Years ago I got a small air compressor and right away bought a cheap impact wrench. I used that thing for years until I upgraded to a massive air compressor and bought a serious impact wrench. That's when I realized that impact wrenches weren't for assembly. First thing I tried to zip the nut back onto sheared right off. I tried an air socket wrench, but they are slow and frigging loud. OK for some stuff, but ... meh.
Several years ago I bought a cheap 12V Dewalt battery impact driver to help change tires at the track. That thing rocks. I can zip almost anything that's not heavy duty or super rusty off AND ON with ease. Sweet. As battery powered things do, the batteries are dying off. So at Xmas time I stepped up and bought one of the multi tool Dewalt kits, this time in 20V. Well ... the 20V impact is a little to powerful for assembly. Zipped a bolt head off installing a fender on my Miata.
Bottom line, I think I'm going to buy something that will give me the capability I had in the 12V. So, the ultimate torque capability should be in the range where I can put together things (valve cover bolts on the Miata would be a good example) without shearing the bolt. And, if I forget to check the torque it should usually be fine. Again, think most things with 10-12mm bolts on the Miata. Getting new batteries for the 12V is a consideration. But, there are some smaller offerings out there now. Smaller would often be much more useful. Bosch has a mini-12V thing that looks pretty cool. It has similar specs to the 12V DW but I'm concerned that DW probably overrates their tools and the Bosch may be more powerful. Both the Bosch and DW are rated at just under 1000 in-lb of torque where the 20V DW is 1400. Has anyone used any of those and found them to be decent? Any other suggestions?
Several years ago I bought a cheap 12V Dewalt battery impact driver to help change tires at the track. That thing rocks. I can zip almost anything that's not heavy duty or super rusty off AND ON with ease. Sweet. As battery powered things do, the batteries are dying off. So at Xmas time I stepped up and bought one of the multi tool Dewalt kits, this time in 20V. Well ... the 20V impact is a little to powerful for assembly. Zipped a bolt head off installing a fender on my Miata.
Bottom line, I think I'm going to buy something that will give me the capability I had in the 12V. So, the ultimate torque capability should be in the range where I can put together things (valve cover bolts on the Miata would be a good example) without shearing the bolt. And, if I forget to check the torque it should usually be fine. Again, think most things with 10-12mm bolts on the Miata. Getting new batteries for the 12V is a consideration. But, there are some smaller offerings out there now. Smaller would often be much more useful. Bosch has a mini-12V thing that looks pretty cool. It has similar specs to the 12V DW but I'm concerned that DW probably overrates their tools and the Bosch may be more powerful. Both the Bosch and DW are rated at just under 1000 in-lb of torque where the 20V DW is 1400. Has anyone used any of those and found them to be decent? Any other suggestions?