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(COMPACT SERIES PART 6) MAKITA COMPACT BDF452 vs DEWALT COMPACT DC720


kanxrus

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THIS IS PART VI IN A SERIES OF TESTS BETWEEN THE DEWALT DC720 vs OTHER COMPACT DRILL IN IT'S CLASS.

THIS IS A TEST BETWEEN THE NEW MAKITA BDF452 vs THE DEWALT COMPACT DC720KA! CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING - PART I PART II PART III PART IV PART V IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THEM YET.

THIS TEST WILL COMPARE INTERNAL SPECS, DEMO TESTING, WEIGHT, FEATURES AND BENEFITS!

MakitaBDF452_a.jpg

WEIGHT:

MakitaBDF452_1.jpg

DC720weight2.jpg

Makita BL1815_1.jpg

DC720bat.jpg

INTERNAL SPECS:

MakitaBDF452_4.jpg

DC720aa.jpg

MakitaBDF452_5.jpg

DC720f.jpg

MakitaBDF452_7.jpg

DC720Brushes.jpg

MakitaBDF452_20.jpg

DC720e.jpg

MakitaBDF452_18.jpg

DC720c.jpg

MakitaBDF452_16.jpg

DC720b.jpg

MakitaBDF452_24.jpg

FEATURES AND BENEFITS:

MakitaBDF452_23.jpg

MakitaBDF452_27.jpg

DC720g.jpg

MakitaBDF452_26.jpg

SLOT FOR BELT HOOK ON THE MAKITA BDF452

DC720ab.jpg

ONTO THE TEST:

http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?vid=a909ff36-ee2b-4995-a761-52031ebbfec3

http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?vid=e333b244-2bdd-4ebf-9bf8-9e26adfaa64b

MakitaBDF452_22.jpg

In TEST I, we used a piece of 2x12 fir. We also used a 1" spade bit. The test was conducted to see how many holes could be drilled on a single charge, in 2nd gear. We wanted to push these little compacts to see how efficient they use energy under heavy draws.

MAKITA BDF452 drilled 28 holes. The Dewalt DC720KA Drilled 40 1/2 holes.

DEWALT DC720 Drilled 40 1/2 Holes, or 23 holes per Ah. (Compact DC9099 1.7Ah)

MAKITA BDF452 Drilled 28 Holes, or 18 holes per Ah. (Compact BL1815 1.5Ah)

During Test II & III, we wanted to test heavy torque applications. Test II was driving a 6"x3/8" Lag into a 4x6 piece of Fir. Test III was driving a 2", & also a 2 9/16" self feed bit. The Makita BDF452 was able to put down the 2" self feed bit, and the 2 9/16" self feed bit after multiple attempts. In the process we determined that the Makita BDF452 does not have a safety shut off to protect the drill, or battery like all all of it's competitors we tested. As you can see in the video, the drill began to smoke, and we managed to fry both Makita BL1815 lithium ion batteries. One on camera, one off. The Dewalt DC720KA completed the tests. (lithium or NiCd)

For more detailed photo's on both drills... HAVE A LOOK INSIDE!  MAKITA BDF452 DEWALT DC720KA

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Thanks for making all these great tests and videos! I've had similar experience with a BHP451 and can confirm Makita definately does not appear to have any sort of thermal cut off. I pushed my BHP451 so hard once the drill was getting incredibly hot. Eventually it started to loose power and stopped. It never smoked but after taking it apart to see what went wrong I noticed the plastic ring holding the brushes had melted and liquified plastic made its way between the brushes and the metal brush guides/holders fusing them fixed in place. Once the layer contacting the commutator wore out they lost contact and the drill stopped since they couldn't extend any more because of the melted plastic. I was able to fix the drill though with a new part and fortunately the battery survived even though it also got extremely hot. I wonder how that test with the BDF452 would have worked with the 3.0 Ah batteries. Since they are wired in parallel they should be able to run cooler. Each group of cells should only be putting out about half the amps as the compact 1.5ah battery. Quite an impresive little drill that DC720!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Interesting, In Canada the 720 can usally be had from home depot from $200-$250cdn dollars depending on sale and time of year. Although I think it is marked down now to $199.95cdn.

The Makita on the other hand, is usually $299.99 or $325.00cdn

Also, the DC720 or DC725, will often be packaged in a "Value Pack" with the DW920K.

This is actually how I came to have my DW920K, my bro needed a compact hammer drill, so we went to home depot, and there was the DC725 packaged with the DW920K for $200.00cdn. Screamin hot deal, he got the drill, and I gave him 50bux for the screwdriver.

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Makita is almost always cheaper in the US on every tool. Gotta love the "value packs" when I shop for tools it's I always try to find some type of freebie.

