Wondering what cordless kit people are using? For me its Dewalt 18v at the moment. With a few Dewalt 10.8v as well. I used to think it was garbage then I won the Drive Five comp at the first Screwfix Live at Farnborough and got an 18v Impact Driver as the prize. Since then I have stuck with that platform and am pretty happy with it. No battery failures so far out of maybe 20 batteries and no kit failed either. Particularly rate the two cordless vacs. Very efficient and a real timesaver.
The electrician and plumber that I usually work with have a far more efficient of way of saving time, they simply don't clean up after themselves.
Most (if not all) of my DeWalt kit is corded and is basically rebranded Elu stuff. Even the DW625 industry standard router was an Elu machine originally. For my cordless gear it's Milwaukee and that stems from the time when they were also compatible with AEG and Atlas Copco. I've been happy with how it performs and batteries hold up well. I also think it puts me in the minority somewhat among the recognised trade brands Bosch, DeWalt, Makita, Milwaukee, Metabo, Hitachi and others. I hear nothing but good about Hilti gear although I understand the range of items to be much smaller. You're a bit stuck with a platform once you've bought a bit of kit and all the manufacturers know it so random excursions into other brands aren't that frequent unless you're replacing a whole load of stuff following a theft or something I suppose. I suspect that they're pretty all much of a muchness if you really got into it although one hears occasional mutterings that some of the cheaper DeWalt equipment flooding the sheds at present is not as good as the trade stuff and that it's weakening the brand as a result.
I think they make that a condition of being able to access the Friztls Cellar that is the Plumbfix and ElectricFix section of trade counters.
Most of my cordless stuff is Makita, some Dewalt and one Hilti 22v SDS. I been looking at the bigger Dewalt 18V vac for some time now. How are you getting on with it?
My cordless kit is a complete patchwork quilt of brands, Hilti, Dewalt, Paslode, Bosch, AEG, Festool, Spit, the only Makita item I own is a corded circular saw I earned off my old boss over ten years ago, which I believe is older than me. Can't get on with Makita, tried and have owned several items but they've either just packed in after a short while or are inferior to other makes, in my opinion. No one brand does it for me, there's excellent particular tools with every make.
Really rate it. To be honest I havent used my corded auto extractor when out of the workshop since. I use it dry only so cant vouch for the wet function. Its more powerful off the battery than off the mains! I tend to use the bigger on as a stationary extractor linked up to saw bench, mitre saw etc and for linking up to tracksaw, sander etc. I got the smaller one recently as if was becoming a bit of a faff disconnecting it to do clear up. The smaller on is absolutely ace too. Especially for chucking in the tote for fitting handles etc.
I used to have a collection of different brands but after someone kindly emptied my van without permission (or keys) I ended up going all Dewalt. There are several tools that arent "best in class" like the multitool and the combi but I thought the benefit of the single battery platform outweighed that. Glad I did to be honest.
Swines they are, been done myself in 2009, should have their fingers snapped for doing it but that's another thread...... If I had to choose a kit though, it would be Dewalt, like you said the universal batteries are a winner. Bought their DCS391 cordless circular saw with two 5ah's back last October, it has honestly revolutionised the way I work, though my primary income is new build house bashing so there is a knowing discernible lack of finesse associated with using it for all the rough stuff. Purposely bought it for the left handed blade position, so much more accurate than a right hander. Am now umming and ahhing over the cordless planer.......
Cordless planer teamed up with the cordless vac using an Airlock accessory is superb. Clean tidy and quick. Are you doing doors with a jig or chopping out?
The doors are all pre hung on the site I'm resident on, and their composition is such that you can't plane them as their prefinished(absolute garbage, hollow cores with paper edges) you just use a crank bar to pull the hinges whichever way needed to adjust the margins. On private work though, I use my Bosch Palm router (GKF 600?) free hand to remove the bulk of the material then tidy the edges with a chisel. Don't own a hinge jig, also not a fan of the bradawl holes left in the edge, though I'm talking about the trend jig, don't know about other makes.
I am not a fan of hinge jigs either. You can convert the Dewalt cordless cut-out tool into a decent cordless router very easily. Its a little agricultural! But it works! It has a 1/4 inch collet as standard so you can put router bits in and you just need to alter the base to make it much more stable. I use it loads.
Cheers mate. I used a spare base off my old Bosch palm router. You should be able to get the cutout tool for maybe £80 new. Its no replacement for a router but for just roughing out hinges and faceplates etc it is fine.
Sad thing is, I actually really enjoy using hammer and chisel, something very satisfying about recessing items flush and neat by hand, but ultimately time is money in our game, and there's so much tool porn out there now (for very reasonable money) that you can't resist moving with the times