We recently posted about the new Dewalt FlexVolt cordless pipe threader, but since Milwaukee’s was announced earlier and showcased at NPS19, press and sales materials (rightfully) describe it as an industry first. With preorder shipping expectations of September 2019, it’s looking like the Milwaukee might also ship first.
Milwaukee describes the M18 Fuel cordless pipe threader, model 2874, as providing a pipe threading experience that’s unmatched by corded tools, and eliminates the need for cheater bars, ropes, or pipe supports.
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Specifically, Milwaukee says that their new brushless pipe threader is faster than corded tools, and also lighter than the leading corded solution. The new pipe threader also offers “unmatched control,” and “simplifies the entire experience from start to finish.”
The new Milwaukee cordless pipe threader features One-Key and Autostop kickback control, which activates during lock-up situations to automatically shut down the tool.
It also features a dedicated support am which can clamp onto a pipe to hold the tool stationary during threading. Additional features include an integrated die head retention lock, to prevent unwanted die ejection. They say that this feature and the inline side grip eliminate the need to contact the spinning die head at the start of threading.
With One-Key you also get wireless tracking and managing. They also say the tool can be secured, which I would think means it can be locked out to prevent unauthorized use. (We’re working to confirm this.)
Milwaukee’s cordless pipe threader can work with black iron pipe, stainless steel, and rigid metal conduit up to 2″.
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- 1/8″ to 2″ pipe capacity
- Compatible with Ridgid 12-R, Reed R12+ die heads
- More than 25 2″ BIP threads on a single charge (presumably with a 12.0Ah battery)
- Multi-speed selector
- Variable speed trigger
- Die head retention lock
The new Milwaukee cordless pipe threader will be available as a bare tool (2874-20) or as a kit (2874-22HD) that comes with a Rapid Charger and (2) HD 12.0Ah battery packs. Both versions come with the threading support arm and carrying case.
Price: $1399 for the bare tool and $1699 for the kit
Shipping ETA: Start of September 2019
Buy Now(Bare Tool via Acme Tools)
Buy Now(Bare Tool via Ohio Power Tool)
Buy Now(Kit via Acme Tools)
Buy Now(Kit via Ohio Power Tool)
If you need pipe threading heads, Ohio Power Tool has Ridgid 12R in several sizes, as well as a manual kit. You can also find these die heads elsewhere.
Buy Now(via Ohio Power Tool) – scroll down to see the 12R die heads.
Buy Now(via Amazon)
Discussion
A lot of you might be wondering how this new Milwaukee cordless pipe threader compares with the Dewalt Flexvolt model. Good question. I’m not intimately familiar with pipe threaders, but can identify a few differences.
First, the Milwaukee has a simpler support clamp. The Dewalt seems to have a lever-actuated pipe clamp, compared to the screw-down clamp on Milwaukee’s, but the Dewalt accessory also looks much larger.
Dewalt has en enclosed battery box and specially enhanced FlexVolt batteries. The Milwaukee kit gives you 12.0Ah batteries, and Dewalt’s gives you 9.0Ah batteries. Both kits are the same price – $1699.
If I had to guess, I’d predict that there might be a “free bonus with rebate” deal, which is often true for their press tools. Here’s a previous discussion on Milwaukee E-Rebates, and here’s the direct page showing current offers.
Both tools have auto-stop or E-clutch features. Milwaukee’s has One-Key, for built-in tracking, management, and security.
You can get the Dewalt as a tool + die head bundle. Milwaukee didn’t invest in having to make or offer their die heads. Both are designed to be compatible with Ridgid 12-R die heads. Reed R12+ are said to be interchangeable with 12-R, so you could use that brand of die head – and other compatible brands – as well.
The Milwaukee cordless pipe threader has a speed selector switch, which I’m guessing is the black knob on top with “1” and “2” positions, as well as a variable speed trigger.
The two tools are different enough that someone more experienced with pipe threading tools will have to chime in about whether one design is more preferable over the other.
