Woodwork Post

Went to HD to pick up some sandpaper the other day to work on the
kitchen remodel and cab refinish I am doing. The Milwaukee rep was
there, and he told me that HD was going to start carrying a pretty
full line of Milwaukee at some stores, and Hilti at others.

He showed asked me if I had seen the new little Milwaukee 12v Li drill/
driver. I immediately chuckled, thinking of the little Fisher/Price
see through drill I bought my nephew when he was 5.

He was adamant. These are real tools, he proclaimed. In my head, I
was still seeing the red plastic drill bit rotating as powered by two
double a batteries.

He plucked the MW 12v off the shelf. It was small. It had only 100
lbs of torque. (Again with the Fisher/Price image...) He let me try
it and I was pleasantly surprised at the power. It will honestly
drive a 3" * into soft wood without a pilot. He claimed it was
sold as being capable of driving 130 or so without a charge, but his
own personal experience put it at about 80+. Impressive. It was
something like $159, so I figured for someone it might be a good deal.

Seeing I wasn't buying, he asked if I had ever tried the Ridgid 12V Li
drill. I didn't even know they made one, and didn't care. Another
demo. Same driving capacity claimed, but with 120 lbs of torque, and
an LED headlight on it. It felt exactly like the MW in my hand.
Nice, but I am not a tool collector. Even at $129, I didn't bite.

But... they have a promo on now. For $129, you get TWO drills, two
batteries, the charger and a softside case. I bit. I often set up
two drill when working to do a line of repetition like one drill to
drill holes, one to drive.

Here's the skinny:

You get two batteries that charge one at a time in 30 minutes. There
is no memory; they discharge each time they charge.

This has a nice, heavy duty chuck on it that doesn't require hex ended
bits and drivers to work. All your bits will work as normal.

The drills AND batteries are covered in the lifetime warranty. If one
drill goes down and hits the warranty slow roll, you still have the
other to work with.

I am working on a kitchen refurb, one in which I am completely
refinishing the cabinets inside and out. When I do this, I remove all
hardware from doors, drawers and stiles, fill the holes, and dry fit
all the components. Then I drill new holes as needed, fit the
component hardware and component to my liking, and remove them once
more.

Here's what I have so far.

The little drill has a bunch of power. Not my Makita cordless hammer
drill power, but it's 1/3 the size. I was really surprised at how
much power those little batteries will transmit to the motor.

In 30 year old >hard< white oak, I drilled 238 holes 1/8" (diameter) X
5/8" deep, drove about 175 #6 screws, and changed bits about 45
times. I keep the same drill (testing the actual use and battery
time) and started with a full, fresh charge. All the the holes were
drilled, screws driven, etc. on just one charge.

The battery was recharged in 25 minutes.

I thought the LED light was a silly joke. It is until you get the bit
about 2" out of the chuck, and then it actually shines on the tip of
the drill bit and material. This was really handy inside the base
units when pulling the drawer hardware.

The batteries are in the handle, so it makes the drill a bit chunky in
the hand, but not uncomfortable.

The trigger has a really short throw, so it is a bit twitchy compared
to my bigger drills. It does speed increases and decreases accurately
though, with no jumping around in speed.

I like the fact it uses all my bits. Even in the small bits, the
chucks held tightly. On larger bits (I had to drill out a couple of
screws completely using a 3/8" bit) it held it easily as well.

The compact size it really, really, easy to get used to. It slipped
into the corners, around braces, and into my tool bags without any
problems. This is nice.

The housing has rubber bumpers around the case at strategic drop
points. This is a good idea as all the tools take a tumble now and
then, but the guys that design them never seem to take that into
consideration.

All in all, I think HD has a winner with this one. It actually seems
to do what it says it will, and more. And two for one, too. What a
pleasant surprise from the HD guys. I will be reattaching all doors,
hardware and drawer slides and hardware in the next few days. Rest
assured I will scream like a mashed cat if anything goes wrong.

Robert

Upscale,

Are the Dewalts made in the USA? I have an 18 volt Dewalt drill and saw that
I bought about 8 years ago I just bought my second set of batteries last
year and they have proved to be real workhorses in our home repair business.

