The end of an era?

[Intheshop]

Been here at the ranch for 30+ years.Raised a bunch of youngsters.It's interesting because they are now seeing changes like,a year or so I tore down their stupid cool "swing set".Then planted grass.

Taking out huge sky lights sees me neck deep engineering scaffolding,not to mention the changes inside.And so it goes.... kids stand there with dumb looks on their faces,wondering where the time went.You get the idea.

So,going on 50 years,in the shop.... I bought the first cordless drill motor.Hitachi pkg from sLowes.120$.Got a reg drill motor,impact,case and charger.Oh,we've had 1/2 dz of them over the years but,they were always charity cases or something or other?Never actually"bought" one before?

It's lithium battery.What's the dope on recharging these things?Google just keeps going to laptop battery stuff.If someone could give me a synopsis it would be greatly appreciated.And yes,...doh.I read the manual.BW

For the record,we use air and elec drill motors.Have some that are 75 years old and still doing what they are designed to do.

 

[smokeywolf]

Lithium batteries are very good. Good power, hold on to charge well, charge relatively quickly and no charge memory.

 

[Ian]

In five paragraphs I don't really understand the question, but I do know that lithium ion batteries have to have a very controlled amperage during their charge cycle to mitigate heat buildup within the cells, or they go kaboom. Solid state charge monitors with voltage, thermal, and inductive sensory are required. You might find the dope on charging each cell via google, but you will have to crack the battery open and discover the milliamp hours and what sort of charge protection circuit board the battery pack itself has (if any) and how to wire around it for charging if it does. Not all the charging hoopla is necessarily in the charging base.

The investment of time vs. return or buying what you need outright won't pencil unless you just want to learn how to build a proper charger from scratch and have a good bit of electronic test equipment and spare parts on hand, not to mention firm knowledge base.

 

[Intheshop]

Smokey,little things matter.... and this thread will eventually end up in the gunroom but;

All the doors here are hand built jambs with hand cut SQUARE hinges.Putting finishing touches on wifeys new BR.Something as simple as a blooming door lock... everything is round corners on the bolt and keeper these days.

"Cordless" back when I started was a M/F hand mitre box,butt chisels,Yankee screwdrivers.So digging through dads boxes of leftovers looking for sq cornered "parts" ain't exactly building confidence.... and yes we have router hinging equipment.

Imagine boring lock holes in a tractor trailer load of 7' solid core,1 3/4" thick,hospital doors with a cordless drill motor?Won't even get into 4" BB hinges....

*Gun stuff;torque setting on drill motors sensitive/accurate enough? for action screws on tack driving bolt rifles?And yes,we're in a hurry,haha.

Found the lock keeper,still looking for an old bolt.

 

[Intheshop]

Ian,google goes to laptop batteries.

 

[Intheshop]

Further into "gun world" Ian;

In your professional opinion,how accurate/repeatable do you think the torque settings are on a cordless drill motor is?And yes we have a bunch of mechanical auto style torque wrenches.Don't have any torque limited screwdrivers normally associated with action screws?I'm cheap.

 

[Ian]

I've never checked a drill clutch for repeatability, when I need accurate I use a beam jobbie because the trust factor is very low with click-type tools. You can calibrate it with a fastener an beam wrench and mark it with scribe and Sharpie, might be "close", better than wrist calibration in any event.

This guy has a few videos on the lithium stuff, watch this one and the tube may link several others of his on the subject. Not "how to", but educational in a general way and very entertaining www.youtube.com/watch?v=73QIMNXoDLc

 

[Intheshop]

BMW motorcycle torque interestingly uses "angle torque".... meaning,and pardon any hillbilly ness.. run the fastener up,mark/record... then turn so many degrees past "touch".

I sorta think clicky torque drivers suffer in not only calibration but also feel.I'm much more comfortable with beam torque wrenches?

Door lock is in and NO,don't use a drill on jamb for bolt.It gets hand chiseled to the shape of the bolt nose.Best way to describe it is... start paying attention to the little things.Look at the keeper mortise on pre war(WWII) vs,slam bam drilled holes later.

