Screwdriver bits for brace

[Australopithecus scobis]

Tools for Working Wood,

:

6, 8, and 10 mm straight, $11.84 - $14.22 Phillips 1/2 and 3/4, $20.16

Part numbers EE-8751.506, .508, .510, .612, .634

[bridgerfafc]

heck, I even have a #4 phillips insert tip. I've even used it once...

[Mike Marlow]

Rugh-Roh, that wasn't my intent. I was enjoying the dialog and understanding why people use what they use, compared to why I use what I use. Something of an academic exercise to make usenet both useful to me and enjoyable.

I just have a 3/8 DeWalt variable speed drill motor. I think mine is a 6A motor. I retrofitted a 1/2" chuck to it a long time ago just to handle a couple of bigger things that I put in it. It has plenty of power to handle the things I use it for so putting the 1/2" chuck on never concerned me. Like you, I don't want to be hauling out the wheel barrel just to move my drill around, so big enough to do what I need, is big enough for me. I chuck up pretty much what ever I need to do the job. I've got things like ground down 3/8" socket wrench extensions that I can chuck into it for running nuts and bolts as might be required. Beats grabbing an impact gun sometimes and is much faster than an air ratchet. Of course I have #2 and #3 Phillips tips. What I like about it over my cordless gun is that for jobs that might be similar to what the OP posted that got this thread going, it has the power to lay into it and very slowly try to work a screw. You don't have to hit the trigger and develop too much speed right off the bat, only to eat up a screw head.

But I will say this John - I was a long time getting into grabbing a hand plane, tuning it up and putting it seriously to a piece of work. I don't get into it like some of the guys here, but once I got my plane tuned up and sharp, I was so impressed with every aspect of using it that I haven't grabbed my power planer since. It works extremely well, is easier to grab and "setup" than my power planer (don't have to move crap away from the outlet to plug it in), and most important - it's so much more fun to use. I still get a thrill out of watching a curl grow out of it, and love the sound of it moving across a piece of wood. Simple minds, simple pleasures. All that to say that so many of the old tools are indeed much cooler to use. I wouldn't want to dissuade anyone from going that route - even if being cooler was the only reason, and sometimes there's other reasons to stick with them.

As for drill motors, I believe in small tools with lots of power. Big tools are hard to maneuver, sometimes hard to use accurately. I like a 3/8" motor with a rating like mine (6A) or thereabouts, and a good trigger. I like to be able to creep the motor up from a dead stop to just barely trying to turn. And of course - it just wouldn't be right unless it really whizzed too. For me, the DeWalt has served that well. But... don't you go putting that brace and bit up in the attic.

[John Martin]

I took a look at those drills, Mike, and noticed that they don't have side handles. How do you handle the torque that they produce? That short pistol grip handle wouldn't seem to give you much leverage.

John Martin

[Mike Marlow]

I just hold it firmly John. Sometimes I'll hold it sideways so the grip is off to a side instead of straight down and I can get a bit more feel of control that way. I've never had the need for a side handle. I have grabbed right around the body of the motor before, again - to get the feel of more control. Don't know if it actually provided much more control, or was just a feel thing. I guess I just don't find a drill motor to be very unsteady feeling in my hand, so as to need something like the side handle.

I usually don't just squeeze the trigger to full speed either, and that helps with the torque thing. Running a speed bore into a floor joist is one thing - I'll just hog right into that, but for most other things I generally attack the work with less torque. I'm one of those guys that you'll never see running a drill motor up to high speed with a metal cutting bit in it, or with a tech adapter chucked in, so again - the torque thing isn't as big a problem as you might think.

[Juergen Hannappel]

... which shows that such drills are limited in torque: If it had the necessary torque for example to tighten (or loosen) a cars wheel nut (above 100 Nm) you could not hold it without a long side handle.

[...]

Do not confuse torque with speed. Unfortunately most (all?) the cordless screw drivers with a torque control arre uncalibrated, in other words they just show some numbers without any unit.

[Mike Marlow]

Correct. The discussion is about drill motors for light weight work, not impact guns. Even with a limited torque device like a 6A drill motor one can encounter situations where the gun escapes their grip. Anyone who has ever drilled holes through floor joists with a speed bore has experienced this when the speed bore breaks through.

No confusion. However we experience the torque of the tool in direct proportion to the speed as we ease into or wail on the trigger.

[John Martin]

Thanks, Mike. Knowing your concern about being able to apply enough torque with a bit brace, I wondered how a drill motor without a great big side handle would do.

John Martin

[Tom]

The solution is simple buy a used wood cutting auger bit that fits your bit brace ( four sided with a taper) and weld it to the cut off blade of the screwdriver size and type you need. These old drill bits are around for cheap. A screw driver in a bit brace is the very best way to set large screws into hard wood with force and great control.