Wire Belt Hook for Drills

This project was a painful learning experience for me. I had some specific requirements of this.

- No warranty voiding (I have had this replaced under warranty once for developing a fault, while it's an extremely good cordless drill, I can drive 2-4" screws all day with two batteries [not the pricey supersize ones, just 1.3ah] and the charger without stopping and it can make it through my ridiculously tough walls.) If it falls and breaks, well the warranty point will seem moot.
- So it hooks on to the body of the drill
- Removable
- I can climb a ladder with it

I realise

This project wouldn't be necessary if somebody won that wire bender, this is a perfect use case for something like that, making prebent clips for just about any tool that get posted flat and only require a few right angles to be bent by the customer. They could do the crimps too or you could cut down on the pieces with some sensible soldering/spot welding. Hint, if you win the metal contest please stop people from having to follow this guide, just send me a less ugly clip as a reward :)

If anybody from Ryobi happens to read this, please add a belt clip... Actually a ONE+ battery with a clip would be easier to add to all the small tools. So yeah, large corporation, do that.

Anyway, read on if you'd like to make a sinfully ugly but really rather effective and sturdy belt hook for your drill.

*CAUTION* I can't say for sure this won't somehow void your warranty, it simply does not modify the tool itself. In any case a truculent manufacturer/retailer could certainly posit that this was misuse or abuse of the tool. So follow at your own risk.

Step 1: Tools and Materials

So I didn't end up using my hammer...

Tools:
- Carpenter's Pincers (If you're really determined, these can do it all but it's a lot more effort)
- Small adjustable wrench (clamping and bending)
- A pair of snips, big tin snips aren't bad for this
- The drill as a form or is it a material now?

Materials:
- A coat hanger
- Paint, if you like or y'know nail polish...

Step 2: Make a Hook

I've seen similar mouldings on a lot of drills, depending on your handle you may be able to begin there and follow on that way, the side this first attachment sits to should be based on whether you're left or right handed and whether your drill will hang upside down or not.

Step 3: Bring It Round to the Side

So to make the first right angle and most of the subsequent ones I used a small adjustable wrench like a clamp and my hand to bend the corner.

So bring the right angle to the side you want the clip on and bend the wire round the back corner of the drill, choose where your downward right angle goes in a way that doesn't interfere with the battery clips or getting the battery in and out.

Step 4: Bring It Back Up

Another right angle straight back up starts forming the clip. There's logic in this, prior attempts showed that a single U shape up and down wasn't really sturdy enough for the weight of a drill.

Step 5: And Back Down

I made a more U shaped end to this, partly because the wire was a bit mangled - two right angles will be better looking.

Step 6: To the Front

Using two right angles, one to go along the side and another to take the wire through the bit holder - bit holders are really common but other options could be considered.

Step 7: Come Back on Yourself

To make the U shape, nip the wire in the end of your pliers, wrench or pincers and wrap the wire round the nose of them with your other hand.

The U shouldn't be really flat, to take advantage of the bit holder.

Step 8: Tie It Off

Loop the wire over the side piece and tie it over. Clip it off as neatly as you can, if it's bother clip it off and worry about tidying it later once the hook is together - you can remove this whole once it's done.

Step 9: Tying It All Together

Make a U shape in the middle of the remaining wire.

Step 10: Twist Round

Twist the U shaped piece around the intersection of the right angles

Step 11: Clip It

Twist this piece in as well as you can and nip on side off, it should still be relatively easy to move around.

Step 12: Bend the Tail

Make a bend in the tail of the wire left from the twist - this isn't going downwards but there's an awkward bit coming up.

Step 13: Turn It Over

Twist the angle piece you just bent over until it's facing upwards, the twist should be able to slip around to follow.

Step 14: Make a Hook

Slip the bit you just twisted upwards under the original piece and make a rough hook over it, don't worry about getting it crimped on too much.

Step 15: To Remove...

To remove this clip is actually pretty simple, pop the front loop in the bit holder forward, it's in there pretty firmly, or should be, if not you can widen the loop after taking it off. To unhook the back handle, turn the whole lot upwards and back towards the handle, to unhook, lean it in towards the handle.

Step 16: Make It, Eh Pretty...

Squeeze and crimp all the hooked connections to tighten them down, pliers will do but the nature of carpenter's pincers make them really good at squeezing down these hooked pieces.

Since I made a sweet octopus belt that I wanted a matt, rough finish on I've been finding good use for cheap matt black nail polish. On metal it provides a surprisingly tough finish that feels pretty nice. The trick here is to put it on relatively thick and make sure it was really cheap.

This poundland pretty polish is perfect.

It will chip under impact but it doesn't wear away very easily.

Step 17: You're Done

Congratulations for getting through this experience, if you follow this with straighter wire you'll get a prettier result and probably have an easier time of it.

Step 18: