Firestorm Battery Eliminator
From Fusselman.org
The Project
I've got quite an array of Black & Decker Firestorm cordless tools; Specifically, the older, 14.4v Slidelock variety. I've got 2 drills (including a Special Edition aluminum one) and the reciprocating saw. I've got 3 decent batteries, a charger for each, but sometimes, it just doesn't cut it. I'd always thought about a battery eliminator for cordless tools, and how much sense it made. I finally got around to it the other day, but I couldn't find a beefy DC power supply I liked. The best I could do was a spare 12v Wii supply, which seems to be poly-fused at 4.5 amps. If you take it slow and try not to run any huge bits, it works great. Though, since I have my drill press now, the firestorms don't see much use.
Epilogue
A few months back, there was an incident where a bad battery charger (or pack, I really cant tell) started eating batteries, and bad batteries then started eating chargers. So now, I'm down from 3 batteries and chargers to 0 of each. In the meantime, I've inherited a nice Metabo HD14VSR hammer drill (not unlike the much newer SBE6600), as well as a one-off 18v Black & Decker cordless, with a fair battery (not firestorm, and not compatible)... It's likely that, in light of these events, my firestorm stables might be put out to pasture soon.
Happy news: within a week of having written this epilogue, I happened upon a great, used Milwaukee Sawzall on Craigslist for $20. Score!
