Makita Autofeed Screwdriver - Update

[The Medway Handyman]

Regulars may recall the horrendous trouble I've had with a Makita 6844 autofeed screwdriver.

Its never actually got through a belt of 50 screws without jamming or developing some other kind of fault - like screwing itself to a deck board which took 15 mins to free off.

I bought it brand new from a seller on EBAY who was just a box shifter, not a proper tool shop, somewhere in Poole. Mistake. Had I bought it from Screwfix, Axminster, Lawsons etc I would have had easier redress.

It went back to Makita for repair, who promptly claimed I was using the wrong collated screws. Screwfix confirmed that their collated screws were perfectly suitable for the machine, so I was stuck in the middle.

To their credit Makita sent me 2 boxes of their own brand screws and a square head drive bit to try.

The machine worked reasonably well on one decking job, but on the one after that it played up again, jamming every third or fourth screw, inserting some only half way, the guide head falling apart & finally screwing itself to a deck board - twice. Nightmare.

Another e mail snottogram to Makita last night provoked a call from them at

9:00am this morning.

Guy from the service dept was highly apologetic & couldn't understand why I'd had so much trouble, why a normally perfect machine should play up etc. He suggested there wouldn't be much point in them exchanging it for a new one - I agreed.

TBH I don't think he was fully confident in the reliability of the product either.

After discussing my application - speeding up the fastening of deck boards - he agreed to swap it for a brand new 14.4v impact driver with 2 x 3a/hr NiMH batteries.

Great shame really, it would have been the answer to a maidens prayer had it worked. I've progressed from drill drivers through impact drivers through to an autofeed in an effort to speed up the job. Impact drivers are fast, but not as fast as this beast would have been, had it worked.

So, what do I think of the Makita autofeed screwdriver? The one I had was a pile of crap, caused me endless grief, cost me time & money.

What do I think of Makita? - an excellent honourable company fully prepared to back up their products, do the decent thing and solve a customers problem.

Anyone want a box of Makita collated screws?

[BigWallop]

Have you tried one of these things

They hold the screw firm and let it go only when the head of the screw is just below the surface of the material you're fixing. They're designed, primarily for dry lining jobs, but mine has helped lay floorboards, hang doors, fix ceiling boxes etc. etc. etc. Along with a few boxes of these jobs a good un'.

Great little thing to have for the chuck, no matter what pozi-screws your using.

[John Rumm]

? They hold the screw firm and let it go only when the head of the screw is

your jobs a good un'.

The bits are indeed vey handy, but it is worth bearing in mind that drywall screws are Philips head, and the bit is designed to match. They don't engage in posi screws as well. Having said that some "decking" screws are also Philips.

[John Rumm]

Shame really - sounds like it would have been handy. Are there similar tools available from others you could try?

Indeed, been my experience as well.

A mate had a 14.4V combi that seemed to be getting very poor charge retention from the three batts after only a year of moderate (commercial) use. They suggested he send it back for them to test. They found no explicit fault with the tool or charger, but replaced all three batts FoC just to be sure. Given these were 2.6Ah NiMh packs that represented a fairly significant value.

[The Medway Handyman]

Great shame, if it had worked properly it would have taken hours off a big decking job. The two market leaders are Makita & Senco AFAIKS. I went for the Mak since most of my stuff is theirs & I like it all. Haven't got the heart to try anything else after all the grief I've had.

Yup, good company to deal with, they really tried hard to sort it - maybe I just had a duff one. The impact driver they offered is £100 more than the autofeed.

[The Medway Handyman]

? They hold the screw firm and let it go only when the head of the

I have got one & very useful as you say. Wonder if it would survive the pounding an impact driver would give it?

your jobs a good un'.

I've tried various brands & prefer the Screwfix ones.

[The Medway Handyman]

> ? They hold the screw firm and let it go only when the head of the

> your jobs a good un'. Great little thing to have for the chuck, no matter

Also decking screws tend to be longer and start in a harder material. I bought a box of B&Q decking screws once (distress purchase) which were Phirrips. They included a bit in the box, but the 'cam out' was much worse that with Pozi.

