I’ve got about 5,000 Stainless Steel / square drive deck screws to install and was wondering if a cordless impact driver would be the best choice for this task?
I have never used one of these so i need to know if it will work better than my cordless drill as far as not stripping out the square drive heads?
thanks…paul…
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Replies
Without a doubt, I wouldn't do it any other way, other than to have someone else do it. I have three of them and use them all when putting down decking. Cycles the batteries and prevents them from overheating.
"I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul." Invictus, by Henley.
You will wonder how you lived without one. Lotsa uses for them. Get extra driver bits. And practice on some scrap decking first. What are using for decking, you may need to predrill.
Once you go impact you'll never go back.
Like you need one more person to tell you:
Buy the impact driver, you'll never regret it. Get some high quality driver bits too. Not the ones that come with the screws usually, but something like the hardened ones from mcfeelys.
zak
"When we build, let us think that we build forever. Let it not be for present delight nor for present use alone." --John Ruskin
"so it goes"
Much better than a cord (less) driver. You'll have virtually no camming out of screw heads and you can easily feather the fastener to desired depth. Light weight, compact and powerful; most useful tool I've used in a quite a while.
Carl
Can anyone recommend a good model/brand of impact driver? I might as well as ask because this is a good of a place as any to ask!Handyman, painter, wood floor refinisher, property maintenance in Tulsa, OK
Get ready for people to hear that at least four different brands/sizes are the best.
Mine is an 18v bosch, works like a dream._______________________________________________________________
It ain't what you make, it's what you don't spend
Care to tell what model number it is so I can look it up online? JasonEdit: Is it like this?http://bosch.cpotools.com/impact_drivers_-_wrenches/22618.htmlRe-Edit: I found this. Sorry... the above link is for an impact wrench.http://bosch.cpotools.com/impact_drivers_-_wrenches/23618.htmlHandyman, painter, wood floor refinisher, property maintenance in Tulsa, OKEdited 3/31/2007 9:41 pm by Pebble
Edited 3/31/2007 9:43 pm by Pebble
Not quite. The pic you have is an impact wrench, with a driver for sockets. Mine is an impact driver, with a nose that accepts 1/4" driver bits.
The driver is out in the truck, I will see if I can find the model # for you.
Here it is:
http://bosch.cpotools.com/drills/cordless_fastening_drivers/23618.html
_______________________________________________________________
It ain't what you make, it's what you don't spend
Edited 3/31/2007 9:47 pm by Heck
I will give a mixed review on My Hitachi.
Good power, batteries seem to not hold up for very long.
I have the Milwaukee v28 combo but it seems they only sell impact wrenches, not drivers. I would use the batteries from my combo. This sucks.Handyman, painter, wood floor refinisher, property maintenance in Tulsa, OK
The origianl Makitas were very good. They might have been surpassed by new models of other brands."Put your creed in your deed." Emerson
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt
I think it really depends on the cordless tool series you currently own. If you are a homeowner who has nothing, and needs flexability, then I think the Ryobi 18v lineup is great. I've bounce my Ryobi impact driver off concrete more times than I care to count, and only bent the bits. Very powerful, but a little heavy if you are doing alot of overhead work. $59 for the driver, maybe another $70 for a pair of batteries and a charger if you don't buy a drill set too.
Ridgid's cordless tools now come with a lifetime warrenty - on the batteries even! Keep the box UPC's so you can register them though.Rebuilding my home in Cypress, CA
Also a CRX fanatic!
I went for the smaller volts and multiple batteries to save on weight. Lugging around an 18 volt wears my arm out after a day.
I'm old.
I went for the smaller volts and multiple batteries to save on weight. Lugging around an 18 volt wears my arm out after a day.
Had the old Makita 12v, liked it. Got stolen. Got the Bosch 9.6. Tad bit on the light side. Now using the Makita LiOn 18. Elegant tool. Quite light and fine ergonomics. The heft is more like my old 12v.
The ToolBear
"Never met a man who couldn't teach me something." Anon.
Went to lowes about 1 month ago, to replace my 18 v dewalt drill (stolen), and they had a combination 18v dewalt hammer drill and impact driver for $270. The drill and driver both work great, don't know all the details, maybe older models but I,m happy.
My first was a 12v dewalt, added a 12v Makita (both vintage about three yrs ago), sold the Makita along with a big Makita kit to a customer who liked it a lot more than I did. Added a 14.4V DW (I think it was 229 with a three speed hammer drill and two batteries), bought a 12v Bosch and it is my go to, reach for tool.
I have one of the Firestorm 12 ones that Lowes had for $29 with two batteries one time, I use it for furniture assembly when I do not want to strip anything. It is not too super but what do you want for the price of a good bottle of booze?
We put my deck down with the DeWalt drywall/deck screwgun. I now have a Senco standup and drive one that I would use if doing what you are looking at but my knees are 60 yrs old. Cheeseball that I am I saved the strips when I used it for drywall and was considering reloading with any specialty screws needed for small projects.
