I just arrived home from Milwaukee’s 2015 New Tool Show. They call it a New Product Symposium, it’s technically considered a Media Event, and I’m calling it a New Tool Show.
And what a show it was. Milwaukee put a LOT of time and effort into the event, and it showed. This was my first Milwaukee event in 3 years (I couldn’t make it to the last couple of events), and I had a fantastic time.
The best part of the event was having access to product managers and team leaders who were a pleasure to chat with. They’re very friendly, but also open. The insight they readily share is just amazing, and often their passion for the products they developed shine through in their words.
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It’s going to take me quite a bit of time to put detailed coverage up, so stay tuned. In the meantime, here are 15 purposefully selected photos for your enjoyment.
Wow, that’s a lot of M18 cordless power tools.
And, oh my, that’s a lot of M12 cordless power tools.
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This is just one of very many sets that Milwaukee teams put up in the expo center. It’s amazing the amount of effort that went into setting everything up for us. And yes, there were a lot of red lights. Even the fluorescent lights in a main hallway had red tinting panels.
Coming soon: Milwaukee EDC folding pocket knives! I believe this one will be built with D2 tool steel, which is a very tough and wear-resistant alloy. These are prototypes that will be tweaked further before the final designs are ready, but I was impressed and can’t wait to get my hands on production models.
The new Milwaukee adjustable wrench, with 6 engagement threads, passed the “rattle test” with high marks.
How old do you think this Empire level is?
The torpedo level was invented by Empire in 1935, but surely these levels aren’t that old. Right?
This is the first-ever hole I drilled with a magnetic drill and annular cutter. The curly shavings were cleared away before I thought to take a picture.
Speaking of mag drills, here’s Associate Product Manager Brian Alves hanging from an I-Beam. The mag drill has 1600 lbs of holding power and didn’t budge at all.
You know what I was happy to see? That safety tether. No cut corners with the set designs, at all. They thought of everything!
Can you guess what this is? It’s the camera module tip of a new inspection scope that’s coming out. It has a handle-mounted control that lets you wiggle and flex the camera back and forth!!
This is a sneak peek of the new impact driver anvil design.
Olympic torch? Torture device? Nope, large diameter masonry drill bit.
You don’t even want to know how much a runtime testing setup like this costs. That small silver box contains a torque meter, and the black box probably has a high-powered magnetic brake to apply consistent loading.
The heatsink on an upcoming Milwaukee LED worklight is just insane.
Speaking of worklights, Milwaukee product managers mangled some steel-tripod-legged halogen worklights to make a point.
That’s it for now, hopefully this whetted your appetite for more. And if you feel teased, keep in mind that the choice was between a teaser or nothing at all.
Matt S
Thanks for the pictures! It looks like it was a great event. If you want to talk about a tease, I blame Milwaukee for making me wait until August 1st to find out what’s new in jobsite tech.
Stuart
August 1st will be here faster than you realize, and don’t worry, there are PLENTY of other new products to hold your attention until then.
John
Wow. I was excited about dewalt’s media event this one seems to have raised the bar. What is you # 1 fav product that is coming out from milwaukee?
Stuart
Tough, tough question. I might have to write a post showing my favorites from each category.
Lots of new innovations coming out. It blew my expectations.
There were so many new tools that they had to put a couple of demo stations out in the lunch tent!!
We were kept so busy at the event, and I was so excited and running around asking questions that I forgot to rest. Woke up Thursday to a bruised ankle and leg.
C.E. Moseley
I bet that was a great event to be at. Those edc knives look awesome and I am looking forward to a review of that D2 knife when they hit the consumer market.
C.E. Moseley
Oh and I forgot to mention the six knurl adjustable wrench. If those are made in Taiwan (not china)and in 15 or 16 inch size I may have to get me one . But I will wait til after it is reviewed here on Toolguyd.
Stuart
I will have to check, but I think the largest size might have been 12″.
Dennis
I noticed there aren’t pictures of storage. Are we to assume that wasn’t focused on? Also Milwaukee’s twitter feed featured a photo of some interesting lighting, I’m excited to read the details.
Stuart
There wasn’t any new storage that I hadn’t already written about.
Lighting products are amazing. More photos and details to come.
This post was meant to buy time for me to work on the product coverage, that’s why it’s not exhaustive.
I’ll try to get a summary up first, and then deeper previews for each of the main product categories.
Szymon
What was the special key for?
What did it unlock?
Stuart
It was just a flash drive that goes along with the riddle. Doesn’t unlock anything in a literal sense.
Hugh
Well if it wasn’t for twitter the only thing anyone would know about is the mag drill and lighting.
You going to let us know when that 9.0 battery is going to hit market? Did they talk price range on it as well?
