10 Handy Uses for a Drill

Drills usually operate on refillable batteries, allowing users to enjoy instant drill powers for anything they want to do by just snapping a single battery pack inside. While these robust drills provide ideal screwing and drilling solutions, a couple of genius drill hacks have made the machine more useful than ever before.

Modern innovation in a drilling machine has turned it into your next go-to all-around tool. From practical to fun, there’s nothing you cannot do with a drilling machine. However, you first need to understand how to employ your run-of-the-mill drill to the next level.

Here are ten cool things you can do with the must-have power tool drill other than just screwing screws and drilling holes. And you can also click the link to see the best drill bit for glass this year.

Top 10 Handy Uses for a Drill

1. Mix Grout, Paint, and Concrete

Like the handheld batter mixers in your kitchen, a powerful drill coupled with drilling bits specially designed for mixing can be employed to combine all kinds of things such as different blends of paint for consistent color and bulk glue hardeners with resin. Isn’t wielding a drill like an eggbeater-style concrete, grout, and thinset mixer cool?

2. Manoeuvre Sanding Drum With Drill’s Power

Sanding blocks and sandpapers are great options for smooth surfaces, but complicated wood arcs and curves can only be served by a curved sanding tool. If you have a decent sanding drum but are looking for a good motor for spinning, use your drilling machine instead. This way, the sanding drum will manifest powers that sandpapers can’t while the drill bit does the spinning.

3. Grind Metal and Remove Rust

If you do have a metal angle grinder, make use of just the wheel-style attachments with the help of your cordless drill. This way, you can quickly turn your drill into a quick polish wheel. Alternate between scrapers and brush bits to remove rust from steel, iron tools, and household items.

4. Open Your Cans 

Just like outfitting a drill with specialized mixing and polishing bits, you can join an edged piece instead that acts as a cutting tool when spun by the drill. You can make use of a simple kitchen can opener that turns into a nifty electric opener. Detach the handle of your manual can opener to get to the handle axle. Fix the axle into the drill chuck, and your electric can opener will be ready.

5. Power Clean Hard-to-Reach Parts of Your Home 

Revamp house cleaning chores by adding a brushing tool to your drill’s attachment collection. This best handy use of a drill will help you deep clean every nook and corner of your house, and the controlled speed settings of the drill mean you won’t end up spoiling any fine materials along the way.

6. Create Easy Pilot Holes

Ever found yourself in a dilemma of how to work with materials that tend to split when hammered. The best way to drill a pilot hole in temperamental materials is to use a drill, but what if you don’t have the right drill bit available?

Instead of running to the hardware store, make use of a nail. Insert the body of a nail from the head side into your drill chuck and switch it on for the magic to happen!

7. Electric Fruit and Vegetable Peeling 

This hack is probably the most exciting one on this list. Initiate the fun by chucking a pre-washed, rust-free screw in the chuck of your drill and stick the fruit or veggie core onto it. Hold your manual peeler very close to the vegetable or fruit’s skin and let the drill rip!

8. Employ as a DIY Cloth Buffer 

Take out the drill from your tool kit, attach a buffer rig to its chuck and let it show its polishing powers. To take things to the next level, make the drill rest at its side on the workbench and secure it with duct tape to make sure the spinning doesn’t make it move. Once it’s attached, you’ve got yourself a rigid buffer, or disc sander, depending on your drill bit choice

9. Handheld Electric Mixing 

Until now, we have attached a fruit, cloth buffer, paint mixing bits, dusting brushes, and what not to make the most out of the humble drill machine. What about employing it as a handheld kitchen mixer?

In times when your kitchen mixer suddenly stops working, pull out your drill, chuck in a mixing bit attached with a spoon or fork, and let the spinning do the mixing chore for you.

10. Try Spin Art!

This one’s a lot of fun, especially if you have got little preschoolers at home, craving for some exciting activity. This handy use of a drill is just like wielding an art turntable.

All you need is a stack of paper plates or even a canvas that you will fix to the drill bit, securing it with a bolt at the end. Next, place a crayon, marker, or anything close to the plates and start the drill. The spinning will allow you to design pretty concentric patterns.

