How did I manage without!

[MickCheese]

My Dewalt drill driver batteries were on their last legs. I tried some after market batteries but they didn't last too long.

So I bit the bullet and bought, popped into Axminster and bought a Makita 10.8v drill driver kit. The kit is a drill/driver and a impact driver with a torch. I pad about £150.

I have been using them to build some rough and ready workshop drawer units and some built in wardrobes.

How did I manage without the impact driver, it's brillient. Small, light, powerful, the batteries seem to last a long time and no stripped screw heads.

Made the jobs a whole lot better.

Just thought I'd share.

Mick

 

[Eric The Viking]

Combine that with some diamond-encrusted screwdriver bits - they're brilliant.

I had the same experience - got a 10.8V impact driver as part of a Bosch deal (had the drill and the oscillating thingy already). I've been amazed as to how good the impact driver actually is - almost too powerful. And the battery seems to last between 1/3 and 1/2 longer than using the drill for the same job. And the screwdriver bits seem to last longer too - you'd think it should be the opposite way round...

 

[artie]

I had a dewalt 12v impact driver a few years ago, I found it quite noisy in an enclosed space, also it was very hard on drive bits, even the best ones I could get didn't last long.

 

[Mar_mite]

Yeah, I couldn't live without one now. I've been doing a fair bit of stud work the last week. Must have put in well over a thousand 3"10s. Easy with an impact driver.

 

[blackrodd]

I also bought the makita 10.8, I think it's the TDO90D ,
Seems just as pokey as my previous makita 12 Volt, and I see the batteries are only £25. for a genuine one,
which would be good for the very useful torch.
Rodders

 

[Job and Knock]

I had a dewalt 12v impact driver a few years ago, I found it quite noisy in an enclosed space, also it was very hard on drive bits, even the best ones I could get didn't last long.

And there's the rub - "a few years ago". In the last few years bit manufacturers have come a long way to solve the problem. In the first fix stage of any job I can sometimes drive 5,000 or more screws. Stanley or deWalt standard bits snap like carrots on an impact (a couple of hours if you are lucky), the newer black "impact" bits DW sell are little better (but cost more), however, move to a Wera Impaktor diamond bit in the matching Impaktor bit holder and you start to get 2 to 3 (or more) days out each bit as a minimum. I'm talking about 18volt tools as well which have somewhat more torque than the 12 volters. The downside is that the bits cost £2 a pop, bought bulk. Yes, they are noisy, but they are very quick, and that's what some of us need

Like others, though, I find the new 10.8 volt lithium stuff is brilliant - very small and very light, and ideal for smaller tasks. I wouldn't be without my Bosches

 

[mailee]

Now that is interesting. With the 10.8V batteries being so cheap it might be time to change back to Makita. I used to have a 12V Makita impact driver and it was fantastic and only the batteries let it down. i have also have a 18V Li ion Makita driver which is brilliant but had three batteries within a couple of years and don't want to replace them at those prices in case they give up again. So this may be the way to go and I can get another impact driver again.
As for the Wera bits they are great and last a lot longer in an impact driver.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Horses for courses. Our club uses a Makita impact driver, and for the purpose used it's awful. It's used for screws in faceplates and rings, and people wonder why all the screws available are chewed to hell. It doesn't seem to dawn on anyone that it's because there is no clutch - no one pre drills holes, so every time the screw is used, it gets chewed slightly more.

 

[blackrodd]

Horses for courses. Our club uses a Makita impact driver, and for the purpose used it's awful. It's used for screws in faceplates and rings, and people wonder why all the screws available are chewed to hell. It doesn't seem to dawn on anyone that it's because there is no clutch - no one pre drills holes, so every time the screw is used, it gets chewed slightly more.

I'm going to defend my 10.8 Makita. In my experience the problem will be one or more of the following,
Firstly, Cheap screws,
2/ cheap drive bits.
3/ The wrong sized driver bit in the screws.
4/ The operator failing to exert enough pressure to drive the screw.
There is a clutch, it dis-engages when the screw is fully tightened and will drive no further.
It makes a nasty noise to warn you this has happened.
Regards Rodders

 

[rafezetter]

Horses for courses. Our club uses a Makita impact driver, and for the purpose used it's awful. It's used for screws in faceplates and rings, and people wonder why all the screws available are chewed to hell. It doesn't seem to dawn on anyone that it's because there is no clutch - no one pre drills holes, so every time the screw is used, it gets chewed slightly more.

