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 Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums
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 Semi-OT Dewalt 18 volt cutout tool.
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delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

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Initially Posted - 10/11/2009 :  17:27:32  Show Profile  Visit delliottg's Homepage
Does anyone have one of these? I'm considering getting one, but would like to hear opinions if anyone's got one.

David
C-250 Mainsheet Editor


Sirius Lepak
1997 C-250 WK TR #271 --Seattle area Port Captain --

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aeckhart
Master Marine Consultant

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Response Posted - 10/12/2009 :  10:46:41  Show Profile  Visit aeckhart's Homepage
Not sure what it is but have used a Dremel tool for a number of applications from cutting holes in the cabin for electical switches and gages, cutting holes in the mast for hardware, cutting off the ends of stainless steel bolts, smoothing rough edges in fiberglass. A most versitile tool.

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delliottg
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Response Posted - 10/12/2009 :  12:12:06  Show Profile  Visit delliottg's Homepage
Yeah, I've got a Dremel too, but it's almost on it's last legs. I like the idea of a battery powered one quite a bit, and the only Dewalt battery powered tool I've ever regretted buying was a grinder (too underpowered). I've since bought a corded one & should sell the other.

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Dave5041
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Response Posted - 10/12/2009 :  13:35:25  Show Profile
Depends on how many batteries you have and what you are cutting. The 110V corded model draws 5 amps, so the cordless at 18V has to have a lot less power to have any kind of battery life.

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delliottg
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Response Posted - 10/12/2009 :  14:01:21  Show Profile  Visit delliottg's Homepage
Yeah, I've got at least half a dozen 18 volt batteries, and three of them have been recelled, which makes a huge difference. It's pretty easy to have plenty of batteries around, but I can see where cutting through inches of fiberglass & plywood might call for the corded model. I'm still on the fence about which to get.

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OJ
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Response Posted - 10/13/2009 :  02:52:55  Show Profile
I own way more tools than the average person, but what the heck is a "Semi-OT Dewalt 18 volt cutout tool"? and what are you cutting?

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delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

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Response Posted - 10/13/2009 :  10:20:00  Show Profile  Visit delliottg's Homepage
Semi "Off Topic", should have put in a colon:


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Sloop Smitten
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Response Posted - 10/13/2009 :  12:03:09  Show Profile
Not sure if my experience is reflective of all cutoff tools but when I used a cheaper model of cutoff tool to cut some speaker holes the bit melted the fiberglass and did a very poor job. The slower speeds would not handle the cut and the higher speed created too much heat. I ended up using a jigsaw with a metal cutting blade the next time I cut a hole. That worked much better.

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OJ
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Response Posted - 10/13/2009 :  14:31:28  Show Profile
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Sloop Smitten</i>
<br />. . . . I ended up using a jigsaw with a metal cutting blade the next time I cut a hole. That worked much better.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Ditto

I don't consider this off topic at all - having the right tool can make all the differnce between a successful or not so successful boat project. Thanks for sharing!

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GaryB
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Response Posted - 10/15/2009 :  17:56:58  Show Profile
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by delliottg</i>
<br />... and three of them have been recelled, which makes a huge difference. <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

How do you recell these battries. I've got an 18 volt Milwaukee drill and both batteries are dead.

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GaryB
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Response Posted - 10/15/2009 :  17:57:30  Show Profile
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by GaryB</i>
<br /><blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by delliottg</i>
<br />... and three of them have been recelled, which makes a huge difference. <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

How do you recell these batteries. I've got an 18 volt Milwaukee drill and both batteries are dead.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

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Dave5041
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Response Posted - 10/15/2009 :  20:05:27  Show Profile
Hopefully they are more sophisticated (than) laptop batteries which are sealed boxes filled with rechargeable AA cells.

Edited by - Dave5041 on 10/15/2009 20:06:13
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Seadog
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Response Posted - 10/16/2009 :  07:38:37  Show Profile
We are currently dry walling are remodel. The guys used this tool to cut out the windows, can lighting, and outlets. They walled over everything then used the tool to trim it out. Tool work beautifullying. Saved a valuable slot on the temporary power too.

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delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

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Response Posted - 10/16/2009 :  11:29:12  Show Profile  Visit delliottg's Homepage
Gary,
The re-celling company I've used almost exclusively is: http://www.primecell.com/. I had them re-cell dozens of batteries at the last engineering place I worked at, plus half a dozen of my Dewalt 18 volt batteries, a couple of my 9 volt Makitas and the battery to my Uniden VHF handheld.

You send them your battery, they crack it open and re-cell it with top of the line NiCad or NiMH (they don't do LiOn, or didn't used to, check with them). And they ship them back. Look for them on Ebay for deals, which is usually they'll pick up shipping back the batteries.

The batteries generally last about 3x longer than originals, cost about $50 each to re-cell (depends on voltage, and configuration), they also take about 3x longer to charge (think bigger bucket to fill). Overall I've had a good experience with them, you pretty much can't tell your battery's been cracked open, other than the sticker they put on it, and so far, the re-celled batteries have lasted years.

They can get a bit grumpy if you send them beat up or fried batteries and expect a warranty (my company didn't always deal fairly with them, so it wasn't unreasonable on their part, it was just me who ended up in the middle and had to deal with both sides).

Overall I'd give them a thumbs up and wouldn't hesitate to send more batteries their way. If nothing else, it cost me $35 to resurrect my old handheld VHF instead of $150 for a new one.

And Dave,
They're pretty much the same thing, a bunch of (usually) AA sized batteries in series/parallel to make up the necessary voltage, soldered together. Sometimes they use N or AAA batteries, but they're pretty much standard sized batteries packed into non-standard looking cases.

Edited by - delliottg on 10/16/2009 11:31:06
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delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

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4479 Posts

Response Posted - 10/16/2009 :  15:37:06  Show Profile  Visit delliottg's Homepage
Well, looks like it's the corded version, just won [url="http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItemVersion&item=170392712062&view=all&tid=0"]this[/url] on Ebay. Still would have liked to have the cordless, but this'll definitely do the job at less than half of retail.

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GaryB
Master Marine Consultant

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Response Posted - 10/17/2009 :  10:50:27  Show Profile
Thanks David! I'll give Primecell a try.

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