best portable drill

[Murflynn]

well, not exactly portable.

 

some time ago I bought a small Sparky rechargeable with a very small 10.8v Li-on battery on offer at Screwfix.

it was next to useless.

then I had the bright idea to remove the battery and wire it up with a 12V plug and use it from any one of the 'cigar lighter' sockets on my boat.

 

a 12V drill that never drains the batteries - it is brilliant.

[Guest]

well, not exactly portable.

 

some time ago I bought a small Sparky rechargeable with a very small 10.8v Li-on battery on offer at Screwfix.

it was next to useless.

then I had the bright idea to remove the battery and wire it up with a 12V plug and use it from any one of the 'cigar lighter' sockets on my boat.

 

a 12V drill that never drains the batteries - it is brilliant.

Yup I have done similar. Drills are often skipped due to dead batteries, so I have retrieved a couple and rewired them like yourself. Best one was a 12V SDS expensive one (possibly Bosch). Needs hefty cables but very powerful off 12V boat battery wired direct with cable clamps. Great for jobs in engine hole. Smaller one for general duties.

I also have a purpose made 12V drill for running off car batteries which is now approaching 50 years old. I think it is called a "Versatool" or similar. Very low geared but quite a bit of torque for its size. Will run off 5A sockets in boat and 1/4 inch chuck.

[W+T]

well, not exactly portable.

 

some time ago I bought a small Sparky rechargeable with a very small 10.8v Li-on battery on offer at Screwfix.

it was next to useless.

then I had the bright idea to remove the battery and wire it up with a 12V plug and use it from any one of the 'cigar lighter' sockets on my boat.

 

a 12V drill that never drains the batteries - it is brilliant.

 

 

wicked idea, so you just get the correct cable size and wire it to the battery prongs on the drill, other end croc clips. When my Dewalt give up the ghost think its what i will be doing for yseon the boat. .

 

What about the volt differance though in the 10.8v to boat battery 12-13 volts?

[Murflynn]

 

 

wicked idea, so you just get the correct cable size and wire it to the battery prongs on the drill, other end croc clips. When my Dewalt give up the ghost think its what i will be doing for yseon the boat. .

 

What about the volt differance though in the 10.8v to boat battery 12-13 volts?

it likes a bit of extra oooomph !!

 

actually the voltage seen by the drill is probably no more than 11V.

I used 6sq.mm. cable, about 3m long to enable it to reach most parts of my boat.

Edited May 11, 2016 by Murflynn

[David Schweizer]

well, not exactly portable.

 

some time ago I bought a small Sparky rechargeable with a very small 10.8v Li-on battery on offer at Screwfix.

it was next to useless.

then I had the bright idea to remove the battery and wire it up with a 12V plug and use it from any one of the 'cigar lighter' sockets on my boat.

 

a 12V drill that never drains the batteries - it is brilliant.

 

I used a similar arrangement with an old 12v drill on our boat, which i was happy with at the time. When It finally packed up I bought a 12v DeWalt drill and could not believe how i had maaged with such a low speed drill for so long in the past. The DeWalt has far more power and seems to last for ages before the battery starts to fail.

[John V]

Yeah but no but yeah .........I have 24v boat ............ should I risk it providing I keep a fire extinguisher handy ?

[OldGoat]

John V, on 11 May 2016 - 11:13 AM, said:

Yeah but no but yeah .........I have 24v boat ............ should I risk it providing I keep a fire extinguisher handy ?

Me too -

For 12V just 'take a tap' half way down the battery bank for 12v appliances.

If you're bothered about unequal loading then split the 12v appliances.

Some on 0-12V line

others on 12-24 line

 

I do - no problem.

[David Mack]

Yeah but no but yeah .........I have 24v boat ............ should I risk it providing I keep a fire extinguisher handy ?

Just run two drills in series!

[Murflynn]

yeah, assuming you've got 2 hands, that is

[Guest]

Yeah but no but yeah .........I have 24v boat ............ should I risk it providing I keep a fire extinguisher handy ?

Must be plenty of higher voltage drills find their way into skips owing to battery failure. Some are in the 18- 20V region IIRC? With a bit of volt drop down't wires it'll be fine I have run a small 9V one on 12V boat supply many times. It was like new when I was given it as the internal battery failed very quickly (can't recall the make now.)

 

 

wicked idea, so you just get the correct cable size and wire it to the battery prongs on the drill, other end croc clips. When my Dewalt give up the ghost think its what i will be doing for yseon the boat. .

 

What about the volt differance though in the 10.8v to boat battery 12-13 volts?

It'll go like a goodun

it likes a bit of extra oooomph !!

 

actually the voltage seen by the drill is probably no more than 11V.

I used 6sq.mm. cable, about 3m long to enable it to reach most parts of my boat.

I had some redundant 3 core cable lying around, so for the big SDS one I used two lengths of 2.5 sq mm 3 core flex with the cores paralleled giving 7.5 sq mm effectively. Bit of a bodge really but goes like a goodun. Must have been very expensive machine in its day, but like many the batteries cost more to replace than it was really worth. Low revs make it great with hole saws.