DIY Tool Questions

[BigV]

I spent a lot of time reading your comments, THANK YOU!

After much consideration, I chose the Milwaukee brand. I went with the cordless versions and the 12 volt versions instead of the 18 volt versions.

Here's what my harem looks like at this time.



TOP ROW:

hammer drill, palm nailer, impact driver

BOTTOM ROW:

hackzall and right angle drill.

I also have four batteries and two chargers. A couple of the tools came as kits which meant that I got an extra battery and a charger and a case. The cases are a bust for me but I make good use of the second charger (it lives at Twil's place) and I practically always have a battery with a sufficient charge at hand.

The suggestion by footfootfoot that Milwaukee was the tradesman's choice was validated by my own observations. I saw a lot of DeWalts too. I compared the two directly for my first tool which was the impact driver and Milwaukee won the battle and by extension the war.

Dude, you were right, impact drivers are the fucking shiznit.

I watched, then experienced this tool just make a four inch deck screw just *melt* into the lumber. brtbrtbrtbrtbrtbrtbrt! Done. Like a magic trick. It's my new favorite tool, this 1/4" hex impact driver. I can't remember what the project du jour was when I opened this thread, but I can tell you if it needed threaded fasteners, it got done. It has a light, because my eyes aren't sixteen years old anymore (side note, DeWalt has a much better lighting system, three leds in a ring plus diffusers so there are no shadows. Milwaukee has ONE led directly under the drill bit, so, you're guaranteed to be working in shadow at the point where the tool touches the workpiece. Srsly? Come on. The hammer drill is a little better with a diffuser on the light, but just a little.) That minor annoyance is overshadowed by the balance, power, light weight/maneuverability, battery level indicator, chuck system, reputation, etc. I went with the Milwaukee, and I haven't looked back.

The next tool I got was the Hackzall. Wow, what a demolition monster. I already had a good selection of blades, but I found I could get a pruning blade as well, it looks like the blade on a bow saw. That made my life much easier as I could one hand branches the size of my forearm (while hanging on with my other hand, eh?). It has a variable speed trigger, the blade can be inserted teeth up or teeth down. It uses the same batteries, has the same small size/adequate power as my impact driver. It's kind of ugly, like a hammer head shark, it's not obvious where the bite is, but once you use it, you'll be looking for things to cut.

I got the hammer drill next because I did have lots of drill bits already and lots of bits aren't available in a 1/4" hex shaft for my impact driver. It's sweet, with the same balance and features of the rest of the line. I haven't had cause to utilize the hammering function yet, but it's there if I need it. Meanwhile, its drill function is completely acceptable. It is an adequate driver as well, on low speed and easing the trigger.

Next came the palm nailer. This is a pretty specialized too, let's face it, the hammer has had an extremely long development and refinement period. How much more can it be improved? Well, let me tell ya. For confined spaces, like between floor joists where there isn't room to get a hammer up to takeoff speed, this is *the* tool to have. I actually got it for a different one handed awkward application. It's a cool tool, and of course it works on other not constrained space applications too.

Then came the baby of the family, the right angle drill. Like any other right angle drill, but cordless and smaller size AND WEIGHT, optimal characteristics for overhead work. I drilled lots of 3/4" holes in my joists for the recent bathroom debacle. This tool made that possible.