Drill to use with pocket holes

[Todd Bin]

Hello, thougt I would call upon the fount for the best drill to use for pocket holes. I only have a couple of cordless drills and heard it is best to use a corded drill (with high RPM). What drill do you recommend?

Thanks.

[Joe Spear]

I have used a cordless Panasonic 15.6 v drill with no problems, although my corded Bosch works faster.

[Leo Graywacz]

I got a cheap $50 DeWalt drill to do pocket holes. Worked great. I have the Kreg Foreman now. It's great.

[Matt Ocel]

Leo - Just got in from building a couple of face frames in the shop. I used my 18V Dewalt and it worked great.

[Jim Becker]

I use an old B&D corded drill that I've had for a LONG time...pretty much dedicated to the task outside of once-in-a-blue-moon drilling of something metal on the tractor or something...

[Leo Graywacz]

Leo - Just got in from building a couple of face frames in the shop. I used my 18V Dewalt and it worked great.


I never had a problem with my cordless either. But the 3000 RPM from the corded drill works much better than the 1750 or so you can get out of a cordless. It is much easier to do the drilling and the holes come out cleaner.

[Mike Heidrick]

I have never had an issue using a cordless drill for my Kreg jig. Maybe I am missing out on a true performer with a corded drill though.

[Jim O'Dell]

I think it's the speed that produces a cleaner hole. Could be wrong. though. I have used my Ridgid 18 volt cordless in pine, but will use the Makita tailed unit exclusively when I get into doing more than just play with it. Jim.

[Joe Chritz]

The drills are designed for the faster speeds. It will cut fine at the slower speed but the holes may be a bit rougher, chip clearance may be a little worse and you may get a little less life.

I found a cheap DeWalt 3/8 drill on sale and picked it up. It is dedicated to pocket holes for the most part. Drilling a few hundred holes is rough on batteries too.

The world won't self destruct if you use a cordless.

Joe

[Anthony Whitesell]

I would say the corded drill is the way to go. I have tried to use my 9.6V cordless drills on occassion and they don't have the RPM or the power. As you can notice the people that have posted so far have drilled holes with cordless drills that are 15.6 or 18 volts. That much power will probably give you the torque and almost the speed you need but I would doubt the battery would last very long. That pocket drill bit is one wide drill it drilling a deep hole.

[Brian Penning]

I certainly noticed a big difference between a corded unit(Makita) vs. cordless.
From the manual...
Why do I need to use a 2,000+ rpm drill to make the pocket holes?
What brand do you recommend?
A drill that is rated at 2,000 RPM or above is considered a woodworking drill. RPM’s below
that are normally seen in metal-working drills. The higher the RPM, the cleaner the
hole and the longer the drill bit lasts. A 1,500 RPM drill will do the trick, but you will see
slightly more wear on the bit over time. Most of the major tool manufacturers produce
a drill above 2,000 RPM.

[Chris McGowan]

I purchased a "cheapy" 3/8" from Lowes for $20. It's rated up to 2500 RPMs and I leave the Kreg bit in it about 95% of the time. I have a slightly slower 3/8" that tops out at 1,500 RPMs. I use that for my other drilling tasks. The 1/2" sits 99% of the time unless I've got big holes to drill/cut.

[Prashun Patel]

You can use a cheap corded for this. You'll get cleaner holes with a corded - especially through harder woods.

[Kevin Godshall]

I use my 18V Cordless Hitachi, setting the speed on high, and I have absolutely no problems whatsoever. I will add this tho....... I recently purchased a new step drill bit (just to have another one on hand, one for the drawer, one for the bucket) and found out my first one (lots o' miles) must have been getting dull, cuz the brand new one bores thru the holes with no effort at all, even in oak.

[J. Z. Guest]

Kreg recommends a corded drill rated at least 2000 RPM, if I recall correctly.

They say this is for longer drill bit life and cleaner holes. The way I see it, why would they lie? They sell those damned bits for about $17 each, so the fact that they are trying to lengthen their lives is good.

