Impact driver

[Chris McDowell]

How many of you are using cordless impact drivers? I had been kicking the idea around about getting one for cabinet assembly for a while. I was just curious as to how many had one and how they were working out for you. I just bought one of the small 10.8V Bosch drivers today. It sure seems impressive for it's size.

Chris

[Steve knight]

I have had a makita 12v and now the makita 18v li on. they are great tools that are far nicer to drive things with. they don't twist your wrist that have tons of power and they break things less. but they don't have a clutch so you have to be careful.

[Rick Potter]

I have a 12V Makita, used it about 3 or four years. Finally killed the batteries, and bought a new 12V drill on Amazon just for the new batteries. $99 for the kit with two new 3.0 mah batteries. I use the new batteries on the impact driver, and the new drill just sits there.

I cannot imagine going back to a drill again. This baby is tough enough for small lag screws, and gentle enough for most woodworking if you are carefull.

I plan to get the whole enchilada 18V set at the next WW show, since I work on rentals and renovations a lot.

I heartily recommend it.

Rick Potter

[Per Swenson]

Simply, the tool of choice.

Two Makitas, and a Hilti. I have grown very fond of my Hilti.

Per

[Mike Wilkins]

My Dewalt 14.4 impact driver is probably the most-used tool in my shop. Except for small/tiny screws, nothing beats it for driving lots of screws and it handles lag screws like no ones' business.
If you don't have one, what are you waiting for?
It's hot in NC. Pass me a cold one.

[Kent Fitzgerald]

Makita 14.4V here. I love it, but it does take a quick trigger finger and some practice to drive smaller screws w/o breaking, stripping, or oversinking them. Great for hanging sheetrock with a dimpler.

[Bart Leetch]

If you want to try one & not spend a lot of money try a Ryobi 18 volt. I did & was pleasantly surprised. Ryobi isn't the most expensive but I think they have improved their quality over what they use to manufacture. I was driving 3 1/2" screws through the first 1 1/4" layer which was pre-drilled to the bottom of the threads into the edge of a fir 2x last night without any problem what so ever. It take most of the work out of driving screws. I use it almost as much I I use to use a drill. Now with my 2 Makita 9.6 drills & my Ryobi 18 volt drill & this impact driver I can set up to do what ever & just change from drill to drill & finish with the impact driver.

[Dave McFarlane]

I've had my Dewalt 14.4v driver for 2 years now and I can say that it is the most used power tool that I own. Back then I picked it up for ~$450 and today you can get a Dewalt 18v for $329! It is a great tool with lots of power and torque to drive screws of any size.

[Matt Meiser]

I bought a Makita 14.4V with the Lithium Ion batteries at the beginning of the summer and love it. I love having an impact as much for the bigger stuff (nuts, bolts, lag screws) as for woodworking. If you only plan to do smaller screws, the compact drivers from Bosch are also worth a look. I have one of those too.

I was disappointed by the battery life on my Ryobi drill/saw kit and found out that they use very low Ah cells. That problem can be solved by having the batteries rebuilt with higher capacity cells. I had Battery Rebuilders rebuild them and that made a mediocre tool into a really nice one. My Ryboi set was older so maybe they've improved the cell quality some. Regardless, even factoring in a battery rebuild they are a good deal and you can more easily justify buying some of the specialty tools that you wouldn't use a lot but would make life easier when you do.

[Steve Clardy]

I don't have an impact driver for use in the shop, for woodworking.

Never seen the need I guess :confused: :confused: :D

If I need an impact, I get out my snap-on 1/2" air impact.

If I need to set screws in concrete, I get out my electric hammer drill.

What am I missing here?
Are you all using these on #12 and up screws, or?
Are you using these to replace air impacts?

Steve:D

[Jeff Heil]

I have the Makita 14.4. To answer Steve's question, I use it to drive all sizes of screws with both phillips and square drives. I have found it handy to drive screws when installing drawer glides and cabinet hardware. I use it on #8 screws and smaller blum drawer glide screws, not just the larger screws.

I use my Dewalt 14.4 cordless drill for drilling pilot holes and prefer the impact for driving screws over the cordless drill. It is lighter, smaller and the built in LED seemed like a gimick, until it brightened the inside of a cabinet I was putting drawer glides in.

I like the long battery life of the Li-ion cells and find myself reaching for the impact over my cordless drills.

