Quiet strike impact drivers.

[epsilonGreedy]

Having never owned an impact driver before I have been doing some research and noticed there is a newer generation of quiet impact drivers that use pulsed hydraulic fluid for the strikes. Do these really work or are they the rubber mallets of the impact driver market?

 

The ideal option for reducing decibels in special working environments such as hospitals apparently but as a self builder should I ignore this segment of the impact driver market?

[PeterW]

Impact driver as in cordless for putting screws in ..??

 

You don’t use them 8 hours a day continuously so buy what the trade use - Makita LXT or Dewalt. Just pick your battery ...

[Russell griffiths]

Just sold mine as I couldn’t stand the noise, I cannot see the point in them to be honest, I’m just about to put in 2100 100mm screws into laminated timber and I know I won’t have any problems with my standard drill/driver. 

[Pete]

I replaced my broken Bosch impact driver for the new one and could not believe the difference. The new one is so much more powerful and you can adjust the power level. I had to drive 100mm stainless steel screws in to batten the exterior prior to render board and it made it a lot easier than using my Bosch drill/driver IMO. ( I just time the noise out)

P.S just don't use it when popmaster is on!

Edited February 14, 2019 by Pete

[dpmiller]

Impacts are less fatiguing to use at higher torque levels than a drill, you're not having to fight the torque reaction the whole time.

[Nickfromwales]

I bought the Makita oil filled gearbox version of the new brushless impact and its absolutely fantastic! Not cheap at £150+ VAT naked, ( CNS power tools online is one of the cheapest ), but after stealing mine for an afternoon one of the plaster boarding gang went and bought one straight away. 

7 hours ago, Russell griffiths said:

Just sold mine as I couldn’t stand the noise, I cannot see the point in them to be honest, I’m just about to put in 2100 100mm screws into laminated timber and I know I won’t have any problems with my standard drill/driver. 

Chalk and cheese mate. I wouldn't dream of using my combi for punching screws in all day unless they were small and I needed torque control. The oil filled Makita is a dream, and I've got tinnitus from years of clubbing and DJ'ing and with my standard impact I have to put ear plugs in. No need with the 'quiet' one. I suggest you try one and I think you'll change your mind.

Variable speed is really effective, and makes setting single / loose plasterboard screws ( without smashing though the board ) a doddle.

I'm set for life, and would never go back to a normal impact TBH. The chippy on the current site has a DeWalt impact and it's like my teeth are being rattled out of my head at 50 paces. 

13 minutes ago, dpmiller said:

Impacts are less fatiguing to use at higher torque levels than a drill, you're not having to fight the torque reaction the whole time.

110%. This new one puts 150mm screws in for fun with nearly no user effort. As with all tools, the correct, quality bit in the drill is paramount, otherwise you struggle. Don't skimp on spending on good impact rated bits ( standard ones just keep shattering the ends off ).

[Nickfromwales]

7 hours ago, Russell griffiths said:

I’m just about to put in 2100 100mm screws into laminated timber and I know I won’t have any problems with my standard drill/driver. 

Try smelling the motor after the first couple of hundred and come back to me  

[Cpd]

Love my impact driver but  having read the above about the new quiet  models I look forward to it’s death....... hang on it’s a makita and will probably out last me......... booo hooo said piggy. 

[Miek]

19 minutes ago, Nickfromwales said:

Try smelling the motor after the first couple of hundred and come back to me  

+1, especially if its a brushed motor. This is the best way to cook your drill. 

[Nickfromwales]

23 minutes ago, Miek said:

+1, especially if its a brushed motor. This is the best way to cook your drill. 

@Russell griffiths, if it gets anywhere near hot enough to do bacon and eggs I'll be straight round Chuffing diet is the word DIE with a farking T on the end of it.

 

[ToughButterCup]

58 minutes ago, Nickfromwales said:

Try smelling the motor [...]

 

Build Hub does not condone or encourage deviant behaviour.

Motor Sniffing may harm your health, especially if you are pregnant old, infirm, or a self builder.

