Recommend impact driver please.

[AJB Temple]

My present Impact Driver is about a year old Milwaukee Fuel 18v. It's good when it works, but it's unreliable. Sometimes it refuses to start, and often it wont reverse. From internet searches they are prone to the fan binding on the rear casing. I will strip it and see if I can fix it. But...

I need a good impact driver. Please recommend from experience. I don't care about brand or battery platform, though I do have Makita batteries as well.

What I use it for mainly is driving 150mm timber fix screws into oak, driving big screws through 2" green oak planks (I am making ultra heavy duty decking), and similar. So it's not light duty stuff.

 

[Simou1]

I bought the DeWalt 887 as I had the batteries. It is a cracking tool.

 

[Beau]

Not Dewalt for heavy duty work IMO. It's what I have and now on a second one but it's not enjoyed doing work as you describe. Oddly my latest 3 speed HD Dewalt driver can handle stuff like that better even though the supposed torque should be far less. Mind you it does try to rip your arm off in the process of putting them in

Edit. Just looked up the timberfix screws and see they are quite skinny so the Dewalt might be OK but I broke my first one putting in a lot of Turbocoach screws.

 

[mbartlett99]

I've got the Makita 18V which is juat as good as all their drills/drivers - nice and solid with loads of belt. If you hadn't been using oak I'd say check out the Makita 10.8v which are surprisingly powerful but probably not for a hard wood without predrilling.

 

[AJB Temple]

Having done a bit of research, I have taken a punt on a Milwaukee Fuel "surge" hydraulic tool. Largely because I can buy a bare tool and use the same platform. I will either fix the old one myself or send it back. Will report back on what I think of the oil impact drivers. Supposedly much quieter and smoother.

 

[Beau]

Sounds like a good option. Most Milwaukee users I know love their kit.

Did a quick comparison of the Dewalt impact driver and their 3 speed drill driver with some 150mm x 8mm Turbcoach screws in dry oak. The Impact only got it in halfway where the drill driver put a rusty one fully in. Down side is it snapped it trying to remove it! Took pics but cant make them upload.

 

[AJB Temple]

Yep. I have some powerful drills and they will drive heavy duty stuff in. The downside with using a drill is that they can snatch.

 

[harry the b]

Hi. I have a Hilti 22 volt impact driver. 3 speed/power settings.its been great.put it up against a friend's Makita in a mini test driving six inch concrete screws.the Makita stalled with two inches left on the screw.hilti just kept on driving them in.only downside is the cost of the Hilti.

 

[E-wan]

I've never quite seen the relevance of an impact driver over a quality powerful drill driver for use in wood but I would be interested if anyone could enlighten me as to the pros / cons.

Thanks

Ewan

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

 

[Beau]

Newton Meters to weight ratio

 

[AJB Temple]

If you want, say, to drive 6" timberfix screws / bolts into oak (green oak that's been stored for a while can be pretty hard) an impact driver is by far a better tool for the job. It's quicker and easier and has far less repetition strain than using a drill. If you want to drive in hundreds of decking screws, its a no brainer really. For me anyway.

Not considered Hilti. I have Hilti saws and they are excellent. Will have a look. Can always send the Milwaukee back.

 

[colonel-cueball]

My present Impact Driver is about a year old Milwaukee Fuel 18v. It's good when it works, but it's unreliable. Sometimes it refuses to start, and often it wont reverse. From internet searches they are prone to the fan binding on the rear casing. I will strip it and see if I can fix it. But...

I need a good impact driver. Please recommend from experience. I don't care about brand or battery platform, though I do have Makita batteries as well.

What I use it for mainly is driving 150mm timber fix screws into oak, driving big screws through 2" green oak planks (I am making ultra heavy duty decking), and similar. So it's not light duty stuff.

Not still under warranty?
Or is it a USA import?
I had issues with mine, stripped it apart (USA tool in UK so no warranty as they claimed it shared no parts - horse manure) found some shmoo had gotten between the trigger and case and was stopping the trigger fully disengaging, cleaned it out and its been fine since, well apart from the LED for #2 speed no longer lighting up.

Substitute - my Dad has the Dewalt DCF887 and he's very pleased with it, on paper matches the milwaukee (albeit real world the milwaukee has a bit more torque on big fasteners)

 

[MikeJhn]

I never saw the point of impact drivers, I now have one and have stopped using it, far too noisy and uncontrolled depth compared to a torque adjustable screwdriver/drill, seems to be a look at me I'm working tool.

Mike

 

[colonel-cueball]

I never saw the point of impact drivers, I now have one and have stopped using it, far too noisy and uncontrolled depth compared to a torque adjustable screwdriver/drill, seems to be a look at me I'm working tool.

Mike

I think everyone who has read your previous posts about impact drivers knows your position.
They have a use though, particularly for long large gauge screws - such as for decking or roof timbers, where if the screw binds the drill doesn't clutch out or worse twist your wrist, I actually find mine quite controllable in terms of depth.
I'll concede on the noise factor, my dad hated mine because of the noise...but then went and bought one himself for doing some high strength privacy fencing (had to be strong due to the exposed location and prevailing winds, and privacy due to nosy and annoying neighbours)

What 20 year old Dewalt drill driver / combi hammer drill do you have that can go toe to toe with a 203Nm impact driver I wonder?

 

[MikeJhn]

Wonder no longer, the closest drill is the oldest I have here is a DC725 Nimh battery as is the second one, the only reason I bought the LiIo drills is due wishing to reduce the weight I had to lift, getting old with Arthritis is not recommended, the pic below the drill shot shows the Gazebo base I have just finished, I started off using the impact driver, but soon changed to the drill driver as it was not possible to control the depth with the accuracy I required, and the noise was getting on my nerves.

Under the "Considerate Contractors" the CIC is looking closely at noise issues and one of the discussions is about the unnecessary noise made by impact drivers.

For some reason the Gazebo base photo will not download, will try later.

Mike

 

[colonel-cueball]

Gazebo looks good.
If the arthritis is bothering you, then perhaps some of the new 10.8V / 12V tools might be worth a consideration, lighter in weight but have close to or the same torque as the DCD725, My non fuel milwaukee m12 conbi drill has 35Nm in a compact and quite light package, the fuel replacement has 45nm of torque.
I run compatible batteries in mine, albeit some of the tool discounters on eBay carry the genuine batteries at a substantially reduced cost, likely due to the sheer volume they can shift.

I hope CC are paying the costs in terms of lost productivity due to extra time involved onsite
So whats next, are they going to ban paslode and other nail guns and require chippies to go back to swinging a hammer, perhaps require steel erectors to use a breaker bar rather than an impact wrench to tighten bolts, while they're on a roll of living outside the realworld, they could also have concrete mixed by hand in barrows, have metal cut to length with hacksaws rather than abrasive cut off saws....like the electrical standards, it often seems that those making the rules have never stepped onto a jobsite nor have any knowledge of what the job entails, especially when the boss is breathing down your neck

 

[MikeJhn]

The initiative to reduce noise pollution is on going, anything that reduces it is a good thing, those who don't care about the environment should think again.

Mike

 

[AJB Temple]

The hydraulic version has arrived and will be pressed into action tomorrow. I shall report back.
The original is just out of warranty!

 

[colonel-cueball]

The initiative to reduce noise pollution is on going, anything that reduces it is a good thing, those who don't care about the environment should think again.

Mike

Best thing we could do as a species is have less children, the planet can only feasibly support about 3 to 4 billion at most and we are far past that. Less people = less pollution.

Shame also so many self professed "environmental activists" have log burners spewing out PM10 and PM2.5 emissions eh? I'd rather be next door to someone using an impact driver 8 hours a day then someone with a log burner.

 

[MikeJhn]

Getting way off subject, but what power do you use to heat your home, think about it.

Mike