I drill holes in posts with what might be ship auger bits. They’re like the old ones in the brace, but they are newer and are cheap asian steel.
I got this new tool. It’s a cordless Makita impact driver, ~1000 in-lbs. It came with a new beefier 1/2″ cordless drill. The old red Makita batteries gave up the ghost after 6 years.
They say impact drivers shatter non impact sockets. Would you run these bits in the impact driver?
The posts could be oak or pine. They could be penta or CCA treated. The posts could be months or 25 years old.
Generally I babied my old makita drill. 1/4″ then 3/8″ …. 3/4″. All the way through with my auger bits one by one.
I don’t want to buy a stout 3/4″ bit but I might.
BTW are the hex to 1/4″ and hex to 3/8″ deals in my dewault kit impact capable too, like with 3/8″ HF impact sockets?
TIA
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A picture is worth a 1K ...
It never occurred to me to run drill bits in my impact driver, but I suppose you could. Don't think it would work though.
I have used plain old sockets with the impact driver, and they work fine. If you are using them all the time, they might bust apart -- then you can get an impact socket set.
It has been my experience that wood bits don't work at that high RPM. Gotta couple 1/4 hex drive bits and tried them in my impact and they spin so fast that the drillings get stuck in the bit flutes and burn.On the other hand spade bits work just as well.One word of caution about using reg. sockets on an impact---They love to shatter and when they do it is chrome sharpnal. I have seen this happen on a air impact but maybe an impact driver can't juice it enough to crack it. Just food for thought.Mike" I reject your reality and substitute my own"
Adam Savage---Mythbusters
Sure, ship auger bits driven by an impact drill are used by utility linemen to drill holes in CCA-treated poles. But not cheap chinese bits. Good quality American steel, Greenlee, Klein, Lennox, or similar.
I think you'll eventually snap off a cheap bit. Then, good luck getting it out.
As far as using sockets, an impact driver will split the wall of 12-point sockets, even good ones. And it'll round the corners of the square (drive) end.
Many moons ago, I worked at Sears in the hardware dept as a college job. One day a guy brought in a bunch of 1/2" drive 12-pt sockets, all split. When the other clerk gave me the form to O.K. their replacement, I said to my fellow clerk, "hey, the drive socket corners are rounded, some ####'s been using these on an impact wrench".
To which the other clerk said, "yes, this customer right here".
Well, I thought my goose was cooked; but the customer was so embarrased at being caught in flagrant tool abuse, that when I approved the exchange, he walked away with his new sockets, a happy camper, and never a word was said.
Cliff