Finally... a new (affordable!) tool I like

[J. Clarke]

I don't see the hex chuck as being all that much of a disadvantage anymore. One can buy regular chucks with hex shanks that snap right in (get the deWalt or the Milwaukee, not the Makita that Home Despot sells--the Makita's shaft has a shoulder on it that's a bit short for most hex chucks and needs some grinding before it will lock in on some drills and drivers and isn't all that great a chuck to begin with).

That said, I'd go with an impact driver over a drill for screws. Reasons? That Milwaukee drill gives you up to 500 rpm and 100 inch-pounds of torque. The equivalent impact driver in the Milwaukee range is a hair smaller, a hair heavier, gives you up to 2000 RPM and

850 inch-pounds and doesn't fight you. You do pay about 70 bucks more for the impact driver though.

[Upscale]

Only problem with impact drivers is that they're loud. Frequently, I find myself putting something together in my living room in the middle of the night. Don't think the neighbours would appreciate that too much.

[Leon]

Agreed, I have both a Makita drill and impact driver. Each has it's own set of pluses. The impact is a brute but like most impacts, is noisy and tends to be too aggressive for some screws. With the exception of the Panasonic and perhaps a few others the impacts cannot be preset to a particular torque setting.

[Upscale]

The noise problem makes me think of when I'm getting things ready for a morning trip somewhere. I use a compressor top up the pressure on my wheelchair tires, but I can't (won't) use it for my late night preparations. I had to go out and buy myself a decent manual pump

[Lee Michaels]

"Upscale" wrote

LOL

I remember years ago, bringing a old fashioned manual tire pump out to pump up a couple car tires that were underinflated. The people who were visiting went nuts. They had never seen a human operated tire pump before. They acted like it was civil war technology and I had an operational antique. I grew up on the farm where everything from tractor tires to anything else on wheels were pumped up by hand. I guess that isn't so common anymore.

[dpb]

Lee Michaels wrote: ...

[Lee Michaels]

"dpb" wrote

The tractor tires were filled mostly with water to increase weight. We just topped them off with air. What was really hard was pouring water into that little hole....... Just kidding. We had a special attachment for the hose for this purpose. :)

And most of our farm equipment was converted from the horse drawn era. Which meant that the tires were steel. Although we did have a couple new fangled trailers with air inflated tires. And the trucks were had rubber tires. But they started with cranks too. I remember when the big modification on the trucks were to update their 6 volt systems to 12 volt.

[nailshooter41]

Right there with you 100% Leon. The screws (especially the finish screws) I seem to get these days are so soft it is ridiculous. And about half the time the phillips bits don't really seem to fit well at all. Just a little too much drill, and the heads get damaged or stripped. Unacceptable on finish hardware.

If you note above, I said I dry fit the cabinet components before finishing. I actually go buy bulk blister packs of screws that are the same size as the trim screws for the hinges. I use them, then throw hem away. All the screws are made with the softest material possible to save wear and tear on their equipment in China. They are just plain crap.

They are the reason I don't use my larger drills to assemble the cabs. And the reason I like this new little find (at least for now!) is that my 14.4 is too much and too bulky for driving 5/8" #6 screws, and my power screwdriver doesn't feel right when "driving" a screw.

I think torque settings are good on the impact guns, but not so much so on drills. I just turn mine to drill. When driving into inconsistent materials, it is too much of a pain for me to fiddle with the torque settings. I leave it on drill, and it's always where it should be for me. I get used to the "feel" of the drill.

That's another reason for a smaller drill. My bigger drills have always swamped these little screws, but I don't have the wrists to drive 300+ screws a day anymore, I don't care what size they are. I like the control of the smaller unit.

Robert

[dpb]

Can't fill over about half -- we use CaCl solution, too. Still a lot of volume for a hand pump...

I'm only old enough to remember the Farmall M's as the first tractors were actively using--by then the old steel-wheel Twin City while it still would run had been parked and the little Cat 22's that they used through the 30s for all the row crop work had also been retired as they had gone from the pull-type 3-row to the 4-row draw bar arrangement. This was early 50s by then.

All the old horse/mule-drawn equipment was long gone by then, of course, although there are still pieces sitting in the old equipment row. The oldest thing we were using then was the '28 Chevy truck which was what I learned to drive first. It was pretty kewl--still hate it that Dad let it go while brother and I were off in college and didn't know he was even thinking about it.

The difference then to now is truly amazing -- now we're up to 12- or

16-row row crop w/ GPS and field monitors that actually place each seed kernel a precise distance apart on planting or give moisture and localized yield maps on the fly while harvesting...

--

[Leon]

I thought those screws were made by KRAFT. ;~)

Uh huh, that is why I was real reluctant to finally go to a 12 volt after 3 or 4, 9.6 volt models.

I used to use, some 27 or so years ago, a tiny Skil 3 volt screw driver that looked like a small drill. It were great 95% of the time.

That can be a PIA, the Makita has the typical torque ring behind the chuck but also has a drill/driver switch behind the ring. Either push the spring loaded switch over to go into preset clutch screw mode or push a release button on the switch to go back to drill mode, or visa versa. Quick and easy.

I've been saying that for years, strong or not why lug around all the weight.

[Leon]

The old timers would also refill a tire with propane when they were low. Having worked in tire stores in my early years we were always very cautious to question a farmer about what he used to refil all of his tires when they went low.

[CW]

100 ft lbs of torque? That's more than my Harley. That would rip your arm off. 100 inch pounds is more likely.

[Lee Michaels]

"Leon" wrote

I trust that you followed the no smoking rules when working with those tires.

[Upscale]

Now *that* conjures up some memories. Some 35 years ago, I had a job delivering flowers in a company supplied car. Naturally, all the cars in the fleet were wrecks. Anyway, 3-4 times a week, I'd get a flat tire because all the tires were bald. I'd get out my trusty tire pump, inflate the tire enough so I could see where to insert a rubber plug doused in rubber cement and then inflate the tire up to proper pressure. It must have looked ridiculous to people passing by seeing some idiot at the side of the road frantically pumping up one of his car tires.

[MikeWhy]

Only in your wettest of dreams. ;)

He left that ambiguous. Inch pounds would be spec for the Milwaukee.

[MikeWhy]

Oh. "More than". I initially read it as "more like". :D

[Leon]

Not being a smoker, not a problem, either way we tried to let the gas out out side.

[Leon]

100 ft lbs of torque on am impact is nothing to handle. Most tire stores use 1/2" drive impacts that are capable of 175-150 ft lbs of torque. Your Harley has a torque that is constant as opposed to that of an impact.

[B A R R Y]

[Puckdropper]

"Leon" wrote in news:sC_Uk.6483$ [e-mail]:

There's still signs in modern shops today reminding workers not to smoke when working on tires. It seems some of the fix-a-flat stuff uses flammable material (probably butante) to inflate the tire.

Puckdropper