Stuart
ETAs are rough, and most product managers couldn’t comment about pricing.
I shared some on Twitter, but there were WiFi and cellar issues in many parts of the building.
They showed off products so new that there were many prototypes and pre-production samples. Retail availability spans from “available now” and “coming soon,” to March 2016.
Hugh
I’m astonished to see they made that 9.0 battery. I spoke with one of their RD people last year about the cordless miter saw. They already had the 4.0 out and bosch either had their 5.0 out or on the way. He seemed like they were reluctant to make a 5.0 battery. I like the higher runtime batteries because of the duration of use before a re-charge.
fred
I wonder if they are concerned about a heat dissipation issue and/or the potential for thermal runaway as they move to higher energy densities in such a relatively small form factor. While we like the idea of longer runtimes – what we don’t need is to have a battery pack catch fire – like some of those early laptop batteries
Stuart
For the 9.0Ah? You’ll actually get more than 2X performance compared to 5.0Ah battery b/c each cell is actually delivering less current.
It’s a larger battery pack than the XC form factor.
So now there’s going to be compact battery packs, XC battery packs, and “High Demand” battery packs.
Milwaukee seems to be very conscious of thermal issues. I asked about something related, and they said that the protection algorithm takes into account current draw and battery pack temperature.
They had a very sizable and sophisticated test lab dedicated to battery runtime and torture testing. I wanted to walk around and take a closer look, but didn’t want to stray too far from the group. I later found out there’s also an explosion room where they do failure testing.
RX9
I am genuinely curious about the management/engineering team behind Milwaukee. I bet there are a lot of things that can be learned from their development process.
Stuart
I plan to talk more about that soon, but I can tell you right now that they’re impressive. I don’t think their core philosophies have changed in the 3 years since I last attended a Milwaukee event and chatted with their product managers, but I learned some more subtleties and there was more to see during a (limited) tour of their HQ facility.
Yadda
Knives! Interesting…. The market seems saturated if not over saturated with knife options, work knives as a new tool segment seems like overkill.
RX9
Ok, dumb question here: How do they disengage the magnet on the magnetic drill?
1600 lbs is a lot of force, and I imagine that the magnet is not an electromagnet, but a big chunk of neodymium.
Stuart
Nope, that’s a great question. There’s an adjustment knob on the back that I imagine rotates the magnet, or something likes that.
It probably works the same as magnetic gage and indicator holder bases. https://www.google.com/search?q=noga+magnetic+holder+base&tbm=isch
Magnets have two poles and can be further enhanced such that there are very strong forces in one direction, and very weak forces in the perpendicular direction. This is why strong magnets are slid apart rather than being pulled apart, kind of like suction cups.
Nate 818
Still no cordless framing nailer
Adam
Per one of the #NPS15 tweets, cordless nailers are planned for sometime in the next year or two.
https://twitter.com/robertrobillard/status/611309732176003072
Adam
Really great stuff. I was about to buy the M18 Fuel impact driver, but I’ll wait a few months for the Shiny New Model. The lighting also looks really cool, and with the amount of time I’ve been spending crawling around under houses, I may well pick some of the worklight models.
Chris Fyfe
Cool stuff , can’t wait to get my hands on a 9.0 ah. Batt . I have lots of uses for that bad boy. I’m pretty impressed with team red.
Chris
Hayden
I was hoping for more m12 products and m12 fuel like a 1/2 impact wrench and a 1/2 inch right angle. I love my m12 stuff at home and work. I already have 19.2 craftsmans at home. My employer has numerous sets of 18 v compact bosh tools available and I keep a teal set of makitas at work when the bosch is to compact. What I’m saying is m18 dose not deliver anything I need that bosch and makita can’t offer. But m12 tools always deliver with their small foot print ergonomics and power.
Stuart
While I wouldn’t rule out potential for a 1/2″ impact, a 1/2″ right angle is unlikely. Right angle drills and drivers suffer from power sacrifice in order to achieve low profile height.
There is a new 1/4″ hex impact driver, and you could always add a low-profile square drive adapter.
Hayden
A new m12 1/4 inch impact driver? Will it have that curved hammer? Is that for more power less noise? I have the 2462-20 it is good for #10 to 3/8 fasteners but it could be smaller and more controllable for small fasteners.
Maybe a M12 mini hole hang. I have used the current m12 right angle and it dose not have enough power to run a hole saw through fiberglass bulkheads. I currently use a right angle adapter.
Joe Bechtel
What about us idiots that bought 28 volt tools and can’t find batteries. Are they still manufactured and where can I purchase them.
NY Stairlifts
Yea, what about us 28 volt guys who are loaded up with 28 volt tools?