Milwaukee - 3/8" Close Quarter Angle Drill 0370-20 (Rating: 1)

I am not normally inclined to write bad reviews, preferring to talk about tools that I really like, but if I can save one LJ from buying this problem drill then my work here is done.

We were out on a job site, far, far from home - without our right angle drill.
It was essential to what we were doing so our boss ran out and bought (to give him credit) probably the only choice available for miles.

Nevertheless, it was Jack and the Beanstalk in reverse. We gave him a few beans, he came home with a turkey.

We used it, then it came back to the shop. I looked at it at my bench and silently wondered how it ever came into being. This was the worst interpretation I'd seen of a portable electric tool design since Freud's very first laminate trimmer. Chip in with any others you know of.

To begin with, here is the size and geometry of all in our shop. The very old Makita cordless at the top, then the standard of the light duty industry - the electric Makita, then the defendant and just for comparison, one of my new 18v drills.



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The corded Makita comes in at all of 3 inches wide, and the Milwaukee - a staggering 8 1/2" when set at right angles (with tightly bent cord). Even my new Ridgid drill is a full inch shallower tip to tip!

Ok, so what else is the problem here? It's a little broad in the beam. So?

Well, in the other direction too. The motor housing is huge and yet strangely the unit is under powered.
Fishing reel Gas Machine Electric blue Recreation


In use, the angled head means you must lift up the back end to go in straight, thus elevating the bulbous tail and the protruding cord.

To hit the switch your own bulky hand must go in close, up near the chuck, adding to the bulk and in tight or difficult spaces be incapable of shifting or withdrawing without disengaging the drill or bit. With all the motor behind your grip, the balance is poor. Because of the size and the geometry, a two handed grip needed for power or close control is tough to get.

Many times you're in the way of your vision by placing your hand so, and your vision is often everything in these applications.

The angled cord is a royal pita.
Feh.

Bizarrely, it has a 1/2" - 20 spindle yet only a 3/8" chuck. No standard hole saws for you without an upgrade.
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This is so far off the mark of the Milwaukee tools that I do like. Their fabulous drills & routers, even the fantasy super industrial tools that I love to admire in catalogs.

A right angle drill is a luxury tool, that every once in a while saves your bacon by not having any, staying slim, going in anywhere.
This one would be no stars if I could.

gene

http://www.milwaukeetool.com/power-tools/corded/0370-20