Cordless drill with a cord

[DIYSwede]

FWIW: I totally agree with you Marv, I've scored, amended and used a handful of discarded, previously cordless 12 V drills/ tools for home use thru the last decades.
Also having a regular supply of SLAs thru the IT guys at work changing those every other year in their UPS:s has made me positively self-sufficient.

1st benefit was realizing that the drill with a 6' AWG 12 speaker cord to the SLA was much less heavy in use, letting me reach the ceiling anyhow.
2nd benefit was the incredible oomph the drill got from the high amps the SLA would crank out if needed, the coarse cable providing minimum voltage drop.
3rd benefit was when I converted my work power tools with a bigger SLA and hand tools in a shopping cart:
No one at work could/ would "borrow" my worn and dirty, seemingly cumbersome drills any more (where my colleagues are still out searching for theirs).
My stunned workmates looked at mine and asked me what the hell I'd done - I merely replied that their "cordlessness had been cured".

Li-Ion tools at 17,4 VDC has not yet been offered, as their batteries haven't flattened out yet for my picky, modern brand-washed workmates.
Providing that voltage thru a single SLA would be a challenge though, and 28 V from two series-wired SLAs might be enough for a decent fire - but time will tell...

Matter of fact - only yesterday I was given a rarely used small Bosch 12 V SDS drill hammer (sans flat battery/ charger),
which I've started to butcher up to fit the appropriate cable.
Guess that'll be covered in a following post.

Cheers
Johan
Some experiences from a cheapo drill a few years ago in quite another forum:
Previously "Cordless" drill fixed! - Meccano Gallery

[DIYSwede]

BEFORE: a Bosch SDS+ Drill hammer, exactly as unusable as it is cordless
(pic ripped from a FleaBay site, as I forgot to take one before starting):



This state of things will change thru a fast operation:
Loosen 3 screws for the black battery connector thingy, saw off all unwanted plastics:



(seems like the MosFet + cooling fin has to stay - there's no way to cram these into the blue drill handle)
Shorten battery leads, add connectors and 3 metres of salvaged, free speaker cord
routed upwards thru the new "cooling vent", enabling the drill to stand up.
(a 10m length of red-black auto cable would set me back some 30 bucks).



Hook up to a 12 V 17 Ah battery (free for the taking from the latest server UPS swap of the IT Guys at work ):



Use a hacksaw blade to relieve the case from unwanted standoffs/ walls and make room for the battery:
AFTER: 20 minutes of work and a usable, corded and FREE! drill hammer.





My rule of thumb for charging SLA batteries:
13.95 VDC continous charging @ <2 A from a small power supply,
i. e. max 10% charging current of the battery's capacity in Ah.

Any questions?

Cheers
Johan

[MasterMaker]

Biltema batteri?

(tror jeg ville beholdt rammen(drill holder...) eller i det minste en plate der batterisporet var, gir mye stivhet og extra styrke...)

[MasterMaker]

Drills with dead batteries spark many ideas for new applications.

Milling-machine power-feed....

[MasterMaker]

Lots of videos on youtube where people are re-packing tool-batteries with new cells(I even think AVE has one...)

[DIYer]

Thanks DIYSwede! We've added your Cordless Drill External Battery Modification to our Electrical category,
as well as to your builder page: DIYSwede's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

Cordless Drill External Battery Modification by DIYSwede

tags: battery, drill, modification

[DIYSwede]

Biltema batteri?

(tror jeg ville beholdt rammen(drill holder...) eller i det minste en plate der batterisporet var, gir mye stivhet og extra styrke...)

Thanks for your comment, MasterMaker - the SLA came 2nd hand from a server UPS at work,
where the IT guys change them every 2nd year, irrespective of their actual status.
I wouldn't buy a SLA as I don't have to, I've literally got dozens.
(For non-Nordic readers: "Biltema" is the AutoZone cousin of Scandinavia)

There's usually just one bad battery in an UPS series connected switch-pack,
so I usually just bulk charge them in parallel for a few days,
and see which one will get warm/ "has swollen" or otherwise won't keep the charge.
Then a capacity test thru a 10-12 A load where discharge time is measured 'til it has come down to 12.2 V.

I usually get another 3-4 years of service from the good ones if I just keep them topped up thru constant voltage charging.
For this I've made a few 5-10 W wall-warts just trickling out 13.95 VDC @ < an amp.
If a battery bogs down there it'll just be replaced.

I've restocked old NiCads, NiMhs in small stuff for decades - but for these tools I need the 3 benefits listed above in post #31 .

Cheers

Johan

[DIYSwede]

The smaller one's done quite a good job up 'til now, but finding yet another, bigger and higher output one
in the electronics dumpster at work, I just couldn't resist:



Seemingly not having seen a lot of work, as it wasn't scuffed or dirty, it was merely lacking the (now flat) battery packs.
Took me about 2 hrs to dismantle, butcher off the now redundant "Plastique" battery holder, clean and regrease.
The old grease was neither dirty or gummed-up, the brushes OK and some emery cleaned the commutator's dirt off.

The drill's original NiCads had a mere 3 Ah capacity, so sticking to my obsessive cording habit,
I hooked it up with 3 m of salvaged hi-flex, hi-end audio 16 sq mm (6 AWG) speaker cable
finished off with some DIYed heavy duty brass bolt connectors, made from 63 A 3-phase plug pins.

Though only 350W (15 Amps) nominal, it'll temporarily take some more than that.
Also salvaged yet another free SLA of the same 17 Ah variety, and some copper bars for series connection.
A liberated SMPS 27,9 V charger will continously keep the SLAs topped up.
Passing by the dumpster each day is pretty rewarding for a cheap-to-the-bone DIYer.

The old 12 V hammer drill was fed by a rather flimsy 2,5 sq mm (13 AWG) cord, and sucking those amps in use, the cable twisted upon itself.
Being smaller, but also more cumbersome with the weird handle "hook" it'll now be returned to my tool kart at work,
being fed from the same onboard SLA as my other 12 V hand tools.
Charging 13,95 V overnite has never let me down during work hours.

2 cents
Johan

[Nick79]

I always thought the idea of "cordless" was to enable quick -go anywhere tool use. I now regret throwing away a couple of 12v tools because the batteries would not hold a charge and replacements were more expensive than a new unit. Look out yard sales - I will be on the hunt.

[kb4mdz]

Perhaps to avoid tangling cords, to your own 'coil cord' modification by winding the cord on some mandrel or a large dowel, heating everything until the outer jacket is just soft, then allowing everything to cool slowly to room temperature. Unwind, and viola, er voila'!