Cavemud wrote:Bosch recently started making a 36 volt cordless rotary hammer drill...runs on lithium-ion batteries. Does anyone have or know anyone using one of these underground or elsewhere? I'm looking into getting one but would like some input if available. It's fairly compact and 36 volts should do mucho drilling. Why let rock stop you???
I recently got one back in December. I went in half with a fellow caver and purchased it from
http://www.toolauthority.com. It is expensive at nearly $600 but not too bad if you split it with someone else. Bosch was running a special promo where you got one free battery if you purchased it during December. So we ended up w/ 3 batteries, charger, new drill, warranty etc. for $600.
Anxious to see how it would perform, I took it to a local project that involved 1/2" 22" long holes. It drilled two of those on 1 battery. The switch for changing between drill, hammer-drill, and hammer protrudes from the side of the drill. The switch bumped up against the wall and moved with me knowing it until I noticed the bit wasn't turning. Well, somehow the switch got screwed up and it didn't lock into place. The drill would still work and switch from different modes but the switch didn't work properly. I got back home that day and one of the batteries didn't recharge.
So I called Bosch and they sent me a new drill and battery and I sent the drill and battery back. I was disappointed with the drill but they made it right so I can't complain. The warranty is bomber on this drill and battery. They'll replace the drill for 1 year and batteries for 2 years.
We took the new drill into another cave and did a short bolt climb. We put in four bolts and it barely even touched the battery. The battery indicator indicated 2/3 charge left. The drill was covered in mud. I cleaned it up afterwards and everything worked. That about all I know right now.
Brian