Yesterday we discussed a bit about Milwaukee’s secretive M4 developments. We felt a little bad about outing Milwaukee’s inside plans, so today we’ll do the same for Black & Decker.
Black & Decker – or perhaps Dewalt or Porter Cable, since they fall within the B&D umbrella – might be working on a new modular power tool system. Our sources have revealed that the new broadly-described system includes a motor and interchangeable tool heads. We assume the motor will also consist of a power source and handle.
We predict that, if such tools ever head to market, they could compete against Ridgid’s similarly described JobMax tools.
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From what we have seen, it appears that several tool heads are in development:
- oscillating multi-tool
- impact driver
- circular saw
- sanding pad (or grinder)
- reciprocating or jig saw
It is important to note that these tools might never hit the market. While we’ve seen what we feel is reasonably credible evidence, there is no confirmation that Black & Decker will ever complete development of the system.
annonymous
Given that the product will likely be made in PRC, I probably won’t buy this anyway.
Patrick Lucado
My first thought is “prince of many things, king of none”. Therefore, I’m not too excited about this.
However, this could probably result in some very high value homeowner power tool kits. One motor/battery doc + multiple heads for $149.00 or something similar.
Alex Guerrero
I think it would be perfect for the homeowner that barely uses power tools and when they do, its for small projects around the house. I would buy it.
OhioHead
B & D did release a 3 & 1 tool circa 2000/2001 (Christmas time I recall), it was a drill, mouse sander and something else, body was weird and it was a 12volt, I think it sold real well.
B & D is known for repeating past mistakes and trumpeting the “new technology/features” on said mistake.
It will be interesting to see if something come out.
Robert
OhioHead,
I think that the B&D you’re referring to was part of their “Firestorm” line. It was a drill, mouse sander, and jig saw configeration. I was suckered into buying one, and eventually gave it to my dad.
It was pretty cool in concept, and was in fact a feat of great engineering. I guess that the cool concept took over my better judgement. Surprisingly enough, the system itself worked pretty well. The problem was the power supply. It was only a 12 volt unit, and was B&D batteries at that! In other words, it was only good for a short period of operation, but was dead shortly thereafter. For that reason, it had virtually no commercial appeal. In fact, it had little appeal for personal use except for a small task. Although it would also work with DeWalt 12 batteries, the 12 volt platform was still underpowered for the demands of the system.
I think that the concept itself shouldn’t be trashed. The topic of batteries and voltages is entirely different by today’s standards. With today’s better batteries, a higher voltage, and perhaps a more compact design, the concept might still find it’s place in the tool world.
Robert