Impact driver or impact drill/driver?

[morrik27]

Ive seen a lot of impact drivers around, and impact drill drivers....

What would you use an impact driver for, over using an impact drill/driver. Are they completely different or is one the other AND a drill?

 

[noseall]

impact drivers are awesome and will turn in a 4",no.12 into oak easily with no piloting.

provided the steel screw isn't chinese and shear off.

 

[morrik27]

Does that mean that they will produce much more torque than the drill drivers?

 

[2scoops0406]

Does that mean that they will produce much more torque than the drill drivers?

Yes, a powerful drill driver can manage about 80Nm an impact driver produces around 135Nm of torque.

 

[big-all]

they basicly work in different ways hammer drill works full speed in rotation with hammer action into the wall

the impact driver works by inseting the screw at full speed[or where ever the varispeed trigger is]
as the load increases the rotation starts to slow down and is turned into an impact rotary motion

its like the energy is stored as the motor turns at full speed and the shaft at say half speed and the extra energy captured on a ratchet to double the impact

eventualy the rotation will be virtualy nil but tork is equivilent to a small motorbike at 135 nm

 

[Rubberball]

i always use my impact driver for putting screws in everything. i never use my drill/driver as the impact driver is way lighter / smaller / has double the torque(when needed) and the bit never jumps the screw head either .

 

[JB Gas]

I love my little impact driver but it so noisy

 

[morrik27]

Having read the overwelming responses from everyone, I decided to bite the bullet and get the impact driver......

Having used it for the first time attaching some deck joists to the posts, and some brackets to a hardwood fence post, all i can say is ROCK ON!!!!

Something about butter and hot knives springs to mind!

Cheers Y'all!

 

[d3matt]

I thinking about replacing my 12V Bosch blue kit (hammer drill & drill/driver) with something more powerful, as the batteries are starting to get week. All dual kits now seem to come with a hammer drill and an impact driver. I've never used an impact driver, but while it sounds excellent for screws, it does seem as if it is a bit limited. Am I right in thinking that it can only be used with hexagonal bits? If so, is it possible to us an impact driver for drilling if I get a set of drill bits with hexagonal ends (i.e. is it fast enough)?
I love the Bosch drill driver - small, perfect for screws and drilling up to 10mm and powerful enough for a lot of masonry drilling. I don't often need to use the larger hammer drill. This is why it makes me nervous about changing, as I think I'll miss what I've been used to. I do however have to keep swapping drill bits and screwdriver bits in the small drill/driver which is pain. So maybe I really now need three tools - hammer, drill/driver and impact driver.

 

[virgilns]

Just bought a hammer-drill/driver and impact driver set. When speaking to the online shop, the hammer drill bodies are actually cheaper than the plain drill/driver bodies as the former are more in demand (So sell more).

I bought a hammer drill/driver kit (impact driver and two batteries) and a 'spare' hammer drill/driver body, so have two identical hammer drill drivers and an impact driver. The kit I bought also comes with an offer for a third battery free, so now have three tools for the price ish of two...

I've never really come a cross a situation where a good quality drill/driver can't put a screw in where I've needed it (or break the head off one)!

I might be wrong, but think my impact driver will be the least used of the three for screw driving..

 

[Deleted member 174758]

I've never used an impact driver, but while it sounds excellent for screws, it does seem as if it is a bit limited. Am I right in thinking that it can only be used with hexagonal bits? If so, is it possible to us an impact driver for drilling if I get a set of drill bits with hexagonal ends (i.e. is it fast enough)?

Yes, that's right. Impact drivers only come with a 1/4in hex drive which limits the size/type of tool you can use, but in reality not that much. They are, however, much faster than a drill/driver - drill/driver or combi drills generally have a top speed of around 1,300 rpm or so whilst impact drivers run at 2,300 to 2,700rpm. Despite the foregoing comments I'd still pilot drill in hardwoods because if nothing else they are more liable to split if you don't do so. Same applies near the ends of timbers and in MDF

I've never really come a cross a situation where a good quality drill/driver can't put a screw in where I've needed it (or break the head off one)!

Impact drivers deliver a lot more torque which can work in your favour, especially if you are making-up timber frames. One of the reasons for using impact drivers in the trades is speed of driving - about twice as fast as the average drill/driver which is significant if you are driving several hundred screws in a working day

I might be wrong, but think my impact driver will be the least used of the three for screw driving..

You'd think so, wouldn't you. I now find that the impact is used more than my combi and drill/driver put together (but then I also have a cordless SDS). I do, however, find it useful to be able to pilot drill/countersink with the drill/driver and then to drive the screw with the impact

 

[crank39]

I think its the total opposite, once you've fired screws in with an impact you'll never use anything else, your drill/driver will be relegated to just drilling holes

However for the real tiny screws you might find both the impact and drill/driver to powerful, i found this so invested in a 10.8v dewalt screwdriver, now i have even more tools to polish

 

[Deleted member 174758]

However for the real tiny screws you might find both the impact and drill/driver to powerful, i found this so invested in a 10.8v dewalt screwdriver, now i have even more tools to polish

You could have tried a Panasonic 3-speed impact or Makita 3-speed impact - solves the issue nicely! And one less tool to lug around (leaving space for another gewgaw)

 

[crank39]

However for the real tiny screws you might find both the impact and drill/driver to powerful, i found this so invested in a 10.8v dewalt screwdriver, now i have even more tools to polish

You could have tried a Panasonic 3-speed impact or Makita 3-speed impact - solves the issue nicely! And one less tool to lug around (leaving space for another gewgaw)

Hmmm fair enough but i the colours wouldn't match the rest of my dewalt kit and look a little out of place, thus making the side door of my van look a little bit messy

 

[Deleted member 174758]

the colours wouldn't match the rest of my dewalt kit and look a little out of place, thus making the side door of my van look a little bit messy

Not if you get rid of that yellow stuff and buy some blue stuff instead......