I have to ask why on earth use an impact driver? They are designed for construction and speed whereby the screw is only going to be used going IN - it's a blunt force tool. Use a normal one and those self cutting screws if they can't be bothered to pre drill - which will at least make the screws last longer - although they do know screws are ridiculously cheap right?

 

[Eric The Viking]

I had a dewalt 12v impact driver a few years ago, I found it quite noisy in an enclosed space, also it was very hard on drive bits, even the best ones I could get didn't last long.

And there's the rub - "a few years ago". In the last few years bit manufacturers have come a long way to solve the problem. In the first fix stage of any job I can sometimes drive 5,000 or more screws. Stanley or deWalt standard bits snap like carrots on an impact (a couple of hours if you are lucky), the newer black "impact" bits DW sell are little better (but cost more), however, move to a Wera Impaktor diamond bit in the matching Impaktor bit holder and you start to get 2 to 3 (or more) days out each bit as a minimum. I'm talking about 18volt tools as well which have somewhat more torque than the 12 volters. The downside is that the bits cost £2 a pop, bought bulk. Yes, they are noisy, but they are very quick, and that's what some of us need

Like others, though, I find the new 10.8 volt lithium stuff is brilliant - very small and very light, and ideal for smaller tasks. I wouldn't be without my Bosches

I did the attic in chipboard a couple of years ago. I used Paslode Torx-headed screws which are brilliant (but Toolstation noticed this and stopped selling them). The Torx bits lasted significantly longer in the impact driver than the drill/driver.

I completely agree about the Wera system. I've got the slightly cheaper version (only one 'waist' in the shaft), but the life of bits is a lot better than just putting a long bit in the drill chuck as we used to. I think that's got a lot to do with the slight movement, so it addresses the screwhead better if you're slightly off-line, but whatever it is, it works. It's also got a handy holder, so you can keep bits in your back pocket, easy to get at but not making holes in the denim.

 

[No skills]

Having been an impact user and fan for 10 or so years it always amazes me when I find somebody that has never used one for knocking in big screws.

Nearly all of the 10.8v impacts are very handy indeed. I've got the metabo with 2 and 4 ah batterys, I've used the bosch and dewalt - the dewalt has by far the most comfortable handle due to a different battery setup.

I think the bosch 10.8v range is the biggest, and there heading off into brushless motors now too.

 

[Woodmonkey]

Don't laugh but I've got a cheap Titan 10.8 set from screwfix and they are great, I use them more or less every day, battery life is great and charging time is really fast. Think they were £60, I would get another set in a flash, also great for power sanding bowls as they are so light and manoeuvrable so less fatigue.

 

[Job and Knock]

Horses for courses. Our club uses a Makita impact driver, and for the purpose used it's awful. It's used for screws in faceplates and rings, and people wonder why all the screws available are chewed to hell. It doesn't seem to dawn on anyone that it's because there is no clutch - no one pre drills holes, so every time the screw is used, it gets chewed slightly more.

Pretty obviously incorrect use, then. An impact driver is specifically a 1st fixing tool for rough carpentry. It's designed to allow you to drive large numbers of screws quickly, preferably into slightly wet framing timber, without the need to pre-pilot. Your club shouldn't really be using it to drive then remove screws continually - an ordinary drill/driver would be more suitable IMHO. Other reasons it's chewing screw heads might be that the screws are of poor quality, the bits are worn and/or the people using the impact aren't aware that you need to put a fair bit of pressure behind the driver (i.e. push it onto the screw head) to keep the bit properly located in the screw head, or possibly a Phillips bit in the tool "coz' all cross head screws are the same, aren't they?". Common failings in apprentices when you let them loose with an impact for the first time or three. Oh, and they do have a clutch, but the setting is much higher than that of an ordinary drill. If you get the chance try one of the modern 3-speed versions with brushless motors - far better tools than the older single speed models. With one of them I can put in #4 or #'6 screws on kickplates, etc without killing the screws. Chalk and cheese

 

[No skills]

Don't laugh but I've got a cheap Titan 10.8 set from screwfix and they are great, I use them more or less every day, battery life is great and charging time is really fast. Think they were £60, I would get another set in a flash, also great for power sanding bowls as they are so light and manoeuvrable so less fatigue.

