What is an Impact Driver Used For?

If you work in a field that requires you to drive in a lot of screws into your foundations, automobile, or another device, you’ve probably realized the need for the best impact driver on the market. Having a reliable drill will help you stay on top of your work demands and keep producing the top tier work that got you to where you are now. However, before you make a selection, it’s important that you know how impact drivers work and how they differ from other drills on the market.

Difference Between Impact Driver and Hammer Drill

One of the biggest questions people have when learning about the different tool types is simply the difference between the main types of drills and drivers. One of the main things that people don’t realize is that not all drills have the same functions. Having an impact driver drill versus a hammer drill is a big difference for more reasons than technique and power output. They also work in very different manners. One of the biggest differences you should learn about is the difference between regular drills and impact driver drills – especially if you work with difficult materials on a regular basis.

Regular drills can be made for drilling holes into materials or driving screws into the pilot holes. They also tend to have a keyed chuck that makes it easy to switch out several different bits and accessories to make your work go by quickly and efficiently. If you’re only doing work with average materials like soft wood or plastic this might work well for you. However, if you want to work with heavier materials, you’re going to need a heavier tool. If you need a tool that can power through even the toughest materials you’ll want to invest in an impact driver.

These tools are much more powerful than typical drivers and will help you drive regular screws and larger fasteners through material that would hold up even the highest powered  regular drill. It’s perfect for completing difficult tasks quickly and effectively without making you stop to fight against your tools. However, it is important to keep in mind that this is all impact drills do – they don’t drill pilot holes. And despite their sheer power, they’re fairly comfortable to use since the majority of their torque is transferred to the screw and doesn’t bounce back on you.

Impact Driver Drill Bits

Many drills have keyed chucks that allow you to switch parts in and out seamlessly. This means you’ll be able to switch out multiple different parts to find a tool that will work well for your particular needs whether you’re working on drilling pilot holes or driving in screws. Many of these drills will have chucks that are nearly universal to any tool you could think to use with your drill. However, it’s a different story with impact drivers.

Impact drivers have collets that only accept hex shaped driver bits. This is largely because impact drivers serve a much more specialized purpose than regular drills. You can only use them to drive in screws to materials. However, even though they only drive screws in, they do this task especially well. They’re able to put out an impressive amount of power into the work without having it affect your grip or control over the device.

Impact Driver vs Impact Wrench

Impact drivers and impact wrenches function with very similar technologies. However, they function in opposite manners. Impact drivers are made to drive drills into tough and sturdy materials. Impact wrenches, however, are designed to help loosen difficult nuts and bolts.