Robert,

Nice score on the Milwaukee tools. I'll check them out today.

cm
"Upscale" wrote in message
news:bb935$49227762$cef88bc5$22576@TEKSAVVY.COM...
>
> wrote in message
>> All in all, I think HD has a winner with this one. It actually seems
>> to do what it says it will, and more. And two for one, too. What a
>> pleasant surprise from the HD guys. I will be reattaching all doors,
>> hardware and drawer slides and hardware in the next few days.
>
> A few months back, I bough a package set of DeWalt 18v cordless tools.
> Originally, I was going to buy Milwaukee since I was already a satisfied
> Milwaukee owner with a corded and cordless drill. It turns out now that
> the
> entire line was sold and is being manufactured overseas. That made me go
> with the DeWalt brand. If I can support mostly local production and get
> when
> I need, then that's the way I like to go.
>
> And, I'm really happy with the tools I got. They're powerful and work
> well.
> I considered going to one of the higher voltage packages in the DeWalt
> line,
> but the tools would have been just too heavy for my purposes.
>
>
>

cm" wrote

> Are the Dewalts made in the USA? I have an 18 volt Dewalt drill and saw
> that I bought about 8 years ago I just bought my second set of batteries
> last year and they have proved to be real workhorses in our home repair
> business.

The DeWalt 18v drill is the most ubiquitous cordless tool on any
construction site I've been on in the last 7 or 8 years.

>Robert,
> Nice score on the Milwaukee tools. I'll check them out today.

May be wrong, but I would have sworn Robert ended up with the Ryobi 12v iL?


--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 10/22/08
KarlC@ (the obvious)

"Swingman" wrote in message
news:fJmdnW_RBNDWUb_UnZ2dnUVZ_hmdnZ2d@giganews.com...
> cm" wrote
>
>> Are the Dewalts made in the USA? I have an 18 volt Dewalt drill and saw
>> that I bought about 8 years ago I just bought my second set of batteries
>> last year and they have proved to be real workhorses in our home repair
>> business.
>
> The DeWalt 18v drill is the most ubiquitous cordless tool on any
> construction site I've been on in the last 7 or 8 years.
>
>>Robert,
>> Nice score on the Milwaukee tools. I'll check them out today.
>
> May be wrong, but I would have sworn Robert ended up with the Ryobi 12v
> iL?


Humm I thought he ended up with the Ridgid. I'll go back and reread.

"Swingman" wrote in message
news:7sCdnf2c6rGdV7_UnZ2dnUVZ_j6dnZ2d@giganews.com...
> wrote
>
>> The compact size it really, really, easy to get used to. It slipped
>> into the corners, around braces, and into my tool bags without any
>> problems. This is nice.
>
> I never thought I'd say this, but, on that same "compact" note:
>
> And should anyone find a need for a bit smaller, lithium ion powered
> "* driver", for use when installing cabinet hardware, etc, (and the
> occasional small drilling job when mounting hardware) be sure to check
> out, of all things:
>
> the 3.6v Skil iXO!
>
> Amazingly long lasting little thing ... and under $40.
>
> I was looking for something _real_ small, that I could put in an apron
> pocket/tool belt, when installing drawer slides, door knobs and pulls,
> contemplated buying two because of their size/price and the need to have
> one always charged, but thus far have not been able to run that cheap
> little critter's lithium ion battery down during a normal day's use.
>
> Not in the same league with your larger Ryobi "compact", but neither are
> its requirements.
>
That is exactly the kind of tool that every electronic technician has on his
bench or in his tool kit. Verrrry handy!

On Nov 18, 8:08 am, "Swingman" wrote:

> May be wrong, but I would have sworn Robert ended up with the Ryobi 12v iL?

Nope. Ridgid, the Home Depot "house" brand.

Robert

2 Ridgif 12 volt drills with lifetime warranty for $129.00?

That is a deal, thanks for posting Robert.

I'm confused however, the Milwaukee rep sold you on the Ridgid drill???
Perhaps Milwaukee is making the drill for Ridgid now.



