Cordless drill
- Thread starter JBR
- Start date
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Yes, I take your point. I suppose it depends how tightly it is attached. Perhaps a wrench first and then impact driver to speed things up.A quarter inch drive on a wheel nut ?
litl
D
Deleted member 174758
From experience of driving nuts used where we were splicing/repairing joist ends on a recent Victorian refurb (nothing too big - mainly 7 x 3s, 9 x 3s and a few 12 x 4s - the bolts were mainly M16); the 1/4in hex to square drive adaptors tend to twist after a while and snap off leaving you with the problem of extricating the snapped off end from inside the impact chuck which wasn't easy (too me three attempts and about 3 hours first time). In the end, having snapped two off that way (an Erbauer and a Trend Snappy) I reckoned it would be cheaper to buy an impact wrench than wreck my impact driver - so I bought a Makita DTW281 which runs rings round a weedy liytle 170Nm impact driver for nut running. It's useless as a dri, though!
The moral of the story is that these adaptors are only suitable for intermittent light use.....
The moral of the story is that these adaptors are only suitable for intermittent light use.....
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Fair enough. I'm sure I will only be undertaking occasional and light use in this respect.
In addition, when I am sure I know what I shall be doing most, I'll obtain some specialist, strong attachments.
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What?! I'm not made of money, you know!
Yes, you're right, of course. Car wheel nuts was just an afterthought.
I'll be using it for screwing and possibly bolts. Other applications would be just experimental.
I've heard that Wera screwdriver bits are the best, though expensive.
I've been experimenting, and I have to say that I wish I'd heard about impact drivers a long time ago; before I boarded the loft and before I laid some decking.
According to some reviews they are only good for large screws and bolts, and I agree to a point: it easily drove in large screws (4" no. 10) and a similar sized bolt into hardwood without a pilot hole. However, with care it dealt with small screws such as the ones on door handle plates. I found that for such screws the impact action doesn't even come in to play (provided you stop when it's fully in), which suggests to me that this tool is suitable for virtually all types of screw within reason. The best thing as far as I'm concerned is that there was no cam out. Well, I tell a lie, one screw did cam out, but that was one that had already been burred. Even that could be unscrewed without cam out, though.
I admit that I haven't attempted to do any drilling, primarily because I don't have any hex shaft drill bits yet. However, I'll bet that it is something that can be done for small jobs like pilot holes.
The other thing that came as a pleasant surprise is that none of my old PZ bits snapped. I have about a dozen of them which I'll continue to use until they go before I shell out for any 'special' bits.
According to some reviews they are only good for large screws and bolts, and I agree to a point: it easily drove in large screws (4" no. 10) and a similar sized bolt into hardwood without a pilot hole. However, with care it dealt with small screws such as the ones on door handle plates. I found that for such screws the impact action doesn't even come in to play (provided you stop when it's fully in), which suggests to me that this tool is suitable for virtually all types of screw within reason. The best thing as far as I'm concerned is that there was no cam out. Well, I tell a lie, one screw did cam out, but that was one that had already been burred. Even that could be unscrewed without cam out, though.
I admit that I haven't attempted to do any drilling, primarily because I don't have any hex shaft drill bits yet. However, I'll bet that it is something that can be done for small jobs like pilot holes.
The other thing that came as a pleasant surprise is that none of my old PZ bits snapped. I have about a dozen of them which I'll continue to use until they go before I shell out for any 'special' bits.
thanks for taking the time to give feed back
yes you can use it on smaller screws but you need finess otherwise it strips the surrounds
with most people it can be a difficult art to master so a hammer drill with a clutch is far more forgiving
yes you can use it on smaller screws but you need finess otherwise it strips the surrounds
with most people it can be a difficult art to master so a hammer drill with a clutch is far more forgiving
D
Deleted member 174758
The proof of the pudding is when you need to screw two dozen aluminium kick plates onto doors, each with 10 no. stainless steel 3.0 x 16mm screws.....
Frankly impact drivers are unsuitable for use where they will come to a "hard stop" against metal or hardwood, on soft-headed screws (i.e. stainless, brass, etc) or on very small screws (where they are far more likely to round-out a Phillips or Pozi recess). Rounding-out one recess may be a nuisance, but doing it repeatedly, or when the screws need to be removed at a later date or where the heads are visible (e.g. those kick plates, finger plates, door handles, etc) is simply not acceptable to a professional - or anyone who requires a neat finish. And that's from somebody wheo is an ardent user of them.
Frankly impact drivers are unsuitable for use where they will come to a "hard stop" against metal or hardwood, on soft-headed screws (i.e. stainless, brass, etc) or on very small screws (where they are far more likely to round-out a Phillips or Pozi recess). Rounding-out one recess may be a nuisance, but doing it repeatedly, or when the screws need to be removed at a later date or where the heads are visible (e.g. those kick plates, finger plates, door handles, etc) is simply not acceptable to a professional - or anyone who requires a neat finish. And that's from somebody wheo is an ardent user of them.
I take your point, and appreciate your advice (and that of everyone else on here for that matter). However, I have found it possible to drive screws into door handle plates and stop the driver as the screw reaches the plate without causing damage to the screw head. I am not likely to encounter the much larger examples you quote, as my use will be limited to domestic applications.
So far, I am happy to use the impact driver as it is intended and also for jobs where I'd use a normal electric screwdriver, which is why I bought it.
I know I'm going to get shouted at here(!), but I've just picked up a couple of cheapo hex-shaft drill bits (4 and 5) at an outdoor market.
Yes, as you might expect, I tried them out on the impact driver and found that it worked perfectly, even though it's not intended as a drill. Of course, it could be that they won't last long, but at 50p each I won't lose any sleep!
Yes, as you might expect, I tried them out on the impact driver and found that it worked perfectly, even though it's not intended as a drill. Of course, it could be that they won't last long, but at 50p each I won't lose any sleep!
thanks for sharing your experiences
please do share any failures as we learn more from all use information not just the good bits
Don't worry, I'm happy to share any disasters as well. I don't have any problem in admitting when I'm wrong. We all make mistakes.
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