IIRC Phirrips were designed to cam out when used in the automotive industry?

[John]

All this talk of impact drivers got me thinking. What's the difference between an impact driver and a cordless drill/driver or is it just different terminology?

Cheers

John

[RubberBiker]

I've been reading your feedback on the Mak autofeed with interest, as I'm shortly going to be doing a lot of plasterboard and had been thinking of getting one (if I do, it'll be Screwfix for the easy warranty support). As you say, the work it's doing is a good deal less demanding (easier starts, and shorter screws), than your needs with decking. I've seen the Mak autofeed shown off at trade shows - but that was usually 18mm particle board into joists, so again probably a little less demanding.

BTW - is there some reason you're averse to using a gas nailer (Paslode etc) for fixing decking? They do stainless steel nails now (not tried them), along with hard galvanised (use them a lot, very good), and a variety of lengths and plain/ring nails. Soft noses help on face work, and ammo can be changed quickly (though changing from soft nose to regular one is slow).

I did all my floorboards, and virtually all my studwork with a Paslode (apart from where the nailer is too big, or a few screws are needed for a stiffer joint). There can be the occasional stoppages with them, but in normal use that would be once in several hundred nails - and particularly for flooring, it's *fast*.

[dennis]

They are different. An impact driver uses a rotting hammer and anvil to deliver impacts to the screw. This allows it to deliver more torque than a similar sized drill/driver. However some impact drivers don't offer much control so you can't drive small screws (having said that I have used my Ryobi 18V impact driver on 4 mm screws).

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Think of a hammer drill. That basically hits the drill on the end as it turns - vibrates it if you want. An impact driver does something similar but in a rotary direction. Using kinetic energy to overcome friction.

[John Rumm]

The gory details:

[dmc]

a pretty good video to show how they work. I bought one recently to build a deck - fantastic!

Darren

[RubberBiker]

I'd accept the unreliability as a hire tool - they're certainly a beast that requires a little accustomisation to their quirks. But mine will go several hundred nails without a jam. Cost of consumables (gas and nails) works out about =A335 per 1100 - so lets say about 3p each (a bit less in larger quantities).

I'd agree about the non-reversability and lack of pull-together though. You'd have to put in a few screws first, then go over doing fixing at every point when you're ready. The speed of working is quite something though.

[The Medway Handyman]

Sounds much more reliable than the autofeed I had :-) I tend to accept Brians word for things like this, he knows his stuff, sensible bloke.

Collated decking screws from Screwfix were around £25 per 1000, the Makita screws were a fair amount more. Not much difference overall I guess, but it gave me another variable to think about, making sure I had enough gas.

I use these for joining joists;

impact driver will put one in

[RubberBiker]

Hmmm - I'd still encourage you to give gas nailers a go - Paslode's come in handypacks, 1100 nails plus a gas cartridge (which have always IME slightly outlasted the nails in the pack).

Actually trade packs look rather better value:

[auctions]

We use a Makita one for plasterboarding, and it's fantastic. Gradually gums a bit with plaster dust so the nose gets slower to pop out, but as long as you clean it every few thousand screw, it's fine.

We use the collated screws from leofixings -

're the same as Toolstation sell, but cheaper.

A

[The Medway Handyman]

I meant 'collated' as in

?_dyncharset=UTF-8&fh_search=collated+screws&searchbutton.x=11&searchbutton.y=9

[The Medway Handyman]

Reckon I just had a duff one.

They're the same as Toolstation sell, but cheaper.

Makita specifically stated that the machine would only work with their screws, they supplied some - and it still didn't.

[The Medway Handyman]

?_dyncharset=UTF-8&fh_search=collated+screws&searchbutton.x=11&searchbutton.y=9>> Blimey, you learn something new every day. Thank you.

Always a pleasure, never a chore...