wrote in message
news:63bd4cc1-46c7-4d67-8ac4-469a538b1283@35g2000pry.googlegroups.com...
> Went to HD to pick up some sandpaper the other day to work on the
> kitchen remodel and cab refinish I am doing. The Milwaukee rep was
> there, and he told me that HD was going to start carrying a pretty
> full line of Milwaukee at some stores, and Hilti at others.
>
> He showed asked me if I had seen the new little Milwaukee 12v Li drill/
> driver. I immediately chuckled, thinking of the little Fisher/Price
> see through drill I bought my nephew when he was 5.
>
> He was adamant. These are real tools, he proclaimed. In my head, I
> was still seeing the red plastic drill bit rotating as powered by two
> double a batteries.
>
> He plucked the MW 12v off the shelf. It was small. It had only 100
> lbs of torque. (Again with the Fisher/Price image...) He let me try
> it and I was pleasantly surprised at the power. It will honestly
> drive a 3" * into soft wood without a pilot. He claimed it was
> sold as being capable of driving 130 or so without a charge, but his
> own personal experience put it at about 80+. Impressive. It was
> something like $159, so I figured for someone it might be a good deal.
>
> Seeing I wasn't buying, he asked if I had ever tried the Ridgid 12V Li
> drill. I didn't even know they made one, and didn't care. Another
> demo. Same driving capacity claimed, but with 120 lbs of torque, and
> an LED headlight on it. It felt exactly like the MW in my hand.
> Nice, but I am not a tool collector. Even at $129, I didn't bite.
>
> But... they have a promo on now. For $129, you get TWO drills, two
> batteries, the charger and a softside case. I bit. I often set up
> two drill when working to do a line of repetition like one drill to
> drill holes, one to drive.
>
> Here's the skinny:
>
> You get two batteries that charge one at a time in 30 minutes. There
> is no memory; they discharge each time they charge.
>
> This has a nice, heavy duty chuck on it that doesn't require hex ended
> bits and drivers to work. All your bits will work as normal.
>
> The drills AND batteries are covered in the lifetime warranty. If one
> drill goes down and hits the warranty slow roll, you still have the
> other to work with.
>
> I am working on a kitchen refurb, one in which I am completely
> refinishing the cabinets inside and out. When I do this, I remove all
> hardware from doors, drawers and stiles, fill the holes, and dry fit
> all the components. Then I drill new holes as needed, fit the
> component hardware and component to my liking, and remove them once
> more.
>
> Here's what I have so far.
>
> The little drill has a bunch of power. Not my Makita cordless hammer
> drill power, but it's 1/3 the size. I was really surprised at how
> much power those little batteries will transmit to the motor.
>
> In 30 year old >hard< white oak, I drilled 238 holes 1/8" (diameter) X
> 5/8" deep, drove about 175 #6 screws, and changed bits about 45
> times. I keep the same drill (testing the actual use and battery
> time) and started with a full, fresh charge. All the the holes were
> drilled, screws driven, etc. on just one charge.
>
> The battery was recharged in 25 minutes.
>
> I thought the LED light was a silly joke. It is until you get the bit
> about 2" out of the chuck, and then it actually shines on the tip of
> the drill bit and material. This was really handy inside the base
> units when pulling the drawer hardware.
>
> The batteries are in the handle, so it makes the drill a bit chunky in
> the hand, but not uncomfortable.
>
> The trigger has a really short throw, so it is a bit twitchy compared
> to my bigger drills. It does speed increases and decreases accurately
> though, with no jumping around in speed.
>
> I like the fact it uses all my bits. Even in the small bits, the
> chucks held tightly. On larger bits (I had to drill out a couple of
> screws completely using a 3/8" bit) it held it easily as well.
>
> The compact size it really, really, easy to get used to. It slipped
> into the corners, around braces, and into my tool bags without any
> problems. This is nice.
>
> The housing has rubber bumpers around the case at strategic drop
> points. This is a good idea as all the tools take a tumble now and
> then, but the guys that design them never seem to take that into
> consideration.
>
> All in all, I think HD has a winner with this one. It actually seems
> to do what it says it will, and more. And two for one, too. What a
> pleasant surprise from the HD guys. I will be reattaching all doors,
> hardware and drawer slides and hardware in the next few days. Rest
> assured I will scream like a mashed cat if anything goes wrong.
>
> Robert

On Nov 18, 8:25 am, "Leon" wrote:
> 2 Ridgif 12 volt drills with lifetime warranty for $129.00?
>
> That is a deal, thanks for posting Robert.
>
> I'm confused however, the Milwaukee rep sold you on the Ridgid drill???
> Perhaps Milwaukee is making the drill for Ridgid now.

The rep for TSTI (or TSI) that was the holding company told me they
are both his products, along with Ryobi USA and a couple of others,
including a paint brush company.

He moved me over to Ridgid as he could see there was no sale on the
Milwaukee products, most of which are now made overseas. That shift
started well before their sale to the holding company.

But being a good sales rep, he sold me what he had in his line, making
sure I didn't go to another brand he didn't represent. As a sidebar,
the feel of the Ridgid and the Milwaukee are eerily similar.

Robert