As of now, it looks like Milwaukee’s cordless pipe threader is still on track to be the “industry’s first.” NPS19 new tool show press materials originally had a July 2019 ETA, and preorder pages now give a September 1st, 2019 ETA. Dewalt’s model, which might have been announced earlier than anticipated, has a “late 2019” ETA.
So, what do you think about the new Milwaukee M18 Fuel cordless pipe threader?
fred
“It also features a dedicated support am which can clamp onto a pipe to hold the tool stationary during threading”
I was skeptical about one hand operation (when I commented about the Dewalt) – but maybe this clamp does allow you to take your second hand off the front grip.
They say “and eliminates the need for cheater bars, ropes, or pipe supports.” – but they do show the pipe supported in a tripod pipe vise.
I can see my ex-compatriots buying on to try it out. Since my selling-up and retiring they have invested in a batch of Milwaukee Force Logic press tools, PEX expanders, drain snakes, and super hole hawgs – so I don’t think they will jump ship for the Dewalt – unless cutting oil ruins the Milwaukee batteries – or the Milwaukee isn’t up to the job.
Oleg K
I’ve tried both the dewalt and the Milwaukee demos, the Milwaukee is, by far, the easiest and works really well. The one we were given was a preproduction unit and the cycle had to be restarted each time you paused but still, Milwaukee is an amazing company, I absolutely love their products!
It feels as if Dewalt and others are simply piggybacking on Milwaukee’s ideas and don’t invent anything new, for the most part. I especially like the way Milwaukee solved the power problems by changing the voltage and wattage in their batteries and upping the current, without ever resorting to just starting a new line of batteries and coming up with new voltages… By which I, of course, mean Dewalt and their clumsy 60v flexvolt line of tools and Hilti’s attempt to capitalize on their customers buying the new 22v batteries instead of improving the old ones. still making 18v tools that are not in any way worse or slower than Dewalt’s and way, way better than what Hilti has to offer.
Just to be clear I don’t work for Milwaukee or Milwaukee-related companies, I just appreciate clever, user-friendly engineering and new ideas.
Troy H
Oh no,… Dewalt created an extension to their existing battery line which allowed more power to be extracted from the packs without demanding more current from the cells by using the crazy inelegant solution of the physics of electricity. Just throwing more current at a problem is the least elegant way of increasing power output. You throw bigger cells and more copper at the problem instead of increasing the voltage. Milwaukee didn’t change the voltage, it’s still the same nominal 18V that it’s always been.
FlexVolt is backwards compatible with regular 20V max tools, so is it really “a whole new line of batteries”?
They both make nice tools, but your stance is not actually grounded in reality. It really sounds like you are very very biased in any evaluation you do.
Altan
I get angry with DeWALT quite a lot, but your comment is unfair, I have used a lot of different tools from DeWALT and they were all good except the radio/charger, grinder and light, the light was abused but not the grinder and radio/charger. I never had any issues with their other tools that I had to deal with warranty. The same with my friends’ DeWA,T tools. DeWALT is just a bit lazy in making new tools and specially in upgrading their old tools. I do believe all SBD brands should use the same battery, which some do and some do not.
Kent
Yeah plus when one gets announced a month after the other it’s not like dewalt was able to bust out model after Milwaukee announced it. Dewalt has been working on this for awhile.
Stuart
That happens sometimes.
A few years ago, Stanley showcased a new magnetic tape measure at a small media event, but it was covered by embargo, meaning we couldn’t talk about it until a certain date. Milwaukee announced a new magnetic hook tape measure before Stanley’s embargo was lifted. It was obvious that both tools were coincidentally developed around the same time.
Sometimes tool ideas or designs are copied, but that’s the nature of manufacturing in general, and it’s a big driving force for progress.
JoeM
Y’know what would really help? Seeing a Corded version of one of these. Not that it matters much, but without some reference as to the usual… issues? Problems? Annoyances? that come with “A Pipe Threader” in the same Electric class these are supposed to be replacing? It’s hard to imagine much of anything different about these two.
