Corded vs Cordless Power Tools

[GreyingJay]

Buy a name brand tool that you will be able to buy replacement batteries for in years to come, otherwise when the battery wears down and you can't buy replacements, the tool becomes garbage -- well, at least you could take apart the drill and play with the gearbox and motor!

So Ryobi, Dewalt, Makita, Milwaukee, Ridgid, etc. (Careful about Ridgid though - they do advertise lifetime warranties and all, but they also seem to discontinue old product lines and introduce new ones fairly frequently).

The nice thing about some product lines like Ryobi and DeWalt is the selection of tools you can use with the same batteries and chargers.

[mman1506]

We have a mix of Milwaukee M18 and M12 tools. While the M18 tools are great, unless we are doing tons of drilling most of the time we prefer to use the smaller M12 tools which still have tons of power. Due to their lighter weight I've found that smaller students have an easier time drilling straight holes with M12 tools.

You can usually find sets of M12 tools on sale. I would definitely recommend getting a M12 Hacksawzall. It's one of our most used tools. We use it to cut polycarb, aluminium and wood for prototyping.