T18 vs PDC Motor/Gearbox Smoothness

[JBird]

I have a new T18 and new PDC on hand for comparison purposes and the thing that stands out the most is the roughness of the motor/gearbox in the PDC. It is not only audibly off-putting compared to the buttery smoothness of the other T and CXS drills I have owned, but also puts out quite a bit of vibration compared to the T18. These things are hard to quantify but I'd say 5-10 times and much vibration compared to the T18. This is not hammer drill related vibration. Just noise/vibration with the drill spinning without any load. Can anyone with experience with both these drill relate to this or do you think I have a defective unit? Without knowing how smooth the rest of the drills in the line are I might not think anything of it.

 

[MrToolJunkie]

My PDC silky smooth and on par with my C12, TXS and my old T15. Sounds like it could be defective if it vibrates and is not smooth. Changing gears can, at times, be a little difficult on the PDC, but this does not translate into vibration.

 

[Jmacpherson]

I have to concur with [member=6605]ScotF[/member] , my PDC is smooth in every gear and only negative is switching between gears can be a bit stiff.
I have never felt vibration in normal drilling per say. In hammer drilling it is exceptionally loud and you feel some vibration (to be expected with 70k bpm) but Festool have dampened it very well.

I have the PDC and the T18 and used them side by side a lot over the last week and I haven't noticed any difference in the two in the way you are describing. I almost bought a DRC instead of the T18 as second drill instead.

 

[Claimdude]

+1 My PDC is just as smooth as my T18, Ti15, and CXS. Sounds to me like your PDC needs to go back.

Jack

 

[JBird]

Thanks for all for your replies. The online dealer I bought it from said it is normal for the PDC to sound quite a bit different than the T or CXS. A little more "geary" he says. I suppose it is subjective what is a little more and what is a lot more geary. To me the T18 makes no perceptible gear sounds.

Wanting to get this sorted out I took a trip to a brick a mortar dealer to try their demo unit. The noise/vibration was the same as with my new PDC. It is more pronounced when you engage the drill looking straight at the top at the controls. The gearbox sound seems to leak from here through the holes in the housing for the controls. Listening from the side the character of the sound changes and the noise from the gears is not as pronounced. The easiest way to detect the vibration is to set the drill on a table(battery down) and engage it. You can hear and feel the vibrations emanating through the table with your other hand(even with the benefit of the rubber battery bumper) much more strongly than with the T18.

A couple of you guys mentioned the stiffness of the gear switch. That is my experience as well. It is tricky to get it in to 3rd with one hand. There is resistance encountered right before it reaches 3rd and the force required to overcome that resistance makes it easy to slip right past. Then I apply force in the opposite direction to get back toward 3rd and I slip right past again. The easiest way for me to do it is to use two hands to ensure I don't slip past or to give it just a slight trigger blip which removes the resistance encountered when approaching 3rd. The detents in the torque adjustment are also much less certain compared to the T18. These are just my observations upon taking it out of the box. I have not had a chance to put it to work yet.

I remember almost 10 years ago when I got my first Festool(a T15) and I engaged it for the first time. It was smooth and frictionless like I imagined a power tool from 10 years in the future might be. It was impossible to suppress the grin on my face when I pulled the trigger. The experience with that drill blew me away and that is what started me on my journey as a festool fanatic. So it is strange for me to try the PDC 10 years later and have it sound more like the way non-Festool drills from 10 years ago sounded. Had the PDC been my first Festool purchase it would not have converted me. Would have saved me a lot of money!

 

[mrboult]

I owned/tried  both PDC & DRC before deciding just to get a second T18...

These drills came from the Protool line and definitely feel less refined than the T18. I don't remember "vibration' exactly but they are MUCH louder and a little clunky in action compared to the T18.
I used to think the PDC/DRC sounded like a very loud chimpanzee in 3rd gear pulsing a 100mm screw in...

 

[yetihunter]

I have a new T18 and new PDC on hand for comparison purposes and the thing that stands out the most is the roughness of the motor/gearbox in the PDC. It is not only audibly off-putting compared to the buttery smoothness of the other T and CXS drills I have owned, but also puts out quite a bit of vibration compared to the T18. These things are hard to quantify but I'd say 5-10 times and much vibration compared to the T18. This is not hammer drill related vibration. Just noise/vibration with the drill spinning without any load. Can anyone with experience with both these drill relate to this or do you think I have a defective unit? Without knowing how smooth the rest of the drills in the line are I might not think anything of it.

The planetary gear clank and grind together on mine, but definitely no vibration.