Drill speed

[Gene Chism]

What is the recommended drill speed to use for the pocket holes? I think that I saw or heard that it is 1700 rpm. While we are at it my battery power drill up and has gotten sick. What is a recommendation for a replacement in power drills.

[Hal Jones]

My recommendation would be based on the amount of use the drill will receive. For serious use, I would opt for a Bosch or Milwaukee. Bosch is coming out with a nice cordless drill if you can wait on that one. It is small and uses a chuck, 12 volt lithium battery. Check the rpms to make sure whatever you choose is sufficient for wood drilling.
I have a 36V Bosch i use with my Kreg Jig and it works fine, but is overkill for most users. Be sure and get lithium batteries, the difference is worth the price. For an all around drill, opt for the 18volt lithium. I prefer a morse chuck to the newer hex quick insert. The drills using the insert system are sloppier than the old fashion taper chucks where you twist the chuck to increase force holding the bit, resulting in cleaner holes drilled.
For price point drills that will be used occasionally, I have good luck with Skil. I have not tested the Porter-Cable units in the lower price range, so i cannot recommend them.

[DAVID CZUPRYN]

I use a corded drill for drilling the holes.#1, faster speed, better chip ejection,less heat on the bit. Because a corded drill doesn't have a clutch,I use a drill driver to drive the screws into thewood.

[Larwyn]

As I recall, the instructions that came with the K2000 Jig recommended a 2000 rpm drill motor. I bought a corded DeWalt just for that purpose and that is what I normally use. If away from power I have used an 18 volt cordless which also tops out at 2000 rpm on the high speed setting. I usually drive the screws with an 18 volt impact driver, but you can occasionally strip out a screw using it to drive screws in soft wood. A drill/driver with a clutch is naturally easier to use in that case.

[KregRep]

Larwyn said:

As I recall, the instructions that came with the K2000 Jig recommended a 2000 rpm drill motor. I bought a corded DeWalt just for that purpose and that is what I normally use. If away from power I have used an 18 volt cordless which also tops out at 2000 rpm on the high speed setting. I usually drive the screws with an 18 volt impact driver, but you can occasionally strip out a screw using it to drive screws in soft wood. A drill/driver with a clutch is naturally easier to use in that case.

Larwyn is correct. For many years we have recommended using a 2,000 RPM drill to create your Pocket-Holes. The higher speed drill would make the cut more efficiently and would result in a Pocket-Hole with less tear-out and better outward appearance. However, due to the wide spread adoption of cordless drills coupled with the dramatic power increases and multi-speed features included in many modern cordless drills, we have no problem recommending them today. We still recommend drills that reach 2,000+ RPM but it's certainly not 'necessary' to get quality results.

When driving the screws, we generally recommend the use of a cordless drill due to their use of adjustable clutches decreasing the likelihood of over-driving.

Good luck, and good woodworking!
-KregRep

[Gene Chism]

I looked at the Bosch site and please tell me the model number of this power drill if you know it. There were too many listed.


Hal Jones said:

My recommendation would be based on the amount of use the drill will receive. For serious use, I would opt for a Bosch or Milwaukee. Bosch is coming out with a nice cordless drill if you can wait on that one. It is small and uses a chuck, 12 volt lithium battery. Check the rpms to make sure whatever you choose is sufficient for wood drilling.
I have a 36V Bosch i use with my Kreg Jig and it works fine, but is overkill for most users. Be sure and get lithium batteries, the difference is worth the price. For an all around drill, opt for the 18volt lithium. I prefer a morse chuck to the newer hex quick insert. The drills using the insert system are sloppier than the old fashion taper chucks where you twist the chuck to increase force holding the bit, resulting in cleaner holes drilled.
For price point drills that will be used occasionally, I have good luck with Skil. I have not tested the Porter-Cable units in the lower price range, so i cannot recommend them.

[Gene Chism]

I looked at the Bosch site but was not sure which one you recommend. Do you know the model number?

Gene Chism said:

I looked at the Bosch site and please tell me the model number of this power drill if you know it. There were too many listed.


Hal Jones said:

My recommendation would be based on the amount of use the drill will receive. For serious use, I would opt for a Bosch or Milwaukee. Bosch is coming out with a nice cordless drill if you can wait on that one. It is small and uses a chuck, 12 volt lithium battery. Check the rpms to make sure whatever you choose is sufficient for wood drilling.
I have a 36V Bosch i use with my Kreg Jig and it works fine, but is overkill for most users. Be sure and get lithium batteries, the difference is worth the price. For an all around drill, opt for the 18volt lithium. I prefer a morse chuck to the newer hex quick insert. The drills using the insert system are sloppier than the old fashion taper chucks where you twist the chuck to increase force holding the bit, resulting in cleaner holes drilled.
For price point drills that will be used occasionally, I have good luck with Skil. I have not tested the Porter-Cable units in the lower price range, so i cannot recommend them.