And, yes… I’m aware fred can probably blow our minds with images of the pre-electric ones that would make us cringe and grab one of these for comfort and safety. He is awesome at that stuff. I’m wondering more why the Rigid R-12, and Reed 12R+ heads are worth both companies “Bragging” about being compatible with them. If they’re drastically different systems, or if they’re nearly identical, it would cut some of the Marketing BS out of comparing the two devices.
Personally? That M18 secondary handle on the head looks a little uncomfortable, and a bit jagged. If it’s meant to be used all day on a job, it’d be nice to know if the ergonomic handles matter on this tool.
Also… Just a note that might help, maybe it’s a correction in the article here? But the DeWALT lists more materials it’s compatible with. Knowing whether those materials matter at all is also helpful for cutting through all the Marketing BS for these two machines.
Not to get all Conspiracy Theory on anyone, or summon Altan’s wrath on these things… but we all know that both DeWALT and Milwaukee are very good at Marketing Double-Talk, and it would be nice to cut all that out, and just see the two in a raw No-BS form. If they’re not THAT different, then it comes down to brand/system familiarity that sells them. And if I WAS doing this kind of pipe threading, it would be nice to know if it’s truly WORTH looking beyond the brand you own here. Milwaukee users should probably feel comfortable with their purchase, and whether it’s worth the company making a set of heads for it like DeWALT did. And DeWALT users should probably want to know if this is one of DeWALT’s hits or if it’s something they’ll abandon. Those heads look very expensive on the DeWALT side of things.
Frank
https://steeldragontools.com/products/pipe-threading-machines/sdt-600-pro/
We have this one at work. Its basically the same thing with a cord. We don’t have the vise with the support bar though so you have to push down hard on the handle when running and if it binds up it can pick you off the floor or rip itself out of your hands pretty easily. You have to hose the die down with cutting oil continuously and collect the big metal chips and oil in a bucket underneath.
Stuart
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GoV43tD9WQ
JoeM
The inventor side of me is seeing that video, and wondering why the tool known as a “Pipe Threader” isn’t formatted more like a table saw, or planer these days. A fixed device that sits on a stand, while you feed the device through a clamped depth-limiter device. You know, clamp the pipe into a depth-setting clamp, activate the button on the cutter, and it automatically draws it in, cuts the thread, and stops at the depth stop before auto shut off happens, and the pipe springs back out for the next one.
I’m looking at that device, imagining the Milwaukee and DeWALT versions, and my thinking keeps going to “Why is the industry standard to do it the dangerous way? There’s too much potential to torque the whole device out of your hands, and hurt wrists, knuckles, and god-knows-what-else.”
Isn’t most of the industrialised world pretty dependent on threaded pipe? Electrical conduit, plumbing, network fibre optic channels, just to name the first few off the top of my head here.
I KNOW these pipe threaders are pretty necessary for our existence in the modern world… I’m just left with so many questions as to why THIS is the solution that tool users have come up with to do the job. I’m very confused by this. I would think that people who design tools don’t want to risk injury to the user, wouldn’t they? And, wouldn’t such a high-torque design have pissed off enough users to have the design changed by now? I can’t believe “Tight Spaces” or “Portability” are issues with this device… look at all you have to set up to use it safely.
I’m sure it’s a great tool… but… there has to be a better way, doesn’t there? Power tool, yes, handheld, no. Perhaps a rolling and locking station like DeWALT’s famous rolling Miter Saw Stand? I dunno. This is all new to me, and there are red, yellow, and pirate flags going off in my head on these tools. I just see so much wrong with the design!
For those of you who use these devices… PLEASE… Stay safe out there! These tools do NOT look like a fun thing to use!
Corey Moore
These portable threaders are necessary, but not the standard. The standing ones in which you clamp the pipe in via two collars, and then spins the entire pipe while you hand turn a knob to apply the preset dies into the pipe until they bite and self feed- those are the standard. Portables, or pony threaders, which these are, have their uses now and again, but no body threading pipe for a living would ever choose these over portables if the situation allows for it.
Corey Moore
Nobody would choose these portables over a stand-alone* completely said the opposite of what I was trying to there lol sorry. Portables, electric or battery, are not going to replace stand alone threading machines as anyone’s standard.
