Drill Driver 'Bursts'

[The Medway Handyman]

I recall Tommy Walsh on the telly showing Alan Titchmarsh how to use a drill driver once.

He advised him to operate it in short 'bursts' e.g. quick pull of the trigger, stop, quick pull of the trigger - rather than driving the screw in one continuous go. I've noticed since that Tommy & Will both use their DD's in that way.

Recently been driving a lot of large screws (12 x 4") and this technique actually seems to work better - less cam out, speed stays higher etc.

Why would that be?

Also, I went on a training course by Wolf years ago, when they had just brought out their 'palm grip' drills. e.g. drills shaped like a letter 'L'. These were unusual in those days, the Stanley Bridges and B&D's of the time being 'T' shaped.

Wolf reckoned the 'L' shape made it easier to maintain pressure on the bit as you were pushing in a straight line. Modern drill/drivers still maintain the old 'T' shape, presumably because of the battery and balance, so are actually less ergonomic.

Any thoughts?

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

I'll give it a go,but personally I have it in my mind this will but wear on mechanical parts far quickly than using the drill to drive the screw home in one go..particulary on the switch. What is it they say about driving your car in town traffic. ;-) stop,start,stop

[cucumber]

Probably to do with the applied pressure and a better feel.

When you stop and start again you reapply the pressure on the screw where as doing it in a long continuous way your arm may get a little relaxed and move away?

Also with the second or third start you can gauge how much effort it takes your driver to start turning the screw again so improves feedback.

I personally have always done it the stop start way but as said probably does shorten the life your driver by a little.

[Tony Williams]

'Pecking' will produce blips of the much higher stall torque from the driver.... but the price is shorter battery life and probably a shorter life for the brushes, gearbox and switch.

[Grunff]

This little baby does that for you:

It is really impressive in operation, driving pozis with mangled heads is no problem.

[Ian Stirling]

Because you're probably not pressing hard enough. If you press hard enough, and ideally you should increase the push on a drill as you drive the screw in, then you don't get cam out. I'd really like a drill that you could set a force multiplier on - you press at 1Kg, and it'll stop at X Nm, press at 10Kg, and it stops at 10X Nm, with X being variable.

Stopping occasionally means that any slight cam out gets reversed, and the bit falls back into the hole.

You may also find a dab of grease on the screw end dramatically increases the ease of driving.

[soup]

My DD (it's a corded drill but with a driving function) has a soft start so if I "blipped" the trigger in that way would get very little done, mind you that is a mains job, I reserve the battery thing for screws that require very little torque. For screws needing very little torque indeed (machine screws holding domestic equipment together) have a battery screwdriver thing.

[Doctor Drivel]

Not so. The constant bursts of torque when pulsing the trigger, act like a sort of Impact Driver, which is the tool that is needed for driving. If you are ever in an office and they installing the partitions, the constant zap, zap of the drill/drivers is heard, as they pulse the triggers.

[Doctor Drivel]

Yes! Down to £200 from £250! When it can't sniff the performance of an Impact Driver, which can be also used for drilling in wood too. A Ryobi ONE+

18v Impact Driver, charger and two batteries can be had for £120 on the 'net. Then the batteries can be used on other ONE+ tools, which are cheap to buy as they don't come with batteries.

Get the right tool for the job.

[John Rumm]

Some of it is due to allowing the cam out to be "reset" at each burst. Some is exploiting bursts of stall torque from the motor. However some is also history - many original drill drivers were fixed speed and had no armature brake or torque slip clutch, so it was a way of modulating the output of them and also not overdriving the screw.

Well the balance matters quite a bit, so I guess most manufacturers go for that first. Makita sold a L shaped design of 9.6V drill driver for many years that was very popular though. I know somone who has one and a more modern 14.4V combi, and says he prefers using the old one for screwing. Personally I am not that fond of it though and prefer the feel of the T design ones.

[Andy Hall]

So the Metabo, then....

[meow2222]

very much. any oil/grease/soap/wax lube will do, grease, oil, marge, chocolate, soap, washing up liquid, candle wax, dripping. I expect teflon tape and earwax would also work, cant say I've ever tried them though!

NT

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

someone been getting at you? or your Dr prescribed the yellow tablets. ;-)

[Doctor Drivel]

Matt, you should buy the Metabo and you should buy a jig saw to cut planks in half too.

[Ian Stirling]

Even spit. (I haven't tried other bodily fluids - apart from blood.)

A tiny pot of grease, and sharp bits will make any battery drill work much longer per charge.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

My mentor reckoned soap was the only thing to use for screws driven into wood. Like brass screws.

[Andy Hall]

With brass, it's better to drive a steel screw of the same size first and then to remove it and replace with a brass one. This avoids the risk of their shearing.

[The Medway Handyman]

You've never met me have you :-)

I'm a 17 stone ex competition power lifter - if I press something - it gets pressed!

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

I worked with a pumping-iron bloke once, met up with him 7 months ago...looks a bit like mitchillin man now. lol seems that after giving up the iron you erm! become inflated.

[The Medway Handyman]

Muscle can't turn to fat, physical impossibility. What happens is that the high calorie input remains and the huge amount of excercise drops.

So, yes I'm a fat bastard - but a very strong fat bastard :-)

Having said that, since starting my handyman business I've lost nearly a stone in weight.