12V, 14.4V or 18V drill?

J

joxang

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 30, 2010
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279
How much power do I need to drill holes in aluminium + steel cases?
 
You don't need much power to drill through a computer case regardless of the material. However Ryboi drills suck balls. They are flat out aweful. I've been able to do things with my 12v DeWalt I couldn't do with an 18v Ryobi. They are just shit. I'm not saying you need a DeWalt drill for light use by any means. Pick up a Porter Cable, Craftsman, Black & Decker, or a Milwaukee. There are too many decent brands of drill out there to bother with Ryobi.
 
However Ryboi drills suck balls. They are flat out aweful
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I disagree. I have a 3 of these and I love them. My dad used to use them at work (carpentry). Although he had a few DeWalt models he actually preferred the 18V Ryobi mainly because of all the tools that could use the same battery and the price difference in batteries. He is retired now but he probably has 20 of these 18V tools.
 
Remember folks, a drill is like an SLR camera: you could have the most expensive drill (i.e. camera body) ever to be created, but it's still only as good as the drill bits (i.e. lenses) that you use!
 
drescherjm said:
I disagree. I have a 3 of these and I love them. My dad used to use them at work (carpentry). Although he had a few DeWalt models he actually preferred the 18V Ryobi. He is retired now.
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I don't see how that's possible. I've worked with plenty of both and the Ryobi drills suck in comparison. I've seen 12v DeWalt's do far more than 18v Ryobi's on more than one occasion. I've used drills for everything from hanging air conditioning ducts, to drilling sheet metal, drilling out half inch bolts, holes in concrete, bricks and even holes in 1/8th steel plates. In each case a Ryobi has either done the job slower, sloppier or not at all. In my opinion Ryobi makes the shittiest drill on the market and their price pretty much reflects that. It's cheap Chinese garbage.

pojut said:
Remember folks, a drill is like an SLR camera: you could have the most expensive drill (i.e. camera body) ever to be created, but it's still only as good as the drill bits (i.e. lenses) that you use!
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Which reminds me. Ryobi drill bits are worse than their actual drills. :eek:
 
I've had absolutely no issues with Black & Decker. All the B&D's we've had at work have outlasted our DeWalts. This is just my experience though.
 
Dan_D said:
You don't need much power to drill through a computer case regardless of the material. However Ryboi drills suck balls. They are flat out aweful. I've been able to do things with my 12v DeWalt I couldn't do with an 18v Ryobi. They are just shit. I'm not saying you need a DeWalt drill for light use by any means. Pick up a Porter Cable, Craftsman, Black & Decker, or a Milwaukee. There are too many decent brands of drill out there to bother with Ryobi.
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I'd put milwaukee in the same league as the dewalt drills but yea I generally agree with what dan said. For a home user and drilling into a computer case pretty much anything will do. I'd personally buy at least something nice as it should last for a very long time.

Jesse B said:
I've had absolutely no issues with Black & Decker. All the B&D's we've had at work have outlasted our DeWalts. This is just my experience though.
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Dewalt is black and decker, has been for 50 years.........
 
Jesse B said:
Hmm, wasn't aware of this. Must have just been luck then. Thanks for informing me :p
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Black & Decker has been their consumer line for some time. DeWalk is their upper echelon brand. It's a favorite among contractors and other professionals who depend on their drills every day.
 
Jesse B said:
Hmm, wasn't aware of this. Must have just been luck then. Thanks for informing me :p
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They were bought out in like the 40's then black and decker bought them in like 1960 or something.

Black and decker sells cheaper drills under its own name. Most of the commercial stuff is dewalt.
 
Not much, just get a good bit. I own a Makita 18v LXT and even with that if the bit is bad, it's going to suck regardless.
 
I love my Ryobi, Personally. For small projects it should be more than enough. I could see where a contractor would have an issue with it. But I'm not a contractor. Their new Li-ion batters are the shit though.
 
I would buy a cheap electric drill, some bits and some WD40 to keep your bits cool while drilling thicker metals. My $20 black and decker electric drill has outlasted two cordless dewalts.
 
I heard Ryobi sucks the deeznuts. I got a black and decker 12v bd12ps off amazon for I think $40. Battery is EXCELLENT and I have not a single gripe yet, in moderate use over 6 months.
 
