A reader wrote in, asking for help in picking out a cordless right angle drill. These tools are designed for drilling holes and driving fasteners in the tightest of spaces.
Right angle drills don’t see as much progress as traditional pistol grip drills, and presumably due to the gearing and power transmission needs, they’re nowhere near as powerful.
Victor asked:
I e-mailed dewalt and their response was a bit vague {this can be confusing – it’s about newton meters and UWO and inch pounds}. I have for some time been interested in an 18v 90 degree drill. I like and know that the Bosch and Milwaukee torque-wise are about 150 inch pounds {you helped me a while back with one of my drills 60 newton meters = 531 inch pounds}.
Anyways to make a long story short I would like to know how many inch pounds the DCD740B puts out, I may be wrong but remember the latter output was something like “300” inch pounds …………as always your response will be greatly appreciated…………victor…………PS : I would like to know your opinion on these three and should I be looking at the makita……….THX.
In the USA, Dewalt only gives UWO specs, but their UK and other foreign sites and distributors often list torque in newton meters as well.
According to Dewalt’s UK page for the DCD740 drill, it delivers 33 N of hard torque (they give soft and hard torque specifications, a discussion for another time), which is 292 in-lbs.
Since Vitor mentioned Hitachi some time before, there’s also the DN18DSLP4 with 3/8″ chuck. I can’t find the torque rating for the Hitachi anywhere.
On paper, the Dewalt is faster and more powerful than the Bosch, Milwaukee, and Makita right angle drills, but do you need a lot of torque?
None of these models have very strong standout features. I think the Bosch is the only one with a 1/2″ chuck, the Dewalt seems to have higher specs, the Makita has an auxiliary handle (that you probably won’t need).
I’d pick whichever one you already have batteries for, or whichever platform you see yourself buying more tools from down the road, or simply based on price. I’ve used some of these models, but find myself unable to tell you anything special about them.
Buy Now (Dewalt Kit via Amazon)
Buy Now (Bosch Kit via Amazon)
Buy Now (Makita Bare Tool via Amazon)
Buy Now (Milwaukee Kit via Home Depot)
Not considering any other factors, I think my pick would be for the Dewalt, or Bosch if I planned on using 1/2″ shank accessories, although its torque probably wouldn’t be suited for larger 1/2″ accessories.
For those of you that use right angle drills on a regular basis, which one did you pick, and would you recommend it to others?