Be it a do-it-yourself home décor requirement or a professional requirement of drilling holes in any furniture, metal, plastic, etc, the handheld drills are the most useful tools. If you check out your nearby hardware store or check online, you will stumble upon both cordless drills and impact drivers which can be corded as well as cordless, brushed or brushless. Choosing one perfect for your requirement needs you to know about both the tools thoroughly so that you can make a proper investment for a fruitful result. By all means, the impact driver set is different from the cordless drill based on drill design, usage and of course, advantages.
Check out the following to choose your required tool –
Cordless Drill and Impact Driver –Design Of Drill
The cordless drill or your standard drill driver can be considered as a versatile tool which has a chuck on the head that can be both keyless and keyed and holds the bits in the proper place. You can use hex bits or the standard ones to enhance your versatility. In case you need to drive screws or other fasteners, this drill offers relatively lower speed than that of drilling holes. In order to prevent tightening up the fasteners overly, you can use clutch that not only helps to adjust the torque level but also stops the drill from ruining the material on which the hole is made.
The cordless impact driver, on the other hand, is more lightweight and compact with more twisting force or torque with voltage going around 12-20 Volts –the rise of voltage increases the power and speed. Without any chuck, these drivers use hex collet clamp to keep the drill as well as the bits with hexagonal shanks measuring ¼ inches. These drivers deliver power through fast rotary bursts for producing more torque according to requirement and apply force downward to protect your wrist. If resistance is acquired, the action becomes automatic. Generally running with one gear, the advanced drivers often use 3 gears.
Cordless Drill and Impact Driver –Usage
The cordless drill as a brushless power tool is generally used to drive in the small fasteners or drill holes while the impact driver is used to drive larger fasteners, larger screws and often lag bolts with the help of an adapter. Impact-rated hex-shank (1/4 inches) drill bits are often used in impact driver for basic drilling work although these have limited scope. To put it simply, if you want precision, a cordless drill will be a better choice but where precision is a secondary concern and more torque is required while drilling through knotty dense wood or hard metal, the impact drivers can be your best choice.
Brushless and Brushed –The Advantages
It is recommended to go for the brushless impact driver or drill because they offer more efficiency instead of frictions produced from an operation. Brushless tools, although a bit pricey, help in more power flow to the driver, getting précised power control and motor performance, efficiency in battery life, less heat formation, etc and in a way they do not need much maintenance, unlike the brushed ones which need replacement of parts due to damage from friction.
While cordless drills offer versatility and affordability, the impact drivers offer excellent force especially in large-scale projects so that your wrists and muscles do not get fatigued. The latter tighten up screws in the proper way and in less time, thereby reducing the working span.