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yes, I know. sorry (not sorry).
My old combi drill is dying, and I have a floor to fit that wants several hundred of those tounge tite screws. Should I be looking at a new combi drill, or an impact driver for this and general jobs? I expect to be doing floors, drywall, general woodwork indoors and in the garden.
Aldi's finest SDS machine does the shouty drilling round here.
Thoughts and recommendations welcome - I think I can stretch to Makita, but not Festool. Would rather spend the money elsewhere if I can.
thanks.
For driving screws impact driver.
If you can I would get the Makita drill/driver combo. So fast to have a drill or countersink set up on the drill and whatever bit you are using on the impact.
You need both really but if you can only have one then the combi is far more versatile. It's quite cheap to get a second bare unit so you can easily upgrade to having both.
My 10.8 Dewalt impact driver will drill 8mm holes easily into hard brick using a good bit and wind in 10x100 screws all day long.
My Makita rotary/hammer drill only gets used as a chisel these days.
Thanks - is brushless worth the extra, do you think?
If your floor is solid wood, you’ll need to pre-drill pilot holes for your tongue-tites. It’ll be a right pain in the arse to keep having to swap from drill bit to torx bit so I’d recommend buying a set where you get both and a couple of batteries. An impact driver is awesome for screwing in screws but not much good for anything else.
Also, be careful not to let the bit slip when starting the tongue-tites - it’s a tiny tip and rotating clockwise will dig itself into your thumb (which will be holding the screw) before you’ve even realised what’s happened.
If your floor is engineered then pilot-holes won’t be needed as you’ll be going straight into ply on the tongue.
I have both and I used my combi drill with tongue tite screws when I did my oak floor. I needed fine control so I didn’t screw them too far in and split the tongue of the flooring.
When I screwed them in slowly I didn’t need to drill pilot holes either.
Variable speed impact driver
I bought a 18v Bosch twin pack from scewfix, seemed really good value to me at £130, slightly more now though.
Cheers.
I just got a makita 18v brushless combi for work to replace my old model. New one is incredible, in every way. Battery lasts for ever, it's much shorter in length so easy to get in tight spaces. The hammer is mental, easily punches into masonry with a 10-12mm bit. I can't see me using a corded drill again unless its my dewalt breaker for day long use
As nickjb said, it's cheap to get a bare unit so I would suggest getting a combi then getting a bare driver if you feel you need it.
Incidentally I just laid a solid maple hardwood gym floor. I am talking chobham armour levels of hardness. Portanailed it into a chipboard subfloor, super quick and effortless, £28 quid for a weeks hire.
I have 3 drill drivers. Makita LXT, De Walt, Festool Cxs 10.8v. All great in their own way.
For screws, I have a cheap Erbauer impact driver from Screwfix which beats all the above. Today I was mending an old shed and it sends those 5 x 100mm screws in like going through butter.
And a cheap B&Q Mac corded hammer drill (£27) which I got when I had to drill 100 screw holes in hard brick (but didn't want to use my massive SDS+ Titan rotary hammer dust generator) is better than any (affordable) cordless.
Well I went to screwfix for a combi (as per the suggestion to sort than and get a bare unit impact driver later) and they had a deal on a de walt set that's saved me choosing. Having got hold of both, I'm glad I did.
cheers
An impact driver changed my life.
They are the shizzle.
Both.
And a corded SDS just because.
Definitely both, impact driver is like night and day for putting in screws. Mines barely ever out of my hand when im working on the house at the moment.
Its much lighter, more compact, far more powerful and needs less effort from the user because the impact action means that you dont need to put as much force on with your wrist.
I'll go to hell for this, but Silverline have a wee range of 10.8v drills, impact drivers and even a tiny impact wrench that are actually bloody useful, and dirt cheap- I paid £40 for the wrench, £25 for the drill. The battery life is short if you're doing heavy work but they're so cheap that buying a second tool just to get a battery works.
It shames me that my favourite tools right now are Silverline but, life is strange. I wish I'd had the little impact wrench 10 years ago, it's probably the biggest timesaver tool I own.
And a corded SDS just because.
Agreed. Although I don't get to destroy things as much as I'd like with mine, it does come in very useful when it is needed.
I had an opportunity to use my impact driver today.
They are indeed the shizzle. I only had to do 4 screws, would have liked to have more to put in.
This video is good for showing the torque and ease of use compared to a drill:
Makita LXT fan here. It really is a fantastic system. At the moment Makita are rapidly bringing out brushless across the range. I have a mix of brushless and brushed kit. My angle grinder and impact driver and SDS are brushless, but my drywall saw, combi drill and 36v circular saw are brushed. My suggestion is to start by buying a combi drill and charger battery set up. Then add a brushless impact driver for about £100. After that you have free reign of battery free devices for sensible money. (add extra batteries as you see fit in time).