PRODUCT TEST Roger Bisby takes the DeWalt DC234KL out for a spin.
TEST PROFESSIONAL HEATING & PLUMBING I N S TA L L E R The new 36volt Lithium Ion range from DeWalt
is said to offer mains power performance from abattery tool.Although it is by no means the firstmanufacturer to offer this technology, DeWalt
says that it held back from introducing Li-Ion becauseit has been working on a variation that overcomessome of the early problems of Lithium Ion. It neededto produce a battery that copes with the heatgenerated by the high level drawn by power tools andhas come up with a battery unlike any of the typesalready on the market. I won’t go into detail becausethe anorak stuff is on the website and what mattersto you and me is how the drill performs.
I took the 36volt SDS hammer drill breaker out on
site to see if I could cook it.Together with plumberAlan Philpott, we broke out brickwork and drilled
some 24mm holes through brick.This was Alan’s firstencounter with Lithium Ion and he fell in loveimmediately.“I want one,” he said.The power andperformance is seductive but it is the fact that itweighs just 3.8 kilos but still manages to knock out 2.5
joules which really impressed Alan. It can be used for lightweight chiselling in the rotarystop mode and can be used to drill in hammer ornon-hammer mode.The quickrelease chuck allows you to swapto a 13mm 3 jaw chuck to drivescrews and drill in timber andmetal.
With two batteries and two chucksyou can take this drill out on aninstallation job and not have to takeanother.That will appeal to thoseworking in built-up areas whereparking is often a long way from thejob.With the one hour charger youwill be able to top up the batteriesas you go. Li-Ion has no memory,which means you can top it upbefore it is depleted.
A good hammer drill puts up with a lot of
punishment. The new all metal construction of chuck
■ It is difficult to fault this drill but I would like to see DeWalt put a bit more
and gearbox has proved a lot more robust but it still
protection around its batteries. Many manufacturers now have a nice rubber bumper
pays to treat it with respect.Avoid at all costs using
to help cushion the battery from knocks. I have met many tradesmen who have
the hammer action when you have the taper jaw
dropped or knocked a relatively new battery and had to buy another one.
chuck on – hammer is for SDS only. Of course, no
The cost of replacement Li-Ion batteries is significantly more than Nicad or NiMh,
matter how good a chuck is, they have an uphill task
which isn’t a problem if you get the anticipated 2,000 charges out of a battery, but if
with some users and abusers. I came across a lad onsite who was about to chuck his SDS drill in the skip
its life is cut short by a silly accident then you are going to be sicker than the
because it had stopped hammering. I showed him a
proverbial parrot. Another idea, of course, would be to offer insurance against
little trick with some silicone grease. He was
accidental damage.
gobsmacked. I dread to think how many people have
For more information on the DeWalt 36V
thrown away drills for the want of a little squirt ofsilicone inside the SDS chuck. Li-Ion range circle PHPI readerlink 175 24 PHPI MARCH 2007 Circle readerlink 020