Bob
Ever get down to Poteau? I have a good friend who lives there._______________________________________________________________
It ain't what you make, it's what you don't spend
Sadly, no I don't. I really like going to the towns around me. I did go through it several times on the way to Arkansas when I went on my camping trips.Handyman, painter, wood floor refinisher, property maintenance in Tulsa, OK
Get out and heft them all, if you can, and see which feel comfortable to you. Do it at the end of the day, when you are already tired.Makita 18v lithium was my choice.Comfortable grip, for me at least. (only complaint is that direction control is difficult to switch to forward without changing hand position)
Powerful 3 amp-hour batteries
as light as most 12v
belt hook is very handy, especially since the tool is not heavy.
work light is handy too when you have to work under a shelf or something.Milwaukee is another good possibility. 18v lithium batteries are available with an LED "fuel tank" display so you can check how much battery charge you have before you crawl under the house or go up into the attic. If the tool is not available as lithium kit, buy tool only (no batteries) and buy a lithium battery kit (2 batts and charger) seperately. I replaced my Milwaukee 18v NiCads with lithium and the weight difference is wonderful - more amp hours with 40% less weight.Bosch 18v has a nice grip, but the thing is very heavy and only about 2ah battery, so it needs charging more often.BruceT
Panasonic. I have had two, first was stolen, and several of their drills (one was stolen, one fell off the back of the truck and was stolen by a passer by while I was turning around) and I think my current one is finally starting to fade, after may years of faithful service.
Panasonic has been tops or near the top in all the ratings I have read including FHB. Especially in the barrery ratings.
I forgot to include, they have a small and a large version. Unless you are changing lug nuts all the time the small one will be more than sufficient, do not let the size fool you my 12v has more torque than an 18v drill, no kidding, it will easily burry a 3" screw into CCA 2x4's. Plus it had this little light on the front, that I thought was a gimmick until the first time I used it was installing 1 foot square lockers on a wall and there was no light inside.
If you can wait a month or two, bosch is coming out with a 10.8v impact driver that is very slightly bigger than the pocket driver that everyone seems to like. Like the pocket driver, you can put it in your tool belt easily. It received a lot of attention at the JLC show last week.http://toolmonger.com/2007/02/14/preview-boschs-108v-impactor/
I have to premise this with----- I'm not aloud to bring any of my own tools to a jobsite, I'm not even aloud to bring my personal pocket knife to sharpen my company provided pencil.
We use 18v Dewalt for anything cordless, drill/driver, impact driver, sawzall, angle grinder, rotohammer, & some even have that awkward flashlight thingy.
Bosch, makita, & Dewalt I think make a great impact driver, but I don't like having multiple different chargers, so I went with all Dewalt & phased out my old Makitas for my home use.“When politicians and journalists declare that the science of global warming is settled, they show a regrettable ignorance about how science works.†Nigel Calder, editor of New Scientist
I got a Makita and loved it. I saw a DeWalt on sale for a hundred bucks and thought it would be nice to have a second one, so I got it too. They are both nice, but if I need to use one, and both are handy, I'll pick up the DeWalt. It is more comfortable for me to hold and it drives a bit faster. YMMV.
Mike HennessyPittsburgh, PA
Edited 4/2/2007 10:41 am ET by MikeHennessy
Edited 4/2/2007 10:41 am ET by MikeHennessy
I've got the regular 14.4 DeWalt and the Ridgid 12 right angle impact drivers. I only use the right-angle one for spots I can't reach with the DeWalt. They are both terrific.
I've been able to drive "most" stainless steel screws with the impact driver when I was tearing the heads off or stripping out the squares with a regular drill-driver.
Dusty and Lefty
I just bought my impact driver last week to screw down 1000 sq. ft. of cumaru, which is a very hard wood similar to Ipe. It did an incredible job not only screwing down the decking but driving 1/2" lags up to 7" long with authority. I can't speak for the longevity of the tool but I bought the Craftsman sears brand 19 volt. It came in a kit with a drill the impact driver and two batteries and charger for $139. I felt it was like getting a cordless drill for free. Very happy customer, good luck
Makita Li-on 18v. Light @ only 3.3 lbs which makes it easy to carry all day long. Lots of power and batteries last a long time. What others have said, once you use one you will have a tough time going back to regular drill/drivers.
I think that an impact driver is a great tool. I have owned a DeWalt for several years and use it on almost every job.
But, I think they are way too slow for driving deck screws, especially 5k.
I used to use my PC screw guns (corded) for this work, because they drive screws in much faster. A couple years ago, I switched to a quik drive system. I like that a whole lot better, no kneeling/bending over to drive screws, and its much faster.
One other thing I have noticed when driving stainless screws w/ an impact is you can sometimes break the screws if you hit a knot in the sub frame.
My choice for deck screws: 1st- quikdrive, 2nd- corded screw gun, 3rd- impact driver
Hate to beat a dead horse, but I love impact drivers. I have the Makita Li-Ion, and it's a great tool. Another guy on a job had just got a new 18v Ryobi about the same time, so we swapped to see how they compared (only for a few screws). In fairness, the Ryobi worked just fine...but mine worked much better, and should last longer, if price is any indication.
I've used the older NiMh 12v Makitas for several years, and thought they were fantastic. in fact, I think I liked that grip a little better, but I couldn't pass up a new and improved toy.
I prefer my corded impact for decks.
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