JoeM
Now THAT setup, I understand. Adding a nice motor to that setup so it’s push-button electric, I would ALSO understand. Battery or Corded, it makes way more sense to me to, if you’re GOING to motorise this process, it might as well be safely secured, and turn the PIPE!
Drew smith
The article referenced some sort of torque limiting shut off on the Milwaukee which I presume would limit the issue of lock up and twist up the user…??
Corey Moore
I have and continue to give props to Milwaukee regarding the pipe threader and other great tools, but their marketing drives me up the wall. Even if the threader hadn’t been the first to market, they’d have claimed it was on some lawyer-esque technicality. Like the industry “first” insulated lineman wrenches, by way of a UL listing, and ignoring other companies’ ASMI and other certifications. And the “first” lineman impact wrench, by way of a slightly longer handle, and ignoring that the form factor, application, and literally every other feature from chuck to settings had been done long before their first. Personally I prefer dewalt tools, from a combination of poor experiences with early Milwaukee, my subjectively superior ergonomics, great personal experiences with their longevity, and for some reason Milwaukee tools always seem to be much heavier than other brands. That being said, I wouldn’t take anything away from Milwaukee, simply because I’m not “team red.” Of these two, I’d choose the dewalt first off, because of my battery investment lol beyond that, as an industrial/commercial electrician that dabbles in our other departments like plant maintenance and development, I see the larger more robust clamp mechanism as a plus, because pony threaders suck, and you want support, regardless of how anyone’s chosen to hype their new baby. To continue, I’d consider them both equal in merit for their current reputation and performance of the Flexvolt/HDHO lines, but being in Dewalt I therefore don’t see any detraction in that the yellow one is part of the outstanding flexvolt line. While it annoys me that Milwaukee is finding success in convincing people that being first out the gate is all that matters, yet there is some truth to the significance and reputation garnered in innovation. I’d counter that not being pitched a rehashed version of basic core tools every year is indicative of reliability. In any case, I’ve rambled more than enough, given the topic, and I’m going to seek some sleep before my next night shift lol I look forward to the comments yet to come, as always. And thanks as always, for all the great coverage and this forum, Stu!?
SurvivalSpec
“Compatible with Ridgid die heads” that’s great versatility since Ridgid leads the industry in thread cutting. I’ll have to check the FLEXVOLT to see if they are compatible too.
fred
I think that the Ridgid (Emerson-Ridge Tool Co.) 12R die heads are pretty much the universal standard. We had dies heads and ratchet handled from Ridgid, Reed and Wheeler Rex and the Ridgid 700 series corded threading die power drive (the corded equivalent of these tools). With the exception of some really old smaller die sets – the drop in die heads were all pretty much interchangeable. If I recall right – even the German Rothenberger threaders use the Ridgid standard die heads.
As far as stationary machines – the ones we had did not use drop-in die heads – but some had replaceable heads for different operations – like for threading rod or to speed up repetitive treading operation. Of the bigger machines we had on my watch – the guys like a somewhat ancient Oster machine.
BTW – some corded power drives – like the Wheeler Rex – come with the same sort of clamp and reaction-arm as this cordless Milwaukee. I know that with the corded tool – as Frank mentioned – there is lots of torque being generated by the tool – and if the dies grab – the pipe may turn – even if snugged up well in the vise. Originally Ridgid had recommended using a yoke style vise to hold the pipe – possibly because that style puts serrated jaws above and below the pipe – rather than having a chain hold the pipe into only one set of jaws under the pipe. As I noted – on the Dewalt post – we thought of this as a 2-person operation – with the helper squirting out the cutting oil – and sometimes using a pipe wrench to oppose the rotation of the power drive – an especially useful precaution on larger pipe.
The What?
