Cordless Drills For Marga Mills

[merrick]

Like a number of AHB'ers I use a cordless drill to power my Marga mill. I had been using a Ryobi 12v but the batteries died, and it's impractical to buy replacement rechargable batteries. Did a test run connecting the battery terminals inside the drill to a 12v battery pack used for emergency starting vehicles. Everything seems to run fine but I got to thinking about running the same drill from a 240v transformer. Has anyone out there managed to do this? I'm an electrical babe in the wood so words of simplicity would help.

Merrick

 

[jonocarroll]

LethalCorpse to the 'Gear and Equipment' aisle.

My bets are; 80% chance it will work. 20% chance you throw a breaker or fuse. 50% chance you zap yourself whether it works or not. 110% chance you should ask LethalCorpse. All except the last are subject to error.

Good luck. :icon_cheers:

 

[jlm]

240V Transformer? whats the output? If its 12V DC and you get the polarity right then yeah should work. If you're unsure, ie which is line side and which is load, don't play with it.

 

[Batz]

Why not bin it and buy a cheapo 240v jobbie?

Batz

 

[pokolbinguy]

Why not bin it and buy a cheapo 240v jobbie?

Batz

+1

Agreed. If you are going to buy the 240VAC-12VDC transformer than I would hedge a bet this is going to cost you $30+ and I'm pretty sure you can get a cheapo corded drill for maybe $50...try the big green shed or similar. Surely it would do the job, and atleast its not going to fry you.

 

[barfridge]

I've heard of people using 12volt battery chargers, but milling via a drill might be pushing things. Plenty of folk use a geared down wiper motor to good effect.

Let's do some maths...
Most cordless drills range between about 400 to 1200Watts
@ 240 volts, this is 1.67 to 5 amps.

2-3 amps constant should be ok for a decent 12V power supply, but any more is pushing it. I know at work we pay $2100 for our 1800 Watt power supplies.

short answer: buy a $30 corded drill form Bunnings. You get a more powerful motor than most cordless jobs, and you won't be raping the life from your batteries. When it dies...turf it and get another, they are truly disposable. Saying that, mine has been going strong for at least 5 years. It starts glowing red-hot inside, and smokes a bit on occasion, but hasn't died yet.

 

[KillerRx4]

I do this. I use an old 12v power supply I had lying around from the old days of CB radio. If i didnt have that I would have rigged up an old ATX pc power supply unit.

My drill is an old but el cheapo bosch 9.6V job. It hasnt had any objection to the 12v supply for that last 12 odd months of marga duty.