Need a new SMALL cordless drill/driver. Help!

[Royce Meritt]

OK, here's the story, I'll try to keep it as short as possible.

I had 2 Bosch 9.6 volt corless drills. I bought them YEARS ago when about the biggest out there was 12 volt. They both are now shot. I got my money's worth out of them though. In the meantime I bought 2 Porter Cable 19.2 volt drill/drivers. They are great. Lots of power, etc. but very heavy. They work great for larger projects.

I am in need of a much smaller, lighter drill/driver for when I make my small boxes (fly boxes, conductors baton cases, etc.). When I make these boxes I make 20 or so at a time. 20 boxes X 2 hinges/box X 4 screws/hinge=160 screws. 20 boxes X 1 latch/box X 4 screws/latch=80 screws. That's 240 screws to drill and drive. These are very small brass screws (like in the range of #2 screws).

I need a pair of the smallest, lightest drill/drivers I can find. One for drilling pilot holes and one for driving the screws. It needs to have a standard drill chuch so that I can use a tiny drill bit and a tine screw driver tip. Can't use the little drivers that have the hex shaped chuck. Any advice? Thanks.

PS- Sorry, didn't keep it very short!

[Andy London]

My better half does all the finish and assembly work for our picture framing business, part of that process is drilling holes for hanging hardware. I bought her a Ryobi last year, I forget the voltage now (6 or so), it's very small and light and has worked perfect, they are very cheap also. She tried a 12 volt but it was too heavy. The other option which may work for you is the cordless screwdrivers.

Andy

[Bill Lewis]

Have you ever explored the possibility of using a counterbalance system. Mcmaster sells a fairly inexpensive, tension-adustable one for $20.42. With the correct tension and balance point, the tool is essentially weightless. Check out the catalog number 6739A41 at the Mcmaster website.

You could possbily buy a couple of 12V drill drivers which might also be more useful for other purposes.

Another counterbalance system I found while searching was this pneumatic tool by Aimco. This one is probably prohibitively expensive, but you could possibly build your own similiar to this

[Dave Wright #2]

I know you wrote "standard drill chuck", but there may be options out there that use standard 1/4" hex bits. You can get pretty small driver bits that mount in 1/4" hex. Vix bits and small drill bits too. I have had a Metabo Power Grip (little 4.8 volt bean shaped driver, reversible, fixed RPM, clutch, fairly good build quality) that has seen little use around my mostly larger scale woodworking shop but would be good for this application. You could keep the driver in your hand and pop the bits & drivers in and out of the 1/4" hex mag recess.

[Jim DeLaney]

I know you wrote "standard drill chuck", but there may be options out there that use standard 1/4" hex bits. You can get pretty small driver bits that mount in 1/4" hex. Vix bits and small drill bits too. I have had a Metabo Power Grip (little 4.8 volt bean shaped driver, reversible, fixed RPM, clutch, fairly good build quality) that has seen little use around my mostly larger scale woodworking shop but would be good for this application. You could keep the driver in your hand and pop the bits & drivers in and out of the 1/4" hex mag recess.

DeWalt also has a nice little 7.2V 'power screwdriver' that has become the most-used tool in my shop. It only turns about 300 rpm, but still does a really nice job with the small hex-shanked drills. Costs about a hundred bucks on Amazon, as I recall. I've had mine for about four or five years now, and will buy another one in a heartbeat if this one ever quits.

[Jeff Sudmeier]

This job sounds perfect for a 12v cordless drill and a cordless screwdriver. The cordless screwdrivers are much more comfortable for driving small screws than a drill in my opinion.

[Corey Hallagan]

Check out Dewalts line of compact drill driver. They have a 12V and a 14V that come with a 7.2 angle driver for about 140.00 for the pair on the 14.4 V option, not sure of the price on the 12V, but the 2 for deal is a good one. Back at Christmas time the BORG had these clearanced at some stores for $99.00.

Corey

[Corey Hallagan]

There are alot of 9.6 Volt drill drivers still made. One of the lightest made is a Makita that comes in at less than 4 lbs. I was looking at Amazon, but all seem to have the keyless chuck. I guess that is what you mean buy regular chuck? Hatachi has one that is 8.lbs shipping weight, that is one of the lower otherwise, but it has industrial chuck. Hope this helps,
Corey

[Don Bergren]

Makita makes a small 4.8V cordless drill. Weighs about 2 lbs. A friend of mine had one some years back and liked its lightweight. On the Makia site the model number is 6043DWK.

Makita also makes a 7.2V drill that is lightweight. I have one and always grab it for smaller screws.

[John Hart]

I went shopping today to find some stuff for a trellis and decided to take a look at all the little drills for reasonable prices...in case you hadn't found anything yet, and really, the best one I could find was, now don't laugh, the Black and Decker Pivot Plus. It had a very manageable weight, could be held as a pen or folded as a gun and had two speeds...one for screwing and one for drilling. It didn't say what the weight was on the box but it was very light.(less than 2 pounds) 6V - $30

...oh...and it was orange