Cordless Drill

[SUGARSMITH]

For those of you that use a cordless drill for tapping, what do you feel is the best buy for the job and about how many taps can you get out a a battery. (5/16)
I am thinking 18volt dewalt

[Fred Henderson]

That is what a lot of them are using. I was looking at a 19.2 at Sears today but did not buy yet. They can order for me an 18 v professional which may be the one I will get. I would not give .50 for any cordless tool by Dewalt. I have had Dewalt stuff in the past and the first thing to go is the switch. 50-60 bucks for a switch !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[maple flats]

I vote yes on DeWalt. I have had several other makes both big name and otherwise. I used a DeWalt in construction for about 10 years and went thru 3 18V battery paks but never needed any parts on the drill. Mine was a 1/2" chuck. About 1.5 yrs ago I needed 2 new battery paks and saw a deal on a Ryobe rig 18V with 2 batteries and a flashlight so I drifted from the DeWalt. The Ryobe is ok but does not have the feel of the DeWalt, nor the battery life/charge, nor the torque. It was on Special for $69.00, less that 1 DeWalt battery price but I now see why. I get about 1/2 the battery life/charge but I will most likely use it til I find a sale on DeWalt batteries. The drill is still good, just waiting for juice supply. Don't get me wrong, the Ryobe is good, just not near as good as the DeWalt.

[tapper]

I have been using DeWalt 18 v for maybe 6 years. I cant say that I'm in love with the DeWalt stuff but it does seem to hold up. I use all my cordless stuff almost every day. The gearbox in my original drill stripped out after 5 yrs. The drill with 2 batteries and charger is $300.00. but you can get the bare tool no batteries from Max tool for $139.00. I had a 14.4v Makita and the batteries went bad before 2 years but they have a new line of professional tools with ion-lithium batteries and I tempted to try Makita again. I never did keep track of how many taps on a battery. It always seems to vary. It seems as though sometimes you get a good charge and sometimes not and temperature will affect life of each charge too.

[802maple]

I have been using ryobe's for atleast 10 years and have had few problems. They are not as good as some others out there but for the difference in money there is no comparison. The first one I bought was a 14.4 and I am still using it and I have four 18's that get used every day. My only complaint is the battery life, but with three batteries each they get thru the day by rotating at the charger.If I got a dollar for every hole and every screw driven by these I would be a rich man.

[mountainvan]

I tapped 500 with my craftsman 19.2 ex.this year, 1 battery dead, 1 1/2 used. Used the 19/64 fast bit and went in about an inch. The regular 19.2 I would not recommend, not much power or charge. I also use a 24 volt black and decker which works well.

[super sappy]

PANASONIC -They are the most expensive and the hardest to find but they are the smallest and most powerful cordless drill on the market. I agree about the DeWalt switches I have replaced several on my drills and chop boxes.SS

[Sugarmaker]

Going to try a brand new 18V DeWalt that I got for Christmas but I still have the old 18V Craftsman as a back up.
Chris

[tuckermtn]

18 volt Dewalt here- had it about a year and a half but don't care for the "jumpy" trigger/switch. My old 9 volt Makita is a benchmark for me for good trigger...

-tuckermtn

[Fred Henderson]

You guys be careful buying those cordless tools with the ion-lithium batteries. Some of those batteries have been known to catch fire while neither in the charger or the drill. I don't know what the cut off serial # is but some of the earlyer one will cause or catch fire.

[Breezy Lane Sugarworks]

What brand Lithium-Ion batteries were doing it?

I haven't bought one yet, but was looking at the Makita's and the Hitachi's. Both were similar in specs.

[brookledge]

I have a 24 volt craftsman that is no longer available new but can still get batteries. It is about 8 yrs old and still works perfect the only thing I've done is bought a new battery. The original 2 bats. dont hold up as well as the new one. Sears has a new type of battery I think it is a lithium type battery instead of 400-500 charges for ni-cad the lithium will work for around 2000 recharges.
I think what ever you do stick with atleast 18 volt or higher so you can get a fair amont of taps per battery
Keith

[powerdub]

I will chime in with a different brand. I have rigid 18V and I like it. I have used the craftsmans and dewalts and makitas and milwaukees but the rigid seems to have a higher chuck speed. I have never spec'd it out but it just seems to hold a high speed through the whole process. One thing I did notice with the rigid and dewalt is the batteries seem to go until they are dead with little performance drop. The craftsman (granted it was older) after 50 holes would slow right down. Another friend of mine swears by the panasonic. I think nowadays whatever you choose they are all pretty good, it is just a matter of finding the one that is just a little better and that may boil down to a personal choice.

Anyone ever use the impact drivers for screws and tapcons and such? Those darn things are amazing.

[Sugarbear]

I use an 18v Milwaukee.I am very happy with it.I usually get about 100 to 125 7/16 tapholes out of a battery.

[tapper]

ohhhhh yaaaa impact driver is my next toy. Thats what I was thinking of getting in the makita.

[powerdub]

I just got a hitachi with the 18v lithiun ion battery. Why I didn't get one sooner is way beyond comprehension.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I'm with Scott. My wife bought me an 18 volt Hitatchi for Christmas 2005 and got if for $ 99 with 2 batteries and 5 year warranty and a free mail in rebate to get a 3rd battery. I got around 150 taps per battery and 5/16" fast bit from Bascoms last season. It is extremely compact, very powerful and lightweight. I have used about every brand of power tools and it seems to be the best for the money. Mine does not have the Lithium Ion batteries to my knowledge, but guess I never looked.

A big key is the $ 20 fast drill bit I got from Bascoms. Seems you can pick them up other places for less, but well worth $ 20 to me last season. Does a hole on low speed in a flash.

[ibby458]

If the question is best value, I'd vote for the Craftsman 19.2. I bought one last year and it's great. I can't say the same for Dewalt. I borrowed my son's freshly rebuilt Dewalt 18 V. (Only 2 years old and it burned out!), with brand new batteries last season, and it didn't do as well as my Old Sears 18 volt with old batteries! I got 2 batteries, a charger and a 1/2" heavy duty drill for about the same cost as 1 new Dewalt battery.

[Mike]

I bought a Ryobi 19v at home depot for $100. It came with a 18v 5 1/2" 18v skill saw,light,charger and 2 batteries....I like the idea that you can buy spare batteries cheap...I think 2 for less than $40.....I know a guy who has 4 or 5 drills for his bush...They tap around 20,000...

[Father & Son]

My wife bought me the Ryobi 18v kit that has a drill, circular saw, flashlight, charger, and 2 batteries for right around $90 for Christmas of 2005. I built most of my sugar house using these but the circular saw does like the batteries. As far as tapping, I don't have many taps and one battery more than does it all.

Jim

[maple flats]

I guess I never said how many taps per battery charge. I was getting about 125-150/chg with good DeWalt batteries and about 75-90 on the Ryobe. As batteries age you get fewer with each recharge cycle but the loss is rather slow. I think I read somewhere that each re charge only gets about 99.?% of the previous charge or a deminishing return. (recharging 10x would not be 90% but a higher number, still not 100%)

[oneoldsap]

Has anyone ever tried a Green Mountain Pro-Tapper. 700 5/15 holes on one charge. Very slick machine!

[Fred Henderson]

Has anyone ever tried a Green Mountain Pro-Tapper. 700 5/15 holes on one charge. Very slick machine!


Never heard of it. Can you get a model number or a pic of it.

[oneoldsap]

Fred: I'm the inventor and builder of the Pro-Tapper . It's an idea I came up with about 4 years ago. I built and sold about a dozen of them to other sugar makers. I guess I didn't do a very good job of marketing them, I advertized them in the Maple News and went to a few Maple schools here in Vermont. It seemed to me that sugar makers are reluctant to change. I got kind of frustrated and said to hell with it. The tapper consists of a 20# battery pack in a frame that you weare on your back and a modified cordless drill. They work slick as hell there are several people in my area that use them. If you will send me a PM with your address I will send you the literature and a picture. I still have a couple on hand.

[ibby458]

I'm gonna have to stand corrected. The Sears 19.2 is NOT the machine it's cracked up to be. We put in 150 7/16 taps yesterday, and it took 5 batteries to do it. The drill and most of the batteries are 3 months old, with a couple batteries that are not quite a year old. I'm rather disappointed in it.

I'm either going to have to switch to all 5/16 taps, or go a different route for the tapping.

Oh - The batteries were put in a warm cooler, and kept warm all day long in it, so that's not a factor.