As others have said, cordless would probably work fine, but why settle for rougher holes and shorter bit lives when a good drill is relatively inexpensive? Just think, with the money you'll save on clamps, you can get a nice corded drill.

Now to the original question: I use a 3/8" Milwaukee Magnum Holeshooter. (2500 RPM, 5.5 A, about $100) If you haven't already invest in a good corded drill. They are a much better investment in the long run than cordless, as they aren't obsoleted by battery technology.

[Peter Quinn]

Problem with the cordless is as the battery weakens speed drops unpredictably and the holes get a little rough. I use a 14.4V HD makita occasionally and it does work. I have been using a Milwaukee corded 3/8" that spins at 2200rpm for bigger projects with more screws, works great, kind of a barbell though. I just switched to a pneumatic drill that spins 2400rpms, works even better for plywood and softer hardwoods, not so good in very hard hardwoods as speed drops under load.

Regardless of the drill I use they all seem to work better when I use the dust port on the jig. It really gets the chips out of the way so the drill can push forward.

[Steve Roxberg]

I have used a cordless Panasonic 15.6 v drill with no problems, although my corded Bosch works faster.

Same here, the Bosch corded works much better and I picked one up for around $40 at a woodshow. The bit stays mounted in the drill and ready to go for 3/4" material. Being ready to go is nice as well.

Any old corded drill with high rpm will work, or buy a cheap one when you can.

That said a Cordless will work until you find a deal so no need to spend top dollar.

[Jules Dominguez]

What Jeremy said. I bought a DeWalt D21008 3/8" variable speed corded drill at the borg, I think for about $70, mainly for pocket holes, but I frequently use it in the shop for other tasks. Also, there are times when it's handy to have two drills for a job.

[Rob Will]

I use a corded DeWalt drill.
I have a dedicated pocket hole cart with the K3 jig on top, and a small shop vac on the lower shelf.

Rob

[Don Bullock]

Todd, thanks for asking the question. I was planning to use my Kreg system soon and would have tried to use my underpowered cordless drill. Thank you to all who answered Todd's post. You havwe saved me a lot of aggravation and maybe some kindling for the fireplace.:D

[Greg Narozniak]

I have a Corded Black and Decker "professional" 3/8 drill lives for the Kreg jig. Holes have always been clean and fast.

[Chuck Saunders]

I bought the Rigid 3/8" corded drill ($46) as the dedicated Kreg drill.

[Todd Bin]

Thanks for all the great responses. I never imagined such a simple question would get so many answers. So, I will get a corded drill but which one.

I was thinking about a Bosch. There is one that goes up to 3000 rpm. Many of the other drills don't seem to have rpm's that even go as high at 2000. Here is the delima. I want a good, sturdy long lasting drill that will do anything I ask but I don't want to have to feel like I am getting a workout becasue the thing weighs so much.

Any suggestions?

[Scott Long]

I am with chuck, I bought the Ridgid corded drill.
The price was right and it comes with a lifetime warranty.

[Steve Roxberg]

I bought the Bosch, they have them on Amazon right now for $50, and it ships free.

http://www.amazon.com/Bosch-1005VSRK-5-5-8-Inch-Drill/dp/B00002246N/ref=pd_bbs_4?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1205848668&sr=8-4

[Jim W. White]

I think that Bosch would be a great option as would be the Ridgid or Dewalt.

I picked up a very similarly spec'd out Makita locally for about $40 and I've been very happy with it. Low weight, keyless 3/8" chuck, and high RPMs were my only concerns at the time. I already had a 1/2" Bosch corded drill at the time, but it was way to heavy for knocking out pocket holes.

Jim in Idaho

[Chris Padilla]

I have a water-wheel power bit and it does just fine. RPMs vary all over the place depending upon the flow of the creek! ;)

Seriously, it is a pocket hole...I bet 99% of the time it won't be seen so it doesn't matter how clean the hole is. We all have a spare bit on hand anyway and they seem to last forever; I've never broken one and I'm still on my original and I use it all over the place. *ANY* drill will work fine. :)