MAKING an IMPACT Impact Drivers May Look Like Small Drills, but the Similarity Ends There

{ PRODUCT REVIEW } MAKING AN IMPACT Impact drivers may look like small drills, but the similarity ends there. For decades, auto mechanics have enjoyed their high torque and unchallenged superiority in installing – and removing – fasteners with ease. As the same technology spreads to woodworkers, we’ll show you why you’ll want one in your shop. BY TIM RINEHART Panasonic Makita DeWalt Ridgid Hitachi Bosch Black & Decker EVERY NOW AND THEN A NEW TOOL COMES ALONG THAT CHANGES THE WAY WE PERFORM SOME TASK. A tool that, after you first try it, any true tool junkie absolutely has to own one. The cordless impact driver is one of those tools. When I opened the case of the first sample to arrive I thought it looked like a wimpy little drill/driver wannabe. The compact little motor couldn’t have enough power and torque to do real work, so what could I do with this thing that any of my collection of drill/drivers won’t do? The answer turned out to be drive screws and lag bolts – lots of them – into everything I could find just for the fun of it. Impact drivers use completely different mechanics than a standard drill/driver to deliver driving force. (See sidebar “How it works” on page 83) Under load, a spring is compressed which drives a hammer into an anvil to multiply torque. The extra torque is great, but there’s great side effect too: The millisecond space between impacts also lets screwdriver bits reseat themselves to full engagement with the screw head, virtually eliminating cam-out and stripped screws. I drove coated deck screws into hardwood until my arm gave out without a single cam-out or twist off. The same screws with my drill driver resulted in about one out of 10 either twisting off or stripping out the slots. When you consider how many screw heads you’ve stripped out with your drill/driver, this one advantage alone may be reason enough to justify owning one. 78 WOODCRAFT MAGAZINE | 01.06 product review: 12-volt impact drivers Rule #1: These aren’t drill/drivers the input of both the professionals and hobbyists who Still, don’t throw away your drill/driver just yet. Impact used these tools, and my experience as a user. The first drivers are in a completely different league for driving “cordless” drill/driver I carried to a job site was called a fasteners, but they’re lousy drills. Loud and slow, they do brace. I have been lucky enough to use or test just about seem to handle smaller-diameter drill bits better than large every kind of corded and cordless introduced since then, ones. You can drill a hole in a pinch, but they weren’t really and I’ve driven enough deck screws and drywall screws to designed for drilling. This is why they have quick-change consider myself an expert user. 1 /4" hex chucks instead of standard three-jaw chucks. The I started this review with the idea of picking a winner drill/driver is still the best tool to carry up a ladder to drill – the one impact driver you need to run out and buy today a couple of holes and drive a few screws. But for driving fasteners into hard material, or driving a lot of screws or lag screws and bolts, the impact driver is so superior to a drill that you get spoiled quickly. Originally, this was to be a short review of three new impact drivers’ features and specifications. But over the time I had the tools for testing, they have been the most- borrowed, hardest-to-get-back tools I have. All three were loaned for projects varying from assembling large wooden backyard swing sets, decks, docks, hanging drywall and building lawn furniture. We loaned one to some folks dismantling old bleachers at a local high school. We used them to remove rusted screws and bolts from a swimming Makita pool frame, dropped them from ladders, generally used and abused them like we owned them (note to the manufacturers: Your returned samples may have some BECAUSE THEY ROTATE SCREWS with a series of hammer- minor cosmetic blemishes and show signs of wear. Sorry). like impacts, the operator’s wrist isn’t under constant torque. Even And in the time we were busy doing our best to wear out driving dozens of screws is less tiring on the wrist than with a the first three impact drivers, four more came in from other standard drill/driver. manufacturers. While those four latecomers didn’t have the honor of being passed around half the metropolitan area – but that didn’t happen. I found that different users, for like the first three did, they definitely received respectable completely different reasons, had their own favorites. We workouts. shouldn’t be surprised. With the cost of developing, tooling, So, what was intended as a quick overview of three new advertising and manufacturing a new product, no major machines has turned into a roundup of the best 12-volt manufacturer is going to intentionally put a substandard impact drivers out there. tool on the market. They vary in features, price point and intended market, so this wasn’t intended to be an “even Universal appeal match” of models, or anything else. However, I found the A word of caution: Impact drivers are addictive. While I quality of all of them met or exceeded my expectations. The had them for testing it seemed I could always find a use, bottom line is that they all drive fasteners better than any no matter what I was working on. From driving lag bolts, drill/driver. building cabinets, to maintenance on my dirt bike. Every Impact drivers are generally available in models ranging one who visited my shop ended up driving a collection of from 9-18 volts (plus a couple of odd-ball power levels like screws and lag bolts into a piece of red oak 4x4 I had on 19.2, and the newer lithium-ion models that go even higher), my bench to test the impact drivers. Drive in, drive out, but I chose the 12-volt versions of these tools simply drive in, drive out. They drive difficult fasteners so easily because 12-volt tools strike a good balance in the power you have to drive and remove several before you really range. Enough power to do just about any chore you could believe your eyes. want, without the weight and bulk of larger battery packs. I have to admit right up front that I’m not an expert in Of course, if you’ll rarely challenge an impact driver with power transmission, battery design, or scientific torque or heavy-duty use, a 9-volt model may work for you just fine. electronics evaluation. What I based this review on was Likewise, if you’re a deck installer who’ll give one a workout 01.06 | WOODCRAFT MAGAZINE 79 product review: 12-volt impact drivers every time you pick it up, a more-powerful 18-volter might under the chuck was just a cute add on, but the more be what you need. I prefer to carry the lighter 12-volt tool I used the driver the more I appreciated the extra light. and an extra battery if needed, even though impact drivers Maybe it’s a function of my age, but cabinets seem way have a battery life that seems much longer than using drill/ drivers for the same chore. The drivers tested came as kits that included the impact driver, one or two batteries, a charger and case. Just about all the manufacturers of these drivers also offer other impact drivers with more and fewer features, and higher and lower voltages (as well as some corded ones). DeWalt DW052K-2 The DeWalt received high marks from our crew of testers for toughness and value. The poor DeWalt was also the one that seemed to receive WHILE IT MAY HAVE “LAGGED” BEHIND the others a bit when the largest number of “drop it came to removing lag screws, the Ridgid right-angle driver was tests” from ladders and two the only one that could fit inside the drawer compartment of this chest to remove and replace screws. trips from the roof of my motor home to the ground. It is a no frills, tough tool, but it has one darker than they used to be, and the LED made finding of the least-powerful battery and engaging screw heads easy. packs in the roundup. This The battery pack lasted long enough to hang all the driver was the favorite of a drywall in a shop ceiling without changing batteries. A professional mechanic who preferred the lack of features comfortable grip combined with the angled head made – such as a light to break when he threw it under a car. this my favorite driver. It just seemed to always be at the I found the trigger to be less sensitive than the Makita right angle with the least strain on my wrist. This driver and Panasonic triggers, and the motor/transmission also suffered a quite a few “drop tests,” including a couple to be among the noisier that we tested. The grip was onto the concrete floor of my shop, and escaped with only comfortable, and it definitely will stand up to abuse. cosmetic damage. With a street price of about $188-$199 for the kit that Priced at $199-$219 on the street, the kit includes two includes two batteries, this little DeWalt is a good deal.

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