Things to Consider Before Buying Drill Machines 

After going through the ten unique and handy drill uses, you’d sure be convinced by now that the right drill can accomplish a pot around not only just the workshop but also your home. Hence, it’s time to know tips for finding the best drill for your work and the available options in the market right now.

Type of Grill

There are various drills you can choose from, which can make it confusing for you to pick the right one for the tasks you most frequently employ a drill for, and now you will also be using it for some handy drill hacks. The table below will get you out of the drill dilemma, so you better understand what drill to use when.

Type of Drill

Key Features

Best For

Power Screwdrivers

  • Forward and Reverse Settings

  • Lightweight

  • Tightening Loose Screws in Confined Spaces

  • Quickly Assembling of Flat Pack Furniture

Drill Drivers

  • Features a Drill Clutch That Lets you Mechanically Set the Amount of Power

  • Small Drilling and Screwing Jobs in Your Home in Plastic, Wood, and Metal.

  • Hanging Pictures, Putting up Shelves, and Assembling Flat Pack Furniture.

Combi Drills

  • Elevated Hammer-Action Feature

  • Drilling into Masonry and Brick.

Impact Driver

  • Houses Impact mechanism That Helps Reduce the Impact on User's Wrist

  • High Torque Capacity

  • Compact and Lightweight

  • Repetitive or Larger Screwdriving Projects

  • Tightening Tough Bolt Heads and Nuts

  • Drilling into Metal

Hammer Drill

  • Multiple Torque Settings

  • Ability to Power Through Hard Materials

  • Drilling and driving in wood, plastic, metal, and concrete/masonry.

  • Heavy-duty jobs around the home like securing gutters in place.

Size

Drills are available in various drill chuck sizes ranging from 1 by 4 inch to 1 by 2 inch sized chuck, the part that holds the drill bit. A 1 by 4-inch one is ideal for a light-duty drilling task. A 1 by 2-inch drill deals with heavier applications.

There’s also a 3 by 8-inch drill size that’s specialist in accepting a wide range of bits, making it versatile for almost all the tasks around the house.

Efficiency 

Drills come in multiple feature sets, making some options more efficient than others. For instance, dome drill machines house keyed chucks that can only be tightened or loosened using a tool. Others offer a bit more efficiency via keyless chucks, allowing users to control them by hand.

Thus, go for more convenient, quick, and straightforward drills for the job, so you don’t have to face any managing problems.

Corded or Cordless

Cordless drills will give you excellent mobility as they can be taken anywhere without towing a troublesome extension cable behind. However, freedom from cable comes at the expense of bulky design. Corded power drills are often less weighted than their cord-free cousins as there is no bulky battery pack. Here’s how they differ:

Corded Power Drills

Cordless Power Drills

Design and Weight

  • Compact Design

  • More Lightweight

  • Bulky and Heavyweight Design due to Heavy Batteries

Power Source

  • It depends on Greater Torque and High Voltage Providing A.C Power Source

  • Ultra-Portable Due to Dependency on Batteries

Lifespan

  • Last Longer Because You Don’t Have to Worry About the Battery

  • Shorter Lifespan Due to Reliance on Battery

Convenience

  • Not-so-heavy, Easy Handling

  • Users are Limited to Work Within the Cord Length

  • Poses Tripping Hazard

  • Not Operational on Drill Site With No Supply of Power

  • Easy to Store

  • Cord-Free, Tripping Proof Drilling Experience 

  • Users Need to Take Charging Breaks

  • Additional Battery Weight May Result in Hand Fatigue

Conclusion

Innovations like variable speed configurations, extended-life batteries, and keyless chucks have made the rather typical-looking drill one of the most useful items in your toolbox. Hence don’t miss on figuring out what you need for your drill.

If you are going to be using it for fastening screws, drilling, repairing a leaky roof, and other handy jobs around the house, you want to make sure that you’re picking an option that matches your requirements at the price you are comfortable with.

We have listed 5 top products sufficient to suit specific needs, but if you are still confused about choosing, we recommend going with the mighty BLACK+DECKER 20V MAX Cordless Drill. It is by far the number one cord-free drilling machine you will find in the market, with a battery so powerful that it accompanies you even in heavy-duty works.