Impact drivers?

[giddonah]

I saw a video clip on impact drivers and am thinking of getting one.

http://www.taunton.com/finehomebuilding/pages/hvt029.asp

Right now I'm looking at driving some 3" screws to sister some 2x4's and 2x6's to some floor joists that got butchered. I'm not looking forward to stripping a couple of bits as I'm sure I will.

What do you guys think? Useful? That video has me interested. Cord(ed/less)? Air?

[Dragon]

Use square head drivers and screws instead of phillips.

[giddonah]

That's all it takes :shock: ? And I was looking forward to a new tool... :(

[Dragon]

Yeah, thats all it takes.

I hardly use phillips for anything.

[Rich]

I agree with Dragon - try out http://www.mcfeelys.com/

[Vector]

I saw a video clip on impact drivers and am thinking of getting one.

http://www.taunton.com/finehomebuilding/pages/hvt029.asp

Right now I'm looking at driving some 3" screws to sister some 2x4's and 2x6's to some floor joists that got butchered. I'm not looking forward to stripping a couple of bits as I'm sure I will.

What do you guys think? Useful? That video has me interested. Cord(ed/less)? Air?

I may be wrong here, but in general, aren't nails a lot stronger in shear than screws? Wouldn't you be better off nailing?

Don't use sheetrock screws for certain, they're very brittle. Maybe deck screws are a better choice?

I'd nail it though.

[Rich]

Good point Vector - I should've read the post - I stopped at "driving some 3" screws". Nails are much better in shear. Aside from that I don't think screws versus nails would be any better or worse in this application.

[Dragon]

deleted.

[N2Deep]

I looked at these things a while back but to shell out $200-$300 was a bit much for me. But then Ryobi came out with one for under $100 so I got it. This is by far the best tool I own I can not say enough about the power of this little guy. It sure saves a lot of frustration and have not stripped another screw since. If you don't have one I would suggest you get one, you won't be disappointed. I tried a mikta, dewalt, and ryobi and all worked very well.
A must if you drive lots of screws and are tired of stripping them.

[giddonah]

Ok, maybe I'll just have to get a palm nailer then :). To keep the thread going though, I will be looking at driving a lot of screws soon. Part of the subfloor I have to take up for new plumbing and sheetrock, and that's just the current project. I'm sure if I had a tool I'd find a use for it. What are the arguments for square head screws with std. drill vs phillips heads with impact driver?

[Dragon]

There is no argument. Square head is better.

:D

[roger g]

A wee bit of history. A long way back a guy up here in Canada named Robertson invented a new type of screw to help in the furniture making trade. You could put this new screw on the end of a screwdriver and it wouldn't fall off. It came in several sizes so they decided to make the screwdriver handle colour match a particular size of screw. A "red Robbie" ( red Robertson) is the most common. The "green Robbie" is used by electricians. The "yellow Robbie" is very small and used in electronic stuff. The "black Robbie" is very big. Up here in Canada they are called generally by their colour and not their number.
Anyways this guy who invented this new screw was approached by this big American auto maker Henry Ford who wanted to used this new type of screw in all his cars but he wanted the rights to manufacture them himself. Robertson being very shrewd ( and maybe Scottish) said no because he wanted to manufacture them himself. Which is why Ford went to using a screw called Phillips and the Robertson screws and screwdrivers were only commonly available for decades and decades and decades in Canada. Just recently you Americans have just discovered them but you call them square.
About 20 years ago I went o Australia and before going over I shipped a crate over but made the mistake of screwing it together with red Robbie screws. When I picked the crate up in Australia I found that none of my firends had ever seen one of these screws and therefore no one had a screwdriver. It took me hours with a hacksaw blade to cut all the screws.

roger

[Dragon]

I knew that.

Except for the part about you going to Australia...

[roger g]

Now that was funny!

roger