I think what got ryobi their crap reputation is ryobi "one" tools, which are pretty bad. I have a stationary sander from them which is fine.
 
I just got a new Makita 18V drill/driver and impact (screw) driver combo kit from Amazon gold box a few weeks ago, love the tools. They're lighter than my corded, less powerful Hitachi and super light compared to my old DeWalt 12V drill/driver. They're not the LXT super batteries, just the normal ones, but they can use the LXT's. That should be fine though cause it came with the 15 minute quick charger for these "cheaper" batteries, it'll be pretty close to impossible to go through a battery in less than 15 minutes and it came with two batteries.

I already had a Makita circular saw I bought a few months ago and the build quality and performance was great, so I went with them for these tools as well. Loving them. Can't wait to get my hands on the cordless impact gun, won't have to fire up the compressor just to rotate my tires ...

My old DeWalt lasted a pretty good few years but it was refurbished to begin with and one battery won't charge at all now and the other barely holds a charge, and buying new batteries is way too expensive to be worthwhile.
 
Dan_D said:
You don't need much power to drill through a computer case regardless of the material. However Ryboi drills suck balls. They are flat out aweful. I've been able to do things with my 12v DeWalt I couldn't do with an 18v Ryobi. They are just shit. I'm not saying you need a DeWalt drill for light use by any means. Pick up a Porter Cable, Craftsman, Black & Decker, or a Milwaukee. There are too many decent brands of drill out there to bother with Ryobi.
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This is very true I saw a guy that I work with kill a pretty new Ryobi with a 7/8" or 1" spade bit. Their "tools" if you can even call them that are just junk.

BioSehnsucht said:
I just got a new Makita 18V drill/driver and impact (screw) driver combo kit from Amazon gold box a few weeks ago, love the tools. They're lighter than my corded, less powerful Hitachi and super light compared to my old DeWalt 12V drill/driver. They're not the LXT super batteries, just the normal ones, but they can use the LXT's. That should be fine though cause it came with the 15 minute quick charger for these "cheaper" batteries, it'll be pretty close to impossible to go through a battery in less than 15 minutes and it came with two batteries.
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I have a Makita 18v Li that I paid a pretty penny for and I dropped it off of a 4 foot ladder and it hasn't worked right since. I've seen Dewalts take much more abuse. I'll never buy another Makita tool again.
 
BababooeyHTJ said:
This is very true I saw a guy that I work with kill a pretty new Ryobi with a 7/8" or 1" spade bit. Their "tools" if you can even call them that are just junk.


I have a Makita 18v Li that I paid a pretty penny for and I dropped it off of a 4 foot ladder and it hasn't worked right since. I've seen Dewalts take much more abuse. I'll never buy another Makita tool again.
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I've had the exact same experience. I've seen DeWalt's physically survive things other drills did not.
 
You don't need much to drill but if you were to buy one drill to do everything, I would purchase an 18v. I have had 9.6 and 14.4 and they just do not have the power that my 18V has. I had a Ryobi but when the batteries died I went with Black & Decker.
 
Panasonic makes some of the best drills out there, they even make most parts for other companies and save the best tech for themselves : ) been using them for years and the batteries last much longer then the other brands! (I use them all day every day, and compete with guys who use dewalts) Provides most torque and best balance too ; )

Their 15.6 with 3.5mAh competes with the 18v of the other brands.
 
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As someone who spends 20+ hours a week with a cordless drill in his hands you just can't beat a DeWalt. The B&D branded versions are a pale imitation in my experience. Most of my work is drilling wood and driving screws, I like power/weight/runtime combinaton of the 14.4V model myself. Plenty of power for anything you are likely to ever need, much better runtime than the 12, and a good bit lighter than the 18.
 
jkr266 said:
As someone who spends 20+ hours a week with a cordless drill in his hands you just can't beat a DeWalt. The B&D branded versions are a pale imitation in my experience. Most of my work is drilling wood and driving screws, I like power/weight/runtime combinaton of the 14.4V model myself. Plenty of power for anything you are likely to ever need, much better runtime than the 12, and a good bit lighter than the 18.
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I've got a 12v and an 18v and the latter is a heavy bitch.
 
Student atm and constantly moving around so I won't be doing any renovation stuff or home DIY. Drill is purely for making screw holes in cases over the next couple of years so I think a £30 B&D 12V will do ok for that :). Thanks!!
 
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