Not yet. I don’t know if/how USA and Canadian release dates might differ on a per-tool basis.

FORGERY batteries

FORGED batteries

I just stick to 8 cyl and 4 cyl if using engine sizes as analogies

I have the Dremel 8260 Brushless Rotary. It’s new, so it hasn’t had nearly enough testing from me to judge. But, having ownership of its predecessor, the 8200 still, I can easily say that the form factor of having a battery that fits the shape of the body comes in extremely handy when you have to hang the tool, and use a flex shaft. Or simply use what is called “The Golf Grip” on the whole tool. That flat, square battery on the photos I saw of the Milwaukee rotary do trouble me. The form factor of those batteries, no matter how capable those batteries are, can potentially get in the way of its full usage.

Far from thinking it’s a total failure, I think it really is likely to be an incredibly capable tool. But I would keep an eye out for complaints about the battery getting in the way. I’m pretty sure Milwaukee can, and will, make a battery more suited to the rotary tools, the way that Dremel/Bosch has theirs arranged. It’s a tried-and-true format, and I trust Milwaukee enough to figrue out an equivalent line of batteries for this level of brushless tool. Extremely powerful batteries, in a stem/magazine form for use in both the Rotary Tools, as well as the Die Grinders. Rotary for precision, Die Grinders for both speed of the task, and for mass of material being used.

I will say though… Welcome to the Rotary Tool Family, Milwaukee! The more of your ilk that joins Dremel/Bosch, Ryobi, Proxxon, and Foredom, the better! I would absolutely love to see Milwaukee make an entire system of attachments, to match, or surpass, the durability of Dremel’s variety. Plus, with Milwaukee’s new Forge batteries, perhaps a battery stem adapter can be used to increase the available torque of a rotary tool? Torque is the #1 complaint that rotary tool first-timers have. They want the cut to go faster, so they push harder, requiring more torque, which in turn burns out the tool faster. Rotary Tools are speed tools. They actually do their jobs at high speed by barely touching anything, rather than pushing on it. The raw speeds of the accessories do more work. But in Milwaukee’s hands? I think we may see one of the first High-Torque Rotary Tools to be available. So, I welcome Milwaukee to this avenue of the tool community. Die Grinders have always been higher torque, but to have something that can do both? I welcome it.

They charge fine (the two 6AH M12 batteries) on only ONE of my 6 chargers. They blink red/green on all the rest.

My point is the highest capacity batteries (in terms of highest capacity for when they were new) are the most fragile and defect prone.

And yes, I’ve never let them sit fully discharged. None of my batteries have gone bad like that. When I’ve had a problem, it’s with pairs of batteries. Both 5AH M18, Both 6AH M12. (I only have one 9AH M18)

Common usage describes “plug” as the device attached to the end of a cord and is inserted into a receptacle.

I don’t know anything about insulated power tools, but that’s a big YES to more insulated hand tools.

Insulated screwdrivers and pliers are on the way! I haven’t anything about insulated workwear, but will keep in mind to ask when I can.

I have the M12 die grinder. With the M12 batteries, it had a nice form factor and was a great tool to use, until it died. It suffers from the 4 flashing light syndrome. Not sure what happened exactly, but read online that there have been a few of the die grinders this happens to, and when it does, they are toast.

I think I had found a YT video that looked into taking it apart to find the issue. I don’t recall if he could not find the problem or it was a complicated fix.

Anyway, great tool when it worked…then didn’t.

Make sure you are storing them fully charged, not in the dead state. If the voltage gets below the minimum set on the charger, they won’t charge and will blink red/green.

I have 2x 6AH M12 that will now only charge in one of 6 chargers and error out in the others (bad battery? bad chargers? who knows. They used to charge in any M12 charger), a 9AH M18 that wont ever charge fully (its always one bar down. Is the LED bad or the battery?) and 2x 5AH M18 that wont charge at all and both died around the same time as each other for no apparent reason (similar problem to the M12 or is it the batteries that actually died?) All the problems seem to be with whatever are/were the high capacity batteries (the 5ah and 9ah were the largest at the time)

I’ve held off on buying any of the OPE, like the mower, because I don’t want to have $500 worth of 12AH batteries that just stop working for no apparent reason and no way to optimally store them off season.

You seem to think of Fuel as a competitive or flagship marketing descriptor for Milwaukee’s brushless tech, but it’s not that simple either.

Forget about marketing or competitive marketing.

From a product design and development standpoint, a tool’s Fuel or simply “brushless” designation starts with its motor design, which also determines the electronics and control package.

Milwaukee launched an M12 planer earlier this year – https://toolguyd.com/milwaukee-m12-cordless-planer-2524/ .

It’s advertised as being “the most powerful 12V planer on the market.”

But it’s not an M12 Fuel tool.

Milwaukee cannot or will not slap an M12 FUEL label on the tool just because it’s the most powerful planer in its class.

Whether it’s a Fuel tool or not is dependent on its core components.

For the new brushless rotary tool too, it’s not a Fuel tool, and it cannot be described as such, regardless of how it might be marketed against competing models or otherwise.

For it to be a Fuel tool, its design and internal components must be different.

There are tangible differences between M12 brushless and M12 Fuel PowerState brushless motors.

Yes, the existing 2- and 3-drawer Packout tool boxes will ALSO ship with dividers for each drawer. As I understand it, the pricing will be adjusted slightly.

Most people should understand the spirit of V8 vs V4 without knowing whether there’s an actual V4 configuration.

V4 exists in LEGO, and some V6 or V8 engines have V4 modes where cylinders are deactivated for more economical gas consumption. =)

Analogies don’t have to be real, they just have to be clear.

For example, let’s say you’re driving north on the interstate at 50 MPH and another car is traveling south at 40 MPH. How fast do they appear to be going from your relative frame of reference as you pass them? 90 MPH.

Now let’s say you’re driving north at 500,000,000 mph, and they are driving south at 400,000,000 mph. How fast do they appear to be going from your relative frame of reference? 900,000,000 mph? No, because it would be faster than the speed of light and violate the laws of physics.

Can a car drive that fast? Do we have hovercrafts or spacecrafts that can travel that fast? Can anything with mass move that fast? In atmosphere?

In the context of hypotheticals and analogies, greater realism generally doesn’t improve comprehension or understanding. In these contexts, referencing inline cylinder engines would have made the analogies more clunky.

I agree, i’m 6foot 1 and I have the 2 and 3 drawer packout drawers on the roller base with a small parts organizer, and a work top. it’s perfect for my labtop in the shop. but I always thought man a single drawer would be soooo good.

Construction is highly regional, but in areas I’ve worked we don’t really use brad nails longer than 1 1/2″ for casing to jamb conections. We use 2″ 16 ga nails for trim over wallboard, and 2 1/2″ 15 ga for setting doors. Kind of makes it easy. 3 guns, 3 sizes of nail.

I’m excited about the forge batteries, and from what I can see, it looks like Mikwaukee’s method of gaining more power from an 18v platform is by continually increasing the current capacity of its best batteries.

It makes sense, as after all, we use mere 12v car batteries (with loads of cranking amps) to start those heavy gas engines.

I’ve noticed that some of the better cylindrical cells on the market are rated for some extremely high discharge currents. For instance, Molicel’s P45B 21700 cell is good for an outstanding 45 amps.

I wonder what the per cell current rating in the Forge batteries will be.

Thanks for the link. This answers my next question, which is whether or not this pass through system is compatible with the design used by gearwrench and a few others. Apparently the answer is no.

Still, this is an exciting development.