Jump to content

My DCD985 (Is Amazing, Awesome, but with...) Hammer Drill Runout / Wobble


Yep.

Recommended Posts

First, I just got this beast, and I'm so blown away by it's performance that even with the wobble I wouldn't give the thing up for anything. My wife finally made me go out and buy it because making a cheaper drill work by sheer brute force is taking a little bit of a toll on my now fifty year old body. Not that I'm out of shape, but in particular, the hands only have so many serviceable hours on them, you know?

The first thing I used it on right out of the box on first charge was an aluminum ramp with 1/8" mild steel railing brackets, with two approx. 1/4" short sections of A36 channel steel for a height adjustment system. Drilled twenty 3/8" holes in the 1/8" flat stock,  six 1/2" holes in the 1/4" channel, and finally eight 1/2" holes in 4mm thickness steel pipe for clevises in the legs. (Permanent height is known and fixed. I can always drill more later if I want to use the ramp elsewhere.) I was shocked at the speed and sheer aggro "GRAAAWWRR" this thing packs. You'd better use a vise for holding stuff, and not your hands or vise grips. This thing will wrap you around it like a dadgone maypole.

The twenty additional 3/8" holes in 1/2" thick aluminum almost aren't worth mentioning. It was almost like drilling through pine. And I can't believe I just wrote that. My old Black and Decker 18v (I know... but listen, my wife and son bought me that drill for Father's day a long time ago, and they were so doggoned proud of it there was no way in Hell I wasn't gonna use it. And besides, it made me think of them every time I picked it up. Hanging on the wall of my shop, now.) would have spun on every hole, even in the aluminum.

Ok, so it's awesome. It's really awesome. And the impact driver from the package deal is a whole 'nother post entirely. But that wobble bugs me. From what I'm gathering, it's likely attributable to the impact function and hey, it's not a precision drill press. But coming from that old, probably $45, B&D that ran straight as an arrow to something costing hundreds more that doesn't, again, bugs me.

What I would like to know from those who truly know is if it's truly normal functionality for this piece of equipment. I understand trade-offs. I just need to hear it, before taking it back and spending time on something I don't need to, plus causing DeWalt to eat a replacement cost that's unnecessary.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

can you take some kind of film so we can see how much wooble there is? Some wobble is natural and the longer the bit is the more wobble you will have. But the chuck itself should have little or no wobble. Take a film.

To me it seems that those chucks ( third party made for most of the time ) sometimes are that not good and maybee there can be bad batches sometimes.

The very unfortunate thing is that the bad ones can pass he quality test. Dewalt makes very nice tools but to be honest I think they should look over the quality tests and routines before the tools land on the shelves.

Bought myself a dcd785 a year ago and that wooble was insane. I changed it and the new one was totaly perfect with no wooble at all. My dcd960 has no wooble and my small dcf610 has no wooble.

sorry for spelling, not english born.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, as best I can tell, it's a Rohm.

I can't shoot any video, but I can describe some specific things. The outer part of the chuck is dead-stable. (Well, nothing is perfectly true, but there is no naked-eye-detectable movement.) The jaws appear stable when closed empty and spun either slowly or in third gear, wide open, same with the hood.

It's mostly when I'm suing smaller bits, mostly for pilot holes and i work mostly in steel, so wobble is an issue because of wandering off marks where I can't always use a punch. I can feel it with larger bits, but it doesn't effect the work.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If there is no visible wobbling on the chuck or the "jaws" when tighted empty it sounds good to me. Maybee the bits are bended.

Anyway, try to get something truly straight about 5 to 10 mm long an se if that wobble when inserted to drill. Make sure the bore, bit or steel you insert into drill is straight. If ther is wobble that is easy to see with eye and it makes work hard you should definately change the drill. Of´course a handholded drill is not as perfect as a stationary drill but a lot of vissible wobble is not tolerated.

Also, check the new drill in store before taking it home. The dcd985 is a very fine drill but on every brand a bad batch can sometimes pass the testing. I´ve bought several dewalt cordless drill both for myself and friends and one of them a dcd785 had a insane amount of wobble. I went to store to check a new one and that one was totally perfect with no wobble at all. I also bought a dcd780 ( no hammer function ) for a friend and that one was also perfect. My own drills are also perfect.

So, if there is wobble, let them know and demand a new one. ( you always have 90 days customer gaurantee satisfaction )

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good confirmation, thank you. I considered the bits as the possible culprit as well, but that's not it. Guess I just need to decide if it's worth the time and hassle to head back to the store, or live with it.

Thanks, bingobelle. (Gotta hear the explanation for that name, dude... ;-)

--JP

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Of course I can tell you about the name. For many years I was very interested ( I´m still but not so active about it ) in old mechanical slotmachine and also electromechanical slots ( bally ) so I was a collector of these machines. The pure mechanical ones ( for example Jennings and mills ) was my main interest.

2008 I was going to get a nickname for the computergame call of duty - world at war and I was thinking what name to take. I looked to my left and my eyes landed on my Jennings eldorado slot and that particular machine has the Bingobelle theme. They can have all kind of names like Starchief, Buckaroo or the name of the hotel or casino they where used.

So I thought , why not Bingobelle. That name must bring luck to me and being killed by someone with that nickname for the 10 time in a row must be very annoying.

And actually I was very very good at that call of duty game.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Member Statistics

    18,154
    Total Members
    6,555
    Most Online
    garikb
    Newest Member
    garikb
    Joined
×
×
  • Create New...