Okay, I know the purpose of an impact wrench for automotive work. (I have several). I also know the purpose of a Hammer-Drill, own one small and one large one of those also.
What is the purpose of an "impact driver"? Are you guys driving screws with an impact driver? (I use my 18 volt Lithium-Ion screw gun). Do impact drivers make the job easier compared to a screw gun? Is this something I should buy myself for father's day?
Please educate me.
Ivan Vegvary
YES. Shouting intentional. I won't go into the details, but you won't regret it.
R
The impact screwdriver doesn't strip heads but drives screws like they're going into butter. I have a 12V Bosch "Impactor" and love it. I use the Impactor and it's brother (3/8" drill) on just about every project I do. It's definitely a good father's day present, even if you do have to buy it for yourself. ;-)
Oh, one more thing it's good for; driving sheetrock screws. I had a small repair this week (dumbass builder put a shelf "nail" through a drain line) and used the IMpactor to drive the sheetrock screws. It drives them with authority, but slow enough at the end that dimpling the paper was easy without driving them through it. Buy it. You won't regret the purchase.
"Ivan Vegvary" wrote in news:hv1jio$u3j$ snipped-for-privacy@news.eternal-september.org:
Buy one and start using it for driving screws. You'll quickly find out it's a better way. I've put in a 5# box worth of screws with a Phillips head and have stripped maybe 5 of the heads. Since the impact force pushes the bit into the screw, it's much less likely to strip out. Mine doesn't begin impacting until a certain torque level is reached, which is just about the time you really need it.
I've had several occasions where the impact driver has pulled boards tight using fully threaded screws. It sure makes things easy.
If you can, get one that uses the same batteries as your drill/driver. You'll probably wind up chucking a drill bit in the drill and a screwdriver bit in the impact. One will inevitably die first, but you can finish the project with the other.
If you're doing work where space is tight, the impact drivers usually have a smaller size and will fit where the drill/drivers will not.
Puckdropper
rnal-september.org:
Everything said previously, plus I think my Makita 14.4 gets quite a few more screws driven per battery charge than its companion drill motor. It is also easier to control in softer material (but it will drive a screw completely through a piece of 3/4" cedar in a heartbeat if you go to sleep using it.)
I have built 230' of fence and two decks with mine, plus day to day use and it is the driving tool of choice. But it will snap a concrete screw easily.
RonB
On Sat, 12 Jun 2010 20:33:40 -0700, "Ivan Vegvary" wrote the following:
Yeah, ditto info in all the preceeding posts. What do you use the screw gun for now? If it's an automatic feed, keep it! Impact drivers make driving long screws very easy, with 2 fingers, even. Compared to a screwdriver, they save you about 80% of the effort.
My new Makita 18v LIon impactor gives me 1,330 lb/in of torque in a lighter, more compact (less than half the length of your screw gun) form than my old Bosch 14.4v Impactor, which gave me 1,150 lb/in. I have only 2 hours of use on the Makita since it arrivedl late last Wednesday, so I'm unsure of the battery charge life.
Compare the stats:
They can be noisy li'l bastids, but MAN, can they do some work! I wear my sexy red HF muffs when using them. YMMV.
Unbelievable difference, Ivan!
I haven't used either of my DeWalt 18V VSR battery drills for driving screws since I bought the impact. It will walk Tapcons into hard concrete with no worry about stripping the Philips tip or screw head. 3 1/2" deck screws are a piece of cake.
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