Advice please on power drills.

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kiwifidget

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#217920 18-Jul-2017 16:39

Well I never thought I'd be posting in here.

Rather than suffer indignity at the hands of Himself, I choose indignity at the hands of digital acquaintances instead.

I would like to know the difference between types of power drills and which I would need.

I've not had much joy with cordless power tools in the past. Batteries die and go obsolete, meaning you end up getting a whole new tool again.

So I'm thinking corded this time round, unless they are dearer than cordless.

I've looked online and I see impact drills, hammer drills, driver drills. Are there more?

And prices vary a lot. I guess you get what you pay for.

I have an attachment for cleaning tiles (basically a round scrubber attached to a drill bit looking thing).

So what would be recommended, it just needs to make the scrubber go round and round.

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#1824575 18-Jul-2017 16:46

Hate to disagree with your basic premise, but Li-Ion based cordless tools are amazing. If your last experience with a cordless drill wasn't with a Li_ion battery (Maybe it was Nicad or NIMH) then give it another go. They last longer, are much lighter and have more grunt. Go for at least 18V....

To clean tiles you only want one that goes round, so avoid impact/hammer drills and impact drivers.

Cheers - N

Please note all comments are from my own brain and don't necessarily represent the position or opinions of my employer, previous employers, colleagues, friends or pets.

mdf

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#1824594 18-Jul-2017 16:57

Couple of good threads here and here.

TBH, for a scrubby thing, you're better off with cordless. Battery technology has come a long way and most interchangeable battery systems (e.g. Ryobi One Plus) have been the same for years and there will be an outcry if they ever change them. But because battery tech is now quite good, corded drills tend to be reserved for the super grunty application. As a result, most corded drills will only drill (i.e. can't really be used to drive screws easily).

In terms of types of drill:

- Drill = drill

- Drill/Driver = drill + screwdriver modes

- Impact driver = only a screwdriver

- Hammer drill = has a mode for drilling into bricks, concrete and masonry.

If you're shopping at Bunnings, in order of quality/price (those two go inversely), the brands are (approximately):

XU1 < Ozito < Ryobi < AEG < Makita/Dewalt

Ozito will probably be fine for you, and Bunnings has a pretty no-questions-asked returns policy if it breaks. Ryobi is really good quality and would serve you really well if you ever needed to actually drill holes in something.

richms

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#1824598 18-Jul-2017 17:00

If getting ozito, get the powerxchange range. They have cheaper ones which are specific batteries and you will end up orphaned on those ones.

The ryobi cheap kit drill is pretty junk, but would be fine for what you want and gets you onto the platform when you decide to get a hedge trimmer or something else in the future.

Richard rich.ms

timmmay

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#1824605 18-Jul-2017 17:06

I have a Bosch 18V drill, the same as this one on Flybuys. It works well. Battery lasts so long I don't know how long it lasts. It's much more convenient that a corded drill. The batteries fit other Bosch tools, but I don't have any.

You can probably get extremely cheap corded drills that will work fine for a while, then toss them out. But I'd go cordless.

Ropata

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#1824611 18-Jul-2017 17:15

Have you thought about an AEG angle grinder from Bunnings? It will have the attachment you need, is way more powerfull and has 6 year warranty.

kiwifidget

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#1824613 18-Jul-2017 17:16

Ozito is one of the brands I've had battery issues with, though it wasnt a powerxchange unit.

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kiwifidget

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#1824615 18-Jul-2017 17:18

Ropata:

Have you thought about an AEG angle grinder from Bunnings? It will have the attachment you need, is way more powerfull and has 6 year warranty.

A what now?

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Bung

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#1824618 18-Jul-2017 17:20

Any water associated with this tile scrubbing would be another good reason to go cordless.

Ropata

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#1824619 18-Jul-2017 17:20

I take it you're polishing the tops of the tile?

kiwifidget

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#1824622 18-Jul-2017 17:27

Yes, trying to remove water mineral buildup. An easy enough job, but its a large area and I have sore elbows so looking for mechanical help.

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chevrolux

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#1824624 18-Jul-2017 17:29

Dewalt, Bosch, Makita in that order would be my picks.

In all honesty though, I'm just a bit of a dewalt fan boy. But the 18V range is very very hard to go past. The drill now has a proper self-centering chuck, metal gearbox etc. And you can get a kit the 4AH batteries which are just awesome and grunty. No problem pushing a big auger through timber. Plus has a hammer mode for little masonry jobs.

The Bosch drills are real nice too, decent batteries etc. Only let down is the chuck is a bit average.

And then Makita, very nice drill, but IMO batteries aren't as up there as Dewalt.

richms

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#1824633 18-Jul-2017 17:39

kiwifidget:

Ozito is one of the brands I've had battery issues with, though it wasnt a powerxchange unit.

The previous ones (and I assume the non powerxhcange ones) are just OEM gear that they order from whoever makes them in the right color injection molding with the right logo on it. The OEMs will retool quite often to deliver new models to their customers and do not care about battery compatibility.

If you still have the ones with stuffed batteries then try returning it to bunnings since they cannot supply replacement parts for it. You might find you get some credit to apply to your new one ;)

Richard rich.ms

JimmyH

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#1824708 18-Jul-2017 19:05

It's horses for courses, and it really depends on intended use.

Corded is more powerful, and likely cheaper. Cordless can be more convenient, and fine for most jobs, but have less power and the batteries do need to be charged. As a broad rule of thumb with cordless drills, the higher the voltage the greater the power.

I have an 18V predator (which is OK) and a 24V off-brand cordless (which was $40, has lasted 11+ years, and is surprisingly good). The plus is that there is no cord, and you can take them pretty much anywhere. I tend to use them for lighter work. Even the 12V Warehouse Colt one I had in the 90s was fine for light work.

I also have a 1150W corded drill. It cost about the same as an mid-range cordless. It's fairly heavy, and you have a cord trailing behind you. The pluses are never having to worry about battery charge, and simply amazing power compared to a cordless. For power and heavy duty work, it can't be beat. For instance, I used a stripping disc to take all the paint off an outside fence last year for repainting. The corded drill handled it without even breaking a sweat. Cordless drills would have been too under-powered to even contemplate for the job, and the batteries wouldn't have lasted in any event.

If it's a one-off job, involving a lot of scrubbing (ie running the drill constantly for quite some time, with load) I would be inclined to go corded. Probably cheaper and better for your intended use. BUT, if it's going to be used anywhere near water, make sure you have an RCD for safety etc.

kiwifidget

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#1824723 18-Jul-2017 19:38

There are RCD things in the switchboards so the whole house is RCD protected, yes?

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itxtme

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#1824733 18-Jul-2017 19:59

If you are doing decent surface area with a cleaning disk, I think it is unrealistic to expect a cordless drill to work for an extended period of time. How long does this job take? If it is longer than 12 minutes of consistent run time you are wasting your time with a cordless drill.

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