impact driver

mazthespark

Hi,
any one have any experience using cordless impact drivers? some people say there better for driving screws in wood. currently use a cordless dewalt but seem to be constantly charging batteries!

ronboy

What AH are your batteries?
What size screws are you driving?
Impact drivers are good but if your driving big screws and the batts are small then they will have to be charged as much.
I use 2 to 3 drills for doing work. 1 has pilot bit and maybe secound 1 with another pilot bit and the other has the driver.
Don't have to charge them that much cause the work is spread between the drills

mazthespark

battery size isnt a problem there 2.6 ah so lads of power. 5x 60/80 just find the drill is dying on the last few mm of the screws once you have driven 15/20 screws

ronboy

How old are the batts. I had a dewalt 14.4 and after a couple of years the batts went the same way your talking about.

JoeB-

Impact drivers have maybe for times the torque compared to a drill / driver. This means that screws can snap, especially in hardwoods.

They are also designed differently, so they make a clicking noise.. this also drives the screwdriver bit into the screwhead, so less likely to slip out.. however with the extra power you can still wreck the screws.

An impact driver is more suited to undoing nuts and bolts, i.e changing over the F1 wheels during a pitstop!

I got a free body when I bought a Makita screwgun.. so happy days.. probably wouldn't buy one on it's own, but am happy to have the one I have, I'd use it if driving massive screws, i.e anything bigger than about 5 x 80 or 100.

Yeah, so personally I'd just go for a good Makita screwgun, and keep an eye out for special offers, Axminster often do the free body when you buy a screwgun for <100 pounds.

Cheers so,
Joe

JoeB-

Yeah, batts can wear out... a few of my Makitas are no good anymore.. but I always buy 14.4V Makita tools so I have spare batteries.

It seems you're on the limit as far as power goes... to drive 5 x 60 screws you'd need a 14.4V minimum, or bigger.. 18V. Just keep in mind how hard it'd be to drive these screws by hand!

An impact driver would have loads of power.. the Makita 14.4V impact has 140 N/m of torque, compared to about 35 N/m for the 14.4V screwgun... this translates directly into 4 times the screwdriving ability!, or the ability to snap screws, or shear off bolts...

There are no torque settings on an impact driver..

k123456

I have one and I love it, v powerful, and about half size and weight of a normal cordless, use to to screw 5x70 or 5x100 into larch. Batts last as long as a normal cordless.

Have used it to drill thru wood using 25mm spade bits, it flies thru