Trading tips for gutting, transferring, and carving the real thing.
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By Zombie Pumpkins!
#12592
I'm looking to pick up a new cordless drill this season. Aside from possible future home improvement jobs, my more immediate needs involve carving, of course. I plan to use a paint stripper wheel to sand down the "dreaded black line" inside my Michael's foam pumpkins. And of course, I'll be using our old pal, the Pumpkin Gutter!

I was pondering the varying levels of volts, RPMs and torque when I realized I'm not really sure what would be needed. I don't want my Pumpkin Gutter to get slowed down and tangled in seeds. Nor do I want it spinning so fast that the pumpkin goes flying across the room.

For those of you that do pumpkin work with a drill, do you have any you could recommend, which you know are a good level of power?

As I stood in the hardware store comparing drill strength specs vs. price on the various models, an employee came over to help. He said, "Well, what do you plan to use it for? Driving screws? Drilling wood? Metal? Plastic? Stone?"

I replied, "Pumpkins."

Then he just stood there and stared blankly. I handed him a ZP business card, but that only seemed to confuse him more.
User avatar
By sodajazz
#12596
zombiepumpkins wrote: Then he just stood there and stared blankly.
ROTF :lol:
I know that look ... its the one that, if you could read their minds they would be saying "is it safe to talk to you?"

Clasisic :lol:
User avatar
By amandap80
#12600
I have gotten those looks before...
"What are you going to do with all those glow sticks?"
"Why are you buying 75 pumpkins?"
"No, we don't have more than that crate of oil lights."
"I don't think we can get more than 4 bales of straw in a Ford Contour."

And yes, 4 bales is the max for a Ford Contour.

Ryan, as far as the drill goes, let me know what you find out. I have been using a 12 volt Dewalt, cordless, but we go thru 5 batteries when we gut about, oh, 50 pumpkins or so.....

I wonder if more torque would be better than more speed? Girly questions, of course. :wink:
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By CombichristGirl
#12686
this thread is great lmao. im not sure YET but im going to try some stuff with my dads 18 volt boshe and ill let u know. he uses his to drill through walls and concrete at work and only uses the two batteries hes got all day so ill ask him how the batteries do on the job.
User avatar
By S.A.M
#12833
Hi Ryan
Last year I bought a budget drill and it wasn't worth it, it could hardly gut one pumpkin before running dry, mind you it was very cheap :lol: I bought it specifically for gutting pumpkins with the pumpkin gutter I bought from the ZP Store. Anyway long story short I ended up using an over powered corded drill that scared the pants off me! No one would hold the 'kin whislt I gutted it haha

I'm looking to buy a new drill for this year and found this website useful;
http://www.cheapcordlessdrills.co.uk/

http://www.cheapcordlessdrills.co.uk/co ... ll+battery

Click through the help pages and it explains every aspect cordless drills, I know its UK centric but I think the language of drills is universal :lol:
User avatar
By Tkaraoke
#12834
I put my pumpkin in a milk crate when I gut it. I'm thinking a bungee cord should be enough to secure it from moving around too much on you.
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By Kittie
#12838
We have a Skill Cordless Drill. It's a 12volt and we have two batteries for it. Last year we gutted 40 pumpkins before the battery died.
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By Tkaraoke
#12855
I just dug out my cordless drill (12volt Dewalt) and I'm charging the batteries as we speak. I was thinking about getting a corded drill to gut pumpkins this year but I might hold off. It does the job well but the only thing is I can't figure why the PG keeps falling off the end of it. It's a chuckless set up but I can never seem to get it tight enough s so it won't come off.
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By Zombie Pumpkins!
#13597
I ended up buying an 18 volt Black & Decker drill. It seemed to be a good mix of strength and value. The package doesn't give me any specific numbers about RPMs or torque, but it has 11 different settings of varying speed and torque. Seems like it will do the trick for just about any job I need. It also came with two batteries.

Image

I tried it out with the Pumpkin Gutter and it worked amazingly well. I forgot how cool that tool is. I had that whole pumpkin cleanly gutted in probably less than 5 minutes, and barely had to get my hands wet.

I also used my drill with an extension rod and paint stripper wheel to sand down the "dreaded black line" of foam that is found inside Michael's pumpkins. It worked well, but after kicking up so much foam dust, I'm reminded why I prefer real pumpkins.
User avatar
By Tkaraoke
#13620
Are you going to be selling the official ZOMBIE PUMPKINS! Drill (tm) in the store sometime soon? LOL

Getting the two batteries would have sealed the deal for me. What brand is it and how much did it cost you?
User avatar
By Zombie Pumpkins!
#13638
Tkaraoke wrote:Are you going to be selling the official ZOMBIE PUMPKINS! Drill (tm) in the store sometime soon? LOL
Maybe someday. :lol: I wish my drill actually came in an orange/black color combo.
Tkaraoke wrote:What brand is it and how much did it cost you?
It's a Black & Decker and cost about $80. They had plenty of other models in the 100s and 200 dollar range, so I wasn't sure if this would be as good. But then again, I'm not a construction worker or full time carpenter. The model I got works great for gutting pumpkins, drilling holes in wood, and driving screws. So I'm happy.

My model isn't labeled as being part of the "Fire Storm" line, but it does seem to be about the same as this one.
By GUS
#13643
Ryan, with black & decker batteries always keep it as charged as possible, (this applies to all battery products but especially B&D as their batteries tend to go defunct if you are not REALLY rigourous in setting it back on charge when immediately finished.
User avatar
By Zombie Pumpkins!
#13644
Thanks for the tip, GUS. I'll be sure that my batteries are fully charged before embarking on a massive gutting spree. :)
By GUS
#13646
it may be a pain but have the charger nearby & swop them around often!

most people I know round herehave lost loads of B&D batteries this way, really appalling shonky batteries, so keep em topped up 7 keep that receipt handy!

..the other appalling thin is that de-walt are part of their firm!