Gonna start paying more attention to action screw torque... Savage rear screw;an O ring between tang and pillar.It's probably better served with a new post thread... but,floating the rr action screw is nuthin new on them,heck,I've done it.But put that rubber in there may be just the shock damping that'll make a difference?

 

[462]

Back in the day, Air Force weapons mechanics used this method for torquing bolts: tighten it till it starts to smoke, then back it off one turn.

I suspect, though, that Chinese bolts will break long before they start to smoke.

 

[fiver]

I bought a kit from Lowe's with some rewards thingy they had a few years back.
the charger for it runs through a cycle then charges the battery.
they ain't like the old ones where you had to run them dead then charge them.
the Li Ion battery's will run at full power then just slow down then stop when they run out of juice on the last screw you need to drive.
but they will hold their juice for months just sitting there.

 

[Roger Allen]

Back in the day, Air Force weapons mechanics used this method for torquing bolts: tighten it till it starts to smoke, then back it off one turn.

I suspect, though, that Chinese bolts will break long before they start to smoke.

That’s the worst torque method I ever heard of....military or not!

Shank stretch and then loosening and omg I’m getting freaking anxious thinking about it.

Aka-lineman. We don’t hang spans of transmission cable successfully for 30 years using methods like that. That’s asking for trouble

 

[462]

Where's that silly little emotie thingie with its tongue in its cheek?

 

[Ian]

the Li Ion battery's will run at full power then just slow down then stop when they run out of juice on the last screw you need to drive.

They don't run out of juice, that's the electronics cutting them off when the voltage drops to protect the cells. They somehow always know when you have one screw left, though, that's some pretty good programming.

 

[Ian]

Michael, I'm sure Fiver can explain "oil field tight", and in the heavy truck world we go for a shank tension spec loosely defined as "1/4 turn before it breaks". The forum emojies are a little....lacking, but whaddaya want for free ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Brad]

 

[fiver]

I don't know who come up with the hammer wrench, but they ain't for making hammers.

yeah field tight is something special.
you take an 8 or 12 lb sledge hammer and beat the unions together, even the open ended drain lines, and the rubber hoses.

 

[Intheshop]

I was on some forum? think it was a woodpecker one.... years ago.

Anyway the question I asked along with a pic.Which was easy back then because cameras fairy pixels played nice with the software.

The pic had a BR rifle setup in a heavy rest/bags.The target and question was how to dispose of a Dell computer.I was halfway serious.... is shooting a computer accepted practice.They didn't know much about rifles but DANG,did they approve of killing that pce of doodoo.The stories went on and on about how bad they were?

So,these lith battery things..... smaller target? Or what on disposal?

 

[gman]

Fiver,
I wish I knew how many times I was told “swing that hammer like you live boy, fast and hard”!

 

[Bret4207]

On one of my tractor sites there has been an ongoing discussion about the differences and pros/cons of Ni-Cad, Ni-Mh (IIRC) and Li-Ion for some time. Near as I can tell, Lithium is really expensive, gives good service if they will take a charge and is really expensive. I don't know squat beyond that, other than they also have a higher fire risk for reasons I don't understand. All I know is I have 35 year Makita 7.2 and 9.6v batteries that still work about the same as they did new, which is to say not for all that long or with much torque, and newer (2-3 years old) batteries of 12 and 18v that don't last much longer. Batteries are a shot in the dark IMO. I have Chinese knock off Makita 12v examples that work great for the price, but they aren't as good as the original Makitas were by a long shot.

As far as reputability of torque settings on a consumer grade cordless tool- no. Don't even think about it. That setting system is designed for not sinking sheetrock screws too deep into drywall or maybe decking, not precision torque application.

 

[fiver]

I see guy's using the little torque guns and air tools to put parts on cars on the TV pretty frequently and it drives me nuts.
they just spent like 15 grand for an engine then they bolt parts [another 15-G worth of parts] on it with an air tool like it has a universal torque setting.

I do see the guy's in the Nascar Garage use electric impact guns to put tires on and off the car so they must have some pretty good power, the little one I have will drive 3/8" lag bolts in and out of gate hinges and such all day long.
it will also twist the head right off them if your not careful.