New lease on life for old cordless tools.

[Hillbilly77]

I have found myself where I bet many people have found themselves - A set of cordless tools with mostly worn-out batteries.
I was looking up some info to decide whether to rebuild the NiCad batteries for my Snap-On set myself or to hire it done, when I stumbled across a brilliant idea on YouTube.

A guy made an adapter to run old tools on new lithium batteries. I also have a set of 20v DeWalt tools, so I decided to make myself an adapter, too.

The catch is that you have to sacrifice a tool, but I happened to have a drill that was half dead, so it became an organ donor.
You use the base of the tool whose batteries you want to use, and a battery case of the tool you want to run.
A little while of cutting and fitting, then some epoxy to glue it, and Voila! Now I have the option to run my Snap-On tool kit with DeWalt batteries. From what I've read, the difference in full charge & discharge with 18v & 20v is not enough to hurt the tool, so I feel comfortable using the 20v batteries.
The video only cautioned about discharging the lithium batteries too much with an older tool that isn't smart enough to shut off.
Other than that, I should be good to go.
I'm going to rebuild some Snap-On batteries too (I have 7 of them), but I like the idea of having the added option of different batteries.

It looks a little clunky, but it works.



Some pics of my new adapter:

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

Just forget getting tight places!

Ivan

 

[CAJUNLAWYER]

Red Green would be proud

 

[LoboGunLeather]

About 3 years ago my 18V Ryobi drill-driver batteries died on me. Shopping for replacement batteries I found prices from $45 to $70 per battery. While looking I caught a sale ad for a new Ryobi drill-driver 18V Lithium Ion with two batteries for $74.95. Picked one up and took it home. New lithium ion batteries fit and function in my old drill just as well as the new one. So now I have two drill-drivers and two batteries, new charger unit, and a very nice carry/storage bag.

Actually came in very handy on a project. I was pre-drilling holes for screws, so I just set up one drill with the drill bit and the other with the screwdriver bit. There were about 200 holes to be drilled and screwed so having two tools saved a lot of time compared to changing bits again and again.

 

[skipnsb]

Dewalt makes a factory adapter to use their lithium on their old 18v.

 

[BigBill]

My co worked in the electronics lab would replace the rechargeable batteries inside the battery pack.

 

[Tom K]

About 3 years ago my 18V Ryobi drill-driver batteries died on me. Shopping for replacement batteries I found prices from $45 to $70 per battery. While looking I caught a sale ad for a new Ryobi drill-driver 18V Lithium Ion with two batteries for $74.95. Picked one up and took it home. New lithium ion batteries fit and function in my old drill just as well as the new one. So now I have two drill-drivers and two batteries, new charger unit, and a very nice carry/storage bag.

Actually came in very handy on a project. I was pre-drilling holes for screws, so I just set up one drill with the drill bit and the other with the screwdriver bit. There were about 200 holes to be drilled and screwed so having two tools saved a lot of time compared to changing bits again and again.

Better than another drill would have been an impact driver, like this:

An impact driver is much, much better for driving screws than a drill. The impact action means you don't have to lean into the screw so hard, particularly with Phillips heads. Works great for getting stubborn screws loose as well. Once you try one you'll wonder how you ever got by without it. Just make sure you use the type of bits that are made for this kind of chuck, with the shallow groove in the shank. A short stubby bit with no groove will go completely into the chuck and be hell to get back out.

Home Depot often has combo kits on sale so you can often get 4-5 tools for a lot less than the individual prices added together.

 

[SC_Mike]

Red Green would be proud

Needs more duct tape...

 

[Rule3]

Red Green would be proud

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uG6grzdUf8[/ame]