Cordless combi drill/impact driver

[Billy]

I bought a cheap cordless combi drill recently.

An unexpected benefit was that it would work as a screw driver in impact mode. I'm not sure if this was intended behaviour but it seemed to work well. Unifortunately this drill broke recently.

So I'm looking for a replacement. The drill I had is discontinued so I can either get a cordless non combi/non impact replacement or buy some thing slightly more expensive.

However I'm a bit confused as combi drills are often sold with additonal impact drivers. Is it the case that most combi drills will not also work as an impact driver? In which case I won't bother with the combi as a cordless hammer drill action isn't important to me.

[Tricky Dicky]

A hammer action drill and impact driver work in a completely different way. Hammer action produces vibrations in the longitudinal axis of the drill whilst an impact driver produces vibrations in the rotary axis. I am not aware that any of the major manufacturers produce such a beast but I may be wrong. It sounds like a bit of a mash up and because you preceded your description with the word "cheap" I am inclined to think it probably is. Nevertheless post a link I would be interested to see such a device.

Richard

[Dave Plowman (News)]

An impact screw driver and a hammer drill work on an entirely different principle.

[dennis]

An impact drill hammers along the axis of rotation, ie its like driving a screw in with a hammer.

An impact driver hammers in the direction of rotation, ie. its impact action drives the screw around not into the material.

Impact drivers deliver a lot more torque to the screw than an equivalent sized drill.

[tabbypurr]

no.

you're not confusing hammer dilling with impact action are you?

NT

[Billy]

Thank you and everyone else who replied.

An excellant response. I had indeed misunderstood the impact mechanism of an impact driver.

I suspect you are also correct about it being a mash up. Anyway, it seems clear that it is not a feature I should worry about.

Link as requested.

[Tricky Dicky]

That is just a combi drill with hammer action, if you employ hammer action whilst trying to drive in screws all you will end up doing is knackering the screw head.

An impact driver is just a driver and is not used as a drill which is why they have a tool holder usually 1/4" and not a chuck.

Richard

[Tricky Dicky]

And you do not mind the drill ending up stuck in the material when you try to extract it.

Richard

[Dave Plowman (News)]

And an excellent tool for shearing off drill bits.

[tabbypurr]

Most hex bits are hopelessly vulnerable to breakage from an impact driver due to the shank often being merely glued into the hex base.

NT

[Jim K..]

Unless you put hex shank bits in it...

[Jim K..]

How did that happen?