I recently purchased a Makita cordless drill. This is my first such tool and have question regarding some of the function switches which are poorly explained in the instruction booklet.
(Sorry, I don't have the model number handy -- I left the drill at work.)
There are two switches on the "back" of the drill body which apparently control the drill's function with regards to the operation being performed, be it a)drilling or b)driving screws.
See pic:
My question is in regards to the second, smaller switch, which also has two positions, each identified by a picture: one is a "screw", and the other is a "drill bit". There is a red locking switch that prevents this switch (which moves left to right) from being unintentionally moved from one setting to the other. This switch is located between the aforementioned speed switch and the "drag" ring aft of the chuck.
The instruction booklet says to set the switch position according to the operation being performed. Fine. But, it doesn't attempt to explain what purpose that this serves. To my eyes, I see absolutely NO DIFFERENCE in the drill's performance, regardless of the setting I select. I've never seen this type of switch on any other cordless drill. The salesperson who sold me the tool has no idea what it does. Neither did the Makita rep I spoke to.
Why must I move this switch to one side when drilling and to the other when driving screws? No other drill has this built-in time wasting feature.
What the hell does this switch do??? }:O)