I don’t think that these will be replacing the electric ones anytime soon. What’s the runtime on these tools with the batteries that they come with? As we all know what’s printed on the packaging doesn’t reflect the amount of work that you’re going to get out of the tool based on the battery amphours. And the time it takes to set up to use one of these isn’t always a luxury that’s affordable. I’ve seen the electric ones used in the field and it was a slow process. They spent more time setting the tool up for use than they did threading pipe. I’ve always used another guy holding the pipe with 2 pipe wrenches and my Crane set and some motor oil (if it’s readily available) hanging out the back of my truck bed or standing up if it’s short enough. Threading pipe is a relatively easy task as long as you can hold it still. And when I’m by myself, I use u-bolts and a piece of lumber clamped to a deck railing. Extend the wood out enough for the u-bolts to go through and clamp the pipe. Either way it takes about 2 minutes or less per side. And if you have to run lines for a commercial or residential facility such as a warehouse or a neighborhood full of newly built homes, I don’t think that a cordless diestock (pipe threader) is going to suffice. I’d definitely want an electric one if I had that much pipe to install. And being that the ridgid dies can be used with either of these, then why wouldn’t you just buy the ridgid? You wouldn’t have to worry about the battery dying when you’re in the middle of trying to thread 80 yards of black iron pipe . Plus you know it’s from a company that makes good plumbing tools. Milwaukee and Dewalt aren’t known for their plumbing tools. I don’t recall them ever making any. I don’t do enough pipe threading to shell out $2k for the tools but if I did, I’d buy the electric ridgid.
JoeM
Key word here: YOU don’t recall.
Both companies have a long history of making tools for plumbers. Milwaukee makes more of them than DeWALT does, and I don’t have time to list them all. And even if I did, you don’t seem to care anyways. Why you POST about not caring is beyond me. You’re bound, bent, and determined to do things like it’s the 19th century still, and that’s nothing to brag about. Plus, the way you describe it, I see huge gaps in your safety there.
If you’re going to complain, at least don’t admit you’re more comfortable risking digits and injuries for the sake of preserving manual labour over power tools. I have my doubts about these threading machines too, but what you just posted doesn’t follow any kind of logic, nor is it really tangible. You leap from one point to another, and don’t finish any thoughts. It’s hard to follow, and what I CAN follow just seems… wrong… Either dangerous or ignorant (like saying Milwaukee doesn’t make plumbing tools, for instance.)
So… Seriously man… If you’ve got a point to make, could you make it, please? Trolling us for no reason doesn’t make sense.
fred
To be fair – Milwaukee is fairly new to the plumbing tool business – when compared to companies like Ridgid (Ridge Tool – Emerson) , Reed and Wheeler Rex. But back in the 1920’s plumbers were probably saying the same thing about Ridgid compared to Walworth or the Erie Tool Works and their Stillson wrenches. Today – you can no longer buy (new anyway) a pipe threader from Erie, Nye Tool (Chicago) or Toledo Tool – some of the brands I recall still seeing on the job back in the 1960’s. But Ridgid, Reed and Wheeler Rex remain – while Milwaukee (once makers mostly of portable electric power tools) and Dewalt (once a brand for radial arm saws) have been moving more and more into hand tools and tools for more trades. Meanwhile, if you want to own a more robust threading machine – you can still buy an Oster – and they’ve been in business since the 1880’s
JoeM
Quite true, fred. Many of these companies didn’t do in the 1900’s what they do today. It doesn’t mean everything from 2000 onward should be opposed from existing. Nor does it mean if you CAN improvise a device out of junk, that you SHOULD.
There’s a point buried in What’s post somewhere, and I’m just trying to figure out what that is… and the pun is not intended, his name makes many responses into puns by accident, though I would love to be able to laugh about all this later anyways. Something about the wandering plot, and the odd punctuation, is throwing me off in understanding it. Any hostility in my tone is from my personal life right now, and I probably should apologise for that leakage now, as it’s no one else’s problem (or business, really) if I’m a little hostile right now.
I do miss the craftsmanship taken in older, nearly lost, arts. But, that doesn’t mean I don’t recognise when something new might be helpful in the same, hand-crafted work. Someone invents a Blacksmith shop that can function entirely using Titanium tools, without steel, iron, or wood, I’m not going to be a puritan and say it never should have been trusted. But, that’s just an example, I doubt there’s enough interest in the work of a Smith anymore to even attempt such a thing. But, if push comes to shove, progress usually teaches us something good. If anything, it could teach us what NOT to do, at the very least.
