# Dewalt Drill Recall



## ScaredOfHeightsLD (Dec 31, 2007)

So, for about two months now I have been trying to bring myself to buy a new drill. I spec'd out a Dewalt 18v XRP and finally got myself to go to the store last night to buy it. It was about 15 minutes before closing. I finally found an associate to open the tool cage and grabbed the last one of the particular model I wanted. I get to the register and it won't scan through. After two different cashiers tried to ring it up, they get a message, "Cannot Sell to customer, product recalled by manufacturer". Needless to say I wasn't too happy and now have to wait for Dewalt to either come out with a replacement or get another model. stupid product recall...


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## soundlight (Dec 31, 2007)

As was discussed in another thread, give the Makita Li-Ion gun a try - it's got long battery live, plenty of power, and it's really lightweight.


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## Footer (Dec 31, 2007)

If you are wanting to go with another company, go with panasonic. They do cost a pretty good deal more, but they are much lighter and are built like tanks. Their chucks are also some of the best out there.


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## len (Dec 31, 2007)

Did you know that at one time 95% of all drill chucks made came from one of 2 mfg./plants. My dad used to run one of them, which was in Chicago.

Anyone see a Li-Ion drill/driver for under $150?


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## derekleffew (Dec 31, 2007)

len said:


> Did you know that at one time 95% of all drill chucks made came from one of 2 mfg./plants. My dad used to run one of them, which was in Chicago...


Just a wild guess, Jacob's?


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## gafftaper (Jan 1, 2008)

soundlight said:


> As was discussed in another thread, give the Makita Li-Ion gun a try - it's got long battery live, plenty of power, and it's really lightweight.



I'm telling you this is a GREAT drill. I love mine so far. Haven't built a set with it yet so I can't tell you how long it goes between charges... I've only driven about a dozen screws so far. But it's SWEET... even has a little LED built in to shine on your work. But alas, they are $200. 


len said:


> Anyone see a Li-Ion drill/driver for under $150?


I think Black & Decker and Craftsman have both come out with Li-Ion's in the $100 range but they aren't going to be the same quality. I've had terrible results with several Craftsman Cordless drills in the past. They kept falling apart and my Dad kept buying me new Craftsman's for Christmas to replace the old ones. I love their hand tools but can't recommend them for cordless. I've had a B&D 18v (not Li-Ion) for about 4 years now and I'm very happy with it. 

I think if my brain remembers correct theres some sort of corporate connection between B&D and Dewalt now and speculation that they are the same product with two lables. Has anyone heard this?


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## gafftaper (Jan 1, 2008)

Yep just confirmed, Black and Decker owns Dewalt, Porter Cable, and Delta.


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## gafftapegreenia (Jan 1, 2008)

Yes, but DeWalt and B&D are on different levels. I love Dewalt, but have a burning hate for B&D Firestorms. 

Milwaukee ain't bad tho.


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## ship (Jan 1, 2008)

Was probably lucky for you it was not available. Why are you buying a 18v powertool? Are you going out into the woods or out onto a jobsite where you cannot change batteries more than like once every four hours? Driving any big screws or drill bits that you cannot plug into a wall outlet and use a real drill for?

14.4v should have been more than sufficient in my opinion to give you 2 hours of constant work on a battery, cost less (especially a few years from now in fresh batteries) and not offer a sufficient difference in performance - just less weight (and that will play a factor some day.) Can’t imagine other than being a more manly man the need for 18v over 14.4 volt.

Black & Decker is still the home owner grade of tool and DeWalt while owned by them is still the industrial grade with the exception of Black & Decker Industrial Grade - most often made by DeWalt. Other than that... Nope a Firestorm or what ever Black & Decker currently is, is not a DeWalt.

Black & Decker now owns Porter Cable and Delta? Not totally sure about that, could be in having not checked and otherwise missed that, but at least I do believe they locally to me now share service center buildings which could say a lot or nothing. Just as Bosch doesn’t own Skil, they shared the same service center or does Bosch also own Skil?

