Andrull

Nope. I would guess theese are first gen. At least they were bought half a year ago, and probably been at the shop for some time. So nothing new, and I have seen you guys have pretty much agreed on it beeing pretty bad. Just didn't think it was this bad, and that you had been to rough/exagerrated it a little. I actually though the bits was okay. Untill now.

Looked a bit closer on the milwaukee bits, and noticed all the "fins" on the torx head was gone, execpt one and a half. Haven't used them more than perhaps 20 screws. Lol. Just as low quality as the free cheapo ones (Use and toss) you get when phurcasing new screws. And they god damn cost me 5 dollar a piece (2 inch) (10 dollar for two-pack). Worst buy in history.

One favorable detail with the makita is its gold color. It's easy to find them between all to other bits and stuff. A small and unnecessary detail, but I like it. So you quickly can find the quality ones, and not the el cheapo backup ones. I miss som ridges at the tip though. My wera screwdrivers and one from bosch have them, and I feel like they stay just a tad better.

Have two boxes (L-Boxxes)from Bosch, and two Makpac from Makita. And Bosch's system is definitely the best. Very quick and easy to take one box from another in the bosch system. Makita's tabs is a bit hard, not very good grip, and you have to open four to take two boxes apart. Versus Bosch, that only have two, that opens without any struggle or strenght at all. Makitas boxes uses the same joints to connect the boxes and open/close. But on bosch, this is separate. I like that. Probably use at least 4-5 times the time to separate and open a box. All in All, both is better than no box system, but Bosch is the only one that is quick enough that I want to connect the boxes when I'm using the tools at a daily basis in my workshop. I feel that Makita's system is perhaps a bit "safer", since they would never release accidentaly when carrying it. Not that I've had any trouble with bosch, but given how easy they are to connect/disconnect, I would suspect it might be an issue.

Nice. Knew you were one of santa's elves! First snow of the year today, so yeah, could not be better timing to set the mood with some winter related stuff. Awfully late this year if I have to say it myself.

Never bought a cheap china knockoff battery that actually lasts. Since the cell is faulty speced with no overhead. It charges 100% and then almost discharges to 0% to get the same capacity as quality batteries. But of course, they even lie about it as well. But without any headroom, the battery is inn for a hellish life, living on the edge. And the capacity/effective life will drop rapidly. This could be tenfolds the real batteries. And then there is the internal resistance. They would probably not have any low internal resistance at all (very important aspect), meaning it will heat up quickly, and deliver a lot lower voltage under load (meaning the tool will not operate at its full potensial). Much like the power you get when the normal batteries is almost fully discharged. So... is it worth it? No. Just buy cheaper tools like ryobi or something. And this is not thinking about the safety aspect. The batteries is expensive for a reason.

Yupp, exactly. The die grinder should absolutely not be left with a battery. Xd This was done on a battery with 90% charge, just to check the tools normal drainage. And I would guess the battery would cut of the power to the unit when the charge gets very low. (I only have the 5Ah's) But it is a bit worrying, if left on the tool with a full/medium charge, thinking it could get a decent shelf life this way. You risk it getting drained quickly, and then slowly dying. But as you guys mentioned, in combination with an battery that doens't properly cut the power to the tool. This problem/behavior would destroy the battery in no time.

Wow, great tip! Thanks.

Interresting question. And Just a heads up. I usually don't store batteries on the tools, but just had to test it out with som real test data to se if its just bull or real. Sry guys. ^^ lifes too short to dwell. Anyways. My findings was: The DHP481 = - 0 microamps standby. - 56,7 milliamps with LED and battery indicator ON. - 36,1 milliamps with only battery indicator ON. DBO180 (Sander) - 0 milliamps standby DTW281 = - 0 microamps standby - 52,7 milliamps with LED and battery indicator ON. - 32,9 milliamps with only battery indicator on. DGA504 - from shelf or if you try to use it without power = 15-12,5mA in a minute (probably charging capacitor or something) After the one minute, it stabilizes on 712 microamps (0,7mA). In other word, slowly draining the battery. DGD800 - Draining 2,5-1,55 mA continiously ! And this is all I had the time to test. But the DHP481 (XPT07), makita's sander and their brushless impact compact wrench is no problem what so ever. Tested with both the pluss side, and the extra signal pin. The signal-pin did have some low current when the LED/battery indicator lighted up, but only then. This current is already added into the numbers I gave you. Edit: An 2,5mA drain is so 'large', if it held this constantly, it would drain a fully charged battery in under three months. And this is excluding the battery's self discharge rate.

This problem is as far as I can remember, only a problem with a handfull batches/earlier revisions of the BL1830? A bit surprised Makita haven't officially taken them back. They would offer you a new one by the Makita dealer where I live. I don't doubt there was a issue here, but it looks like it was more a combination of user fault and a problem. The too low voltage problem is a problem on every other Li-ion battery. But a more aggressive cut off, could give you more time before you need to recharge. The emergency solution forball Li-ion is charging the cells with a higher voltage for a shirt amount of time (around a minute).

When drilling, especially metal, an handle or "anti-spin" is very welcome/necessary. High chance of locking. But drilling wood with 1 inch and lower drillbits, no problem here. Must say I have regretted picking up the impact wrench when screwing semi-large screws. Sometimes the vibration and slow speed just makes the fastening hard, when you need to hold the wood with thebother hand. Other times, I don't mind taking my time, and chillin with the driver or wrench.

Isn't the ordinary fuel even lighter than the small kitty XPH07? But yeah, using an small 10,8V drill on the side usually gives lower fatigue.

