here is some free and unsolicited advice. agree/disagree?
situations you will want a cordless drill:
- you are working where there is not guaranteed convenient electricity available
- you need to be extremely mobile and a cord would be hazardous or very inconvenient
- wet environments? idk
examples: rough construction, outdoors, drywall racing
benefits of a corded drill:
- no batteries to charge
- no batteries that can be stolen
- no batteries you can lose or break
- no need to plan around charging batteries
- no batteries which allow the manufacturer to twist your arm into buying a new device when the old one works just fine; less susceptible to planned obsolescence
- no batteries to weigh the tool down: lighter and more comfortable to use the tool and better balance
- tool is smaller and easier to use in cramped situations
- don't need a case, charger, extra batteries or other junk
- one less thing to go wrong; more repairable if it does
- more powerful
you are in a comm called "DIY" = you are probably always working near a power outlet and not going very far. consider a corded drill instead of mindlessly going cordless.
Make sure you get a decent extension cord. I used heatshink tubing to add an extra 6ft to my cord, that makes it long enough for many applications. Sometimes I tie on an extra one.
atm the main advantage for me is that any battery options tend to be both more expensive and lock me into a battery ecosystem. That seems to be the deciding factor atm for my bullshit garage stuff
Gotcha, I never paid for any of the tools I used. Work provided them. That does seem to be an important factor.
If we ignore cost, I don’t see a single benefit to corded. If we are paying for the tools ourselves, I fully see your points.
Some sort of DIY Mod rig that universalises all battery connections, you say?
(I also get why some people are cagey about DIYing stuff off mains power, but at the same time it's a pretty direct connection without many capacitors to a torque delivery system, so I think it could be pretty safe honestly)
Uh, I feel kinda dumb reading this because I don’t get the connection
Oh, making a little thing that allows you to connect RYOBI connectors to BOSCH. There's someone else doing a DIY electrolysis thing here on hexbear, and this is sort of related. I guess it allows for battery piracy for tools?
Sorry, I may have jumped a step somewhere
"Cordless tools are better as long as someone else is obligated to resolve all the downsides for me"
Quality and ease of acquisition are not the same. You can also resolve the issue by stealing it. Most hardware stores have a limit before they call the police that’s above the cost of a combo pack drill +impact driver
Idk a few months ago I needed to do a carpentry project so I borrowed my friend's cordless drill. It put maybe 5 holes and screws in and then crapped out. All the cordless drills in the local tool library are the same way. I didn't feel like shelling out $100 or more, so I went to the pawn shop. Found a corded drill for just under $30, and it works like a charm, I put in about 90 screws with and I know it will always serve me well in any 50-foot radius of an outlet. It is not destined to be junk, and just might outlive me (I grew up in the '00s).
Sure, there are hypothetical remote use cases where I wouldn't be able to preassemble something, but I'd bring along a generator or a Jackery-type station for that anyway.
That makes sense, I was at a hardware place so they just scanned some of the Makita stuff as store use. We were mostly using attachments to remove/put on various things to metal beams so I can’t speak to their quality for anything wood related.
Was it an older one at the pawn? Not to sound like a boomer but tool quality really has plummeted over the years. I have some corded Dewalt stuff my grandpa left me and the new stuff is worse.
In hindsight I was biased because many of the use cases I was using it for were high up or in very awkward positions inside bays.
Yeah, it's a Dewalt, there's a number on the side that starts with 2006.
I'm not going to pretend like I do the most work with it or that my carpentry skills are anywhere near top-notch. But I do like an old tool. And I promise I'm not atavistic or anything, I just like simplified supply chains and appropriate technology.
Simple supply chains are pleasing, none of that just in time shit.