What’s point about just buying the Rigid version, if these things use Rigid heads anyways, strikes a cord with me… Again… No pun intended, this topic is full of pun minefields that I don’t wish to hit or make a mockery of. It is actually bugging me, now that the issue is brought up. What makes the Rigid R-12, and Reed 12R+ heads so special that Teams Yellow and Red are BOTH claiming their standards for their entry into this tool? Are these heads, at all, close to the threading blanks used in the device Corey Moore was talking about for threading pipe?
Something about the DeWALT and Milwaukee press releases for these tools is just… not sitting right with me, y’know? There’s this very weird, uneasy feeling about what is going on, and I can’t put my finger on it. Some posts on this article are hitting parts of it, and others not so much… but it is seriously bugging me that I can’t put my finger on where this weird feeling is coming from on this tool. Could be a safety concern, could be an efficiency concern, could be I think this is the least effective way this issue could have been solved, or the design of this tool makes no sense to me somehow. I WISH I had the 10-50 years of experience required for me to understand this, but I don’t. I just know that Threaded Pipe is not going away in the modern world, nor should it, and if this is my first glimpse into that process… I’m spun around, and pointing every which way but the destination.
Corey Moore
https://www.ridgid.com/us/en/535a-automatic-threading-machine
The is the standard threading machine? Safety is a big concern with the portable electric ones that have been referenced already, because of the torque they use to literally cut the the threads into pipe, and I do believe that the battery powered ones coming out may address that concern quite well with their setup which seems to secure both the pipe and the tool to the pipe. Portable threaders’ necessity comes when you’re perhaps installing or altering pipe runs that don’t allow you to remove/reinstall said pipe, generally due to locations that are impossible to remove/reinstall it, either from being boxed in, or having it’s bends/saddles making spinning its connection impossible. The new hazards introduced with the portables is throwing yourself if it bites and cannot cut, or damaging the pipe by twisting or bending it in the same situation. Like any tool, I’m sure you could find uses for it that exceed it’s intention, like using a portable one exclusively for all threading by strapping both your pipe and the portable threader to separate tripods, but it’s simply not intelligent to try and be a professional pipe installer with this method and forego the better machine. This is why I’ve previously been critical of Milwaukee’s claims of revolutionizing threading with the battery option, and I’ll be just as critical should I hear the same from Dewalt. What they’ve made is impressive, but it’s just a battery powered version of a debatably safe/efficient method that is still miles behind the better option and real standard.
fred
@ Corey Moore
Good and accurate observations.
You say:
“I do believe that the battery powered ones coming out may address that concern quite well with their setup which seems to secure both the pipe and the tool to the pipe. ”
If I recall correctly – the Ridgid corded 700 came with a support arm attached to a yoke-style pipe vise. You were supposed to place it on the pipe ahead of the power drive and position its reaction arm so as to oppose the torque from the power drive as it is cutting threads. The Wheeler Rex 640 comes with a clamp and reaction arm – very similar to what Milwaukee is providing with their new cordless tool. Both add-ons should work to reduce some of the hazard of using a power drive – unless you choose not to (or can’t) use them because of confined space or for some other reason.
I agree wholeheartedly with you that bringing a machine like the Ridgid 535A to the job – or using one like the Oster 784 we had in the shop – is a much better option if you can apply it. Most of the machines also provide cut-off and reaming capability – while you need to do these operations separately if you use a power drive.
Chip
I am not a Dewalt fan, however their power station has been used to run corded threader.
$1600 buys quite a few batteries.
But 30lbs? Vs 500lbs for the coreded+ loading/unloading space in the van….
James
I have used this tool up to 1” black pipe with no problem. I have been trying to thread 2” black pipe sch40 with a rigid die head and it will not put out a decent thread on for the life of me. I had to get my buddies 300 to complete the job. Has any one else had the same problems? It’s almost as if the die head openings are not big enough to let the shavings out. I have tried everything and the out come has been the same. Destroyed threads. Maybe Milwaukee die heads would be better for this tool?
