An impact drill, also called an impact driver, looks very similar to the average cordless drill, but it’s designed to drive screws much faster and stronger. If you are here to learn what a 12V impact drill is and whether you need one, you’re in the right place. Below, there is a definitive overview of the tool, its purposes, and its benefits for your household projects.
Drill vs. Impact Driver
Impact drivers are confused with average electric drills very often. The main difference between them is the amount of power and the nut rotation speed. There are several other differences too:
- Shank – impact driver has a quick-release shank that’s compatible with all one-quarter-inch hex driver bits on the market. Together with tough rotational power, this lets you drive huge screws in mere seconds.
- Motor – unlike drills, impact drivers produce high torque power not by simply rotating the shank, but by making around 45-60 high-torque impacts per second. Additionally, they have a specific rating pattern that boosts efficiency.
- Size – average impact drivers are usually smaller than drills but deliver much more rotational power. You will also notice that the first provides a significantly better grip on the screw head. All due to the bits that are fully engaged with the screws.
Impact Driver vs. Hammer Drill
A hammer drill is another tool that looks almost the same as the impact driver, but it’s used for slightly different purposes. Technically, a hammer drill is an average drill with an option to produce a high-frequency back-and-forth movement (let’s call it vibration). This vibration is needed for quick drilling in stone, block, concrete, and brick. It helps the bit make holes not only by drilling but hammering out the material simultaneously. In most cases, hammer drills are larger than average drills and allow you to switch between normal drilling and hammer drilling. At this point, hammer drills are more versatile for drilling than average drills.
Will It Drill?
Although impact drivers are designed specifically for driving screws, they can also be used with special drilling bits. There are some tips to remember, though:
- You can use an impact driver with standard hex-shank drill bits only if you need to make small holes in softwoods or light-gauge metals.
- Pressure-treated lumber, hardwood, heavy-gauge steel, and other materials with similar density require special impact driver drilling bits. Look for impact-ready drill bit sets.
As you can see, an impact drill is much more versatile than just a tool for tightening screws.
So Do You Need an Impact Driver?
If all you need is drilling average holes in walls or wood and driving small screws from time to time, you will get by with an average cordless drill. But if your plans include one or more of the following tasks, you definitely need a decent impact driver:
- Deck construction – if you want to build a deck, you must be ready to deal with several types of large wood screws. There’s no better tool than an impact drill for screwing them.
- Fastening masonry screw anchors – this task requires high torque. Besides, all the compatible bits are available only for impact drivers.
- Driving screws into metal studs – metal studs are becoming more and more popular for framing and other construction purposes, and an impact driver is the best tool for fastening them quickly and well.
Which Impact Driver Is Right for You?
The market is overflowing with impact drivers by various brands. To choose the right tool for your purposes, you need to look for the right configuration and amount of power. There are corded and cordless tools, but the second type is prevailing for household and professional use. The first type is still demanded due to its ability to work at peak RPMs for long hours, but you’re not likely to need it in a lifetime. Cordless tools are portable and can tighten a large number of screws from a single charge too.
The amount of power and torque depends on the voltage in a cordless tool. The most common impact driver voltages are 12V, 18V, and 20V. To tell the truth, there’s no difference between 18V and 20V. You can actually consider them the same. The trick here is that 20V motors produce 20V under no load and 18V under load. Tools advertised with an 18V mark produce 20V under no-load conditions too!
Having a more powerful driver is great if you need to tighten large screws most of the time. Still, you should remember that more powerful models are also significantly heavier and cause fatigue much faster when you’re batch processing. For this reason, a 12V driver is the best option for the vast majority of fastening tasks around your household.
It’s also important to pay a bit more to have a tool that has a brushless motor (most modern tools have them) as they generate less heat and drain the battery slower. Besides, you will win if you buy a tool with a variable speed controller. It will make screwing and drilling much more convenient.
Finally, you probably want to know the best impact driver brands. Choosing the brand is the easiest task. If you already have several cordless tools by the same brand, you should choose an impact driver by the same manufacturer to make the most out of all the batteries you have. If not, look for a tool from one of these brands to have the best quality: Milwaukee, Bosch, Makita, DeWalt, Ryobi, Festool, and Metabo. However, there’s nothing bad if you look for an impact driver in a lower-price category. You should just understand the differences.
At Your Service
Now that you’re an impact driver expert, you can make a final decision and accomplish your dream projects at the highest efficiency possible! Your new impact driver can do a variety of things, starting from boring small holes to tightening huge wood screws in no time. Fortunately, there are great options for almost any budget, so you don’t need too much time to choose one for your tasks. Get a decent tool, and it will serve you for years!
