Riveting on a 737 with a cordless drill changed my mind

I was down in Tucson last month helping a buddy swap out a flap fairing on his 737. He handed me a Milwaukee cordless drill with a cage adapter and told me to just go for it. I've always been a pneumatic purist, figured electrics didn't have the touch. That thing drove every rivet dead flush, no chatter, no over-squeeze, and we finished the panel in 2 hours flat. Anyone else switched over to battery for skin work and never looked back?

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1 Comment

sandragonzalez1mo ago

Man, I was the SAME way until I borrowed a buddy's cordless setup on a C-130 skin job last year. The key is matching your drill speed to the alloy and using a fresh battery, because a dying pack will give you that mushy feel every time. Once you dial that in, electrics are honestly smoother than pneumatics on thin gauge work, I havent touched an air hose since.