Archived from the Tools In Action forum (Milwaukee). This thread is read-only.
I picked up a new 2603 M-18 Fuel Milwaukee Drill/ Driver a few weeks ago and really have not had a chance to use it–until this morning, I used it to elongate a couple of 5/8″ holes in a 1/2″ steel plate while mounting my new 5th wheel hitch. Holy Moly that thing is a torquey drill, it is a good thing they supply it with a auxiliary handle to hang onto. I only had to elongate the hole about a 1/16″ but there is no stopping the drill. I made short work of fixing those holes, but I’m glad for the extra handle.
You really need the auxiliary handle with these new drills if your know your going to be drilling into something where the bit will bind up. Bosch has some cool tech with an accelerometer that will stop the drill if it feels like it is going out of control.
Yeah, spade bits will ruin your day without the side handle…
Yeah, my 2604 is about as much torque as I would want without an impact. A good friend got the new powerhouse Makita, the handle is ridiculous and it’s an intimidating unit.
I have the 2603 also. I learned to set it in screw mode and adjust to the highest setting. Then when the bit grabs it doesn’t try to twist your arm off. It’s been working great for me. I don’t see where it could hurt the drill.
I learned the hard way that I needed to put the handle on when I was using spade bits to counter sink bold heads in 2x4s with my 2604.
Also just a quick heads up FYI in case anyone else wants to try drilling a 1/2″ hole with a spade bit in a powerful hand held drill – make really sure you’ve got the work piece WELL clamped down. After I put the handle on my drill and was able to keep it from spinning around, I discovered that my half-assed clamping wasn’t up to the torque that was now being transferred to the 2×4. I had a pretty nasty looking bruise on my leg for about a week after learning this particular lesson.