Yupp. The only times I had to get out a chainsaw, ut was for small jobs. Last time, wasted 15 min trying to start it. Got it started in the end, but managed to suffocate it. Probably needed to be maintained. Had to get my hand saw and axe in the end. So an electric one would be highly approciated. Theese petrol motors is no fan of me. Even though I've repaired one or two.

Small diameter wasn't my first though either. But yeah, theese old cast iron drain pipes (had to exchange them in my old home) might be a bit thicker.

Yeah, you are probably right, and it might be the solution for now. Though, it is no rush, just a large radiator I'd like to repair, so I could possibly train a bit. And to be honest, the training bit is important. Doesn't have to be pretty. Gotta clean it up and make the leak hole as small as possible. Edit: That knipex 16" is really getting a hard time loosing up those 58 mm couplings.

Problem is, The tool doesn't match my eyes. :-p Lol.

Whats the best method to weld aluminium? Have to fix a leak, but I only got DC stick welder, so perhaps brazing or an special "alu-weld" brazing product could do the trick. My brother got an Mig welder though, could they do the trick?

Can it for example run the 1-1/2" switchblade at speed 2? (Second gear) If there is one thing that I like with powerfull drills, is their ability to get most jobs done in second gear. Since it gives so much less strain on the user. And off course gets the job over twice as quick or more.

Yupp. For work, I think halogen is a big no-no. So as work light, im using two 50W LED (4500k ish), and a 150W metal halide (HID) lamp. Both with around 75 lumens per watt. After I replaced the halogen lamp, I've seen a couple of possitive reactions. For one, I can actually use an 2 kW IR heater on the same breaker. Before I had too change between heat or power tools. The light is by far superior, beeing closer to what light you get from the sun. Also, with the halogen, the roof got dangerously hot (70 C). Though, the unit melted/burned after a couple of months. But the HID lamp takes forever to start up, so the first minutes, the LEDs are the most important light source. But the HID lamp gives the most light per buck. Only thing was that I had to replace the lamp that came with the unit, and replaced it with a better quality philips one. The original had an RA rating of 60 or something. And had a really green hue.

Just note that measuring the power it uses is not a very good measure of how much light you get. One reason is that the efficiency of the LED is highly different. By a difference ratio of around 10, of what I have seen. I.e that some LED's can be as bad as 30 Lumens per watt, and others that can do over 300. The better LED's is usually around 100 Lumens per watt, and the cheaper ones around 50-60. Secondly, and luckily, efficiency rises with lover voltage and current (LED diodes is anything but linear). Which means that if you use an 50W LED, and you use a LED driver that deliver 25W, you won't half the light output (Lumens). It would probably be more like a 25-30 % drop. Ps: Though it would only work if it is a type of LED driver that doesn't shut down (or burn to a crisp) with overload, but has current limiting, meaning it will drop the voltage to lower the current, so it can deliver 25W, even though the load is normaly 50W. Either way, it is not very healty way of using cheap china quality. (fire potensial in the driver would be high) Personally, I have nothing against some semi-cheap LED's. As long as it isn't notciable dimmer than it should be, and has a RA-index of at least 80, prefferable over 85. Anything less, and you risk that part of the spectrum gets very dim, and parts of what you work with would be much harder to see (even though it is "well litt". Also, the edges of the light shaft would be heavily coloured.

I've reparied a stick welder, that they threw away at work. (HPU fabrication facility) Tried some smaller welding projects in SS 316/316L steel, bolts, and 316 piping, that I could get hold of. Was not as easy as I had estimated, but I think I'm making progress. Really want me a TIG though, becouse I need the higher precicion for my relatively smal projects, and thin sheets. The sheets warps like crazy. This weekend, I'm probably start on a frame for a combined ramp/"trolley", so I can get the computer into the van. Should be fun.

FLIR and FLUKE both make industry leading test and measuring equipment. And even though FLIR seems to focus a bit more on the IR-department, and Fluke on the multimeter/electronic-department, they overlap each other pretty good. And both have very high quality equipment in theese camps. I personally think FLIR looks a tad better in looks, and FLUKE more bulky and perhaps a bit more rigid. But yeah, in total, pretty equal in design/quality. In the Thermal Imager department, both have a lot of the same, and even though FLIR has more models to choose from, the price and performance is relatively close at the comparable range.In my case, with the TI-29 (mine is 9Hz version, but also come in 60Hz), it is very close to the FLIR E60. In design and features.Both have:Manual Focus, variable MMX/Fusion, optional Wide/tele lenses, 2% accuracy, 50mK sensitivity, range, display size, and functions. The difference is:The ti29 have four times the display resolution. But the FLIR E60 have 60Hz and WiFi, compared to my Ti29 is just 9Hz version and only have SD-card, and importantly, the IR resolution on the fluke is a tad lower (280x210 VS 320x240), i.e it comes between the FLIR E50 and E60. Price wice, both the E60 and Ti-29 costs around 7000 $ + 1000 $ for Wide angle lens. So bottom line; yeah, I'd say Fluke compare pretty Equal to FLIR in most aspects. At least in this case.

Yeah, but it doesn't seem to even use any damping/anti-vibration?!

A dummy power-supply battery exist, but I doubt you get a lot of power out of it. A Power supply at that size usually is at a couple hundred watts. You would probably use SMPS (switching mode power supply) tech, becouse 50-60HZ would demand very large trsnsformer. A pure transformer battery with 700-800W output would weigh around 6,5kg and be 3 times the size of a normal battery. Actually, the simplest thing i just using an stationary power supply at around 20V, and connect it to the tool with an battery-adapter (or make your own adapter). A DIY'er would do it in no time.

Ahhh. Okay, yeah. I screwed up. Xd