Decent DIY level battery drill?

[Lazurus]

No one mentioned WORX range, made by Positec who also do do Bauker, CAT and a couple of others, I have gradually swopped over to them on most of my power tools, strimmer and mower, been pleasantly surprised at how good they are and realistically priced if you shop around.

[spudulike]

3 hours ago, sandspider said:

Just to update this, I've not used the driver too much, but there seems to be a bit of a wobble on the chuck. Makes it hard to drill straight, and it also seems to strip screw heads. Not sure if this is me, or using old screws I've accumulated over the years, but it will drive them (into pre drilled holes) about 2/3 of their length, then just demolishes the screw head. This is with the driver in screw mode (not drill) and on minimum torque. The driver will stop if I hold the chuck, but the screw heads don't seem to provide enough resistance to stop the driver, so it just destroys them. If i feather the trigger ever so gently, I can probably get another half turn or so, but it doesn't seem to work as I think it should. Am I missing something? I don't have any hex or socket head screws to try for a comparison...

Is the wobble on the chuck bearing or the actual chuck?

The chuck is usually held on to the drive shaft with a screw that can be exposed by opening up the chuck fully and shining a light down the chuck hole. It can be a left hand thread...just so you know but the retaining screw may be loose other than that, if the bearings are shot, good luck with replacing them.

[sandspider]

Thanks spud. Not sure which part of it is wobbling, will pull it apart when I get a chance and have a look. Hope it's just the screw...

[sime42]

Just to update this, I've not used the driver too much, but there seems to be a bit of a wobble on the chuck. Makes it hard to drill straight, and it also seems to strip screw heads. Not sure if this is me, or using old screws I've accumulated over the years, but it will drive them (into pre drilled holes) about 2/3 of their length, then just demolishes the screw head. This is with the driver in screw mode (not drill) and on minimum torque. The driver will stop if I hold the chuck, but the screw heads don't seem to provide enough resistance to stop the driver, so it just destroys them. If i feather the trigger ever so gently, I can probably get another half turn or so, but it doesn't seem to work as I think it should. Am I missing something? I don't have any hex or socket head screws to try for a comparison...

Is it a brushless motor? I had a similar wobbly chuck issue with a Makita drill driver I bought about 5 years ago. It developed it soon after I got it. I sent it back to Makita but they said they could find nothing wrong so didn't fix it. I looked it up and apparently it's a common fault with early brushless motor cordless tools. It seems like a bearing thing to me but I didn't dig any deeper. Apart from that its a really good tool, I've still got it and use it fairly frequently. Though also got a mains drill and a cordless impact driver so it only does light work. (I suspect I caused the wobbly issue by doing a fair bit of hard masonry drilling with it early on. Though they ought to be designed to take that.)

Wrt. the stripping screw heads thing; I reckon that's down to not necessarily dodgy but just old screws. Modern screws are probably designed to be driven by a drill or impact driver so are made of s harder type of steel.

[sandspider]

Thanks Sime. Yes, it's brushless. Never used this one too hard, but the front of the chuck has dropped off from time to time, I thought it was user error.

Removed the chuck and the internal torx screw seems tight. Will try some better screws and see what happens!

 

[william127]

On 31/05/2022 at 16:39, Lazurus said:

No one mentioned WORX range, made by Positec who also do do Bauker, CAT and a couple of others, I have gradually swopped over to them on most of my power tools, strimmer and mower, been pleasantly surprised at how good they are and realistically priced if you shop around.

Years ago I used to have 2 14v worxs drills and 4 batteries,  I picked them up from homebase in the sale for £20 each!! Great little drills, solid, reasonably powerful,  decent cases. I'm all makita now but if I needed tools for home use or I was just starting out I'd be very happy with Worxs👍👍

[harvey b davison]

Over the past 12 months or so, I have started buying ryobi just to use in my joinery workshop. Cant fault them really. Ok they are not heavy duty like my metabo stuff, but now if its only for workshop use then I buy ryobi.

[doobin]

On 31/05/2022 at 15:21, sandspider said:

Just to update this, I've not used the driver too much, but there seems to be a bit of a wobble on the chuck. Makes it hard to drill straight, and it also seems to strip screw heads. Not sure if this is me, or using old screws I've accumulated over the years, but it will drive them (into pre drilled holes) about 2/3 of their length, then just demolishes the screw head. This is with the driver in screw mode (not drill) and on minimum torque. The driver will stop if I hold the chuck, but the screw heads don't seem to provide enough resistance to stop the driver, so it just destroys them. If i feather the trigger ever so gently, I can probably get another half turn or so, but it doesn't seem to work as I think it should. Am I missing something? I don't have any hex or socket head screws to try for a comparison...

It's cheap shite from Aldi, what did you expect?

 

And as regards the stripping screws issue- sounds like you are trying to drive Phillips heads (old screws from the Dad style box of scrap screws) with a Pozi bit. Get new screws, and get reasonable quality PZ2 and PZ3 bits. You're asking a lot from a drill driver to drive long screws without a decent bit and also a lot of pressure behind to keep it in the head. The whole reason for impact drivers (as opposed to impact wrenches) is that the impact prevents 'cam out'- when the bit strips the screw head. This is different from an impact wrench, where the socket is not going to slip and the purpose of the impact is to loosen a tight machine thread. People think an impact driver is for more torque- it's not. It's to deliver sufficient torque in a controlled manner (without cam out). If you are putting a coach screw, timberlock or similar (with a bolt head) into timber, a heavy duty drill will do it quicker than an impact wrench so long as you can hang on.

 

 

To be honest, you should have just bought a budget level drill and seperate impact driver from one of the big brands and you'd not have any of these issues.

 

If you insist upon persisting with the Aldi drill, screws are available with a Torx (star type) head. With the right bit, you'd be able to drive these in with just a drill without suffering from cam-out nearly so much. Trouble is, a few boxes of them will cost as much as you paid for the drill! 🤣🤣

Edited June 2, 2022 by doobin

[sandspider]

Fair. I thought for my level of usage there was no point in buying one of each. I will get a better set of bits, and some new screws and see if that helps.

I do indeed have a dad box of screws and odds and ends that will come in useful one day😀

[Stubby]

2 hours ago, sandspider said:

Fair. I thought for my level of usage there was no point in buying one of each. I will get a better set of bits, and some new screws and see if that helps.

I do indeed have a dad box of screws and odds and ends that will come in useful one day😀

Good points made by doobin just to add the reason he was saying about Phillips and pozi drive is the the bits and therefore the depression in the screw heads are a different angle .