I had some bits of recycling to go to the local civic amenity site last week , In the large trolleys of electronics I plucked out two similar model(98x series) Dewalt cordless drills ,both with batteries .
I had a hunch the drill bodies themselves were ok so I took them both away with me .
When I got home I checked things out ,the first cell pack was gone leaky and wouldnt hold any kind of charge , so I carefully removed the cells and cleaned up the mess . The second seemed to be holding charge .
Turns out the second cell pack is actually good and both drills function perfectly , I was able to clean up the chuck and remove the rust and other accumulated grime and dirt from the canary yellow body .
Of course these are old models now with NiCD batteries and brushed motor , but the modern dewalt equivalent with LIPO battery and brushless motor is around 500 euros new.
Ive replaced the nicd's with Lipo cells in an old 12v dewalt Ive had for years and years and its still going strong , I now charge it on a hobby style charger with cell balance ability , its easy to find a lipo cell pack to fit inside the original battery case . The other option is a cell pack adapter , Lidl do a range of cordless 20 volt lipos and an adapter to the older dewalt style battery connector .
Anyway just saying , if you spot an old Dewalt drill on the scrap heap theres every chance its working , if its one of the high end models its well worth cleaning up and changing the battery to Lipo . Having two cordless drill makes plenty of sense , one for drilling one as a screw gun ,that saves having to change the bits on the job .
As I was saying my first Dewalt cordless I got second hand for cheap around 15 years ago , the Nicads died ,but it still runs like clockwork with LIPO power .
The two new ones are much more heavy duty 14.4v drills with the metal gear boxes , I did spend more or less the whole day cleaning and checking everything on one , but its time well spent ,
these things will be with me until the end of my days and cost zip all .
Im very glad the person who disposed of these placed them in such a way someone like me would see them , but this wanton waste has to stop sooner or later or we end up going the way of the dodo.
The cost of a throwaway society is war someplace else , remember that .
I had a hunch the drill bodies themselves were ok so I took them both away with me .
When I got home I checked things out ,the first cell pack was gone leaky and wouldnt hold any kind of charge , so I carefully removed the cells and cleaned up the mess . The second seemed to be holding charge .
Turns out the second cell pack is actually good and both drills function perfectly , I was able to clean up the chuck and remove the rust and other accumulated grime and dirt from the canary yellow body .
Of course these are old models now with NiCD batteries and brushed motor , but the modern dewalt equivalent with LIPO battery and brushless motor is around 500 euros new.
Ive replaced the nicd's with Lipo cells in an old 12v dewalt Ive had for years and years and its still going strong , I now charge it on a hobby style charger with cell balance ability , its easy to find a lipo cell pack to fit inside the original battery case . The other option is a cell pack adapter , Lidl do a range of cordless 20 volt lipos and an adapter to the older dewalt style battery connector .
Anyway just saying , if you spot an old Dewalt drill on the scrap heap theres every chance its working , if its one of the high end models its well worth cleaning up and changing the battery to Lipo . Having two cordless drill makes plenty of sense , one for drilling one as a screw gun ,that saves having to change the bits on the job .
As I was saying my first Dewalt cordless I got second hand for cheap around 15 years ago , the Nicads died ,but it still runs like clockwork with LIPO power .
The two new ones are much more heavy duty 14.4v drills with the metal gear boxes , I did spend more or less the whole day cleaning and checking everything on one , but its time well spent ,
these things will be with me until the end of my days and cost zip all .
Im very glad the person who disposed of these placed them in such a way someone like me would see them , but this wanton waste has to stop sooner or later or we end up going the way of the dodo.
The cost of a throwaway society is war someplace else , remember that .
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