My son has been wanting a battery powered impact wrench (hence the subject line). He'd prefer one with Li-ion battery pack - this is for removing lug nuts from his cars, as well as other things.
He has a birthday coming up this weekend, and I'd like to get him one. Anyone have any specific recommendations - besides to just get a good pneumatic model (I've tried that route, but he wants portability, as he does dirt-biking in the wilds of wherever)? I need a heads-up pretty quick, so I can order it from Amazon, or whoever.
Two men I know, one on email and one guy from a tow truck service who helped change my tire. Have cordless impact, and are very pleased.
My only information, is to buy name brand. And expect to spend between $400 and $600, to start with.
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He has a birthday coming up this weekend, and I'd like to get him one. Anyone have any specific recommendations - besides to just get a good pneumatic model (I've tried that route, but he wants portability, as he does dirt-biking in the wilds of wherever)? I need a heads-up pretty quick, so I can order it from Amazon, or whoever.
My experience with electric impact wrenches suggests that a "cross wrench" is a heck of a lot more reliable for getting lug nuts off. Add a can of antiseize and they come off nicer the next time.
For small stuff (most motorcycle) and the backwoods, a "manual hammer driven impact tool" works. Both Snap-on and Sears should have them, at differing price points of course. For JIS or Phillips head screws, it's the best tool (JIS do work a lot better with a JIS bit, rather than a Phillips bit, of course - just being X shaped does not make it Phillips, especially if it came from Japan.)
McMaster has both 3/8 and 1/2" drive versions of those - probably better than Sears, at a guess, and Sears does not have a 1/2" drive version.
IMHO, also far better in the "wilds of wherever" than packing a battery powered tool a long way from an outlet for its charger.
McMaster also shows torque ranges for the electrics (& pneumatics) they sell, so you could use that information in your shopping.
I've yet to see an electric "impact wrench" that was more than a nut-spinner - ie, anything they can move a wrench without a cheater bar can move, and if the wrench with a cheater bar failed, they fail too. As far as I can tell from what I see in the catalog, little has changed and the price on the "high torque" one will buy a pneumatic that can run rings around it...
I do not know how the cordless ones work on car lug nuts. I found mine useless on the lawn mower. Had to run and buy a corded one to remove the blade. Most of the manufacturers give the torque figures so research those.
I got the Makita LXT (3.0 amp hour) kit with the BDT141Z driver.
Having used both Bosch (14.4v Nicad which I ran for 4 years) and Makita (18v lithium, which I've run for 2 now) impacts, I can highly recommend either. Expect to spend around $260/300 for the kit with driver, 2 batts, charger, and case. Both tools work flawlessly.
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looks like the Bosch has a bit more torque, 1500 vs 1330 in lbs.
-- It is easier to fool people than it is to convince people that they have been fooled. --Mark Twain
The OP needs a good cordless impact for present... and I wish I had a suggestion.
However, having said that I agree that a big, cross type rim wrench is the right technology to carry for boon dock emergency situations. Simple, reliable, powerful and practically indestructible.
When size and weight matter, and especially on a dirt bike, I prefer a long breaker bar:
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can be clamped to a straight frame member. A swivel head one will spin the lug nut off pretty quickly after it's loosened. If a lug nut is too tight you can lift the handle (and wheel) with the jack and bounce the fender. Front wheels can be locked with a stick tied to the steering wheel, depressing the brake pedal.
I carried an impact driver like this
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a hatchet to hammer it, with a metal edge cover, in the saddle bags of my road bike. It won't pop out and strip the slots of a Phillips screw as easily as a power impact driver. When I got it -really- stuck in mud way out in the woods I used the hatchet and a folding saw to cut branches and laid down a corduroy road to walk it out.
Thanks to all who answered. After checking (and choking) on the prices for anything that looked like quality, I'm gonna go with the several suggestions about a cross-handled spinner. They worked for me in my day, and for my dad even earlier. My son's an engineer, and likes the shiny techy stuff. I guess he should get a chrome plated wrench for the shiny part.
