Jigsaw manufacturers

[jeffinsgf]

This one circa 35 years ago?  I think I may still have one downstairs...unfortunately, the battery was dead and beyond salvation.  [sad]

Have we really had cordless tools for more than 35 years? Seems hard to believe.

That's the one! Wish I knew what happened to mine. My guess is the battery wouldn't take a charge, I had newer drivers and I tossed it.

When I went to work at Woodsmith in 1982, Don Peschke...a devout early adopter...bought Makita 9.6 volt cordless drills for the shop and almost all of us that worked there ended up with one or two. It was the cat's pajamas.

 

[Tom the Remodeler]

It is my understanding that the same parent company owns Metabo, and the license to sell Hitachi tools with the "Hitachi" name. Something happened with the license (remember Hitachi manufactures everything from personal massagers to nuclear power plants), so they had to re-brand the power tools previously marketed as "Hitachi". As already mentioned, "Hitachi" was rebranded to "Hikoki" in most of the world, but in North America they confusingly rebranded to "Metabo HPT".

 

[Crazyraceguy]

Yes, it has been a long time, but they really came into their own with the advent of Lithium Ion batteries.
The NiMH and NiCad packs that came before them were very limiting, by today's standards anyway.
They started slowing almost immediately, had far less "charge density" for their size/weight. Plus, they took much more care in the charging routine.
The Makita 7.2v drill that I had in the late 80s/early 90s was so crude in comparison. It had a key-type chuck, single (slow) speed, and that long handle (to contain the battery)
The 9.6v came along pretty quickly, upgrading too keyless.
12v with the pod-style battery was the real bonus. It had a far better-feeling grip and a clutch.
The voltage went up to 18, with most brands, before Lithium Ion started taking over.

I sure wish that we would have had impact drivers back then.....

 

[Michael Kellough]

Yes, it has been a long time, but they really came into their own with the advent of Lithium Ion batteries.
The NiMH and NiCad packs that came before them were very limiting, by today's standards anyway.
They started slowing almost immediately, had far less "charge density" for their size/weight. Plus, they took much more care in the charging routine.
The Makita 7.2v drill that I had in the late 80s/early 90s was so crude in comparison. It had a key-type chuck, single (slow) speed, and that long handle (to contain the battery)
The 9.6v came along pretty quickly, upgrading too keyless.
12v with the pod-style battery was the real bonus. It had a far better-feeling grip and a clutch.
The voltage went up to 18, with most brands, before Lithium Ion started taking over.

I sure wish that we would have had impact drivers back then.....

I had one in the mid ‘80’s made by Hitachi. Powered by a 9.6 volt NiCad battery.
It kicked ass compared to drill/drivers powered by the same battery. It was pretty noisy.