this thing seriously works well...

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Fulthrotl

Fulthrotl

~Autocorrect is My Worst Enema.~
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HB, CA (19 Hrs. 22 Min. from Winged Horses)
Occupation
E
a month or so ago, i dropped some sticker shock
level of money on a battery drill, and accessories...

i spent the morning today snoodling wires around
corners... i love this thing.

battery lasts a day or two. it's ungodly strong.
took one of my old milwualkee 18v. lithium drills,
and spun it backwards with this one, with a
fully charged battery on the Milwaukee. it kinda
smoked a bit, the big M did.... smelled, too.

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The right angle attachment can be bought separately, but it won't fit other drills. It attaches directly to the face of the drill and locks into place so it doesn't rotate or flop around. The normal jacobs chuck pops off quickly and you can install the right angle driver, or one of the other chucks too.

It's a very impressive drill. It was the first one on the market that uses a 3-phase servo motor with remote commutation. I wrote a technical review of it a couple years ago. http://www.waterfront-woods.com/festool/C12review.pdf
 
Rick Christopherson said:
The right angle attachment can be bought separately, but it won't fit other drills. It attaches directly to the face of the drill and locks into place so it doesn't rotate or flop around. The normal jacobs chuck pops off quickly and you can install the right angle driver, or one of the other chucks too.

It's a very impressive drill. It was the first one on the market that uses a 3-phase servo motor with remote commutation. I wrote a technical review of it a couple years ago. http://www.waterfront-woods.com/festool/C12review.pdf
Click to expand...

a very well written evaluation.... thanks for providing the link...

i'm wondering if they changed the torque sensing on this version of the drill over the one you reviewed....
the top speed lowers as you set the torque setting to very light settings, to prevent over run....
when you hit your torque setting, the drill just beeps once, and stops. no clicking or ratcheting.

you can also tweak the setting against a clicker style torque wrench, to get a repeatable torque setting
irregardless of battery state of charge.

they have a screw gun head that goes on as well, if you are driving a lot of drywall screws.

noted your warning against hooking two drills to a common shaft to "arm wrestle" them.
i'll try to behave.... but there's a guy who raves about how strong his dewalt 36 volt drill is.....

so i'll only spin him backwards a little bit.....
 
Yes, the clutch is now fully electronic in the newer drills. It senses the current in the motor and triggers from that. It also compensates for when you switch from high to low gear so the torque is similar for either setting. The controller uses hall effect (magnet) sensors to detect the position of the gear box and forward/reverse button. (There are no mechanical switches to fail).

I have updated the article to cover the newer models, but it isn't published yet.

Yes, I did notice your comment of putting the two drills together. I was going to say something but decided not to. :D You are guaranteed not to lose the battle, because the chuck lock on the Festool will prevent the other drill from being able to turn it. It's a good thing, because the motor will act like a 3-phase generator if spun. I fried a controller because I was playing with the motor (removed from the drill) and spinning the shaft with my hand.

Here is the dynamometer I built to test the drills. It uses a permanent magnet 3-phase motor as a generator going into a switchable load bank from 1000 ohms to dead short. At dead short, you can barely turn the motor shaft. I used a pair of Fluke meters to give me amperage, voltage, and frequency output from the generator.

loadbank-lo.jpg
 
Fulthrotl said:
the top speed lowers as you set the torque setting to very light settings, to prevent over run....
Click to expand...
I'll be darned. I didn't notice this until just now (I do happen to have a T15 next to my desk). It's pretty rare that someone points out a feature I didn't know about.

I originally wrote that Technical Review for the employees of Festool-USA that didn't understand the nature of the drill the engineers in Germany had developed. It started out as just a white paper about the cool new drill that had a 3-phase motor in it, but Festool decided to have me turn it into the Technical Review for the public. It's published all over the world now.
 
this 18+3 drill is not listed

this 18+3 drill is not listed

on the festoolusa website. I'm in the market for a new cordless and this product looks great, but the website doesn't list the model you pictured (unless it's listed somewhere besides "cordless drills". Help!!
 
$625 ... you bet that's sticker shock!

But, by golly, I'm not convinced that any drill compares to any impact driver for our uses. My 'excellent' drills becam dust collectors the moment I bought a 'mediocre' impact driver.

I also think the impact driver is every bit as 'slim' as that right-angle attachment. With bit attached, it easily fits the 14-1/2" between studs. Thus, even my right-angle and my 'sparrow' drill are now collecting dust too.

My latest impact driver is a bit more "Gucci," trading off a large battery for a tool that fits in a pocket. I am able to drive plenty of screws with the 'tiny' battery.
 
renosteinke said:
$625 ... you bet that's sticker shock!

But, by golly, I'm not convinced that any drill compares to any impact driver for our uses. My 'excellent' drills becam dust collectors the moment I bought a 'mediocre' impact driver.

I also think the impact driver is every bit as 'slim' as that right-angle attachment. With bit attached, it easily fits the 14-1/2" between studs. Thus, even my right-angle and my 'sparrow' drill are now collecting dust too.

My latest impact driver is a bit more "Gucci," trading off a large battery for a tool that fits in a pocket. I am able to drive plenty of screws with the 'tiny' battery.
Click to expand...


to each his own.

as they say..... 30 day return, no questions asked.
3 year warranty, tool AND batteries.
they don't get many returns.

i got sick of my Milwaukee lithium 18v. batteries going belly
up.... i have a full compliment of their stuff, and the batteries
suck. i spent $500 on batteries last year, and now only two of
them will hold a charge.

that's sticker shock. buying something that will be trash next
year. then buying it again, and again... and again.

the impact tool versus regular drill question i'm not having a
problem with.... i've got impact drivers as well. i haven't used
anything other than this drill for the last month, and i'm not
missing them.

in europe they have a battery powered jigsaw that runs on the
same battery as this... when they roll it out in north america,
i'll get one... that replaces the porta band, sawzall, circular saw, etc.

it's called the carvex.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lH_P1U0CXAc

one charger, three batteries, two tools. done.
 
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I am surprised that you prefer a regular drill to an impact driver.

The main reason I like the impact driver is that there is no tendency of the tool to twist as the bit encounters resistance. No more bet drill bits, broken screws, or sore wrists. It really shines running in lag bolts.

I got the impact driver originally for driving screws, but have found it superb for drilling ... assuming proper bit selection, of course- and the bits need that 1/4" hex shank. (Or, 7/16" hex for the Millwaukee monster). Irwin "Speed-Bor Max" for wood, and Uni-bits for metal. Let the chips fly! (better wear glasses).
 
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