[Hal Jones]

Gene,
I will speak with Bosch and see what current model is recommended. I have several models using the older battery technology in 18 volt and I wish they were lithium. Now, I confess that I use an impactor model for driving the screws. An 18v impactor is overkill for this application, but sometimes you just use what you have. I will get you a model number from the current cordless drill line and post it.

Gene Chism said:

I looked at the Bosch site but was not sure which one you recommend. Do you know the model number?

Gene Chism said:

I looked at the Bosch site and please tell me the model number of this power drill if you know it. There were too many listed.


Hal Jones said:

My recommendation would be based on the amount of use the drill will receive. For serious use, I would opt for a Bosch or Milwaukee. Bosch is coming out with a nice cordless drill if you can wait on that one. It is small and uses a chuck, 12 volt lithium battery. Check the rpms to make sure whatever you choose is sufficient for wood drilling.
I have a 36V Bosch i use with my Kreg Jig and it works fine, but is overkill for most users. Be sure and get lithium batteries, the difference is worth the price. For an all around drill, opt for the 18volt lithium. I prefer a morse chuck to the newer hex quick insert. The drills using the insert system are sloppier than the old fashion taper chucks where you twist the chuck to increase force holding the bit, resulting in cleaner holes drilled.
For price point drills that will be used occasionally, I have good luck with Skil. I have not tested the Porter-Cable units in the lower price range, so i cannot recommend them.

[Jesse McNew]

DeWalt has a 7 amp corded drill that turns up to 2,500 RPM. I just saw it at Home Depot for just over $50. They don't have it for sale on their website... at least I couldn't find it there.

[tracy nelson]

I HAVE A CORDLESS 10 VOLT BOSCH DRILL AND I HAD NO PROBLEMS USING IT TO DRILL HOLES I GOT IT AT HOME DEPOT FOR $129 TWO YEARS AGO THEY NOW HAVE A 12 VOLT FOR THE SAME PRICE THAT IS A IMPACT DRILL THAT WOULD STILL DO THE SAME THING.

Gene Chism said:

I looked at the Bosch site and please tell me the model number of this power drill if you know it. There were too many listed.


Hal Jones said:

My recommendation would be based on the amount of use the drill will receive. For serious use, I would opt for a Bosch or Milwaukee. Bosch is coming out with a nice cordless drill if you can wait on that one. It is small and uses a chuck, 12 volt lithium battery. Check the rpms to make sure whatever you choose is sufficient for wood drilling.
I have a 36V Bosch i use with my Kreg Jig and it works fine, but is overkill for most users. Be sure and get lithium batteries, the difference is worth the price. For an all around drill, opt for the 18volt lithium. I prefer a morse chuck to the newer hex quick insert. The drills using the insert system are sloppier than the old fashion taper chucks where you twist the chuck to increase force holding the bit, resulting in cleaner holes drilled.
For price point drills that will be used occasionally, I have good luck with Skil. I have not tested the Porter-Cable units in the lower price range, so i cannot recommend them.

[Hal Jones]

I just heard back from Bosch and the model number for the 18v drill is 36618-2, two speed, and 1600 rpm. The drill has lithium ion batteries. We used several different cordless drills this weekend on a bench project I put together for a series of articles on simple weekend projects and had no problems with any 18 volt systems. Since this is a standard drill you may be able to find it at Lowe's or any store selling Bosch products.

[Gene Chism]

Hal Jones said:

I just heard back from Bosch and the model number for the 18v drill is 36618-2, two speed, and 1600 rpm. The drill has lithium ion batteries. We used several different cordless drills this weekend on a bench project I put together for a series of articles on simple weekend projects and had no problems with any 18 volt systems. Since this is a standard drill you may be able to find it at Lowe's or any store selling Bosch products.

[Gene Chism]

Hal,
I went along with your recommendation and ordered the Bosch 36618-2. I'm not sure if you can list the firm or not that I purchased it from and the price. Delv is slow for this item as I guess it is not in stock but there is no emergency.

Gene Chism said:

Hal Jones said:

I just heard back from Bosch and the model number for the 18v drill is 36618-2, two speed, and 1600 rpm. The drill has lithium ion batteries. We used several different cordless drills this weekend on a bench project I put together for a series of articles on simple weekend projects and had no problems with any 18 volt systems. Since this is a standard drill you may be able to find it at Lowe's or any store selling Bosch products.