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My first drill was a Swiss made,green Bosch one which served me well for almost 2 decades. The hammer mechanism conked off and could not find the spares. Hence junked it.

Now, all Bosch power tool sold in India are blue colored. I do not know if all of them are professional grade just because they are blue.

I see what you mean. I am forever confused between if the stock should be fixed or the tool.

In my opinion, whatever is heavy and has to cut something small, should be fixed. So if I have to just cut short pieces of a 2"x2" piece of wood, I could use the circular saw as a table saw (of course with all the safety precautions such as using a jig to cut the stock), but if it were a long sheet of plywood, I might have to use the saw in my hand.

Guys, as far as these cordless drills go, how about the life of their batteries? Do they last at least 8-10 years with not so much of a significant drop in their useful time? Or is that too much to ask? I'm hoping the replacement batteries can be bought even if the model is discontinued later.

I have a nearly 18 y.o. 600W corded no-name drill, the one we see in those telemarketing channels. I am glad it survived this long! The chuck was changed few years back and it works fine for day-to-day purposes. Used it for drilling wood, metal, concrete etc but I noticed a longer drill bit whirling. I thought of replacing it with maybe a decent entry level cordless one.

Basic purpose is drilling into concrete and occasionally metal and wood.

10 years is too much to ask for. A lot depends on how/where you store it, the number of charge cycles, and the amount you drain before charge. If you let the battery sit without using, you can expect it to last 3 years. If you use it regularly, store it in favorable temperatures, and always charge it before it drains 90%, then you can expect 1000 charge cycles. Assuming you take good care of the batteries. Linky. In the US, there is a recycle bin for LiIon batteries at home improvement stores, and I have seen batteries that seem fairly new, sitting there to be recycled.

Having to replace batteries often is the cost of the convenience of going cordless. A DeWalt corded impact driver could be same or more expensive than the cordless one.

If one is always going to be near a socket, there is no point (no pun intended) in battery. My drill might not get used at all for many months, and that itself is probably not good for a lithium ion battery (?).

I had to do a quick job putting up a curtain wire yesterday. I was easier to get the Dremel out than the drill. (The wood was hard, the hooks did need pilot holes!)

As others have pointed out, that is likely to much to ask for. But will depend on usage storage. If you are looking for a replacement battery after 8-10 years you are likely to be in for a shock too. I doubt very much that you can buy batteries as soon as the model gets discontinued.


These cordless drills have come down in price considerably. When they stop working, for whatever reason, you get a new one. In Europe this sort of equipment is almost impossible to get serviced/repaired. Parts for most part are non existent.

I always buy these drills with a spare battery to start with. I always want to have two batteries. Some sets come with two battery packs as standard. (mine did)

I opened up my Bosch cordless drill a while ago to fix it. (see the bottom of this post: https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/diy-d...ml#post4764086

But unless you are happy to DIY repair your tools, you need to buy a new one.

They cost in the range of Euro 50-100. These days, any gadget/tool at that price would probably have a useful life of 2-3 years. Although in practice they are likely to last more.

Having said that, if you end up buying a new one every 4-5 years you are also likely to find your new model has improved a lot.

A bit of another example of our throw away society, but that’s how it is

Jeroen

If you buy branded stuff like Bosch, Makita, Dewalt then getting a battery is not a problem. Because the form factor and dimension of the 12V,18V batteries are pretty standard within the brands.

Manufacturers also just sell the tool without the battery. Hence it is important for them to maintain backward compatibility.

For your usage, i would suggest a brush-less Bosch or Makita 18V hammer drill. DeWalt does not have much presence in India in the cordless space. Hence it is best avoided.

I started looking at Japanese hand tools as I feel it is very hard to control power tools for fine woodworking. Couple weeks back, I got a Dozuki pull saw from Suizan.


This thing is magic. It is super thin, so I do not really need to adjust measurements for the width of the blade. I get fine flush fit, and it cuts through wood like a hot knife through butter. I am learning carpentry all backwards. I wish I knew about Japanese carpentry and tools before I went crazy with American power tools. lol:

Japanese pull saws are great. Much easier to use than the usual kind... unless you get forgetful and push, which can spoil them.

I have a cheap one, very non-Japanese in origin, but it cuts whatever I throw it at.
You'd have gone full-on with the real Japanese hand tools, and it would have cost you much more. But it might have been much more satisfying :D

I bought my Dewalt set in 2016. So it's already been 4 years. The batteries are still as good as they were new. They haven't been used a lot in the last 2 years but were used extensively in the first 2 years and I am talking proper tradesman kinda usage because I bought them to put up a roof and other buildings at my farm. Just like other Li-ion batteries, if storing batteries for long time without use, please store them at 30% state of charge. And if usage is gonna be very less then no use investing in cordless tools unless you can get from US as they are very costly in India. These battery packs use commonly available 18650 cells which these companies buy from reputed manufacturers so you can get an idea of battery life from that.

If your use is rare, it would be better to go for a corded power tool. When you need it, it will be ready to go. No need to check if it has charge or any life left in it.
I had a Bosch cordless screw driver eons ago. The battery was of Ni-MH type and lasted barely 2 years. I replaced the battery religiously every few years until the supply ran out. Truth be told, just at the time I needed it, it will be out of charge.
I have a 30 year old Bosch corded drill, 14 year old Makita hammer drill and a 7 year old elcheapo Chinese drill - all ready and available at the time I need it. These power tools are comparatively cheap and require next to no maintenance.

+1 to whatever you have said here. I bought a B&D impact drill back in '03 which came with a NiCd battery. Thing is my usage is pretty less. I made sure I didn't charge it till it ran down completely to avoid the memory effect. But then there was only so much I could do to make it last. It was redundant and I couldn't obtain spare batteries. When I checked the price of a new cordless hammer drill they were relatively prohibitive expensive so I went in for a new 700W B&D hammer drill for only about Rs 2.5K. It came with a free set of Bosch masonry drill bits. The biggest advantage is there is no baby sitting any battery pack and it's always ready to go when I am. The only disadvantage is a cord but I make do with it. I'll buy a cordless hammer drill some day but right now I am perfectly happy with the corded version.

Hi guys was wondering if anyone here using or used Yato cordless impact wrench.

Thanks guys. I'll settle for a corded one then. Changing batteries after a few years may be an expensive proposition. The corded one can take care of the occasional drill jobs.

I searched a lot for this pinching tool/plier but couldn't find one anywhere for a reasonable price. AliExpress does but I'm not relying on it since I'm hearing of shipments getting stuck.



In this screenshot, it is used to pinch the brake hose line to the caliper when the caliper has to be removed/replaced.

Found an alternative/jugaad using vice grips and rubber tube pieces on the jaws. Like this:

https://youtu.be/3uwpI6pJw8M

Sigh, when will we ever get an online portal of something like Harbor Freight here?

You can also consider getting a hand drill.
While growing up, my father used to task me with buying the raw materials for our carpenter. I would go to the saw mill on Kanakpura road in Bengaluru and select wood (in the 80s). Even the giant panels used to be cut with manual saws. At home the carpenter used to drill using manual drills. This was hardwood like teak. They used to cut/drill wood like a hot knife through butter using these vintage manual tools. Something like this should do, unless you are going to be drilling hundreds of holes. Just buy high quality drill bits.

https://www.amazon.com/Stanley-0-03-...T/?tag=btlz-20

Hand tools give you the flexibility of working anywhere, ease of maintenance, and ability to fix it.