been reading your rave reviews of impact drivers & thinking screwing down about 1400 lineal feet of cedar may be the time to buy one
what little I know of them they just seem to go like mad at the screw / material ?
my drill / drivers have that clutch mechanism that all but eliminates user error
do you get it almost flush & finish w/ driver?
please address my concerns
many thanks
Replies
With a bit of practice you can easily drive screws flush with an impact driver.
For cedar, a corded drywall/deck gun would be my choice. If you have a helper, you can fly with a self feeding, stand up driver like a Simpson quick drive.
YMMV,
Jim
The awful thing is that beauty is mysterious as well as terrible. God and the devil are fighting there, and the battlefield is the heart of man.
- Fyodor Dostoyevski
If you have a ton of screws to do I would not use an impact driver. FN was right, a corded 4000 rpm drywall gun or better yet, save your back and get the self feeder...make sure it's corded though.
That's not to put down impact wrenches. I have a Makita and absolutely love it. The latest are the LiIon batteries with the little LED light. They're very nice.
Isn't the 4000 RPM drywall gun too fast to drive deck screws? I thought you needed a 2300 RPM (around that speed) driver for decking applications.Rebuilding my home in Cypress, CAAlso a CRX fanatic!
I don't feel it's healthy to keep your faults bottled up inside me.
Most DW guns have an adjustable stop on the VS trigger to limit the RPMs if you wanna.
I have used one to screw down old 1X pine subfloors prior to reflooring w/o problem and w/o needing to dial back the RPMs. That said, there is a bit of a learning curve with DW guns to keep from stripping the screw heads. Basically, it comes down to "push hard and straight ALL the way in."
Mike HennessyPittsburgh, PA
"Isn't the 4000 RPM drywall gun too fast to drive deck screws?"Yeah, you may be right. I have an old Makita 4000 rpm dwall gun & used it quite a lot for screwing off. Then again it does get hot and I switch back to my corded screw gun which is 2300 rpm and that thing is a workhorse.It's been a good year or so since I've built any decks though and I don't see any in my future.Done with all that.
do you get it almost flush & finish w/ driver?
No. The impact drivers have variable speed, and with just a little practice you can feather the trigger and get it to turn the screw less than 1/4 turn. Very easy to get the screw as flush or as sunk as you want.
"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
If you're concerned about speed, a screw gun will be faster, and with some you can stand up.
If you're doing it DIY, then I think the impact driver is a far more versatile tool. It will take a bit longer, but you can easily get a nice result out of it.
If this is a one-time project, it may be a good opportunity to pick up an ID. They really are the kind of tool that makes you wonder why you didn't get one sooner.
They will not only drive the fastener flush, they'll likely drive it straight through cedar if you're not careful. You need either a light touch (not hard to do, but slow), or you can use a drywall bit that is designed to stop at flush.
I also bend/break fewer screws using an ID than a drill, and trash a lot fewer screw heads.
Mike Hennessy
Pittsburgh, PA
If you get an impact driver, make sure you get hearing protection to go with it, if you don't already have something.
Also, if you get square drive or torx screws, you virtually eliminate problems with stripping the screw heads, and I think they give you more fine control over your depth of drive.
My ID is the best thing I ever bought. I second the comment that "...it's one of the tols you wish you'd have bought sooner". As has been mentioned - There is a learning curve with using one. Learn to feather the trigger, and learn to know when you are about to take the screw head clean off. I don't think it's NECESSARY for screwing down a cedar deck (??), but it gives you one heck of a great excuse to buy one!
Have fun!