Popular Woodworking 2009-12 № 180, страница 25

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 37

the lower-voltage drill-drivers in this review, the greatest number of holes is eight. The results are similar when the lag-screw portion of testing is compared. It's easy to see that these drill-drivers are not the tools to grab if you have heavy-duty work to perform. But after you work with these tools for an extended period of time, you'll notice less wear and tear on your body.

The tests are best for a comparison between like tools and not to indicate workload capabilities. And because the purpose of these smaller voltage drill-drivers is comfort during use, it may be better to gauge the feel of the tool in your hands, how balanced the drill-driver is or isn't and whether the battery charge is in line with the competition, along with other characteristics.

Comfort is Key

A quick look at the chart at right reveals two important areas when the overall feel of the drills is discussed: girth measurement and the total weight of the tool (the drill-driver and the weight of the battery).

To choose an appropriate girth measurement, you have to evaluate your hands as a beginning. Obviously, if you have large hands, a small girth such as the 5" on the Hitachi DS10DFL is going to swim in your grip. But with medium-sized hands, I found this drill-driver to be comfortable to use and easy to grab.

The "easy to grab" part of the equation could be due in part to the battery design. Hitachi is the only drill-driver in the test to keep the battery design similar to that of larger drills, with a wide base design that holds the tool upright for easy pickup. Hitachi's competitors have all adapted a smaller battery that slips inside the handle of the tool, and that increases the girth of the drill-driver.

Contrarily, if your hands are larger, you may Hnd a better Ht with large-girth drills. If that's the case, the Milwaukee 2410-22 or the Ridgid R82008 could be your choice. Both of these drill-drivers have a girth of 6¹A", the largest in the group.

The average weight for the 18-volt drills is 4.1 pounds. The heaviest drill-driver in this review is 2.64 pounds and the average is 2.57 pounds. That tells me a couple things. First, the difference between 18-volts and the lower voltage drill-drivers is signiHcant -1.46 pounds is better than a 50-percent increase in weight over the smaller drills.

14 ■ Popular Woodworking December 2009

Classic old versus new. Hitachi stayed with the tried-and-true design similar to that of larger drill-drivers. Other manufacturers moved toward a new design of fitting the battery into the handle.

Comfort is key. The acute angle at the rear of the Bosch tool causes discomfort to your hand during prolonged use. The more opened angle on the Makita tool makes it more comfortable to use.

Your arms and shoulders will feel better after working a full day with any of these tools versus an 18-volt drill-driver.

Second, there is little weight difference when comparing these drill-drivers to each other. Overall, there is a difference of only 6³A ounces between the heaviest and lightest of these tools. In my opinion, tool weight can be discounted as being too close to warrant a choice based solely on this characteristic.

A Tip of the Drill

As for overall balance, a few of these drill-drivers feel more top-heavy than the others. The Bosch and Makita drills tip forward when set in the upright position, indicating that these drills would roll your wrist downward when put to work. The Craftsman and Ridgid tools sit upright, but tip with the slightest touch. The Milwaukee drill-driver, the heaviest tool in the test, is balanced and stands squarely on its battery-Hlled base.

Another area where comfort becomes apparent is with the over-molded grips and the shape of the tool as it rests in your hand. Most of the drill-drivers have a gentle rounded shape at the rear of the tool, directly behind the trigger. The Bosch and Ridgid tools, however, form an acute angle that rubs the area between your thumb and foreHnger. Not comfortable.

Rotation and Speed Selection

Each drill-driver has a rotation selection switch for forward and reverse movement, and a lock position. Push the switch fully to the left and the drill rotates to drive a screw. A switch pushed fully to the right backs a screw out of your workpiece. And the center position, which is hard to Hnd on a couple

of these drill-drivers, is the lock position. (The lock position is used when drill bits or screwdrivers are replaced.)

The Makita tool has the smallest rotation switch while the Craftsman switch is the largest and most noticeable. It is also the switch that's the most difHcult to operate.

Because there are operations when you need to increase or decrease the rotation speed, each drill-driver has a two-speed gearbox. As a result, changing those speeds is of importance.

Each of the tools has the speed selector on the top of the tool. On the Hitachi and Craftsman drill-drivers, to select the low-speed setting you push the selector forward, and to move to the higher gear, you pull the selector back. The other tools in the test work in the reverse way.

Overall, the selector on the Hitachi drill-driver is the stiffest and hardest to adjust, while the others are easy to change.

Other Interesting Attributes

All the tools in this test have common attributes, such as multiple torque settings so you can dial in the exact amount of torque for any given task (although I seldom adjust the torque settings) and each drill-driver includes two batteries so the idea of completing a j ob without any downtime waiting on batteries to recharge is minimal. (All the tools have 30-minute chargers except for the Makita DF330DW, which has a 50-minute recharge time).

Interestingly, each of the tools in the test require a two-Hnger grip, with a quick squeeze, to change the batteries. For all the drill-drivers except the Ridgid, the grip is across the width of the tool. To change the