ADAM DUTHIE
09-25-2009, 03:44 PM
I saw that a headlight thread was taking off on a different direction, so I thought I'd start up a "water cooler" type thread over here on tools outside of HLR or WSR use.
I just recently decided to start back into some minor woodworking as a hobby. I used to spend time with my grandfather working on projects with him when he was still alive but hadn't done much recently, so I figured now was a good time to go back into it and watch less T.V.
My lovely girlfriend bought me a set of 18v Makita LXT driver/drill and impact driver. Man do they have some torque. I learned quickly that making pilot holes too small was a bad idea. On my workbench project alone, i had about 5 or 6 decking screws and 2 heavier duty wood screws not strip, but snap about halfway down the length of the screw. So, i couldn't remove the screw and had to adjust the location of the replacement screw. Good thing I was countersinking them, but the stained wood putty still irks me a bit, as I can see 3 spots instead of 2 in a few places.
On the bright side, these newer compact lithium ion tools have been amazing as far as battery life goes. I must have driven 200 screws plus drilled 200 pilot holes with 2 batteries before I even had to charge them for the first time. I think I've had them for about 4 months, and have only needed to recharge the batteries 2 times or so with reasonable use for a non commercial purpose....
So, I'm still learning how to best judge the size of pilot hole I need to avoid snapping screws in half, but I love the tools. It also came with a bonus recipro saw, but I don't often have a use for that with what I'm doing. Would have preferred a circular saw, but I got a corded one, since i wanted to use larger diameter blades.
Anyway, hope everyone has a great weekend!
Cheers,
Adam
I just recently decided to start back into some minor woodworking as a hobby. I used to spend time with my grandfather working on projects with him when he was still alive but hadn't done much recently, so I figured now was a good time to go back into it and watch less T.V.
My lovely girlfriend bought me a set of 18v Makita LXT driver/drill and impact driver. Man do they have some torque. I learned quickly that making pilot holes too small was a bad idea. On my workbench project alone, i had about 5 or 6 decking screws and 2 heavier duty wood screws not strip, but snap about halfway down the length of the screw. So, i couldn't remove the screw and had to adjust the location of the replacement screw. Good thing I was countersinking them, but the stained wood putty still irks me a bit, as I can see 3 spots instead of 2 in a few places.
On the bright side, these newer compact lithium ion tools have been amazing as far as battery life goes. I must have driven 200 screws plus drilled 200 pilot holes with 2 batteries before I even had to charge them for the first time. I think I've had them for about 4 months, and have only needed to recharge the batteries 2 times or so with reasonable use for a non commercial purpose....
So, I'm still learning how to best judge the size of pilot hole I need to avoid snapping screws in half, but I love the tools. It also came with a bonus recipro saw, but I don't often have a use for that with what I'm doing. Would have preferred a circular saw, but I got a corded one, since i wanted to use larger diameter blades.
Anyway, hope everyone has a great weekend!
Cheers,
Adam