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Do I need the air drill?

danielhv

Well Known Member
It's been 14 years since I worked on my -7, but I feel like I quit using the air drill pretty quickly and favored just a regular cordless drill...

Working on piecing a tool kit together, should I skip the air drill this time?
 
I did initially use an air drill for the wings, but now that I'm working on the fuselage I find that a cordless Dewalt brushless with a light battery pack is just as good, and there's no air hose to drag around. The noise level is similar at high RPM.
 
I use both. I love the air drill when I’m drilling a ton of holes. The speed does make a difference. My cordless is just super slow though. If I had one with a higher RPM, I’m sure I’d use it a lot more.
 
I'd skip it. Sure, it's fast, but it's also noisy and requires the compressor banging away. Also has that irritating hose you have to drag around. Especially on a matched-hole kit I'd say it's not worth it.
 
getting out the air drill made me feel like i was really building an airplane but i never could figure out its advantage . maybe back in the day when elec. drills were big and heavy and short lived but not today. i built my 12 with a makita cordless that i got in 1985 . maybe there was a spot where an air drill fit and the cordless didn't fit but i can't remember it.
 
With kits changing so may the tools. Back when I built my 6A before prepunched holes and early, slow, short battery life chordless drills it was a no brainer to use air drill.
I love my air drill and still use it even to drill just a few holes that I do these days. I never have to wonder if I have a charged drill ready to go and I don’t think of the hose as an issue since I have it on a reel since I use it to air up tires on plane, car, truck, bikes etc all the time.
And I agree with Bob about making me know I am building an airplane plus I love the sound of air tools.
 
+1 for the Bosch cordless drill. EXCEPT...my 90* threaded (chuckless) air drill came in real handy (nothing else would do the job) on a lot of holes in the fuselage for mounting equipment etc. Not aware of an electric version that would do the job.
 
Cordless

Funny, I haven't used my air drills in a long time. Three Ryobi 18V cordless. One is a 90 degree. Variable speed. High and low range. Works for everything and I can leave more than one bit or reamer ready for use.
 
I like having an air drill around for Drilling out rivets as I can spin the tip by hand to get it started. Everything else cordless.
 
I think it depends on the drill ... some of those cheap air drills, yea, a cordless from the hardware store is better or at least as good ... I bought one of those Sioux precision drills and prefer it for most tasks.
 
My opinion is that it's not technically needed, but when you are match drilling a large number of holes in rapid sequence (wings for instance), the air drill is preferable because of its light weight and maneuverability. You can really wear yourself out wielding a relatively heavy electric drill versus the air drill.

Now that I'm done with those sorts of mass drilling operations, I have used my cordless drill almost exclusively. The air drill can be handy when space is a concern--most electric battery drills are still pretty bulky.
 
Has anybody looked at difference in hole roundness between air and chordless? I would think the lower rpm of chordless could potential cause non-round holes. Maybe not too big deal on rivets but for AN bolts, maybe not acceptable.
 
There needs to be a meme that shows the "seed of doubt" being sown again ...

Worry less, build more!

Cheers
 
Reamers

Has anybody looked at difference in hole roundness between air and chordless? I would think the lower rpm of chordless could potential cause non-round holes. Maybe not too big deal on rivets but for AN bolts, maybe not acceptable.

Buy reamers. Round holes no matter what drill.
 
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