Cheap power cord on cordless tools

Rob Keeble

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Location
GTA Ontario Canada
While many power tools have migrated to battery power , i still like my corded tools and have quiet a few.

The issue i dislike is the overall quality of the power cords. The material used is cheap and nasty and gets even worse for shape tension in our climate when it comes to cooler times of the year.

Well one you tuber, a young guy i find has a rather fascinating sense of humor has come up with his solution to this problem.

I think its rather cool idea. Its a fair bit of work to do but man it would take all the aggravation out of it.

When i consider that most often i am having to take an extension and use that to connect to a power outlet then in reality his solution really solves the cord problem. Because i also find it a pain to roll up and tie off with my velcro strips the power cord after use. Some of those pvc cords end up stuck in coils when unraveled again. His method would just remove the problem.
He kind of is a young Glenn Bradly in his organization solutions.

Take a look and let me know what you think.

https://youtu.be/WquQYdwcr74
 
The little festool sander I recently got has a removeable power cord and it strikes me as what a good idea it really is.

The only problem would be if each manufacturer came up with their own cord styles.

I like this idea.
 
I like the idea too, but wouldn't go to the trouble. What I would really like is the ability to put a tail on my battery powered tools and plug them into the wall for power when it's convenient to do so. Just remove the battery, replace it with the 110 power converter, plug in and go to work. I'd pay up for that capability for sure.
 
I agree with others that, while a good idea, I wouldn't go through the trouble to do this. My dad used to use the milwaukee power tools when he was building, mostly as he get other cords to use and they were flexible in the winter months. The tools had something similar built into the base of the tool with a twist lock to connect the cord.

I also would go for something like Ted suggested, I've had several times that could have used a direct power adapter for my cordless tools.
 
This is a good idea. I wonder if some manufacturer might want to offer something like this on its line of corded tools? I know I'm not going to go to the bother of doing this.

Festool already does. There may be others - probably European - but I don't know for sure.

Festool's power cords are longer and more flexible than most others, and they attach/remove with a twist-lock fitting. Of course, there's the matter of price, though. Festools wares are definitely good, but you really do pay a lot for that quality.
 
Ted i think thats a very good idea and very doable especially if one has an old dead battery pack to do it with.

One can haul out the batteries and use the housing to host the power supply for the mains conversion . That would be better than what many do and that is wire to the internal battery points and still use an external power supply.

With switchmode power supply designs and regulation circuits i think one can pretty easily cobble some vero board design together, if they don't already exist.

I went on to calculate how much this type of conversion would cost me and i got 16 tools that would need it and lowest cost i could find in US for a pair of connectors is around US $15 per tool.
So $240 US or $324 CDN then add 13% $366 for me. Thats approx $22.88 per tool. Excluding cord. Bit too high in my view for the benefit.
 
I like the concept but wouldn't you get the same effect by simply shortening the power cord to just a few inches? There really is no advantage to having a "quick" connect is there? If your still going to have to grab a cord and still have to plug it in why go to the expense of using a different type of plug? Why not just use the existing plug? Still....I like the idea of short cords on the power tools. Would make them much easier to store.
 
Milwaukee does have removable/replaceable cords on multiple of their tools.
The "advantage" of the quick connect, is its locking in nature. No locking electrical connector I have ever seen, had been cheap.
 
I like the concept but wouldn't you get the same effect by simply shortening the power cord to just a few inches? There really is no advantage to having a "quick" connect is there? If your still going to have to grab a cord and still have to plug it in why go to the expense of using a different type of plug? Why not just use the existing plug? Still....I like the idea of short cords on the power tools. Would make them much easier to store.


Pretty much what I was thinking.

I got to give the kid credit though:thumb:
 
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