What to do with junk 18V drill driver

My Son found this old Black & Decker 1/4" drill (used to sell for $8!!). It had been buried in dirt and was stuck solid. I futzed with it and got it working, but it didn't have a chuck (or the chuck was no good, don't remember). We had a Craftsman 18V drill driver that I fried the charger and besides the battery's were history. I removed the chuck (3/8") and put it on the B&D. Seems to have lots of power!!! and it's keyless.

The other item is the motor assembly from that Craftsman. I have been wondering if the larger drill driver motors could power a trailer tongue jack for tractor application...perhaps something small for the kids. ( I have made a couple tractors for the grand kids so far and they are hand operated implements.) It was a HUGE job getting that Craftsman apart and I finally had to cut it apart with the HF cutter. I am charging a new battery I bought on close-out at HF, but I tried the motor with what little juice my 18V battery's still had. Seemed to work. If this works, I get variable speed, compactness, torque (it's geared already) and forward/reverse.

I was thinking I would use a riding mower 12V battery with a 6V auto battery (just happen to have a couple good ones) to get 18V's. I wonder if there might be any problem with that idea?

Gary66 said:

I was thinking I would use a riding mower 12V battery with a 6V auto battery (just happen to have a couple good ones) to get 18V's. I wonder if there might be any problem with that idea?

Click to expand...

Don't quote me but I don't believe that will work.

18V passed first test

I made a quick'n dirty coupling for the 18V drive. This old home made tractor came to me with a hand crank trailer tongue jack for lifting a 6' front blade. It was useless because it took forever to move with a crank. I changed it to drive with a V belt thru a transmission (for up and down). I disconnected that drive and attached the 18V to the jack for this test. My Son held the motor as I worked the motor and we decided to wait until I made a mount before testing with a load. Seems to work great.

compare with my 12V bed dump post

I forgot to mention I would post about my 12V pickup truck dump bed. This 18V idea came from the success of that 12V project...so the posts are related.

You will get 18 volts by connecting your 12v and 6v batteries in series. It might not be the most efficient setup because one will probably need charging before the other does, but it will work.

Efficiency??

I have been watching responses to my posts to determine if I am posting in an appropriate forum. There is nothing efficient about my projects. I'm retired, like to mess around in the shop, and I prefer to make things work in a manner not intended. I'm eccentric, I suppose. Believe it or not there are lots of people interested in tractors and machinery who live on a 100 X 100' city lot. They would like to push dirt around, maybe pick some up and move it CLEAR OVER to the far side of the 100' lot. The cost of decent hydraulics may prevent these folk from the fun. That's my interest (sometimes)...enabling such folk to work in their little shop making something fun and usable for their property and not expensive either. To design and build something on purpose that is inefficient and mediocre in performance is akin to training for 5th place in the 100 yd. dash. That said, I'll clarify that some of my creations are aimed at the multitudes of cheap riding mowers sometimes referred to as tractors. They aren't strong enough to do significant work on a farm, but can be "re-organized" to meet the desires of the city dweller. For them I design and build low pressure hydraulic systems from old shock absorbers, 12V pumps, hardware store valves and WATER!. I've even used PVC. When I happen on to safer cylinder material I use power steering pumps etc. and real fluid. For front blades and box scrapers I use old hot water heater tanks etc. I have a front bucket that has moved many, many yards of dirt and is made with steel frame and plywood for sides and bottom. It seems the steel frame takes the abuse because the plywood is still fine. Not efficient for REAL work...but pretty dang practical for us city guys low on bucks. I suppose I just pounded the last nails into my forum coffin. I like to think that one or two people will read this and relate. I'm in the early stages of designing a "front" hoe that would be small and light enough for the city guy's riding mower. I've already built the tractor and now the DC motor drive idea could save me a lot of time making hydraulic cylinders etc. Stay tuned. Might it be efficient? Hell No! but fun and perhaps accidentally useful.

I love your posts Gary, but I've no idea as to what to do with a 18v motor. I do enjoy seeing what you do rig together. The dump bed is way kewl. I could use one of those ...and have an old truck waiting for a project like this.

Enjoy the posts....wild and wacky inventions....keep 'em comin'

OH! OH! OH! Doc! Listen up

The simple thing is to couple the drill driver motor (which is already geared down with ample torque) to a cheap Harbor Freight trailer tongue jack. But, you can always use a couple welded nuts and some all-thread instead and have a 3pt lift for riding mowers, quads, tricycles, wheel chairs, boats (outboard motor lift perhaps?), front hoe's (see my last post), for box scrapers, front blades, really BIG mugs of beer....Hell! There's no limit! Is your neighbor annoying? Got a grapefruit tree? Make the slingshot from Hell and use the 18V all-thread unit to pull back the 1" thick bungy chord and deliver some fruit over the wall. God help me! I'm just full of ideas to change the world (or at least the "world" of my neighbors). My neighbors bring keggers as peace offerings. My nuttiness is profitable.

New test update

I made a mount for the 18V motor to fit my Ol' Yeller tractor, which already was set up for screw drive front dirt blade.

With my Son, @ 220lbs (plus minimal system weight) the lift went easy at first but the Harbor Freight battery's pooped out. There was no heat from the motor or apparent strain other than the weak battery. I had the leverage advantage set at max benefit for the motor, so, the lift was slow...but fast enough for me or other ner-do-wells. It started raining on me so I quit, but now I need to pull the 6V battery out of my Model A and connect it in series with my new 12V riding mower battery. If that doesn't make a big difference I'll have to declare that it's only good for 150lbs lift, or so. Quite frankly, I expected it to ram his head right thru the shed roof. Dang!!

...So, I figure you had him wearing a helmet just in case, right?

OH MY!!! Did I forget his helmet???

Ron is 37, never married, one child plus her brother, drug and alcohol addicted most of his life and the work history of a high school grad at end of summer. Considering his kids and him, you might say I COULD be writing about my tractor, and it would be one like yours' and other members. I'm proud and happy to say that since he paroled hear from prison 3 years ago, our efforts have resulted in his current drug and alcohol freedom. No drugs a stiff drink once a month. We gave him our travel trailer and a piece of our property and it changed him tremendously. My post about the Perrin tractor with 12V hydraulics came as we use that tractor to level the terrace and provide him a yard. He has a business that struggles but he's working every day, BUT, no helmet for him - I'm still mighty pissed at the huge chunk out of retirement for my wife (of 47 years) and me. Now y'all can understand my lunacy. His daughter's brother...let's call him Son or Grandson, is the inspiration for kid's tractors that work like Grampa's. We love them, and their pathetic experiences in life are healing from being at Gramma's house and seeing Grampa working in the shop all the time. Hayden is learning the skills of spitting on the firebox in the shop, except he doesn't have the advantage of dip! Bet you're sorry for your brief, offhand reply. Hell! None of this is true anyway...I just wanted sympathy and people to have the illusion that I'm a decent chap.