milwaukee chop saw

[MoparNorm]

I think they all have 18v and 24v models now. In the trades we consider Mikita a throw-away tool. It is very inexpensive when compared to Dewalt and Milwaukee and lasts about one to two jobs under heavy use. It may last a lifetime for a hobbiest-homeowner, so most folks, especially the occasional user never know the difference. The real difference is in the torque department, the Dewalt screw gun will run under a serious load for 3-5 hours continuous, the ERP-niCad batteries will work all day if you have at least two, preferably three batteries. ALL batteries have a "memory" so if you start "short charging" them, battery life will be seriously degraded. They must be fully charged BEFORE use and COMPLETELY drained before recharging. Keep in mind these batteries cost $85-$95 and should last 4-5 years if taken proper care of.

Dewalt circular saws; never buy a battery powered circular saw with less than 18v, it's just not powerful enough for serious work. If used occasionally and the performance is poor, see my battery comments above, if you let your battery sit for weeks on end after it was fully charged and then use it for 15 minutes, you will have battery life issues. The most important thing to consider with battery operated circular saws is blade type and sharpness, a dull blade will kill a battery in a few seconds, the comment about plywood good, diminsional lumber bad, tells me that you have the wrong blade in there for the use. WITH ALL SAWS, the blade does the work, NOT the arm speed! LISTEN to the saw "talk" to you, rpm's, saw blade resistance, saw speed, you will be able to tell a difference if you are doing something wrong! It's just like welding, a good welder can "hear" a perfect bead, a good carpenter can "hear" a perfect cut.
Be safe, have fun!
MN

[JimmieD]

Agreed, Norm, however: at the time I bought that Makita many years ago the American manufacturers were entirely unable to come up with a product that was even close in quality, power, durability or charge retention! DeWalt hadn't even re-entered the market place and Milwaukee was banking all their expertise in their excellent corded drills. The DeWalts were junk when they first re-appeared and it took them a while to pump up their product to current standards. Milwaukee made a little folding electric screw driver that was great for the tool pouch but had no power and a short life. Black and Decker offered their typical junk and they've never been able to break out of that rut.

Everybody played catch-up real hard trying to re-capture Makita's market share. They managed to do this and now have a superior product, but back when I first purchased they were nowhere in sight. The Makita performed just fine for all day/every day use but I wasn't a carpenter driving screws in wood so that's different.

[MoparNorm]

Yes, I completely agree, the first American company to make cordless tools in response was Milwaulkee and they were cheap junk made in Japan, so I didn't go cordless for many years, It was around 1998 before the Dewalt 18v came out, meanie that I was I would purposely go find a worker with a 9.6v Mikita and stand next to him with my hi-torque 18v Dewalt and blow him away! Dewalt should have given me a commission back then, I sold a lot of Dewalts...ha!ha!
As stated in my very first post, Mikita has a new battery system coming out that may revolutionize the cordless industry, stay tuned!
LXT -Lithium Ion batteries not many in the field yet but once they reach the jobsite the REAL product testing starts.
MN

[JimmieD]

Ya, and you can bet your bippie Makita will sit down hard on that patent until somebody else finds a work-around to crack the code and play catch-up again. I'm about ready for a new cordless drill so I hope they hurry up.....!

[MoparNorm]

Actually Mikita is the one playing catch-up. Dewalts ERP-niCad is 36 volts of kick butt power. I'm just curious as to the battery life of the new Mikita system. It's always been Mikita speed vs. Dewalt torque, I'll take torque anyday.
Speaking of torque a diesel won the 24 hours of Sebring over the weekend!
MN

[JimmieD]

Ya, and they used a DeWalt for tire changes, right....? :~ )

[bosco]

Yes, I was very happy to get rid of that FP panelboard ... what a piece of junk. I didn't know that have been banned since 1979 ... gets me to thinking the previous owner of this house I live in didn't either, since it was built in 1982. Must be something there.

I agree about the cordless circular saw and the smaller voltage battery, but thats all they made back then when I bought my DeWalt. It's still a good saw, but I will replace it later with a higher voltage cordless saw. I'm not sure if DeWalt has launched their new circular saws with the 36v battery yet. Since I don't use the saw as much as I used to, I can wait a bit.

It will be interesting to see what Makita comes up with. Any idea on when they are going to launch the new battery technology..?

Anyone using Ridgid cordless tools..? I hear they used to make a quality product years back, but then again maybe that was just their calendar.

[MoparNorm]

If you go to the Mikita web site, the new battery appears to be out now. But naturally, it doesn't fit their old tools!
MN

[JimmieD]

My hottest Makita is my typical custom job: hot wired contols and it runs off a cord, with alligator clips to the battery terminals of the truck. Also has a plug to connect to the front and rear cig. lighter receptacles. Let's talk amps as in 120A input at up to 15V! The little 9.6 volt motor loves it. Seems to have picked up more than a few rpm's too... :~ )

[MoparNorm]

Ha!Ha! You a funny boy Jim, that sort of defeats the entire purpose! Are you off the grid?
Hard to say how long it will last putting that much juice to it?
MN

[Renegade05]

Batteries and Audis

Actually Mikita is the one playing catch-up. Dewalts ERP-niCad is 36 volts of kick butt power. I'm just curious as to the battery life of the new Mikita system. It's always been Mikita speed vs. Dewalt torque, I'll take torque anyday.
Speaking of torque a diesel won the 24 hours of Sebring over the weekend!
MN

Must've been the Audi! Had mine out over the weekend, too -- do you think I could have used "I'm practicing for the ALMS 24 Hours of..." as an excuse if got pulled over for speeding? I was doing 80-90 mph on I-80 at night for a little bit...

Lithium-Ion (LiIon) batteries have been around for awhile in the personal electronics arena -- laptops, handhelds, and cellphones. They're a big step up from Ni-Cad and Nickel-Metal Hydride (NiMH) batteries in terms of duration, but in most digital devices we're talking low voltage. Unlike NiCads, they do not have the nearly 'memory' problem. It's interesting to see them used in power tools; I believe they're also used in hybrid vehicles...

Andy

[JimmieD]

Well, I may be off my grid but my therapist says I'm showing improvement, sort of. I often had to do field repairs on my mining equipment w-a-y out in the middle of nowhere and that was an easy solution to unlimited drilling/screw gun ability. It didn't seem to do any harm at all and it's still my favorite portable. Easy disconnect and swap back to the battery when there's shore power. Electrical normally has at least a 10% + or- variable on power, if not 20%. At 9.6 design rating that allows for at least 11+ volts, and Makita builds tough stuff so 20% at 12+V doesn't seem to hurt it. I would have to full-field the alternator to bump it up to 15 V. Not that I wouldn't.....

[MoparNorm]

Do you keep your vehicle running the entire time, or is the batter reserve sufficient?
MN

[JimmieD]

Oh, for most jobs the battery reserve is far more than you'd need. You're not really drawing down that many amps compared to the capacity of a good charged automotive battery. The little Makita cell is enough for over an hour of hard work so your truck battery can work a long time as a power source. Middle of nowhere I'd stop every now and then and fire it up and see what it looks like on charging, but usually not even noticeable. I also used the deep cycle battery off my trailer quite often, if not more often. With an isolator the truck was always protected for starting power. It really worked very well.

[MoparNorm]

You have me wondering if it's possible to re-charge the cordless battery from the vehicle battery in lieu of the cord to the tool? I've gotten happy not having to drag that cord around. I'm not thinking about an inverter but a straight 12 volt to 9.6 volt re-charge?
MN