[Pete]

14 minutes ago, Nickfromwales said:

@Russell griffiths, if it gets anywhere near hot enough to do bacon and eggs I'll be straight round Chuffing diet is the word DIE with a farking T on the end of it.

 

Take your mind off your diet by following @Onoff silicone saga mate

[Russell griffiths]

Anybody know if dewalt make a quite one. 

Couldnt stand the racket of the other one. 

 

[epsilonGreedy]

12 hours ago, PeterW said:

Impact driver as in cordless for putting screws in ..??

 

 

Yes though distinguished from a regular drill (with screw torque setting) because it has the rotational impact feature which translates into a noisy clatter.

 

12 hours ago, PeterW said:

You don’t use them 8 hours a day continuously so buy what the trade use - Makita LXT or Dewalt. Just pick your battery ...

 

 

This gets to the root of my question. There is a technology shift happening which is most appealing to the 8 hour per day tradesman. Makita has a hydraulic impact driver in its range.

 

https://www.protoolreviews.com/tools/power/cordless/drills-drivers-cordless/makita-oil-impulse-impact-driver-review/20714/

 

This review indicates an oil impulse driver cannot tackle the broad range of jobs that a classic impact driver can but an oil impulse model is better for fine control of smaller screws.

 

For my build the main applications of a driver will be fixing first floor sheets and plasterboard.

[Ferdinand]

3 hours ago, recoveringacademic said:

 

Build Hub does not condone or encourage deviant behaviour.

 

I am not entirely convinced of this claim.

[PeterW]

5 minutes ago, epsilonGreedy said:

This review indicates an oil impulse driver cannot tackle the broad range of jobs that a classic impact driver can but an oil impulse model is better for fine control of smaller screws.

 

There is the nub of the issue. 

 

Impact drivers were designed to drive anything you throw at them. Concrete screws, frame fixings, you name it. They had the torque and more importantly the clutch systems that mean you don’t fry your nice 18v drill driver which is designed to do something different. 

 

Its a choice of cost vs value - I don’t use mine 8 hours a day but want one tool to pick up when a screw needs to be placed - I don’t want to decide whether it’s Impact A or Impact B... it’s the impact driver !

 

Over 15 years I’ve slimmed down the tool collection and usually it’s now just the Makita drill driver and impact, and the Fein multimaster that make it into the car. Having specific tools for each job just doesn’t work when they are £120-150 each. 

[Onoff]

4 hours ago, Pete said:

Take your mind off your diet by following @Onoff silicone saga mate

 

If a job's worth doing it's worth doing 5 or six times...

[Pocster]

My dewalt impact driver is singly the best tool I have . Screws into anything ! . Don’t care about the noise . Real men have noisy toys !

[Mr Punter]

I had not heard of the oil pulse ones. I have a Makita and it it great for driving in coach screws and long timber screws but never used for more than an hour at a time. The oil pulse ones sound good for plasterboard but I would never use it enough to justify one.

[Mr Punter]

I find multi tools and petrol strimmers much noisier than impact drivers. And Paslode guns indoors.

[Russell griffiths]

1 hour ago, pocster said:

My dewalt impact driver is singly the best tool I have . Screws into anything ! . Don’t care about the noise . Real men have noisy toys !

And end up deaf when they are 60

 

WHAT DID YOU SAY,  

Edited February 15, 2019 by Russell griffiths

[Pocster]

24 minutes ago, Russell griffiths said:

And end up deaf when they are 60

 

WHAT DID YOU SAY,  

Lol !

I use to use my Hilti breaker without headphones . Made my ears ring ; use headphones now !

Real men use noisy tools and are deaf .

[joe90]

I used to be a man!?( well, used tools with no ear protection!) got Tinitus now and slightly deaf and my son bought me a quality (German) radio headset to use, I find myself leaving it on even after using noisy tools.

[Onoff]

16 hours ago, Nickfromwales said:

@Russell griffiths, if it gets anywhere near hot enough to do bacon and eggs I'll be straight round Chuffing diet is the word DIE with a farking T on the end of it.

 

 

Can't go wrong with a seefood diet...