Re: small spiral-ratchet (Yankee-type) screwdriver

Buy an impact driver as they have a hex shank and the bits just slot out.

Well the bits are about 3x the size of standard 1/4" hex screwdriver bits the tool weights a ton, and you hit it with a club hammer to get it to turn about 30 degrees rather than just pushing it to do several revolutions, but otherwise spot on John :-/

Bloody armchair diyers

Hmmmn, doesn't say how big it is but looks at least 13" Yankee(-equivalent) and only has own bits, not pozis :-(

================================== It's a good price even if it isn't a 'genuine' Yankee. It's cheap enough to experiment with, and the job you have in mind (fixing pipe clips) isn't really very demanding.

Cic.

John,

Have a look at this link:

You could also have look through the on-line Buck & Hickman tool catalogue - link here:

Damn difficult to hold the screw, clip and driver in one hand while pumping it with the other. I expect after the first couple of slips and a bit of blood it will be confined to the tool box like my yankee.

Have you ever used one Jimmy?

Impact Drivers are small. Makita make a small thin Impact Driver. That should do you,

================================== I use the clip to hold the screw and I use any suitable screwdriver that comes to hand.

I'm not recommending Yankees - the OP wants to try a Yankee and I simply remembered seeing one in the catalogue. If he has the same experience as you had I'm sure he'll discard it as quickly as you did and might even be warned off by your experience before buying.

Cic.

Dennis,

There is no problem using a Yankee screwdriver with one hand - the technique is simple.

Tanner-'op

It takes me back to the early sixties when I bought the medium sized one. At the time, I was serving my apprenticeship and I worked for a department that did string tying machines for the newspaper industry. All the panels enclosing the dangerous bits were screwed on with hex slotted dome head screws and I made a hex bit, out of a cut down Allen key, to speed up the panelling job. We were on piece work at that time and it was a way to make a bit more money.

Of all the experienced fitters that borrowed it, it always came back with the complaint that it had taken a bite out of their fingers :-) They had held onto the pump handle and let their fingers slip onto the spiral as it entered the pump handle. Why they couldn't just hold the knurled collar that you pull back to change bits, I'll never know. Perhaps they were not all that bright :-(

Dave

Rapid electronics (Radpidonline co uk) do one too. But TBH a =A35 value 2.4v screwdriver would beat the stuffing out of a spiral thing. Yankees may have seemed like a move forward from a trad screwdriver, but compared to even the worst small power tool theyre just pants.

NT

I saw one in B&Q on Friday.

But you would be better off with one of these

Check out E Bay, got mine for £35.

A Yankee? Boy!!!! :(

The Makita Impact driver for £52. It competes with an 18v drill/driver in performance.

The Makita is small and goes in the ruler pocket - ideal! If you want an Impact Driver that drives in lag bolts and is cheap enough then try a Sparky from s/fix at around £99. The Ryobi is well priced too.

erm, I think you will find he was linking to the very Makita to which you were referring.

Not even close in fact. Its a nice tool and certainly has a place - it would suit John's requirement very well. However it only develops 17Nm max torque, and a 2" 10 gauge twinthread screw into a brown plug is about its limit. Its not comparable with a 18V drill that will develop two to three times the torque, or a big impact driver which will exceed ten times the torque.

Got mine for about £35 with two batts from eBay.

seem to be a spiral-ratchet type driver.

Tried that. Seems google now returns results from its groups archive:

small spiral-ratchet (Yankee-type) screwdriver - uk.d-i-y | Google ... "pump action screwdriver" in a search engine. You could also have look through the on-line Buck & Hickman tool catalogue - link here: ... groups.google.co.uk/group/uk.d-i-y/browse_thread/thread/3b88efc260946b32 - 158k

- 14 hours ago - Cached - Similar pages - Note this

recursion: see recursion :-)

It would do for 4mm * 40mm goldscrews into red plugs though, which is what I need (2" x 10 is about what I use for hanging boilers!). However I really don't want Yet Another battery-operated tool to have to fiddle around with spare batteries and chargers and storage for them all. When I were a lad my dad had a short (9"-ish) spiral-ratchet driver (with a black bulbous handle and 3 or 4 different bits in a maroon plastic wallet) and that would seem to be appropriate technology for this application. I have seen a very cheap one (£1.99, or double that + postage on eBay :-/) but it only has slotted and Philips head bits.

Yup, for general fixing it is great. Easy to hold and use. The only real downsides are the noise and the lack of any speed control.

It is a different design battery from the normal Makita ones as well. The whole lot comes in a smallish pouch (about 3" thick and the size of two DVD cases side by side) - so not too cumbersome. There is a belt holster supplied with it as well.

I am sure I have such a thing floating about somewhere - the top unscrews to allow the bits to be stowed in the handle. However it is a custom bit fitting...

The closest I have to your requirement is a ratchet driver that came in a socket set - has a hex mount end and forward and reverse ratchet. Alas no yankee style action.

I know the sort of thing - I must have one or three kicking around. Chocolate teapot generally, except one I have which is like a tiny version of a socket-set-type ratchet, that takes 1/4" hex bits, has a handle about 3" long and is priceless for getting at fasteners even a chubby is too big for.