Milwaukee.... decent tools had to talk to the repair shop manager after a fourth or fifth call to get a few wee mistakes corrected. Like gee where are my tools? Gee were is my second tool? gee where is my second tool? Gee I got my tools plus one can I send this back so I'm not paying for this extra part? Gee, can I get a refund on this part since I didn't order it yet paid for it and didn't get any help last time I was promissed? This granted any service center could have similar problems and I did also with DeWalt service - just half the calls needed so as to correct the problems of sending a driver out to pickup the tools. Gee, here is half the tools sent in for repair. Gee, where is the rest of the tools sent in for repair. Seems they were in a seperate bucket and the counter help didn't look about our shop for them - but they are all ready to pickup now... Gee, great send a driver back out - just ship them - your expense at this point. Skil/Bosch, not a problem normally, this other than a part they keep telling me is not discontinued and is on order or re-on order every time I call, just seems that it takes like six months to forever in getting it. Really that part is not discontinued even though Grainger Parts says it is. I'll just hold my breath until after six months now, that part finally comes in. Makita service center - having visited them all in major brand service center recently... fine with service, just a total lack of any interest -to the point of say someone coming up to a person standing at the counter, let's help them as opposed to chat amongst ourselves or eat lunch. Even once finally helped, err, you have done this kind of thing before - helping customers correct? Ah' the Makita guys pissed me off the most because I was right there with cash on hand - this as opposed to just the blind person on the phone dealing with incompitent service people.


gafftaper said:


> I'm telling you this is a GREAT drill. I love mine so far. Haven't built a set with it yet so I can't tell you how long it goes between charges... I've only driven about a dozen screws so far. But it's SWEET... even has a little LED built in to shine on your work. But alas, they are $200.
> I think Black & Decker and Craftsman have both come out with Li-Ion's in the $100 range but they aren't going to be the same quality. I've had terrible results with several Craftsman Cordless drills in the past. They kept falling apart and my Dad kept buying me new Craftsman's for Christmas to replace the old ones. I love their hand tools but can't recommend them for cordless. I've had a B&D 18v (not Li-Ion) for about 4 years now and I'm very happy with it.
> I think if my brain remembers correct theres some sort of corporate connection between B&D and Dewalt now and speculation that they are the same product with two lables. Has anyone heard this?


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## derekleffew (Jan 2, 2008)

gafftaper said:


> I'm telling you this is a GREAT drill. I love mine so far. Haven't built a set with it yet so I can't tell you how long it goes between charges... I've only driven about a dozen screws so far. But it's SWEET... even has a little LED built in to shine on your work. But alas, they are $200...


Should have gotten this one. An impact driver makes all the difference when driving those 3" wood screws.


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## gafftaper (Jan 2, 2008)

derekleffew said:


> Should have gotten this one. An impact driver makes all the difference when driving those 3" wood screws.



I actually have been thinking about getting one of those. It's on my list of things to purchase depending on how the cash flow holds up. 


ship said:


> Black & Decker is still the home owner grade of tool and DeWalt while owned by them is still the industrial grade with the exception of Black & Decker Industrial Grade - most often made by DeWalt. Other than that... Nope a Firestorm or what ever Black & Decker currently is, is not a DeWalt.
> Black & Decker now owns Porter Cable and Delta? Not totally sure about that, could be in having not checked and otherwise missed that, but at least I do believe they locally to me now share service center buildings which could say a lot or nothing.



Yeah a little research has turned up this about Black and Decker. They own: Porter Cable, Dewalt, Delta, Kwikset, Baldwin (hardware not pianos), Weiser Lock, Price Pfister, Emhart Technologies (Pop Rivet, Gripco, NPR, Tucker, Warren, Heli Coil, Dodge... all fastener products), K2 Commercial Hardware, Oldham Saw, and DeVilbiss Air Power. They also have a "cooperative arrangement" with Hitachi power tools (whatever that means). 

Also from what I can tell, Dewalt was created by Black and Decker in 1992 to be their industrial line of tools. There apparently was no buy out... Dewalt has always been a division of B&D.


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## derekleffew (Jan 2, 2008)

But Makita was the first, in rechargeable drill/drivers, and still the best. Just like Union Connector!


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## gafftapegreenia (Jan 2, 2008)

Milwaukee has gum too!

Derek, I do prefer Union Connector, but I'm a DeWalt guy, sorry.  After seeing my 12v DeWalt kick the end of several other brands for years on high school stage crew, I'm pretty convinced.


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## gafftaper (Jan 2, 2008)

Just want to point out that most high schools don't use drills enough to be worth the extra money for Makita. They have a habit of getting dropped from high places, left out, or allowed to walk away to easily. Even though I ran a pretty tight ship with a good crew I still lost one drill to theft or accidental death every year. My feeling was it was better to buy Black and Deckers and have the budget available to replace the damaged ones... there's a B&D factory outlet not far from school so I could get 12volt firestorms for $30-$40 each depending on the sale. Also a typical high school shop doesn't put much more use into their drills than a typical home... nowhere near the use that a pro theater shop does. Thus I advise high school shops to buy B&D... college and pro should look at Dewalt and Makita.