For the techy part, I've decided to get him a Bosch Li-ion pistol grip screwdriver, since that's another thing he has been wanting (and I can afford that - barely).
I have a couple of Kawasaki units, one larger than the other. Both work well. The larger one is fine for changing tires. Kawasaki tools are not quite as pricey as some of the brands mentioned above. I would also look at Craftsman, which are also in the $100 range. While not quite as good as the top-tier Snap-Ons etc, they are more than adequate for a DIYer. If you really want some real-world opinions, visit your local autocross event next Sunday. Go around 9:00 and you will see most every competitor using one of these. Ask them for opinions on what they are using.
Well it works just fine with the air tools we use in the FD. We have an air hammer, a body saw, couple of air/hyd jacks. I have used it with an impact wrench and a cut off tool. No real problems.
With one of out tool bottles (2215 aluminum ISI 30 minute bottle) you can run the cut off tool or wrench for around 10 minutes but then the pressure drops off real fast. For us this isn't a problem as we have spare bottles and a cascade fill station.
A: Cost - ask your local scuba shop. Because what it costs elsewhere does not matter...It will be the cleanest, driest air you've ever run through an air tool - but the cost will reflect that, to an extent.
B: As with any high pressure tank, a lot ;) but you'll also lose a lot of it making a nice cold regulator/tool (see also "why compressed air cars are thermodynamically stupid.") Never forget that a high-pressure compressed air tank is a missile waiting for the valve to be broken off, and can punch right through concrete walls.
Tanks vary. Oddly enough, fill costs rarely do, so get a big one (unless you find that fill costs vary locally - check locally...)
Sizes vary. In the US, they are typically rated by number of cubic feet (held, compressed), while in europe they are often (same tanks) listed by tank volume (not amount of compressed air held - but you can figure that from volume and rated pressure; in bars, there, of course.)
The most common tank in the biz, which you have to be careful not to get one of the elderly ones made with bad alloys, is a 77 cubic foot (STP) mislabeled "aluminum 80" in commerce. Typically 3000-3300PSI.
Low-pressure steels have a common size of 72, another common size of 95, and run about 2250 PSI.
High pressure steels use different valve (DIN - it's better than the standard "yoke" at high pressures) and have a typical range from 80-120 cubic feet at 3500 PSI. Your local shop may or may not love or hate them and may or may not charge more to fill them. Check first. Fire departments (SCBA, no U) often use a composite tank rated up to 4500 PSI, but you don't want to take those underwater.
You'll need a regulator. All you need is the first stage, which knocks the tank pressure down to something like 140 PSI, typically. This gets moderately complicated since scuba regulators are life support equipment and getting parts/service for one you'd like to adjust down to 90PSI and not breathe through may be hard or easy, depending on your local support. Go ask. You might get a deal on an old one nobody wants to bet their life on; Or not.
C: When figuring useful capacity, figure that most regulators don't work all that well below about 300PSI tank pressure, so consider that fraction of the faceplate capacity lost - what the fraction is depends on the tank starting pressure. So a low-pressure steel 95 might give 82 cubic feet usefully, and a high-pressure steel 120 might give 109 cubic feet usefully. Maximum draw-off rate (CFM) is going to be limited, as well (a tank simply opened with no regulator takes quite a number of noisy minutes to drain, and regulators will only slow that down.)
Many fill stations will require a dive certification card to fill tanks
- those catering to the paintball crowd may not. Aside from the normal DOT hydro test (often cheaper if not done through a scuba shop) every 5 years, you will also need a one-year visual inspection sticker (scuba shop only) to get a fill at most shops. For a while, the suspect aluminum 80s were also getting an extra charge for magna-fluxing - I think at this point most shops simply won't inspect or fill them, period. Fragmentation bombs suck. Beware of what you buy at a yard sale, or go read enough to be able to spot a bad one (not "is it cracked?" but "is it made with the bad alloy that can crack?") before you shop.
As such, for the impact wrench, I'll stick with my recommendation for hammer-driven in most cases where a compressor is out of reach.
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