I’ve been hearing a lot about impact drivers lately, and have considered purchasing one. I’m a homeowner, not a tradesman, but I’ve done a lot of remodeling over the years. I’ve always used corded or cordless drills for driving screws. My two cordless drills are a 9.6v DeWalt and a 14.4v Bosch. Each drill is over ten years old, but I recently had the batteries rebuilt and they perform like new. I’ve considered buying just the impact driver to work with the batteries I have, but haven’t had much luck finding one. Most of the screws that I use would be for door hinges, occasional cabinet or furniture work, and other projects of this scale. I have a Milwaukee right angle drill that I’ve used for larger stuff, like lag bolts. My question is; Is it worth buying a whole new cordless tool, batteries, and charger just to drive screws? Is an impact driver really that different than using a regular cordless drill? If so, what is the minimum voltage size I should look for?
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Replies
Well for starters I LOVE my impact driver for just about everything, except for the two things you mentioned. You get much more feel for how tight screws are with a drill, and drills have clutch settings to keep from over driving. On door hinges and especialy cabinets I would be careful with an impact driver. They just keep ratteling away while they drive the screw right through the wood or break off the screw head. On the other hand I love impact drivers for remodeling. I use torx structural screws all the time for framing, especialy in old houses where nothing is square and most likely you will need to remove stuff you already put in. I don't even have a framing gun, there is just no need, unless you are building a house or doing large projects. Hope that helps some!
"Need" is relative. I was on the fence about spending $200-300 for a quality impact driver so I bought a cheap brand at HD on sale for $99, with a drill. If I liked it, great. If I don't, not out too much money.
I like it, drive every screw with it. After 3 years of hobby use it's still going. When it dies I'll upgrade. My son has a LI Ridgid driver that's scarrry powerful.
Yes, you do need one. I got one for XMAS, it is far superior to a drill for driving screws. Drove a 1/4" lag bolt into a pair of 2 x 4s without a pilot hole. And this is from a cheepo Craftsman 19.2v version. Very useful.
Got one a couple of years ago & "can't live without it." I am a homeowner/diy-er not a pro but these just run circles - imo - around the drill/driver combos. When the going gets tough these things just keep going & going... particularly for driving long screws. Have not found a source of Torx head fasteners - would love to - but Robertson (square head) work well for me. Even with Philips head ("+") I find that there is much less tendency to cam out. Everyone has a favorite brand - not going there - so I suggest that you stick with the same brand as your current tools to avoid the multi-battery hassle.
As an infrequent user (not daily like a pro) the battery power is usually not necessary & it is heavier than corded tools. Otoh, battery power, at present, seems to be the only game in town - almost. North of the 49th Crappy Tire (Canadian Tire) sold a corded version but I have not tried it & have not seen it recently in local stores - discontinued? If not, wait awhile for it to be on sale - often half price or less. Don't know if there is a US seller or not.
I'm a remodeler and I often
I'm a remodeler and I often don't use the impact around clients because of the loud sounds it makes. If it's just me, or if I'm outside and want the client to know I'm alive and everything is going well I'm more likely to use it, but often I'd rather use the much quieter drill. 90% of the time I leave the impact in the truck.
Having said that, the high initial speeds of the impact are handy for many light duty tasks and it does make a great addition to the drill when a countersink is being used. The impact is often better at countersinking than actually driving, especially with deck screws.
being a diy, maybe you don't
being a diy, maybe you don't "need" one, but they are great for driving screws. put down a deck with mine and it's almost 10yrs old. also, it saves your drill.
The impact driver's forte is
The impact driver's forte is pushing while turning the fastener. Have you ever tried to sink a self-drilling point screw into a heavy-gauge steel stud, using a drill/driver? Instead of standing there holding the trigger in until the point makes it through the metal, the impact driver seems to immediately slam a dimple into the stud and starts threading into it right away.
We work on alot of commercial projects and need to fasten brick anchors to steel studs. I've banned drill/drivers for that purpose because they are such a waste of time compared to the impact driver.
Yes, without a doubt!. I would look at articles in fine home building and tools of the trade as well as look on Amazon and here for reviews. Check and see if there are models available as bare tools that use your existing batteries. I would imagine that bosch makes a 14.4 volt that would use your batteries. Another thought would be a reconditioned unit at one of the CPO outlets.
Once you use one, you will never want to drive a screw with a drill again. They are worth every penny.
They can take my impact drivers (18V LiON Hitachi and 10.8V LiON Makita) when they pry them out of my cold, dead fingers.
If you plan to build a deck at any point in the future... it's a MUST tool, IMHO.
Granite <--- night.
Since I bought a 'puny' 9.6v
Since I bought a 'puny' 9.6v impact driver, my various drills feel unwanted.
The impact driver is THAT much better at driving screws and drilling holes than a drill. The only thing I don't drill with it is concrete; I reserve the hammer-drill for making anchor holes there.
I think you have much better control over the fastener with an impact driver. They are variable speed, and you can give things just a tap or two more turn if they are delicate.
For your purpose, look at the smaller 10.4 to 12v kits from Bosch or Makita. They are on the low power side - not great for lag screws into pressure treated, but fine for small DIY tasks. Light too.
And yes, they are so insanely great that you will kick yourself for not have already gotten one!
"Need" one? Probably not. Should you buy one? Possibly.
First you need to under stand what it does, and how it differs from a drill. The motor is hooked to a driving plate that has two or three hammers attached to it. When you start driving something with it, the hammers are spun out and held in the driving head until the torque gets high enough that the centrifugal force is too small to keep the hammers engaged with the driving head. At that point they start to spin free, and then hammer into the driving head, converting the momentum they have gained into driving force. So, the torque that can be generted can be several times greater than the maximum the motor can generate. Plus since the motoer is now free spinning, and the rpm is high enough that the cooling fan still works, and you can't burn out the motor as easily. Actually the only way I think you could burn up the motor is to keep pushing on a weak battery, until the voltage drop / amp increase causes the motor to heat up.
This is as compared to the drill, where the slow down caused as you try to drive things down can stall the motor. Which causes the heat to go up in the windings, at the same time the cooling air gets cut off. This results in burned up / damaged motors. (If you do stall a motor, the best thing you can do is to immediately remove the load, and run it at high speed so the cooling fan, can move as much air as possible through the motor to cool things off.)
So, if you are really going to drive a lot of fasteners, the impactor makes sense.
Teh impactor also doesn't transfer very much torque back inot your hand, and arm. I messed up my elbow a few years back, and now do everything I can, including drilling, with the impact driver. It doesn't transfer the torque back up my arm like the drills do. So, for me it has become a necessity.
If speed isn't a critical issue, you can find ways to generate the torque the impactor does with other tools, so it isn't really a necessity. But it really is handy to have.