Corded vs Cordless Power Tools

[LastChance]

We are trying to start a team and determining what tools and equipment we'll need. We're trying to decide whether corded or cordless(or even air powered) tools are better and what the best brands are. We'll most likely have both(we're thinking maybe mostly corded, with smaller cordless for pit and smaller jobs), but for primary use, do you prefer corded or cordless? What brands do you use/prefer? Why? Any help will be greatly appreciated!

[pmangels17]

I almost always prefer cordless over corded (and air for the same reason), because even if you have plugs available, dealing with the wires all the time is a pain, and can be dangerous if the floor becomes a massive tripping hazard. Really the only tool I regularly use that isn't a benchtop machine is a drill, but I really do wish that my circular saw and scroll saw were cordless. Sanders and grinders are fine corded because of the frequency with which I use them, and I have a corded drill for really tough jobs though. Some tools are almost always air powered (like nail guns unless you buy Pasload), and that just is what it is.

[Underdog_19]

All our drills are cordless. We use DeWalt because we got them during a Black Friday sale.

Our jig saw and circular saw are corded because most are.

[roboruler]

Definitely cordless, if your aiming for tools which are safe and convenient for students to use cordless drills and impact drivers are best. Cordless drills are less powerful( which is good), lighter, smaller and easier to use.

If there is something that you need a corded drill for it should probably be done in a drill press.

In regards to cordless cutting tools, there isn’t a great deal of difference between corded jigsaws, circular saws and recip saws, so corded or cordless is probably alright.

I would probably stay away from air tools, unless you already have access to compressed air. Compressed Air rivet guns can be great, if you’ve got access to air.

[RoboChair]

You want cordless for most things, maybe not high power items like saws because they eat batteries very fast and you want to stay productive.

1678 uses Ryobi everything so they share batteries, you want lots of batteries. We managed to get a bunch of Ryobi stuff on online auctions so we saved a lot of money that way.

[Bkeeneykid]

We use corded simply because that's what we have. We are still using drills original to the the team. We would love to go cordless to make many things easier, and if were able to find cheap cordless sets, we would jump on that immediately.

[frcguy]

For our shop, we purchased all cordless Milwaukee M18 tools for drills and impacts. For us, it allowed us to standardize on one battery which made things very easy. I have lots of experience with Milwaukee tools and they have shown themselves to be high quality with very few issues, and they have been great when any problem arrived.

As a side note, I was in you exact position at the beginning of this season. Here is a link to a Google Sheet with all the tools we purchased, with links, prices, etc.

https://goo.gl/qYTa66

Also, feel free to PM me, I would be more than happy to talk to you about my experience starting our shop and any questions you have.

[sanddrag]

Ryobi has been pretty good for us. It's a great value, especially when on sale, like right now. I've also been successful in warrantying a few batteries right at Home Depot. My favorite drill though is the black and white compact Makita. It has a really nice chuck on it, but we did manage to cook one a couple years ago, and had to replace it.

[Sperkowsky]

Originally Posted by frcguy

For our shop, we purchased all cordless Milwaukee M18 tools for drills and impacts. For us, it allowed us to standardize on one battery which made things very easy. I have lots of experience with Milwaukee tools and they have shown themselves to be high quality with very few issues, and they have been great when any problem arrived.

As a side note, I was in you exact position at the beginning of this season. Here is a link to a Google Sheet with all the tools we purchased, with links, prices, etc.

https://goo.gl/qYTa66

Also, feel free to PM me, I would be more than happy to talk to you about my experience starting our shop and any questions you have.

That's what we use for drills.

We also use a hilti wireless circular saw.

Everything else is wired.

[LastChance]

Originally Posted by frcguy

For our shop, we purchased all cordless Milwaukee M18 tools for drills and impacts. For us, it allowed us to standardize on one battery which made things very easy. I have lots of experience with Milwaukee tools and they have shown themselves to be high quality with very few issues, and they have been great when any problem arrived.

As a side note, I was in you exact position at the beginning of this season. Here is a link to a Google Sheet with all the tools we purchased, with links, prices, etc.

https://goo.gl/qYTa66

Also, feel free to PM me, I would be more than happy to talk to you about my experience starting our shop and any questions you have.

Thank you. We are just getting started, and would appreciate being able to reach out to teams who have already done this as we start building our team.

[GeeTwo]

I personally prefer corded tools, but for the team, we went cordless for most of our hand-held tools, because we often need to use them away from the shop (and that will get worse this year as we may lose the space where we ran most of our corded power tools.). If you do cordless, pick one brand & voltage, and buy/use it consistently. We were not satisfied with Ryobi (does not stand up to student [ab]use), but we get good performance from our DeWalt 20V tools.

If you go cordless, assign a "tool battery czar", just as you probably have a "robot battery czar". They may or may not be the same person, but the job is nearly as critical.

[Billfred]

Originally Posted by LastChance

We are trying to start a team and determining what tools and equipment we'll need. We're trying to decide whether corded or cordless(or even air powered) tools are better and what the best brands are. We'll most likely have both(we're thinking maybe mostly corded, with smaller cordless for pit and smaller jobs), but for primary use, do you prefer corded or cordless? What brands do you use/prefer? Why? Any help will be greatly appreciated!

Garnet Squadron is almost all Bosch (tends to happen when you're sponsored...), and their tools have worked great for us. We do have one older corded drill, which is a great thing to have for long drilling sessions and as a safety margin.

A few teams use air-powered tools, especially riveters, but your air capacity in the pit areas (8'x8' to 10'x10') at competitions will be limited by your compressor.

[Sperkowsky]

Originally Posted by Billfred

Garnet Squadron is almost all Bosch (tends to happen when you're sponsored...), and their tools have worked great for us. We do have one older corded drill, which is a great thing to have for long drilling sessions and as a safety margin.

A few teams use air-powered tools, especially riveters, but your air capacity in the pit areas (8'x8' to 10'x10') at competitions will be limited by your compressor.

We generally bring a 5 gallon compressor to competitions which is way more then enough. Inspectors don't like it but our pit neighbors do.

[RoboChair]

The one thing I dislike thoroughly about the DeWalt 20V line is that it is NOT 20 volts, its the EXACT same cells as all the other 18V lines but they advertise it at the nominal voltage and not the cell voltage that every other manufacturer uses.

So they are scamming you into thinking the battery has more voltage when it does not.

/RANT

As a side note, learn to FIX your tools. Most of them use 775's inside them anyway..... We are a resourceful bunch after all, might as well practice.

[Munchskull]

Originally Posted by RoboChair

The one thing I dislike thoroughly about the DeWalt 20V line is that it is NOT 20 volts, its the EXACT same cells as all the other 18V lines but they advertise it at the nominal voltage and not the cell voltage that every other manufacturer uses.

So they are scamming you into thinking the battery has more voltage when it does not.

/RANT

As a side note, learn to FIX your tools. Most of them use 775's inside them anyway..... We are a resourceful bunch after all, might as well practice.

Think a 775Pro would be an upgrade?