Random Thoughts....

Ranting sometimes helps in that it gives you a chance to state everything and look at it from the third person perspective.

Yeah, it's also one of my favourite ways of brainstorming. Just bouncing ideas off other people.
 
Ah, the old rubber duck debugging. :)
 
It would be much less problematic if I simply typed everything in by hand instead of copy/pasting, but then I'd be spending two to three times as much time putting it all together.

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I've had this problem too. Wanting to get some fancy statistics from data out of a DB. Spent too many time trying to come up with a query, or way to handle the data.
In the end manual copy pasting and cell referencing in excel took me about half an hour after wasting a couple hours of trying to script it.
 
There goes another year of my life. Happy birthday to me.
 
I have an 18v drill/driver, and I've been shopping for new tools. My current tool is more than a couple years old, and I've been looking at all of the 18v newer models out there, because I wanted to make sure that the cordless tools would be more powerful than what I have now, and not just an extended run-time with these newer high-capacity lithium ion batteries.

However, as one shops around, one can't help but notice the 12v lines that are less espensive, and much lighter and compact.

Just out of curiosity I looked up to see what kind of torque these 12v models could achieve: 1,000in-lbs. This is about 30% lower than their 18V counterparts. Hmm...will these actually be an upgrade to the tool I already have? Let me see.

*checks the specs on his tool*

:lol: :rolleyes:

280 in-lbs.

Yeah, I think a new 12V will probably be just fine.
 
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Speaking of which. I need to replace my 12v Milwaukee impact. After a solid year of daily use, and another spent in high humidity environments, it's had it.
 
While you guys are on the subject, how good is Milwaukee? It's been on the market for only a few years here and I have no experience with it, I was looking for a new angle grinder the other day and they seem pretty cheap for what is marketed as professional equipment.
 
Almost every single factory I go to, the maintenance department has them. There's a few that use deWalt but, the majority have Milwaukee.
 
I've used Ryobi for the past 15 years. Mostly because they are cheap and use the same battery for all of their devices. I have a drill, impact driver, recip saw and a weed wacker. All perform great, but I do wish I'd spring for the extra capacity Lithium-Ion batteries over the standard.
 
I have a Dewalt 12V lithium cordless driver, it's probably 5 or 6 years old or even a little more, and it's fantastic for normal around the house stuff. I've built furniture, installed all manner of hardware and appliances, done some household work that goes beyond simple screwdriver requiring jobs, and it's never let me down. I've got two batteries, I keep the second one charged in the bag and when I run down the one on the drill it gets swapped and goes on the charger. Even sitting for several months it keeps charges just fine.

It's perhaps a little underpowered for the time or two I've drilled stone and concrete, but it still did the job. As a bonus because it's a little smaller than many cordless drills it fits in more places with less hassle.

I can't think of any problems I've had with it. If you were using it in a professional scope I could see it not being enough, but for most people it would be more than adequate I think.
 
Is it the Milwaukee 12v you are looking at?

And the Makita.

While you guys are on the subject, how good is Milwaukee? It's been on the market for only a few years here and I have no experience with it, I was looking for a new angle grinder the other day and they seem pretty cheap for what is marketed as professional equipment.

They have a really good reputation. In terms of the 18v cordless product lines, I would say that they and Makita are probably the two most highly-respected cordless tool makers out there. I prefer Makita (and their product line is HUGE), but the reasons are purely subjective. Milwaukee seems to be step ahead on innovations, but they may not be things you need (like their new app-controlled speed settings on their drills, etc). Dewalt is very very very very common, and they perform very very well. I have to assume a big reason you see so much out there is because they are more often on sale, and can often be had for great prices. In apples-to-apples comparisons, they seem to trail a bit...but not by much, and often excel at certain aspects (like it might be the fastest, but the battery runs out quicker, or the battery lasts the longest but it overheated soonest, etc). I would say Makita and Milwaukee are top-tier, Dewalt just baaarely edging out Hitachi and Bosch (bosch makes durable stuff, but their product line is narrow, and they don't perform quite as well in holes-per-minute or things like that...but they are well-built, and their batteries are lightweight and seem long-lasting. I would put the latest wave of Ridgid right behind at the next level, with Ryobi a step below. Porter Cable is an odd duck because they have some really nice tools, and some not-as-nice, so I'd say on average they are on par with Ridgid, with Black and Decker and Craftsman and Kobalt bringing up the rear. I'm sure Festool, Hilti and Panasonic are great, but I haven't used 'em.

What I will say is that the margin between each of those lines has narrowed CONSIDERABLY in the last 3 years or so, in that anything below the big 4 (Milwaukee, Makita, Dewalt, Bosch) has brought themselves up. To think that a "store brand" like Ryobi and Ridgid could even be in the same conversation is notable on it's own...and their performance is usually on-par with the big-boys. Would they last 12 hours a day for 2 years? Likely not...but they aren't meant to.

One really nice thing about Makita is that their 36v saws, line trimmers, etc all use the same 18V batteries, you just use two. Unlike many of the other brands that make you buy another 36v or 40v battery and charger.

Almost every single factory I go to, the maintenance department has them. There's a few that use deWalt but, the majority have Milwaukee.

Makita, as well. Their fan-cooled chargers are very popular because they allow for faster recharges (at least on the job sites I'm on).

I've used Ryobi for the past 15 years. Mostly because they are cheap and use the same battery for all of their devices. I have a drill, impact driver, recip saw and a weed wacker. All perform great, but I do wish I'd spring for the extra capacity Lithium-Ion batteries over the standard.

I'm not gonna lie...Ryobi has impressed the shit out of me lately. Their impact driver performs great, and is cheaper than the corporate cousin, the Ridgid. The body is longer, though, which makes it less practical...but it's also lighter, which helps balance that aspect. Even some of their ancillary products are really nice for the price. Their work light? Their Fan? Blower? Great value. Their recip saw? not so much. The fact that every battery they've made in the past decade+ will fit in every tool is amazing.

I have a Dewalt 12V lithium cordless driver, it's probably 5 or 6 years old or even a little more, and it's fantastic for normal around the house stuff. I've built furniture, installed all manner of hardware and appliances, done some household work that goes beyond simple screwdriver requiring jobs, and it's never let me down. I've got two batteries, I keep the second one charged in the bag and when I run down the one on the drill it gets swapped and goes on the charger. Even sitting for several months it keeps charges just fine.

It's perhaps a little underpowered for the time or two I've drilled stone and concrete, but it still did the job. As a bonus because it's a little smaller than many cordless drills it fits in more places with less hassle.

I can't think of any problems I've had with it. If you were using it in a professional scope I could see it not being enough, but for most people it would be more than adequate I think.

Thank you for your thoughts!! Lithium Ion was a light-year-ahead jump in performance for cordless tools, especially when it comes to holding their charge. I have to plan ahead with my 18v NiCads, and charge them the day before, where a LithIon battery charger can charge a 4Ah LI battery in less than an hour...if it needed a charge at all, since they keep their charge very well.

The power tool industry is like the car industry, too, in that the same company makes multiple product lines.
Milwaukee ,Ridgid and are all TTI brands. Bosch, Dremmel and Skil are under the same parent company. Dewalt and Black and Decker.

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More likely a homicide.

Ahh...I made a bad assumption from just reading the title.
 
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