wingless' DeWALT DCK299M2 Kit - Includes 20V MAX XR DCD996 Hammer Drill

[wingless]

wingless' DeWALT DCK299M2 Kit - Includes 20V MAX XR DCD996 Hammer Drill, DCF887 Impact Driver, two DCB204 4Ah Battery Packs, DCB115 4A Charger; a N433408 side handle; two N268241 belt hooks w/ mounting screws and N454406 Tool Bag

 

My tool set has not included a hammer drill. In the past I toughed it out from that deficiency, but I now needed to drill a two-foot long hole diagonally through cement, so a hammer drill was required. My front door light was above the awning, making it useless for illuminating the entry. When I removed my front door to replace the deteriorated frame I also decided to relocate the light fixture to below the awning. It was also REALLY handy when installing the ten ½' x 6" Tapcon bolts retaining my 3½" x 9" x 8' pressure treated beam to my concrete house, when I replaced the door frame bucks.

 

A DeWALT DCK299M2 kit was purchased. This includes a 20V MAX XR DCD996 ½" hammer drill, a DCF887 impact driver, two DCB204 4Ah Lithium Ion battery packs, a DCB115 4A charger, two N268241 belt hooks w/ mounting screw and a N454406 tool bag.

 

My tool preference is a hard case for each tool, so I also purchased a N200697 hard tool box, for just the DCD996 hammer drill, then sold the DCF887 impact driver, being a duplicate tool for me, with my existing tool shown in this wingless' DCF 887 impact driver topic.

 

The N454406 tool bag that comes with the kit is 13" Long x 9" Wide x 10" Tall, Yellow and Black fabric w/ DeWALT Logos, two full length plastic rail feet, internal / concealed shape-retaining stiffening material, two loop fabric handles, full-length zipper closure and three exterior pockets on two sides.

 

A ½" diameter 24" long Irwin 326017 concrete hammer bit was also purchased to make this hole. I would like to say it was like pushing a hot knife through butter, but the hole drilled easily enough and that task is completed.

 

This DCD996 hammer drill is very similar to my DCD991 drill, just adding the hammer function, with a longer length chuck.

 

The tool weighs 4lbs, 12oz, w/ a 4.0Ah battery pack and the included belt hook. The top/bottom balance is nice and appropriate. The tool is "made in the USA with global materials". These DCB204 20V 4.0Ah100Wh battery packs have cells made in Malaysia and assembled in Mexico. This DCB115 4.0A output charger base is made in Thailand. The tool includes a N433408 side handle.

 

The hammer is rated at 820 UWO maximum power and 0-38,250 bpm. The rated no load speeds are 0-500/0-1,500/0-2,250 rpm in hammer mode and 0-450/0-1,300/0-2,000 rpm in drill mode.

 

The DeWALT DCD996 has plenty of power, with plenty of torque. The three-speed transmission permits selection of the correct / maximum torque for the application. This is a great feature, enabling versatility for one drill to serve three applications, low/medium/high speed or torque.

 

The only difference between the DCD991 drill and this DCD996 hammer drill is one more rotary position on the rotary torque adjustment collar. On the DCD996 hammer drill, the rotary adjustment collar still has the 1 through 11 clutch setting detent positions, for fastener driving and still has the drill detent position, for drilling w/o the clutch function, plus it also adds a hammer drill position.

 

The automatic 3-function LED illumination is handy and intuitive. The low and medium intensity modes turn off automatically after 20 seconds. The high / spotlight mode runs for 20 minutes.

 

My preference has always been for a keyed chuck, but those are also gone the way of the dinosaur. I hate when a chuck / drill bit slips and there is no way to get it any tighter. So far I like this keyless chuck. The audible / felt clicks when hand tightening appear sufficient. IMO, the instructions go waaay overboard "disconnect tool from power source when changing accessories". I put the Forward / Reverse switch in the center off position, instead of removing / replacing the battery pack whenever I need to swap a bit.

 

The wobbly / sloppy fit between the battery pack and tool is not great, but I knew about that deficiency before purchase. IMO, DeWALT should improve this part of their design.

 

The hard case is useful to me, so I replaced the soft bag w/ the hard case. I prefer the protection it affords and everything having a place. The cover rib contacts the tool when closing, requiring either extra force to fully close, or pulling the top handle away from the hinge so the top cover internal rib clears the tool, so it may close. (Not a major issue, but should / could be improved). The other hard case improvement I would love is for additional room within the case for accessories. I would love to also store my drill bit index, plus other drill accessories within the case. This hard case doesn't have room for other stuff. All I could fit within the case is a small 13-bit drill index case, near the charger base. It would be great if some of those cool DeWALT bit cases had a dedicated location in the drill case.

 

The battery must be snapped into the charger, not just slid until the light changes, or it won't charge the battery pack.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[wingless]

These images show the dinosaur concrete drills I've been using for decades, prior to FINALLY breaking down and getting this impact drill.

 

A mini Thor sledge hammer is used to persuade this drill to dig deeper into the concrete.

 

The image with the wire poking out shows the part of the hole made with these drills. I got about 9" into the wall before throwing in the towel.

 

As primitive as these look, I've made many holes with these. Other than time and effort, they work fine.

 

 

 

[wingless]

The old wall lamp location had an unusual electrical box, about ½" deep, attached to the surface , w/ the wire entering from the rear and stucco around the perimeter. This very shallow box provided normal mechanical mounting screws for the lamp bracket.

 

That unusual electrical box was retired and not used at the new lamp location. Instead a normal galvanized steel Handy box was selected, with the wire still entering from the rear, w/ a normal cable clamp.

 

The concrete wall needed material removed for this Handy box to be inset, to just below the stucco surface.

 

The masonry bit on this DCD996 hammer drill was used for material removal. Extra care was used at the locations above where the wire was routed through the previously-created new wire path cavity.

 

A trench was created on the side so that the Tapcon screws that will retain this new Handy box will not damage the wire.

 

The cavity ended up not being a perfect match to the Handy box and Quikrete 1241-56 FastSet Repair Mortar High Performance Cement was used to fill below, on the sides and on the surface to provide a perfect fit. FWIW, this is a great product that I've been using for many repairs.

 

The green ground screw was fully inserted and the back side threads protected from mortar using blue painter's tape to permit normal operation after installation w/o the mortar making the threads difficult..

 

 

 

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[wingless]

On 2/11/2020 at 1:01 PM, wingless said:

My front door light was above the awning, making it useless for illuminating the entry. When I removed my front door to replace the deteriorated frame I also decided to relocate the light fixture to below the awning. It was also REALLY handy when installing the ten ½' x 6" Tapcon bolts retaining my 3½" x 9" x 8' pressure treated beam to my concrete house, when I replaced the door frame bucks.

 

The shims were trimmed w/ my OMT. The gaps above and below the shims were packed in with mortar. All the perimeter gaps were packed solid with mortar.

 

The frame bucks were covered with wire lath, mortar, then stucco. The house will be painted this week.