Cordless drills: How to use, how to choose

A chuck is a specialized type of clamp used to hold materials or rotating tools.
A drill chuck is a specialised three-jaw chuck, used to hold drill bits or other rotary tools.


The image above show the traditional keyed style of drill chuck. These chucks require a key to provide the necessary torque to tighten and loosen the jaws. The rotary action of the key turns the outer body which acts on an internal screw; this in turn moves the threaded jaws in or out along a tapered surface. The taper allows the jaws to encompass various sizes of drill shanks.

Chuck size is important feature in determining the purchase of a cordless drill. At cordless drill market you can find two main sizes, cordless power drill with a 1/2" chuck and cordless power drill with a 3/8" chuck. With a 3/8" chuck size you are limited to only using drill bits with a 3/8" shank. Anything larger needed for your project you would need a 1/2" chuck size. But with the 1/2" chuck you can use all bits with a 1/2" shank, and most bits that are 5/8" or larger.

For the average homeowner for a general-purpose tool a 3/8" should be fine, however for heavy-duty work a half-inch (1/2") chuck drill should be the best choice.

Also I suggest to choose keyed drill chuck since it is very hard to loosen up jammed drill bit with keyless drill chuck.


Related posts:
Cordless drill features: Electric brake.

Electric brake is drill feature which helps you to stop the spinning bit.
Once you stop holding the power trigger the braking will start so the drill stops rapidly permitting you to put the drill down more safely, otherwise you run off time when waiting for the spinning bit to stop before you can put it down. Before electric brake system masses became impatient and place the drill down while it was spinning down and this was an unsafe practice and was the case of injuries where the spinning bit got caught on the cable and cause electrocution or caught something else which spun the drill causing the bit your enter the persons arm or hand causing physical damage.

The feature description taken from here

Related posts:
Cordless drill features: Chuck size

Consumer Reports tested dozens of cordless drills and found that you don't have to pay top dollar to buy one that gets the job done. Video from KCRA Sacramento's Channel 3