Cordless or corded: which drill for a first workshop?
For most first workshops the answer is a cordless combi drill. Here is when it is not.
Demo post. ACME Ltd is a fictional Sheffield tool maker, invented to show the free Blog Tool working on a real site. The advice is genuine; the company is not.
It is the question we are asked most over the counter. The short answer: for most people setting up a first workshop, a cordless combi drill with two batteries is the right first tool.
Why cordless first
- You can take it to the job - the fence, the loft, the car.
- A combi drill drills wood and metal, drives screws, and has a hammer setting for masonry.
- Two batteries mean one is always charging.
When corded still wins
- Long, hard jobs - mixing plaster, big holes in masonry, hour after hour of drilling. A mains drill never runs flat.
- A fixed workstation - a bench drill or pillar drill gives square, repeatable holes that no hand-held drill can match.
Stick to one battery system
Whichever brand you choose, stay with its batteries. Every tool you add after that is cheaper, because you buy it body-only.
Keep reading
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A week with the apprentices in the grinding shop
Priya and Tom are in their second year. We followed them from Monday's safety briefing to Friday's inspection. (Fiction, for the demo.)
Welcome to the ACME workshop blog
Why a tool maker keeps a blog, and what you will find on this one. (A demo post on Domma CMS.)