Just bought a Lidl drill

[Neil]

My old Hitachi 9v NiCad drill is on it's last legs. I could probably have the battery packs rebuilt with NiMh's but it lacks grunt anyway. I had my eyes on a 18 V DeWalt Li-Ion brushless combi hammer drill, at about €450 (and then would have compounded my sin by getting the drill and impact driver combination), but when I saw the 14.4 V Li-Ion drill at Lidl for €39 I thought I'd be able to live with any shortcomings! It actually seems like a good drill - solidly made, though changing the torque setting gives a naff sound. 1300 rpm on the faster gear and the counter-torque felt through the handle when you press the trigger suggests enough power for most jobs. Only 1.3 Ahr in the battery but I'm not a tradesman using it all day. The charger only draws 30W - could charge it at sea with my little inverter!

 

[prv]

I've had a number of Lidl power tools (though I'm afraid I'm Makita or nothing when it comes to drills specifically) and my impression has always been that they're good value. Not the finest quality, but a lot of tool for the money.

Pete

 

[Neil]

I've had a number of Lidl power tools (though I'm afraid I'm Makita or nothing when it comes to drills specifically) and my impression has always been that they're good value. Not the finest quality, but a lot of tool for the money.

Pete

My Makita corded hammer drill is now 30 years old and still going strong. Which makes it difficult to justify the new DeWalt combi drill, especially when the Lidl offer came to light. Curses!

 

[prv]

My Makita corded hammer drill is now 30 years old and still going strong. Which makes it difficult to justify the new DeWalt combi drill, especially when the Lidl offer came to light. Curses!

I justified my new Makita cordless by upgrading the boat toolkit from a cheap plasticky hand drill to my old (but still perfectly good) NiMH Makita (plus a new 12v charger for it). This left a space in the workshop toolbag for the new shiny LiIon Makita

(I'll be buying a new angle grinder from Aldi next time they come up, though.)

Pete

 

[VicS]

My old Hitachi 9v NiCad drill is on it's last legs. I could probably have the battery packs rebuilt with NiMh's but it lacks grunt anyway. I had my eyes on a 18 V DeWalt Li-Ion brushless combi hammer drill, at about €450 (and then would have compounded my sin by getting the drill and impact driver combination), but when I saw the 14.4 V Li-Ion drill at Lidl for €39 I thought I'd be able to live with any shortcomings! It actually seems like a good drill - solidly made, though changing the torque setting gives a naff sound. 1300 rpm on the faster gear and the counter-torque felt through the handle when you press the trigger suggests enough power for most jobs. Only 1.3 Ahr in the battery but I'm not a tradesman using it all day. The charger only draws 30W - could charge it at sea with my little inverter!

On offer in UK a few weeks ago at £35. Torque change not the slickest.
Bought one... gave it to my son.. Not had any feed back yet

 

[Norman_E]

I have the same 14.4 volt drill, and it is good. On the boat I have the £29 10.8 volt Li-Ion drill that was on sale a few months ago. It has plenty of grunt. with care it has managed a 35mm holesaw through plywood! A good point is that the shaft is locked when the drill is not running, so you can tighten the chuck properly.

 

[nigelmercier]

I've been trying to get Lidl to tell me when they are next doing a jigsaw, the one on the boat takes only U-shank blades, my one at home takes only T-shank. I can buy a new saw cheaper than the duplication costs.

At first I thought they were being cagey, but I now believe they seriously don't know!

 

[prv]

It has plenty of grunt. with care it has managed a 35mm holesaw through plywood!

Have to say, if a mere 35mm holesaw required "care", I would not call that "plenty of grunt".

My new drill monstered a 92mm holesaw through quality ply in seconds on Sunday, it never occurred to me to expect anything less.

But then, as I said above, I'm picky about drills

Pete

 

[PetiteFleur]

My drill I keep on the boat is an ancient 12v B&Q one that I power directly from the boat battery - works well for small jobs on board. For heavier work I use my Ryobi 18v Li-ion which is superb! - bought about a year ago on special offer from B&Q just before Xmas, complete with 2 batteries for about £68 .

 

[lampshuk]

My drill I keep on the boat is an ancient 12v B&Q one that I power directly from the boat battery

Sounds interesting. Does it have an external 12V input? Or did you hotwire it?

 

[Neil]

I actually tried my 9V Hitachi wired to a 12v battery - it worked fine. I was thinking of soldering some coiled wired to the terminals with clips for the boat battery

 

[Norman_E]

Have to say, if a mere 35mm holesaw required "care", I would not call that "plenty of grunt".

My new drill monstered a 92mm holesaw through quality ply in seconds on Sunday, it never occurred to me to expect anything less.

But then, as I said above, I'm picky about drills

Pete

Remember that I am talking about a 10.8 volt drill. By care I only meant not pushing too hard and pulling out to clear the cuttings at intervals. I have no doubt it would have powered a bigger holesaw, but that is really not what small battery drills are designed for. My old drill on board was a big 21.4 volt job from a French hypermarket. The NiCd batteries on it were pretty tired and it was not happy with holesaws of any size.

 

[lampshuk]

Sounds good. Stick a cigarette lighter plug on it and voila! Your puny battery problems are over!

In fact, I too bought the 14v Lidl drill. It's small enough to chuck in the bottom of the toolbox without taking up all the space. If I had thought of this method I might have looked out for an old drill at a carboot.

I have ditched the rather pointless carrying case. I now have a number of these cheap moulded plastic cases and can't bring myself to throw them away. They really ought to be useful for something. Can't think what, though.

 

[Flossdog]

Bit of a thread drift but I have inherited a Stanley electric drill from my dad which he bought new in 1947ish. It is still working but must admit I don't use it these days. It has a cast aluminium body and was made in the good old US of A. Wonder if anyone can beat that for a "quality" tool?

 

[nigelmercier]

Bit of a thread drift but I have inherited a Stanley electric drill from my dad which he bought new in 1947ish

I got the same. Aluminium casing, with an earth wire attached externally with a wood screw! It went in the bin (sorry Dad).

 

[TSB240]

Bit of a thread drift but I have inherited a Stanley electric drill from my dad which he bought new in 1947ish. It is still working but must admit I don't use it these days. It has a cast aluminium body and was made in the good old US of A. Wonder if anyone can beat that for a "quality" tool?

Memories..... My old man used to have a mower attachment for his Stanley Drill. Extension cable had a multitude of taped up joins in it as he was as blind as a bat and kept running over the lead. We eventually persuaded him to stop using it when he stopped the mower dead with his leather shoe and big toe! Thank god it had a thermal cut out.

 

[prv]

I got the same. Aluminium casing, with an earth wire attached externally with a wood screw! It went in the bin (sorry Dad).

I have something similar. A guy at work moved house and found a load of old tools in the garage. Not being remotely practical, he brought them into work and offered them free for the taking. I ended up with a shoebox of miscellaneous spanners and an ancient-looking drill.

I do use it occasionally, but I must admit that despite having checked the earth continuity with the case when I first got it, every time I press the trigger I do wonder...

Pete