Electric Drills

[Chrissy Boy]

I currently have a 25 yr old Black and Decker mains drill and I think that it has passed it's shelf life. I have a B.& D. cordless but this is not upto 'real' drilling. Should I buy another mains drill or get a cordless. I don't do alot of major drilling. Can you recommend one? Also, why are cordless drill power rating in volts and mains in watts?
One further question - what is the best way to drill into a wall without the drill veering off course - progs on tv make it so easy.Thanks

[RATTER15]

Get yourself a good mains drill, Makita Hitachi or Bosch to be on the safe side, whilst Black and Decker had a good name many years ago, these days they produce crap!!

If you want to stop your drill veering of just make an indentation with a punch before you start drilling, but its not usually required when drilling masonry.

If its tiles that you are drilling put a couple of pieces of masking tape on the site of the proposed hole, this will guide the drill long enough to get the hole started.

[utisz]

Cordless (battery operated) drills are rated in volts to indicate to the purchaser the power available, because all re-chargable cells have virtually the same amount of energy stored (a battery is a number of cells linked together). It then follows that the higher the voltage, the more energy available, BUT no more.

Mains drills, on the other hand, are connected to an awesome amount of power via the national grid, so the wattage rating of your drill determines how much power you need for optimum performance

[utisz]

Sorry, got carried away in trying to explain why you should always go for mains equipment where appropriate

[Teddio]

A good quality and powerful cordless drill will be very expensive. (eg De Walt DWO52K2 at around �200) Go for a Bosch PSB650RES, a variable-speed hammer drill, for less than �40.