Electrician's drill

[BEANFro Elite]

I feel kind of dirty posting this here, but at some point I may start case-modding with the drill I buy, in the meantime however, being an electrician, I was wondering what I should be looking for in a power drill as it has to be fairly durable as I know I'll be dealing with concrete and other tough materials in some of my day to day jobs.

I've been looking at the 18v DeWalt drills, but I'm still rather clueless. I'm prepared to spend up to £200 if you must know.

If possible, I'd like people to point me at models from all ranges so I can decide based on the advice I receive whether to take the plunge and get a top of the range dealy.

[jamena]

cordless drills that I've used never quite match up to mains-powered ones when it comes to concrete and suchlike (hole cutter + green MDF showed up the lack of torque badly - drill bit and MDF was a tad slow but fine really) - you have to go slow and bear the pain of the motor slowing down. For anything softer and for screws my 13.8V (or whatever it is) Draper cheapo cordless is great. It can manage most jobs and only cost like £25? Pretty sure it'd be fine for thin metal though I don't want to go drilling holes in my case I use an ancient rusty mains drill for heavy DIY jobs (which aren't common - lazy me!).

I'd like to think the DeWalt etc cordless drills have considerably more torque for hard substances - my little cheapo Draper slows down when put under too much pressure, though having said that it's put enough holes (slowly) in the brickwork without complaining! I'd led to believe that the more expensive drills should last longer. Get a spare battery or two if you use it lots (and keep it charged!!! I had to lend a plumber/builder my drill when his died halfway through the sink-hole cutting...)

[Funkstar]

18V DeWalts should be pretty torquey.

I don't think you can go far wrong with a DeWalt to be honest. They must be pretty good when you see all the pros using them etc. Although you might actually struggle to get one for under £200

Me and dad have a Ryobi drill, pretty good, but the batteries are wracked now (usual ni-cad memory problem). Also got a couple of Erbauer sanders, they seem well made.

Some of the brands are standardising on batteries across their range which is handy

hope all the random stuff helps

[kopite]

Ive used the Dewalt cordless and the difference between them and other makes is huge.

The dewalt seems to be as powerful as the majority of wired drills.

Expensive though

[dave87]

You'll struggle to get dewalt for that sorta money. Just had a quick flick through the Screwfix catalogue, and a drywall screwdriver (12v) is £200 odd, with the cheapest 18v drill being a Twin Pack with a drill and a JigSaw, for £389....

[merdat]

18v drill should do most of your jobbies but remember to buy a spare battery for said drill. If your going to be drilling a lot of concrete then a cheap mains hammer drill for rough work .

[0iD]

Makita make quality drills, as do Bosch. Most sparky's on sites i worked on had one or t'other.

[SuicidaL]

either dewalt or metabo, use both in the workshop (one battery on the dewalt will finish a control panel from start to finish, and thats a lot of holes and fixings) and on site, and they do get hammered.

for a good dewalt 18v, your looking at about £260+ depending on what you want.

[BEANFro Elite]

Okay, thanks for everyones responses, I'm going to look at DeWalt and Bosch drills, cost is really a problem as my jobs will pay for them

I think I'll get a cheapo sub £100 drill for lighter duty jobs and I'll get my uber pro drill for £200.

Thanks for the advice guys.

[aidanjt]

Best thing you could do is get a mains powered drill, cordless drills just can't deliver enough current to the motor (which admitantly, are becoming rather pathetic in most drills these days), but if your job usually entails having no energy around to work with, 18v will have to make do. Also, make sure you _dont_ get a keyless chunk, those things are completely crap at holding bits and the casing for them eventually fly off and leave you with a chunk of metal to twist with your hands (that sometimes can be VERY hot). Just some things to keep in mind. No comments on manufacturer really, 10 years ago I would have said B&D but they're too busy commoditising their hardware now.

But for case modding, dremel all the way
Unless it's made of 1cm hardened steel or something lol.