DIY cordless drill modification

[Clan Delaney]

Hey all.

While in my local WalMart today I noticed that I can now buy Lithium Ion batteries off the shelf (found 'em in the asile with all the solar walkway lights). It go me thinking.... can I crack open the non-LiO battery packs to my existing drill and retrofit them with these new batteries?

Some things I'm not sure of that maybe some of you can comment on:

If I have a 12V Ryobi drill (cuz I do), does that mean that the motor in it would burn out on a higher voltage? Meaning, if I could cram 6 of these 3.2V LiO rechargeables in the pack, would I have a 19.2V drill, or a fire starter?

Also, each of these individual batteries is rated 600 mAh. If I were to string 6 of them together in series, would I have the same 600 milli Amp hours, or 6 times that - 3.6 Amp hours?

[Dennis H.]

Putting Batteries in series will increase voltage, putting batteries in parallel wil increase current capabilities. You can use a combination of the two to get the voltage and current rating that you want.

I think the biggest problem will be hooking them up. From the factory the cells are spot welded together. I guess you could solder thm together but like everything else electronic they don't like alot of heat and since the cells are a metal can it will take a good amount of heat to solder them together. Now if you have a large soldering iron you might be able to get enough heat into the area to get solder to work without to much heat getting to the rest of the cell.

[KenWP]

Clan stay out of Wally World. You have to much time on your hands again.

[3rdgen.maple]

if you exceed the 12 volt rating the motor on the drill is designed for you will smoke it. I have always replaced the non- l Iod batteries that way crack open the battery pack and relace the cells with new ones from an electronic store i get parts from. Much Much cheaper than a new pack. I have always soldered them back together and it seems to work just fine. If you can come up with the correct combo to get you at 12v again it will work. anything less or more will compromise your drill.

[ADKMAPLE]

I have had a 9.6v Makita drill for years. Unfortunatly, the stick battery packs (2) are basically not accepting a charge anymore..I hate this...If I go and look for a new battery pack for the perfectly good drill, they cost a fortune! Two packs, cus one is never enough, will cost me 1/2 of what I can buy a new 18v lithium ion drill for!
But, when I do start tapping my 5/16th, I will need a new drill anyways..Guss I need to bite the bullet.

[Haynes Forest Products]

ADKMaple I have wanted to make a battery belt for this very reason. Remove the guts from the battery pack and use it for the contacts only and run a streachy cord from the drill to the belt. Use a fanny pack or good utility belt and get battery inserts from Battery Plus and run them in parallel for max use. You can charge it just like if it was a battery:)

[TF Maple]

ADKMaple I have wanted to make a battery belt for this very reason. Remove the guts from the battery pack and use it for the contacts only and run a streachy cord from the drill to the belt. Use a fanny pack or good utility belt and get battery inserts from Battery Plus and run them in parallel for max use. You can charge it just like if it was a battery:)

Robin, use the auxiliary power from your utility belt. Good idea Batman. :lol: No really this is a good idea if a person can rig it up. I don't need that much power yet, but someday in the future...........

[Dennis H.]

All you would need to do is find an old battery pack that is no longer good and cut it up so that you have the part that mates to the drill and tae the old no longer good cells out and hook the wires up to that.

You did do anything to the drill and if you do have good battery packs you can still use them also.

I have a Dewalt 14.4 that a few years ago I had to get new battery packs I just couldn't toss the old ones because I thought that I could salvage them somehow.

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

Haynes,
Can you have those developed and available by next season? I'm sure Ken will be willing to test the prototype for you for free:lol: Maybe you have thought of a way to make money on sugaring after all.

[Haynes Forest Products]

Ken Probably already has a power pack belt but its not hooked to a drill:o You know looking for pigs late at night

[KenWP]

I drilled most of my trees with a little 3/8ths 120 drill and one of those car jumper gizmos that also has a 120 plug in on it. Worked just fine. Man and you guys think I am just another dumb Canuck. Never hunted pigs at night just coyotes and deer and a few humans.

[3rdgen.maple]

Haynes sounds like a good plan but im thinking the life span of your batteries will be shortened dramatically since there is no direct contact with the batteries to the drill. Meaning the power source may be too far from the drill and the amount that the electric has to travel being dc it will limit them dramatically. But hey Im not a dc electrician just thinking out loud.

[twobears1224]

i was in tsc one day thumbing thur the mag,s.i think it was backwoods mag that had a article on converting a drill to run off your car battery for bigger jobs.
i plan on taking a 12 volt skil drill and making a battery pack for it.i,ve already looked around for batterys and a good way to carry it..in lowes they have a tool belt with supenders built into them.i,am going to get one of those and one of there tool bags to put the battery in.i,am thinking about using the battery that fish finders use.one of my buddys has a sports shop and has those batterys in stock and the chargers.i also see walmart has the batterys that go in those little electric jeeps,ect for kids.i might use one of those too.
the one thing i,am still thinking about is the power cord for the belt/battery to the drill.i,am thinking it should be one that coils up and stretchs.i don,t know to get something like that tho??
and YES!!! doug i,ll have it all done and tested by tappin season.. ;-)

delbert

[3rdgen.maple]

I gotta go with Kens idea on this one. You could also get a 12 converter for cheap and connect it to the battery on a 4 wheeler or tractor and just plug a 120v drill into that. Im trying to figure out what the advantages are to rigging up a cordless to a remote battery pack. Dang by the time you spent the money and invest the time why not just grab an extra battery pack and use that. Bring the charger along on the tractor and plug that into the 120v inverter and you will be drilling while one is charging. No fanny packs or cords to mess with. One of those small batteries for fish finders ect. last along time because the amp draw from the unit they are intended to run is low. I think once you plug a drill into it that draws higher amps it aint gonna last long either.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

They used to use the batteries with big battery packs on their backs years ago and they don't use them anymore that I am aware of. If they were better, you can bet they would still be using them. Good cordless drill with 3 batteries will do 600 taps and the 24 volt drills will do a lot more than that. Don't think most tappers are going to do more taps than a 24 volt with 2 good batteries can do in a day.

[morningstarfarm]

geez by the time you're all done messing around making it and then carrying it all around you could go buy a used chainsaw drill and never stop or worry about running out of juice...:o

[twobears1224]

i,ve used a chainbsaw drill..heavy,noisy,unsafe and a chainsaw isn,t designed to be ran like that and it,s tough on them.
yes,they did make/use electric tappers years ago..but,they used a battery the size of a regular car battery..thus very heavy.
sure the cordless drill we have today will tap trees but at how much for extra batterys?? i,am looking at the cost more then anything..i,ll be using a 12 volt drill..there cheap..much cheaper then a 19.2 or 24 volt drill...the battery i plan on using can be bought for $25.00 to $50.00 for the electric toy jeep battery and i bet one will last all day.if you use a cordless drill with several extra battery you still have to carry them with you as you tap..atleast one anyhow.

delbert

[Haynes Forest Products]

When im out in the woods tapping I carry all sorts of things for repair and my drill hangs from a sling. What I want to do is make a sling set up that hangs in front almost the way GIs hold there M16s. I want as light a drill as possible without the batt pulling my neck down. Wheelchair batts are about $40.00 and will run for a long time. I like to be race ready when I hit the woods. I watch guys walk to a tree look for a flat spot to set the bucket then wrestle the drill out and the hammer falls out in the snow then they drill the hole set drill in bucket and pick up the wet hammer then look for the tap hole drop hammer in bucket and off they go 2 min YIKES...10 taps 20 min are you kidding me:mad: