I'm an apprentice heavy diesel mechanic working at the local bobcat dealer now i have a question for weather to go cordless or air when i buy my impact tool set over the next period of time i want to get some impact tools i.e 1/2" drive impact gun 3/8" drive impact gun and or 3/8" drive impact ratchet and a standard 1/2" chuck drill now my question to you fella's is which should I buy cordless tools from Milwaukee or air tools for Sidcrome once qualified i do plan on becoming field service if that changes which tools i should purchase cheers MATT :thumbsup
Hi Matt Good question. I have both cordless and air powered tools. They both have their good and bad points. I have noticed that lots of mechanics are going cordless until you need some power then the air tools come out. Don't know if it is a problem in your part of the world but I have found that my Milwaukee's don't like the rain, water seems to cause problems then they quit when you really need them, but on the other hand, when the temperature gets close to freezing, the cordless never freeze up. I doubt that you have to worry about that in Oz. I do a lot of field service, our trucks all have air, but I still pack the cordless. I find I do use them quite a bit and the cordless drill over the air drills just about all the time. One thing about air tools. Easy to find where you put them down on a big job. Just follow the hose
At the ripe ol' age of 38 I'm pretty set in my ways. As worn out wrench said a lot of guys are going cordless...and from what I've seen they work well...my biggest issue is with the weight and overall size of the cordless! For years we've begged the tool manufacturers to make the air guns as compact and light'n them up as much as possible. And to me the cordless are anything but that! For some jobs I think a cordless would be handy, when you have to park your truck across a road from the machine and you can't run a air hose across, working on a paver or mill going down the road and next thing ya know you're 2 miles from your truck! For me I'm too scatter brained to remember to charge the batteries...so air power really works well for me. Thanks for reading, and have a great day!
I like air. Except for drill I would go cordless. Don't know if I would get an air ratchet I have one and it just seems to sit in the tool box they are slow and not much power.
Air ratchet works excellent for a compact angle drill. Take a drill, drill into a short bolt, then super glue the drill bit into the hole you just drilled, the use your ratchet to turn the drill/bolt for drilling hole's in studs between engine and radiator or other hard to get at places.
Both, you can never have to many tools, The Milwaukee stuff is handy for quick stuff and air for when you need some real power.
I don't know what you plan on buying for tools exactly, but I can tell you this much, of all the air tools I've ever bought over the years, I've still got almost all of them yet and use them all the time, of all the cordless tools I've bought in the last 5 years, I don't have a single one left, the tool, battery and chargers have all been replaced at least once, not to mention all the times I've had them sent in to be worked on. I've also got corded tools, most 30 years old now, and I've still got them all too, use them as needed as well, so for me, cordless are the highest priced to buy, maintain, and keep going, but at times are the handiest to use too, it just depends on what your doing with them. Now that said, I don't use my cordless tools if its raining, damp, in wet conditions or anything moisture related, or try not to anyhow, but if I do, the grief factor skyrockets considerably to keep them running. I know some love the cordless tools, I don't, of all the brands I've been around and bought, they are to me anyhow something I'd rather not own, for one thing, when I grab a drill, with an air drill or corded drill, I just grab the drill, with my cordless, I need the drill, two batteries, a charger, and usually a spare drill, and some extension cords as well, I need to make sure the charger is in a warm, dry place so the batteries can charge, and it never fails, I end up climbing off whatever a dozen times to change batteries on the tool and also the charger, whereas an air drill, once the air hose is hooked up, I'm done till I climb down, same goes for a corded tool. When we use them on my service truck, I have to run the generator to charge the batteries anyhow, for hours on end at times, so to me I might as well just plug in a cord and that way the generator can idle down when I don't have the tools trigger pulled, whereas to charge the batteries, it runs full load the whole time. So with my cordless tools, add a can of gas on the list as well. Now I don't know what brands you have available in your area, but for here, rigid tools have a lifetime warranty, excluding abuse of course, either rigid owns milwaukee or vice versa, but if a battery goes bad, you get a new one for free, same goes for the tool itself, and charger, I've been given dozens of stuff over the years from use of the warranty, something to think about anyhow, not saying they are the best by any means, but does have a good warranty. Just my two cents worth.
If I'm working in a shop...air, hands down. Cordless tools are too consumable (batteries, tool failure, etc), air tools are way more consistent and reliable. 1/2 impact, my choice is the CP749, but that's a different discussion as everyone has a preference. :yup Air drill, slow rpm (around 500) high torque, love them.
Yes, cordless can be a hassel with the batteries and keeping them charged. My Milwaukee seems pretty good on battery life. I have a 1/2", 3/8 impact, 1/2" drill, 4 1/2" disc grinder and the LED light all M18. I have 3 of the large batteries and 2 small. (cant remember the amp hours off hand) I have one charger in my locker and one that I take with me, I bought a 12 volt to 120 volt convertor that plugs into the power point in the truck if I need it that way I don't need to run the generator to charge. The disc grinder will eat a battery in no time flat, everything else I can get a day out of most of the time, but its just a quick change and away I go. The 1/2 claims it is 450 ft/lbs of torque. I doubt it but it is still not bad. Mind you my very expensive air 1/2" claimed some retarded amount of torque and its not even close, I would say 350 in tighten and 500 in reverse. As for tool life, I'm on my 4th air impact in 37 years in the trade. They lead a hard life with me so I just consider it part of the tool collection and get a new one after the second rebuild.
thanks for all the input fellas im leaning towards getting the most powerful 1/2" impact air tool i can find and then getting cordless 3/8" impact ratchet and wrench as the tools don't need shear power the need mobility and compactness and that will help keep the standard drill alive as the batteries sit for a couple days regularly and sometimes even weeks but the ratchet always seems to be out in my workshop http://www.sidchrome.com.au/products/12-drive-sidchrome-titanium-impact-air-wrench- thanks again MATT
I really like my 3/8 Makita cordless impact, it's the first tool I grab for bolts under 1/2' It's so small, convenient and fast, and no hose to drag around. For a 1/2" impact I have no use for cordless there, only air. I also hardly use the power ratchets unless nothing else will fit the situation, too slow. I have several cordless drills, I recently bought an 18V DeWalt, it's really powerful. It'll hurt you if you aren't careful.
Both have there advantages i use my snap on air ratchet all the time on engine jobs etc but i reckon my 1/2 snap on cordless impact is up there with the best tools iv bought!
What brand/models do you reccomend for the air drill. I only got a cheapo ingersoll that is a high revver, and with doing alot more stainless work I want something better. Also any bit reccomendations? I got a Mac set recently and it does a decent job but I am wondering if there is anything better out there. I tell ya though in the month I have had that set I have already made well on there warranty EDIT- And to reply to the OP, if you are working in a shop most of the time, go all air. You can borrow power tools for the random outside job until you have the funds, and if you want tools that are up to snuff you can outfit yourself with air alot cheaper (i find). Right now I only have 3 power tools at work, a relic of a grinder since it works well for wire wheel compared to my air, and a 3/8 dewalt impact gun for small jobs (its way lighter than my air, but has half the power), and a small dewalt 12 volt drill, for any outside work. Also I don't own an air ratchet. Used other guys a couple of times but it really isnt a need, I would put my money elsewhere for the time being.
cordless are handy (pulling off panels and handrails ect) but as everyone has mentioned they are consumables and never last as long as air tools, I brought a new bluepoint 1/2" gun when I started my time and 15yrs on still have it now, never had a kit through it and still does ok, they were only ever good for around 380lbft.. these days I would choose a SnapOn MG725 1/2" gun (1190lbft) don't stuff around with Sidchrome, their warrenty aint worth S%*(#.. Ingersoll Rand guns are good too particularly the 3/4" but you need bulk air to get them going to their potensional, a 1/2" MG725 will beat one on limited air supply as a mechanic you should get a reversable 90degree air drill also, cordless are ok for drilling holes but air drills are better for removing studs (with left hand drill bits) as for an air ratchet, never owned one only ever used one afew times not really a fan but they are handy for some jobs but theres alot more tools out there you'd use before one by all means get yourself a cordless rattle gun an drill but start off with air as you'll find yourself using both depending on what job your doing and where your doing it
i have bought the sidchrome gun based on a review from one of the guys at my shop he has had it 6 months and it is a killer gun and cant fault it as for smaller tools ie 3/8 impact tools get quiet a bit of use removing panels and light fixtures to me cordless is the way to go on this because you dont have to drag an air line around and in the same time allows me to have a cordless drill and other things that are handy in a workshop, for example when working inside a cabin or engine bay the air gun can be limiting and fatiguing due to the noise and the air line trying to reposition the drill for the 90 degree drill one of the senior mechanics in the shop has one gathering dust in the bottom of his box as it rarely gets used funny how the tools vary machine to machine, mechanic to mechanic, shop to shop, country by country
Yair . . . A 90 degree drill mostly always gathers dust . . . but when you need it it's priceless. Cheers.
yeh, too true.. I saved about 6 hours of work with one once removing a broken exhaust stud from a rear scraper engine which sat behind the trans oil tank (saved draining & pulling the tank off) but your right in what you say it all depends on the work and the guys around you, you'll find you'll run most of the same gear as they got but just remember its a wide world out there and pays to have tools for every job, i got a air chisel from a swap meet for $15 and sat in my box for 2 years but had to clean out the track pads on a 30t digger to tighten up the track bolts and it was the best thing ever
The Ingersoll Hammerhead is a good one. Size of a large ratchet but wont break your hand and has power of a 3/8 impact, twist reverse so it wont get stuck
I really like my snap on cordless 1/2" but also have a snap on air 1/2". If you are just starting out and need to watch nickels real close go with air first. I wouldn't buy the cordless for a long time but finally did because
for me time is really expensive. (Don't know why my post posted while I was still typing.)
I'll second the snapon cordless impact. Bought mine off the truck as a trade in works great, batteries have lasted well. Still will find a need for air gun.
I've grown up using air guns and find I can judge them a lot better than cordless. I just dont get the feedback off the cordless to know when something is getting tight if you know what I mean. Had an ingersoll rand gun the other day, would definitely recommend that for power
as noted it depends on what you work on. big bolts need big power. long usage needs long power. for me and what i do i like a 3/8 cordless impact. there are dozens of variants. air drills are my first choice. i have 7 of them. plastic air impacts are lightweight and very powerful. probly the only corded tools i use are grinders and saws. i like cheap die grinders. you can get a dozen for the price of one top of the line models. stick all kinds of bits and wheels in them and almost never have to stop to chenge a bit. if your gonna be a stickler for all name brand tools in your boxes then your gonna pay the price for that.
I like the cheap die grinders aswell, though I do have 1 snap on 1hp die grinder. Only ever had a cut off disc on it. I hate discs binding up or stalling out, and the snap on spins like a son of a b, and never stalls out. Eats discs like no other, but the company buys those But I have about 4 others cheapos that I keep my other bits on, and I agree that for 90% of tasks they do just fine. Just I like the power if I ever need to cut something in a tight spot that a torch cant go into for whatever reason.
This is probably the best 3/8" impact I've ever had. Ingersoll Rand: Model# 2115TIMAX. http://www.sears.com/ingersoll-rand-titanium-3-8-impact-tool/p-00982915000P#reviewsWrap I can, if I want , use a working pressure of 175 psi... I know it will stretch or obliterate a ½" grade 5 chisel plow sweep bolt. Of course, my primary goal is to remove and replace, not... stretch or obliterate...:tong ... lol OCR
I take it you are NOT referring to grandpa in that sentence.
Hmmm? Ahhh! ... :idea Yes, you are correct. The sentence, would then have had to read... Since I can no longer edit that post, you have my absolute and unqualified permission... to 'fix' the last sentence in post #25. OCR... :lmao
screwed that up too huh OCR?:falldownlaugh
Lol... :tong We'll see... :naughty ... lol OCR... :cool2