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## gafftapegreenia (Jan 2, 2008)

Gafftaper 

The high school owned B&D 14.4v and 18v Firestorms and and Ryobi 18v's. They did not cut it for the heavy building. However, a bunch of us owned our own DeWalts and would bring them to use them. Let me see if I can find some pictures of all the stuff we would build for our shows. Four years of high school and I think we lost one drill, a B&D. That was my TD's philosophy as well, don't buy high-grade for a high school, although she herself did own many a DeWalt. No, what we would kill every year was a jig-saw. That's why we bought economy brands of those. I think we also killed a miter saw in my four years, but not a cordless drill. 

My college actually has a few DeWalts and mostly Milwaukee's, but hey it is in Milwakee.


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## gafftaper (Jan 2, 2008)

Not disagreeing with you here Gaff-brother... Let me just repeat one key phrase that I said, a "TYPICAL High School" theater program. The vast majority of High School theater programs take the same 15 flats out of storage, screw them together with a door frame or two and paint. A complicated set means reassmbleing the same 5 platforms in a new configuration. The once every three year musical might get steps. Most high school drama is run by an English teacher who got sucked into drama because he/she likes Shakespeare... zero knowledge of tech. Just like most high school programs wouldn't know what to do with a gel scroller if they tripped over it, there is very little good set construction going on out there. I think there are 10 high schools here in Seattle. One has a top of the line theater program tech wise, 2 do ok, the rest have little to no program at all. 

Consider yourself lucky.


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## gafftapegreenia (Jan 2, 2008)

gafftaper said:


> Consider yourself lucky.


That I do.


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## derekleffew (Jan 2, 2008)

Moved thread from "The Punching Bag" to "Carpentry" as it contains some valuable information I don't want to see deleted after two days of non-activity.


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## Van (Jan 2, 2008)

As I remember it, Dewalt has been around for Years, much longer than '92. The way the story was told to me was that Dewalt operated a lot like Shelby did with Ford, they were both Cobras but one was a lot better. 
Dewalt, originally started out as a repair / maintenance outlet for B&D, Later,however,they started to "upgrade" parts. For the longest time Dewalt was the only brand you could find with "real" <metal> gears in the transmission. They were taking the homeowner grade tools and turning them into contractor tools. Unfortunately, now days, Contractor Grade, is just another marketing point and much less a real comment on quality of tool. 

p.s. My favorite screw gun is the one that is charged and ready to use when I need it. I have all Dewalt 14.4 XRPs in the shop right now but I've use almost all of them. I do like the Panasonic, Light, powerful, ergonomic.

PPS
Take what I said above, and add this to it http://www.dewalt.com/us/service/company/history.asp
Keeping in mind that B&D want to sort of retain their anonimity of ownership in the story.


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## DarSax (Jan 2, 2008)

My high school was strictly Makita, my old staff TD got great deals on them. He owns enough to supply a small army, and brings them in for us to use. He just got a couple Li-ions too, and though he doesn't let students use them (understandably) he says they're as dependable as the rest of his makita products, most of which I used personally and loved. (Great color, too! So there!)

On the other hand my college is straight DeWalt, and right now I'm in a constant feud with my sister with Makita - Dewalt. (I'm still calling Makita.)


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## Charc (Jan 2, 2008)

Uh, before the new TD we had 2 or 3 screw guns, maximum. We also didn't have enough batteries and such, so we lost a lot of time. The new TD purchased a half dozen Makita screwguns, which came with the flashlight attachments and two batteries total. Apparently it was cheaper that way. So of course we don't use the flashlights, so we have two batteries and one charger per screwgun... classy.

We have, I believe, a DeWalt chop saw, with a laser. The laser makes my life. Hey, question though, what do I do without a laser?! (That is actually a serious question, never had to learn.)


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## avkid (Jan 2, 2008)

charcoaldabs said:


> Hey, question though, what do I do without a laser?! (That is actually a serious question, never had to learn.)


Carpenter's Square 
Tape Measure
Steel Rule

and one or both of these:
Carpenter's Pencil
Chalk Line


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## Charc (Jan 2, 2008)

Ah, let me clarify:

I presume with the power off, I pull the blade down, to line in question, until the blade lines up with the line in question. I'm just hoping there are no special quarks.

For example, with the laser one has to keep in mind that the chop saw cuts slightly to the right of the laser, so If One wanted to take off the area of wood where the pencil line is, in addition to everything else, one would have to place the laser slightly past the line in question.