[TapME]

with cordless drills and batteries the amp hour rating is the true measure of how long a battery will last (mine is a 15.6 with 3.0 amp hour) and yes cold does affect the life as well as heat. Lots of experance in the constuction trades to back it up.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

One of those $ 20 tapping bits will make a lot of difference if you are not already using one. The type of bit you use has a lot of difference on how many taps you get. I used to get about 75 to 80 on one of the Craftsman 19.2 batteries with an everyday bit.

[Fred Henderson]

I wouldn't give .50 cents for any cordless tool by Sears. They do have a few professional tools that might be ok.

[andrew martin]

i used both my 14 volt makita and my 14 volt dewalt. i prefer the makita because it is more compact and lighter weight. got about 80-95 taps per battery. i typically tap by myself, so the less to carry around the better.
I used a Bosch titanium drill bit from Lowes - 7/16" and I think it worked well, but I see some talking about specialized tapping bits. What is the difference between a generic drill bit and the tapping bits? DOes tapping with a tapping bit yield more sap flow and allow the tree to heal faster? Thanks.

Andrew

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Probably won't yield any more sap or help the tree to heal faster, but some say they drill a truer hole which allows for better seating of the spout.

[HanginAround]

The tapping bits are sharpened and shaped after they are manufactured. They are supposed to make a better cleaner hole, but also, the better the hole, the theory is there is less place for bacteria to grow.

[ibby458]

We used 2 drills yesterday, and they both did quite a bit better. I got 50+ holes per battery with a Genuine tapping bit, and my neighbor got 75+ with an identical drill, but a regular 7/16 bit. It was considerabbly warmer, so maybe that made a difference.

AS a general rule, I've had excellent experience with Sears cordless tools. Waay better than the Makita & DeWalt that I had before. Could be that tapping is a bigger draw than most other tasks.

Last year, I got 150 taps/battery with a 5/16 bit on my old Sears 18 volt. I think the smaller bit is the way to go for max battery life.

[Jim Brown]

We use a Riobi 18 volt and got 70 -7/16 holes per battery pack using a new titanium bit.

[Dave Y]

I use a B&D 18V Quantum Pro and I can get around 70 taps on 7/16 and 100 on 5/16. And the are $99 at wall mart, the first one lasted three years. and it also screwed down several decks, the metal and siding on my sugarhouse plus many other jobs. Not bad for the price.

[Fred Henderson]

We use a 21CC Tanaka and get 155 7/16 holes using a wood auger style bit on 2/3 qt of gas.

[ibby458]

Glad your gas tapper is working so well for you, Fred! But keep in mind that, when your carb plugs up, or a diagraphram rips on a Sunday Morning, Just give us a call and me and the boys will run over with the cordless drills and our 9 batteries. They always start! Lol

Seriously, I reconsidered and looked into getting a Tanaka, but that price - Oh My! For that money, I got a LOT of cordless tools that I can use for many things, all year 'round, and NINE batteries. It's a pain changing them every 40-50 holes, but as long as the smaller boys can fetch and carry them for me, we'll stick with cordless.

[Russell Lampron]

I bought my Tanaka used for $75. Now I am in the position where I have to use it because I have it. I haven't had any trouble with it but feel that a good cordless drill and extra batteries would be simpler.

Russ

[ibby458]

If I could find a used Tanaka for $75, I'm be all over it like ugly on a pig! I really thought hard about it after last season, but since I wouldn't have a lot of use for it except for tapping, I decided it was too much money.

Instead, I got Sears 19.2 cordless tools. For about the same money as the Tanaka (new), I got 2-1/2" drills, a 3/8" drill, a 3/8 right angle drill, A recprocating saw, circular saw, sabre saw, impact driver (Handiest tool in the bunch!),2 flashlights, 9 batteries and 3 chargers. I just watched for sales, and waited for a good deal. (The combo prices were pretty decent)

Other than being a bit hard on batteries for tapping, everything is perfect, and I get a lot of use out of them year 'round.

The instructions did indicate it took several charge cycles before they were at maximum charge. It could be that some of those batteries were only charged a couple times, and they'll get a bit better once they're broke it. WE'll see, but so far I'm still happy with them.

[Fred Henderson]

You are right about the Tanaka only having one purpose. Whereas as just a cordless drill has one purpose. A friend of mine bought a used one from MKS for 75 bucks. I paid over 300 for mine (new).

[Mike]

I used a tanaka drill, it would drill a lot of holes, but you had to carry extra gas and it was bulky...I like the battery drills with a drill hoster from home depot and with 2 extra batteries for around $40 I can pretty much do all 800 taps.....