so many they share the load and don't wear much. Not a big cordless man here. My one Dewalt like your old one when I don't have a plug near. Almost never that is.
You may want to watch this DVD sometime. Explains a lot.
http://www.amazon.com/Idiocracy/dp/B000NB26NA/ref=sr_1_2?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1331499511&sr=1-2
One good word . . . I finally found the money and the fortitude to suppress my guilt and ordered a Metric, Starrett Last Word Indicator. Still made in America. I think I may have got the last one. OK . . . that's it . . . the last tool I will ever buy. Honest.
You may try two things as a last resort :
Pull the axle for the chuck from the drill you otherwise like best and face the seat for the chuck ( using a metal lathe ) to verify it is running square.
Face the seat on the chuck where it mates to the axle seat. Maybe grip the chuck onto a length of drill stock held in the metal lathe collet and so the chuck seat will be square to any bit you put in the drill chuck. Maybe. Unless the chuck is bad in its parts.
Failing the second thing perhaps try a precision chuck from another chuck supplier.
PS:
>It's really ridiculous<
Yes . . . you have heard the phrase "Pain is your friend " ?
Think of ridiculous as the modern version of pain.
Learn to laugh before you go mad.
Secure and read as many Douglas Adams books as you can as soon as possible ( and you may survive ).
http://www.amazon.com/The-Ultimate-Hitchhikers-Guide-Galaxy/dp/0345453743/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1331502535&sr=1-1
Oh and buy a metal lathe if you don't already have one. The modern version of the survival knife.
: )
Drill runout
Interesting!
I'll have to check my Makita.
How did you measure? Did you chuck up a 3/8 bit and measure off the shank, close to the chuck?
Frank
Measuring runout
Hi Frank,
I chucked a lathe mandrel that had zero runout in my drill and used a dial indicator to measure it. That should also answer the first post. Roc - If I had room in my garage I would certainly get a metal lathe. I agree, they are indispensable. One of my old neighbors was a machinist. I was always over there... He gave me my machinist education actually.
Anyway, I went back to the "very large chain store who is a Nascar sponsor" and tried a second Hilti drill and got the same results. It's a lot better than the DeWalt but I really wanted something less than 5 thousandths (sorry roc, I know... how else do I say it!). Anyway, I'm going to settle on the Hilti because besides this issue, the drill absolutely rocks.
This is becoming more widespread too. The Hilti rep told me a locksmith returned 6 Makita's for this issue because he could not use them in his work. This Hilti is fully warranteed for 2 years including the battery so I'll wait a year and then see if I can get a new chuck installed that doesn't have the runout.
K
chuck wobble
Hey!
This is ridiculous. I just bought a Bosch. I considered this "cordless drill for twenty pounds" nothing but a pice of junk. I didn't have enough money on me..so I decided to go for a Bosch. The least what I would expected was a stabilized chuck..but I was wrong. What the hell?? Isn't that possible to buy a normal piece nowadays? Six or seven years before a brand meant something...Bosch wasn't the best even then but I have never seen problems like this using a brand new power tool. Makita Dewalt or Hilti?? These brands meant that you got a tool for ten years...you could hit it smash it just do whatever you wanted because the tool survived everything. So...just what the hell happened?? Are there no quality stuff on the market anymore???
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