If you have two packs and strip them down you might find enough cells still ok to make one pack.

Bosch and there is a shed load of retailerers selling them including B&Q

Bob

Hi Len, It depends on what you require the drill to do, i.e. do you need a hammer drill and cordless screwdriver with clutch etc as well.

I agree with Rob about Makita, my brother sells and repairs them. There is also another make as good as Makita but can't remember the name. Bosch are very good. I used Bosch power tools for years as an electrician but they're considered mid range nowadays.

Have a look at AEG Lithium ion drills, I use the 12 volt drills and nut drivers on a daily basis, they are superb, battery life and recharging times.

HTH

Cut the battery open carefully and replace the cells with tagged NiMh cells from Maplin or at half the price from an Ebay seller. NiMH cells can be charged with the same charger as NiCads.

Russell.

Len, As a bricklayer I don't think you will get better than Hilti , whether it's rechargable or 110v but be prepared to fork out a lot of dough. They might be seen as overkill for domestic use but they will last forever. Metabo are also excellent tools, but again expensive. It's like everything else, you get what you pay for.

Regards,

Raymond.

Sorry to put a damper on the " Bosch is Best" brigade – that's what I thought when I bought a Bosch about five years ago. Sad to say that too has succumbed to the "charge for ages then go flat quickly" disease. I think that, like so many things today, these power tools are ultimately expendable items. I'm not too sad about that as I guess it's cost me the equivalent of about £10 a year over its life – I have used and abused it and it has been a faithful friend throughout. Time for a peaceful rest at the tip methinks!

Cheers

Norman

Edited By NJH on 21/03/2013 20:34:23

We have been using Hitachi battery drills at work for a number of years. The older ones came with Ni-Cads, but the latest have Li-on battery packs. The latest charger recognises the battery pack type (Ni-Cad, NiMh or Li-on) inserted & charges accordingly.

No idea of price, as I don't buy them. But they have proved very robust in industrial use & when the first one died (the overload clutch failed – they get used a lot for screwing together packing cases out of OSB ), it was replaced with another of the same make.

The capacity of modern batteries like LiPo are way higher than the old nicads too and frequently smaller/lighter. Their only downside is because of the high power levels stored in them, if they short, they really short. The larger LiPo’s have steel banding around them to stop them exploding should they short.

It seems likely that the battery will give out before the mechanics unless you abuse it. Therefore it may not be worth gettiing one that is too good mechanically as the batteries will be the same as the cheap one and die just as quickly.

If you end up with mechanics but no battery it may be possible to run it off a bench power supply as a drill with – shock horror – wires!. The next dead one you can make into a power feed for a small mill etc. Worst case if you are going to chuck it and it is lowish voltage give it to a boat modeller who can use the motor.

Maybe some of the cells are US, but if you have more than one batteries it is easy to swap over a cell or two. The straps can be soldered using a large iron (be quick).Alternatively the drill as some one ealier said be converted to low voltage use, using a power supply. I use ex smoothing iron flex, remove the cell from the battery box, put in place some concrete to act as stabilizer (stop it falling over when not in use) and using a non standard plug, wire up the drill. My home made power supply is actually a 24 volt battery charger transformer and rectifier which was thrown out by a neighbour as the case had rusted away, I fitted an electrolytic capacitor to give a bit of smoothing. The transformer had several tappings so it now is 18 volts output and I run my 14.4 volt drill from it. It doesn't over heat and out of interest I ran the drill for a while on 24 volts with no apparent harm. I have several drills obtained from car boot sales, good enough for home workshop use, All have good gear boxes and chucks for 50p or a £1. After all we are not in business have a go nothing to lose.Ted