Frozen tools

[mcclary's electrical]

One other guy and I were working today in a factory being built. He had a 28 volt Milwaukee sitting on top of a 6 foot ladder. He bumped the ladder, a 6' foot fall shattered the drill into hundreds of pieces. The casing split right in the gearbox. Pieces of the planitary went everywhere. I've had it with Milwaukee drills 450 dollar drill, 6' fall,,,,,,come on

 

[iwire]

He had a 28 volt Milwaukee sitting on top of a 6 foot ladder.

Bet he will not do that again.

 

[cadpoint]

They can assemble the pieces! Someone will take your money!

I've had rebuilt dewalts from 75.00 to 125.00, what ever it is chassie, chuck, drive, just depends.

Spend some money or just wish... Sorry for your lose! Been there done that!

 

[nakulak]

I tell guys all the time to put their drills on the floor or somewhere they won't fall. you put it on the ladder, its gonna fall. I tell em to put their own tools there and the company ones on the floor. its stupidity and carelessness.

 

[SG-1]

Like I tell my coworkers, it can't fall of the floor.

 

[Cow]

Maybe he should start sticking the drills bit through the hole in the top of the ladder and he wouldn't have that problem.

 

[electricmanscott]

One other guy and I were working today in a factory being built. He had a 28 volt Milwaukee sitting on top of a 6 foot ladder. He bumped the ladder, a 6' foot fall shattered the drill into hundreds of pieces. The casing split right in the gearbox. Pieces of the planitary went everywhere. I've had it with Milwaukee drills 450 dollar drill, 6' fall,,,,,,come on

So you think that Milwaukee deliberately uses some cheap shatter prone plastic and all the other manufacturers have a secret bulletproof formula material that they use.

 

[EBFD6]

So you think that Milwaukee deliberately uses some cheap shatter prone plastic and all the other manufacturers have a secret bulletproof formula material that they use.

I know if I bought a drill that couldn't survive a 6' fall, I wouldn't buy another one. I try not to abuse my tools, but I work in the real world and things happen. My Makita has survived some moderate abuse and is still going strong (only about a year old, but so far so good). Dewalt is junk. I used to be a Milwaukee fan, but their quality has gone downhill also. Rigid, Makita, Hilti - IMO are the top names now. However, Milwaukee corded stuff is still pretty reliable, other than my Hilti TE-5, all my corded stuff is Milwaukee (1/2" pistol drill, sawzall, bandsaw, holehawg). Some of the Rigid corded stuff seems pretty rugged also.

 

[ohmhead]

Well that sounds about what we pay for Dewalt repairs ther cadpoint .

We only use Dewalt tools its a company thing you see our upper managers meaning office bigg wigs get there speedway tickets for Daytona Speedway free from Dewalt Reps so we use only Dewalt tools .

But heres a thought when you make abs parts or injection molded parts for any tool they should include in the injection molding process nylon beads with fiberglass beads into there molded parts then when you drop nothing happens .

Nylon doesnt break and its high heat resistant and its hard to burn fiberglass its tuff but they make these tools with ABS which will break thats how they make money on repairs when you drop it from that ladder .

If a drill had a shell mold of injected nylon & fiberglass beads they would last LOOOOONGER .

I kinda have a few special tools with this polymer mix so it kinda works pretty good on impact to the floor and yes my tools arrrr bullet proof!! .

 

[don_resqcapt19]

The OP title is "frozen tools". I don't think the plastic is that much different between all of the brands of tools and would tend to expect the same thing would happen to all of them under the same conditions.
Cold and plastic and impact often equals failure. The very reason that some cold weather jusisdictions do not permit outside exposed PVC conduit.

 

[JFletcher]

I know if I bought a drill that couldn't survive a 6' fall, I wouldn't buy another one.

Same here. My TS 44 is rated for up to a 20' drop - if a test instrument can survive that, so should a heavy duty drill. Drill on ladder or not, no way that a tool so expensive shouldn't withstand a mere 6' fall, ... unless mcclarry was working in a cryogenics factory. :grin: Can't tell you the number of times my cheapo drill has smacked concrete from 6' or higher in sub-freezing weather and it still works fine. Maybe there isn't a lot of cold weather in Milwaukee, China.

 

[One-eyed Jack]

I have had quite a few survive the "drop test". I see no reason to hold the mfg. responsible for lack of care on the part of the user. You "ARE" responsible for your actions after all.

 

[zbang]

He had a 28 volt Milwaukee sitting on top of a 6 foot ladder. He bumped the ladder, a 6' foot fall shattered the drill into hundreds of pieces.

Hate to say it, but... don't leave things on the top of step ladders unless they're somewhat secure. It's one thing if you're up there working, but when you're not, at least bring the heavy things down. I'd hate to have drill land on my foot, even with the steel toed shoes.

 

[wawireguy]

I agree it maybe should have survived but how cold was it? Plastic and under freezing temps don't mix well.

 

[fondini]

its surprising what a mere 6' will break, had an apprentice fall off a 4' ladder and broke her collarbone!

 

[glene77is]

Maybe he should start sticking the drills bit through the hole in the top of the ladder and he wouldn't have that problem.

Cow,

I have a 3 inch diameter x 24 inch long peice of plumbers pipe duct-taped to my ladder. I stick the drill into it, up to the trigger!
I keep a Nail-On box duct-taped inside the ladder,
to hold bits, wirenuts, and stuff.

When I worked in New York,
we wore thin leather gloves all winter,
when we worked that is.
Anyway,
We found that our fingers felt like they would break when we banged them,
and the icy conduit was murder to the skin.

 

[mcclary's electrical]

Maybe he should start sticking the drills bit through the hole in the top of the ladder and he wouldn't have that problem.

Normally that's what is done, but this time he was using a 3" hole saw. It would not fit in any holes on the ladder. The drill fell 6' ,,,hit tip first right on the concrete. It was 10 degrees the night before. He had just taken the drill out of the van. The back of the van is seperated from the cab. I'm sure the drill was frozen. But still disappointed

 

[PetrosA]

Tell him to keep his hard hat up front in the van so that at least that plastic is warmed up in case his drill ever lands on his head.

 

[mcclary's electrical]

Tell him to keep his hard hat up front in the van so that at least that plastic is warmed up in case his drill ever lands on his head.

:grin::grin:

 

[LJSMITH1]

33% Glass-filled Nylon typically has very good cold weather impact resistance. This material is also very expensive and increases wear on the molding tooling.

However, many of these tools on the market have ABS, Polycarbonate (PC) or other variations of PVC that may have cold temperature impact limitations.