[Steve Clardy]

I have the Makita 14.4. To answer Steve's question, I use it to drive all sizes of screws with both phillips and square drives. I have found it handy to drive screws when installing drawer glides and cabinet hardware. I use it on #8 screws and smaller blum drawer glide screws, not just the larger screws.

I use my Dewalt 14.4 cordless drill for drilling pilot holes and prefer the impact for driving screws over the cordless drill. It is lighter, smaller and the built in LED seemed like a gimick, until it brightened the inside of a cabinet I was putting drawer glides in.

I like the long battery life of the Li-ion cells and find myself reaching for the impact over my cordless drills.

Ok. I have two of the PS-20's, non impact.

I really like them, and yes, the light is great for attaching counter tops in those often dark lower cabinets.

So you are not having a screw striping out problem in wood?

[Jeff Heil]

You "feather" the driver to avoid stripping screws. It has more power than you need and will strip a screw if you go "full throttle" No problem sinking 2" construction screws into 3/4 ply until they are flush or with smaller screws in wood either.

My impact has turned out to be more useful than I anticipated. I initally bought it due to it's compact size to fit inside drawer boxes to attach pulls and to drive pocket screws in tight places.

[Mike Heidrick]

I have the Makita 18V Li ion and Bosch 10.8V PS40. Bought the Makita from Mark at heavy duty tools in the LXT202 set. GREAT deal on it with a 3rd battery. PS40 came from the Lowes pricematch in IL deal for $120. Love them both!!

[Matt Meiser]

Steve, if you haven't tried one, give it a try. It is amazing how easily they drive screws.

[Steve Clardy]

Steve, if you haven't tried one, give it a try. It is amazing how easily they drive screws.

What was that old commercial?

Try it, you'll like it. :D :D :D

[Randal Stevenson]

I don't have an impact driver for use in the shop, for woodworking.

Never seen the need I guess :confused: :confused: :D

If I need an impact, I get out my snap-on 1/2" air impact.

If I need to set screws in concrete, I get out my electric hammer drill.

What am I missing here?
Are you all using these on #12 and up screws, or?
Are you using these to replace air impacts?

Steve:D

I have done more construction then fine woodworking. For me, things like Decks/porches, my brothers barn, etc, not ever being properly trained on a cordless drill (nobody had one till WELL into them), all the time I had screws breaking. Not so with a corded drill, that you could adjust by the trigger (old cordless ones we used were single speed and no real power).
Most aren't powerfull enough for air impacts (they figure out in the high inch pounds, real low foot pounds). And I switch to a corded for anything really heavy (as long as I have power available).
The real advantadge to me, is I can leave a drill bit, in the drill, and then use an impact as my screwgun. I use a 14.4 Ridgid (bought on sale once with fun money). If I had the money to splurg, I'd do one for the big stuff (brother farm type of stuff), and one for the normal, woodworking, around the house type stuff (Bosch Impactor, would be my choice).

Too many people I know, leave a cordless drill on drill, and NEVER use the clutch.

[frank shic]

steve, the impact driver is UNBELIEVABLY good for sinking screws in cabinets! i bought the ridgid combination drill/driver 12 volt pair about a year ago and recently upgraded to the bosch drill/driver 18 volt pair because of how ridiculously easy it drives confirmat screws through melamine carcasses although it's powerful enough to drive the screw through the entire side if i'm not paying attention. can't wait to test it out on an upcoming deck project in the next few weeks...

[Hank Knight]

Steve,

If you're worried about stripping screws or breaking them off, particularly the small ones, take a look at the Panasonic digital impact driver. It's a little pricy, but it has a very good digital adjustment to regulate the torque for the size screw you're using. It also has a setting that allows you to finish with quarter-turn incremenets that allows you to sneak up on the final screw depth to avoid running the screw deep into the wood or snapping it off. It has PLENTY of power. I've driven 4" #14 screws into lead concrete anchors with it without batting an eye, and it's delicate enough for little #4s. I bought the Panasonic 12v impact driver last year and I'm very pleased with it. It beats a cordless drill by far for driving screws and I've yet to break a screw with it.

Hank

[Steve Clardy]

Yes. I guess that is why I am wondering why the use of an impact for most normal everyday screw driving. Breaking them off.
I can do that with a regular 14.4 bosch cordless :o if I'm not paying attention.

But so far as needs go, I don't see me having one.
At least not now. ;) :D :D :D :D

I have 6 cordless drills to keep up with now.
Yes, I have 6 hands. :eek: ;) :D :D

[Bart Leetch]

Steve I've broken more screws off in the past with a drill than I have with the inpact.

[Chris McDowell]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I just got in a new order of Zip-R screws from Hafele today. The #8 x 2" self tapping and self countersinking. I start on a new set of cabinets for a customer on Monday, so that will be when I start putting it through the paces.
Just for kicks I thought I would try to drive 4 screws into a couple of pieces of scrap to simulate a cabinet side and top. Man they just melted into the plywood with very little effort and no predrilling. I have been wasting a lot of time with drills if this impact will do this consistently.
Steve, you really ought to try to get your hands on one of these things. I can't begin to tell you what a difference they make. At least so far, I'll know more after Monday.

Chris

[frank shic]

chris, what material are you using with the zip-r screws? i noticed that on melamine the screws would tend to fragment the edges if i didn't pre-drill. don't you just love when the hammer kicks in on the impact driver? rat-tat-tat-tat-tat...

[Rick Potter]

As I stated above, I have had my 12V Makita for several years and use it almost exclusively now. The confession??? Well...when I bought it I thought I was getting a drywall screw gun. It wasn't till I got it home from the show that I realized my mistake.

Best mistake I ever made. Like my old uncle used to say..."Even a blind squirrel gets an acorn once in a while".


Rick Potter

[frank shic]

funny you should mention that drywall screwgun, rick. i've always wondered when they're going to come up with an impact driver that has a built-in clutch so that i can mindlessly screw away without worrying about burying the confirmat too deeply.

[Grant Vanbokklen]

I have this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Makita-6940DWA-9-6-Volt-Ni-Cad-Cordless/dp/B0001AGNT6

One of the best tools I have. The unit and battery are made in Japan. The battery has Japanese battery cells and lasts me for nearly two months of 30 +/- screws a day throughout a work week. You need to be careful because you can snap screws if you don't ease off or stop at the end of driving them in. This tool can get into the tightest of places. Rigid makes something similar and a co-worker has one but it is quite a bit heavier and needs to be recharged quite a bit more often.

FYI, The battery that this Makita unit comes with is not the typical 9.6v battery for drills they sell in the USA. It has a different type of attachment and they cannot be swapped. But hands down it is the best Ni-Cad battery I've owned. I highly recommend this tool. I got mine for 189.00 from someone on eBay almost two years ago and have used it almost every workday since.

This is the Rigid one that for sure copied Makita: http://benchmark.20m.com/reviews/RidgidR82233_ImpactDriverRtang/Ridgid_R82233_DrillReview.html

[Grant Vanbokklen]

funny you should mention that drywall screwgun, rick. i've always wondered when they're going to come up with an impact driver that has a built-in clutch so that i can mindlessly screw away without worrying about burying the confirmat too deeply.

When I first got the Makita that I mention here that I have, I said the same thing a couple of times with a few nasty words mixed in. Because I broke the heads off screws in situations that requried extracting them to finish a job (twice into finished hardwood and twice into fiberglass). Even though the lever on this is very touchy, but it is a matter of not grabbing it on the end for more control. I now grab the lever with one or two finger only at the point closest the body for least leverage.

Make the Makita right angle impact I have with a clutch feature and it would be a dream tool if you could keep it about the same size and weight or less. Design the lever for more control even better.

[Tom Cowie]

I use an 18v Dewalt and love it. Much better than a normal drill for those hard to drive screws and lags.

Tom

[Paul Simmel]

Will never use a drill to drive minuscule screws to lag bolts, again. Got the Makita 18 v last year. The 18 v is a lot smaller and lighter than the 14 v and extremely powerful as needed. But very controllable for small, light work (like setting the mud-rings on electrical boxes, even the tiniest screw.) This tool was over $300, but you’d have to be an idiot to break off any sized screw… it has that much feel to it. My 18 v Dewalt drill feels like a 10-pound sledge now with absolutely no feel by comparison.

[Tom Cowie]

Will never use a drill to drive minuscule screws to lag bolts, again. Got the Makita 18 v last year. The 18 v is a lot smaller and lighter than the 14 v and extremely powerful as needed. But very controllable for small, light work (like setting the mud-rings on electrical boxes, even the tiniest screw.) This tool was over $300, but you’d have to be an idiot to break off any sized screw… it has that much feel to it. My 18 v Dewalt drill feels like a 10-pound sledge now with absolutely no feel by comparison.

I like my sledge :D

Tom