Paul
I use the DeWalt cordless an it tears the threads really badly at 1 1/2 ” and 2″. I’ve looked everywhere to see if anybody else is having the same problems and this is the first post I have found. I have tried literally everything. Oil Change, die brand change, then even thought it was the schedule 40 black iron quality dropping. Did you manage to sort it out? We tape and dope the threads and obviously pressure test, but still can’t avoid really bad threads. I would love to find somebody that has resolved this issue. Was your problem with the Milwaukee or Dewalt?
James
I was using the milwaukee cordless threader with a brand new Ridgid die head for 2” pipe. There’s no way you can get decent thread on schedule 40 black pipe. I checked with a lot of plumbers and gas fitters and I think most guys just thread up to 1” pipe because of 2 pound gas systems so most never even tried to thread bigger pipe with the milwaukee hand threader. Maybe thinner pipe would work for electricians and other none gas applications. I also own the Ridgid 690 hand threader brand new kit and the outcome was the absolute same. No big threads allowed. Not sure why? The hand threaders definitely have the power but the die openings don’t seem big enough to let the shavings fall out fast enough. The Steel pipe is always questionable but the steel I was using was actually pretty nice stuff from Andrew sheret. I know milwaukee makes a 2” die head that’s supposed to have bigger openings on the die for the shavings to fall out better, honestly I think the out come would be the same. At this point I’m going to purchase a Ridgid 300. The cordless threader is nice for small pipe but there’s no way in hell it can thread 2” schedule 40 black pipe. Disappointing because I do a lot of 2” black threading and having to lift my buddy’s 300 is only getting tougher lol. Maybe milwaukee can prove me wrong but I’m not spending another 300$ on a die head to have the same out come. Let me know your guy’s thoughts. Thanks
Paul
Hi, thanks for your information, I thought I was going mad. I have read something about the milwaukee in a review somewhere, use the slower speed when threading above 1”. Have you tried this yet, I know the dewalt doesn’t have the option to adjust speeds like the dewalt. Thank god I found yore post, I nearly bought a milwaukee threader.
There’s a new Ridgid cordless, I can’t get it here in Ontario, I contacted Ridgid and they are awful, they just kept pointing me to Home Depot which don’t stock them in Canada. I’ll be buying dies from eBay, or trying the steel dragon copies. If you actually find out a solution please let me know, did you try the lower speed on the milwaukee?
I just re-read your post and I agree the die seems to spin too fast tinker the shavings out, we’ve adjusted our dies, using a pre-made nipple and it just seemed to butcher the threads further. As I said we get around the damaged threads by taking them doling before fitting, this way even the worst threads won’t leak but it’s not ideal.
jake
That is a good question.
The user manual “Selecting Speed” section does say:
For pipe diameter 1 1/4″ or larger, turn the dial to “1”.
For pipe diameter less than 1 1/4″, turn the dial to “2”.
Paul
Did you try turning it down, i you didn’t and you going to give it another try one day on the lower speed, please let me know. Then maybe, it’ll allow the shavings to be released, unlike the dewalt.
James
I tired both speeds with the milwaukee threader. I tired going back and forth cleaning as it went. No dice. I honestly did about 20 2” pipe threads and only one turned out to be usable. The threader had actually broke the hold back and bent the pipe. Power is not the issue. It’s got to be something with the shavings I think. I really wanted this tool to work on 2” pipe. The Ridgid cordless hand threader will probably do the same because of the die. I even got my old man to come and watch just in case he spotted anything unusual lol. If you guys figure it out make a YouTube video lol. Thanks
Paul
Thanks buddy, I think I am going to try backing off, then re-starting. Got nothing to lose at this point. Yeah, I have tried everything too, then the odd time it’ll come out almost perfect and you think you’ve cracked it, then back to ripped threads.I read one guy say don’t put too much oil on, that I haven’t tried, but I can’t see that causing it unless it causes the shavings to stick. I will certainly let you know if I crack the code.