Power Tool Tuesday!!!!!!!

More than Merely a Drill

What can be said about a simple drill.... quite a lot really. Drills aren't just for drilling anymore -- we use them as screwguns and as sanding drums, they are required to drill pilot holes. Drills come in various battery powered sizes and lots of electric varieties.

The goal, for our purposes, is to focus on what we are most likely to need and use.

Pictured here are a 1/3 horsepower electric drill, a 12 volt battery powered drill and an 18 volt battery operated drill:

The most powerful is the electric -- but, being tethered to a cord, it is also the most unweildy. On the other end of the spectrum is the light-weight 12 volt drill, center, which doesn't hold a charge for very long and doesn't have the power for more than very light tasks of drilling an occassional hole -- to hang a picture or screwing together a piece of flat pack furniture. The 18V, right, is the workhorse. It has almost the power of the 1/3 horsepower eletric drill, but is self contained and can go anywhere. Up ladders, across the house, up on the roof or under the sink. Take note, that the 18V battery is twice the size of the 12V battery. It is somewhat heavier than the 12V, but not prohibitively so.

Ninety percent of the work I do, building furniture, outdoor structures and household projects, I use the 18V. (There is now a 24V available -- I haven't felt the need for a more powerful drill and have not found myself hankering for bigger-better-more. The 24V is heavier and perhaps better for professional construction situations. For my uses, the 18V is practically perfect in every way. )

A drill is the core tool of home-use power tools. It can be used to drill pilot holes to make furniture assembly easier, to install wall mollies for hanging large pictures and shelves. It can also drill holes for bird houses, dowel rods or even in china. It can be used as a screw gun, to drive screws into decks, roofing materials or subfloors. It can run a drum sander. Of all the power tools I use, the drill was my first power tool and the one I use most frequently.

Let's look at the range of bits and what they do:

a) Drills range in size from teeny-tiny to GREAT BIG -- the only limit is the size of the drill insert. Notice the shaft of the larger bit is stepped down. Size matters.

b) Types of bits differ based on the type of work they are expected to do. The gold-toned bit is Titanium which is extremely hard -- it holds a sharp edge and is less likely to break. (Of the smaller bits I am endlessly breaking them, no matter what they are made of.) Because they hold a sharp edge so well, titanium shows a difference in quality when drilling through fine hardwoods or even soft woods -- they will be less tear out and shredding. The black bit is high speed steel, not so strong as titanium, but for average occassional use it does everything you will need it to do, which is drill a hole. The silver one is an average cheap steel bit which is fine for occasional use.

c) Paddle bits or Spade bits -- these drill larger holes that we use to run eletric wires through studs or to drill a hole for a bird house. Spade bits range in size from 1/3 of an inch to 2 inches. These can also be used to make a hole for a dowel rod that we would use as a pot rack or a towel bar, curtain rod -- lots of household uses

d) Forstner bits drill a perfectly flat bottomed hole. Let's say you are making a paper towel stand -- the kind that holds the roll of paper towels on end. The dowel needs to be inserted into a wooded base in such a way that the dowel is flush inside the connection. A regular bit will make a tapered hole, which won't provide the depth or adhesion needed. A forstener bit will drill to the required depth with a perfectly flat hole providing perfect adhesion for the dowel.

Next time... MORE FUN WITH DRILLS