recommend a pneumatic drill please

I am in need of a drill motor- 3/8" chuck, about 2000 rpm. Since we have a nice copper pipe compressed air system with filter, oiler, separator,big a$$ compressor, drain valves, never any water, and retractable hose reel, I have settled on an air drill. I am not familiar with them. I thought about getting a cheap one and then deciding on a good one later but I hate to buy junk so please recommend a good one and I'll skip the junk trial.

I will use it for general purpose stuff everyday in the shop. I have a large electric one for over 3/8" sizes. My main concern is a high quality (tight-gripping) chuck than won't scar the shanks of my poorly sharpened drills when they grab. I would rather the drill break so I can resharpen and still have a good shank. What other features should I consider? Reverseable ect.? I'm willing to spend up to $200 if it will last say... 7 years?

Thanks,
Roland

I have bought from Home a supplier of aircraft pneumatic tools. They carry several brands and sizes of drills along with drill bits,reamers and other specialty tools.

I recommend Dotco. Best. Air tools. Ever. USA made, absolute dream to use. I get mine from eBay to save a few bucks. Got several die grinders, 90 degree grinders, drills, etc. They are really nice, fairly quiet, and don't vibrate, run really smooth and strong.

chicago pneumatic made some nice 3/8 2000rpm drills, i have one that i got in '79 and have abused the crap out of it every since, water, dirt, rarely oiled, and it keeps right on going and going, even though for the last 30 years the rear brg is shot in the motor, the cage long gone and the tiny balls most of which are missing.

sioux makes some nice stuff too.

stay away from the cheap drills, not that they don't adequately grip the bits, but they consume much more air and have half the power of a cp or a sioux.

of course snapon, mac , matco cornwall et. al make or have made for them decent drills too.

in any case a good 3/8 and 2000rpm with a decent chuck should never slip on a bit, mainly because they don't have the bottom end torque of an electric drill, although those double reduction 500 rpm jobs will wrap you up good if you let them.

ymmv
bob g

I second the Dotco. Good products at a reasonable price.

These guys also make some nice stuff:

Desoutter - Unmatched performance

I have a flush rivet shaver made by them, and it is a joy to use. Similar to this one:

CP Desoutter Rivet Miller-Shaver D156-P-20000 | Desoutter Rivet Miller | Desoutter | AP Tools Ltd

This is a specialized tool, but the drills are priced in a similar fashion.

Not so "reasonable".

The old moss-back (of which I am now one) I learned much of my trade from, referred to "air drills" as "Air motors" I have also heard "Drill motors" over the years.

I got a Snap On 3/8 air drill in 1975, still use it daily. I got the same drill exc. it is reversible, in about 1992. still use it daily. both came with Jacobs chucks and have ben trouble free. I also have some CP tools seems like all are from Tiawan. I also have some A R O die grinders, they are great. ++++ for Desoutter, I have a 90* and a 45* aircraft type drill from them, it's a real pleasure to use them.

Dotco is superb. A few years back Ingersoll Rand industrial line of drills (not their automotive line) had a number of selections, RPM wise, in the "series 6" and "series 7" that run well, live forever, nice throttle control. These I-R drills may be discontinued.
Check a Grainger catalog.
Also, the Jacobs 41ba chuck may disappoint. I ended up removing and replacing with something similar from the LFA catalog.

Another high-quality pricey brand of industrial pneumatic tools is Sioux. I believe they also now have a lower quality line called Sioux Force. I cannot speak to the quality of the new line, but I have one of their industrial 3/8" reversible pneumatic drills, and it is a very good product. The industrial Sioux products rank up there with Dotco.

I now see that Sioux was already mentioned in a previous post so I am seconding the recommendation.

Mike Folks said:

I have bought from Home a supplier of aircraft pneumatic tools. They carry several brands and sizes of drills along with drill bits,reamers and other specialty tools.

Click to expand...

I bought a 2500 rpm reversable Sioux from the site that you provided a link to. I'm glad I went with the 2500 rpm. I'm very happy with it. It's much heavier than I anticipated, but maybe that's good.

Thank you gentlemen for the input.