Thanks for all the advice guys - lots for me to think about!

What are peoples thoughts on buying secondhand kit? My current leaning is towards one of the B&Q Power Pro units or maybe I have seen secondhand Makita 18v drills on ebay for around £60. Is it worth risking a secondhand unit - do the batteries become tired?

I intend to use the drill just for the build - so mainly drilling rivet holes etc.

Cheers

Dave

what ever you get make sure it has got bags of torque and a good gearbox as drilling metal is a lot harder on the drill than wood work etc.

Standard Ni-Mh Makita batteries do get tired, I kill them within 2 years. I always upgrade with 3Ah as opposed to the standard 1.5Ah batteries.

If you go for Lithium Ion batteries, they are much better technology,

They don't suffer from "battery memory" which is when they start to get a shorter life from never being fully discharged (they start to only charge the % of use that gets discharged)
But you pay A LOT more for Li-Ion battery gear.

I never buy second hand as Screwfix tend to do cheap deals every now and then (18v makita £80 :eek: offer finished now though :mad: )

Drills I have killed include, home base, black & decker, B&Q, Milwawke(sp?) and a few Hitachi sds type :(