Not laughing at all, considering getting the Titan set for my dad. Batterys were dirt cheap last time I looked.

 

[JakeS]

There is a clutch, it dis-engages when the screw is fully tightened and will drive no further.

Ehhh... kind of. There is a clutch, but it doesn't disengage when the screw is "fully tightened" - like all such clutches, it disengages when the torque required to turn the screw further exceeds the threshold the clutch is set to. Which in my experience (I have what is presumably the same Makita 10.8V drill/impact-driver set as the OP) in a lot of softer woods is "never" because the impact driver will happily rip the fibres of the wood to shreds and leave the screw spinning in a ragged round hole and not engaging with anything.

I've found it useful for a very narrow range of tasks, and I bought it expecting to use it to finish boarding the attic, which I'm sure it'll be fine at. On the other hand, when we moved into our current house it had cracked face-plates on almost literally every light-switch and some of the power sockets because the previous owner seemed to be of the understanding that impact drivers were for everything! I've been putting together some quick utility stuff around the house recently (microwave-and-cat-food units in the utility room, removable shelves in the boiler cupboard) out of pine and pocket holes recently, though, and the adjustable clutch on the drill-driver of the pair is really the only option if I want them to stay together.



(I am very happy with the Makita set, though - and it's definitely nice to have the option of the impact driver for those times I do want the screw buried a centimetre into the timber. ;-)

 

[Graham Orm]

My Dewalt drill driver batteries were on their last legs. I tried some after market batteries but they didn't last too long.

So I bit the bullet and bought, popped into Axminster and bought a Makita 10.8v drill driver kit. The kit is a drill/driver and a impact driver with a torch. I pad about £150.

I have been using them to build some rough and ready workshop drawer units and some built in wardrobes.

How did I manage without the impact driver, it's brillient. Small, light, powerful, the batteries seem to last a long time and no stripped screw heads.

Made the jobs a whole lot better.

Just thought I'd share.

Mick

Whats the advantage of the impact driver over an ordinary cordless drill?

 

[KevM]

Whats the advantage of the impact driver over an ordinary cordless drill?

They give greater torque for a given size of tool. They work by using a spinning hammer/anvil mechanism - there's a few videos on Youtube showing cutaways of the mechanism which explain it quite nicely. They're great for driving in coach screws, decking screws etc. but they lack the finesse (or clutch in my case!) for smaller screws into softwoods. The best clutch I've come across for this so far is the electronic clutch on the Festool drivers, the first couple of times I used them I thought the driver had died on me! It just gives a bleep and stops driving, very cool once you're used to it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0gSJa3L_7c
http://www.finehomebuilding.com/how-to/ ... ivers.aspx

 

[Graham Orm]

Whats the advantage of the impact driver over an ordinary cordless drill?

They give greater torque for a given size of tool. They work by using a spinning hammer/anvil mechanism - there's a few videos on Youtube showing cutaways of the mechanism which explain it quite nicely. They're great for driving in coach screws, decking screws etc. but they lack the finesse (or clutch in my case!) for smaller screws into softwoods. The best clutch I've come across for this so far is the electronic clutch on the Festool drivers, the first couple of times I used them I thought the driver had died on me! It just gives a bleep and stops driving, very cool once you're used to it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0gSJa3L_7c
http://www.finehomebuilding.com/how-to/ ... ivers.aspx

Thanks for that insight Kev. I imagined that's what they were meant for and that's why I've never really had an interest in them as it's not my kind of 'screwing' :mrgreen:

EDIT: Good video's, thanks.

 

[Mar_mite]

I've never used the clutch on a cordless. Just let go of the trigger when the screw is driven in.