The corded stuff, yes sometimes makita is cheaper, but cordless, unless its on sale, Dewalt is cheaper, Weird. Then again, I usally shop at the Home Depot and Rona, they usually favor Dewalt.

If its not in a Value pack or 40-50% off, I don't buy it.  :o

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  • 3 months later...
  • 1 month later...

I can confirm that the plastic shifter ring on the Makita drills is a failure point...

I've had a Makita 8444D MXT combi drill for just under 2 years and yesterday it began to slip in 3rd gear. With it being out of warranty I opened it up and found that the plastic shifter ring had partially stripped its teeth. So much for the MXT being an "All metal gearbox", then...  :'(

I'm now pursuing it with Makita as I feel it was false advertising. Pretty gutted about the failure as I loved that drill; I have never found another cordless that could produce so much torque, and yet it still felt well-balanced.

As well as the big Makita combi I also have a nice little 12v DeWalt DW907K2 which is mainly used for screwdriving - again, this was described as having "all metal gearing"; I do hope that this description is more honest than the Makita's! The DeWalt has so far proved to be a great machine, being small and light with decent battery life, plus it dishes out plenty of torque in low gear. Fingers crossed it'll last a lot longer than my poor Makita  ;D

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  • 3 months later...

  Out of curiosity (I know this post is a few months old) how exactly does a thermal safety work?  Is this something that's exclusive to the newer li-ion tools, or is this something that's been around for a while.  I remember right after I got my DW959 I was drilling some holes in a tree stump with an auger bit, and got the dreaded smoke coming out of the drill.  Never seemed to have any ill-effects, but I was just curious.

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I could be wrong, but in the DeWalt models. I believe it was never added on the XRP line until the 4th generation. Compact line was added on the 2nd generation. It simply kicks the drill off under heavy load. Almost all lithium batteries from any brand have that built into the battery as well. So you have two lines of protection. One from damaging the drill, 2nd from damaging the battery.

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I could be wrong, but in the DeWalt models. I believe it was never added on the XRP line until the 4th generation. Compact line was added on the 2nd generation. It simply kicks the drill off under heavy load. Almost all lithium batteries from any brand have that built into the battery as well. So you have two lines of protection. One from damaging the drill, 2nd from damaging the battery.

There is a thermistor in the NiCd battery that is only used for charging controls. I am 100% positive that everything up to DC925 (not 100% about DCDxxx stuff) has no thermal shutoff in the tool itself - if you drive it too hard you will just damage the MOSFET in the trigger.

The li-ion batteries (of ANY brand) have PTC (positive temperature coefficient) device in each cell. The way it works if there is too much current and the cell starts heating up, PTC kicks in a creates a huge resistance between the cell and the + or - terminal of the cell.

In 28v/36v packs, besides PTC, there is a resettable fuse in BMS that goes off if you draw more than 20/15 amps. Not sure if 18v have something like that, I think they do.

Tools themselves are pretty primitive (esp 18v stuff). 28v and 36v has a resistor network in the tool connector that "enables" full current from the BMS and one of the 3 large pins is a MOSFET in the BMS for torque control.

Pro tip: never daisy-chain battery packs to get high DC voltages. For example 3x36v packs will create 108 volts DC. With wet or moist hands, from hand to hand this will translate into instant death.

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I could be wrong, but in the DeWalt models. I believe it was never added on the XRP line until the 4th generation. Compact line was added on the 2nd generation. It simply kicks the drill off under heavy load. Almost all lithium batteries from any brand have that built into the battery as well. So you have two lines of protection. One from damaging the drill, 2nd from damaging the battery.

There is a thermistor in the NiCd battery that is only used for charging controls. I am 100% positive that everything up to DC925 (not 100% about DCDxxx stuff) has no thermal shutoff in the tool itself - if you drive it too hard you will just damage the MOSFET in the trigger.

The li-ion batteries (of ANY brand) have PTC (positive temperature coefficient) device in each cell. The way it works if there is too much current and the cell starts heating up, PTC kicks in a creates a huge resistance between the cell and the + or - terminal of the cell.

In 28v/36v packs, besides PTC, there is a resettable fuse in BMS that goes off if you draw more than 20/15 amps. Not sure if 18v have something like that, I think they do.

Tools themselves are pretty primitive (esp 18v stuff). 28v and 36v has a resistor network in the tool connector that "enables" full current from the BMS and one of the 3 large pins is a MOSFET in the BMS for torque control.

Pro tip: never daisy-chain battery packs to get high DC voltages. For example 3x36v packs will create 108 volts DC. With wet or moist hands, from hand to hand this will translate into instant death.

--very informative

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