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## Van (Jan 2, 2008)

charcoaldabs said:


> ......................................................
> We have, I believe, a DeWalt chop saw, with a laser. The laser makes my life. Hey, question though, what do I do without a laser?! (That is actually a serious question, never had to learn.)


 

Without a laser you,
Mark your length with a carrot. caret ^
You grab your speed square, outta your back pocket, and line it up on the carrot. caret ^
You mark a square line all the way across the piece you are cutting.
You set the piece on the chopsaw bed, firmly against the fence.
You lower the blade, to the point that it touches the wood, make sure the OUTSIDE kerf of the blade < remember every tooth of the blade is angled slightly outward from the plane of the blade itself> lines up with the proper side of your cut line. 
Raise the blade back to it's top position.
Start the saw.
Make your cut. 
After several years on one saw you get to where you can throw a piece of lumber into the right spot 4 out of 10 times, but you always double check.


can you believe Google's spell check didn't know the word Kerf, just now ? 
and earlier it couldn't identify the word combust. Something Weird in Google-land


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## Charc (Jan 2, 2008)

The Kerf tip, ah, that's it! Thanks Van.

As an FYI, this section is SOP:

Mark your length with a carrot. caret ^
You grab your speed square, outta your back pocket, and line it up on the carrot. caret ^
You mark a square line all the way across the piece you are cutting.
You set the piece on the chopsaw bed, firmly against the fence.


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## gafftaper (Jan 2, 2008)

Figuring SOP is yet another hip term I'm too old to know I looked it up on Wikipedia and found this bit of rather interesting but useless trivia about the word Sop:

"A sop is a piece of bread or toast with which liquid food of some sort is soaked up and then eaten. In medieval cuisine the sop was one of the most common dishes. It was composed of various liquids such as wine, soup or broth served with bread that was meant to be picked apart to soak up the food. At elaborate feasts bread was often pre-cut into finger-sized pieces rather than broken off by the diners themselves. The modern term for soup is directly derived from the sop."


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## derekleffew (Jan 2, 2008)

Well, I'm not hep on all this kean jargon the groovy kids are using these days, but I reckoned SOP was a lazy way of writing S.O.P., Standard Operating Procedure. Did I pwn that? 22, skidoo. Totally tubular, man.

I've never made a mark on a piece of wood with a carrot, either, hard to get a fine enough point.


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## gafftaper (Jan 2, 2008)

derekleffew said:


> Well, I'm not hep on all this kean jargon the groovy kids are using these days, but I reckoned SOP was a lazy way of writing S.O.P., Standard Operating Procedure. Did I pwn that? 22, skidoo. Totally tubular, man.
> I've never made a mark on a piece of wood with a carrot, either, hard to get a fine enough point.



Yeah you put the carrot in the sharpener and it just makes a nasty mess. Although if you suspend a glass below it's delicious drinking.


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## avkid (Jan 2, 2008)

derekleffew said:


> 22, skidoo


Derek, you screwed up the old people slang.
It's  "23 skidoo".


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## gafftapegreenia (Jan 3, 2008)

Should also be "hip to all this keen jargon". Also I see the smiley war has begun.


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## Van (Jan 3, 2008)

Alright, I'm going to quit using Google Spell checker, it doesn't seem to know the difference between Carrot, Karat and caret.


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## gafftaper (Jan 3, 2008)

Van said:


> Alright, I'm going to quit using Google Spell checker, it doesn't seem to know the difference between Carrot, Karat and caret.



Firefox's spell checker says all three are spelled correctly.


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## ship (Jan 8, 2008)

sending back one if not possibly two (gieven one out on tour at the moment) cordless drills of this type. Good topic, this concept of recall should raise to its own very important class or rating in importance if not pop up add no matter the brand. Remember some lamps or was it lights that also recently were recalled recently but not beyond that beyond it. Such info about a recall is good to know. Also printed up and checked my various other DeWalt and Milwaukee tools listed on the website that were also in general recall today / in the past few years. Luckily I don't have any of the models listed. Short of this website and or McMaster Carr sending me a letter saying that one of the tools they sold me was under recall, I will not have thought twice about the subject.

Reminds me of a few years back the Klien Tool "Hot Tool" recall where they were taking end user tools back, adding a cap to the end of them and calling it good. Glue on the end cap - for what ever reason these tools were of concern didn't work in end caps falling off the pliers I had upgraded. Still, sort of of very much advertised recall, one will have never known. On the web however it should be much easier to recall a tool given friends in the industry telling you about it.


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## Hughesie (Jan 12, 2008)

D-R-I-L-L?

oh you mean a drill bit bender


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