Makita BTD151 Impact Driver

Impact Wrenches (sometimes called an impactor, torque gun or rattle gun) and Impact Drivers work by spinning a rotating mass (the hammer) inside of the tool, this then strikes the output shaft (the anvil) transferring the energy from the hammer and producing high torque output. The hammer is not stopped by the anvil and continues to rotate freely resulting in many impacts per second. One huge advantage to impact wrenches and impact drivers is that even though the tool applies a huge amount of torque to the job at hand, not much of that torque is felt by the tool user. Normally there will need to be a certain amount of resistance in the job being done before the hammering action will kick in. This is extremely useful because it allows bolts and nuts to be driven very fast, and then brings on the force when you need to set the fastener.

Shockwave Nut Drivers

With the growing popularity of impact tools there is also a growing need for impact driver bits, impact drill bits and impact sockets that can stand up to the power of these drivers. Standard driver bits, drill bits and sockets are made from strong, but brittle steel, impact tools can easily shatter these, sometimes with explosive results. Milwaukee Shockwave and DeWalt Impact Ready accessories however are made with special alloys specifically designed to hold up to the high torque exerted by impact tools and last up to 10 times longer than traditional bits not designed for these specific applications.

DeWalt Impact Ready Hole Saw

Typically Impact Wrenches have a square shank where as an Impact Driver would have a Hex Shank. Luckily you don’t have to buy both tools to take full advantage, many manufacturers are making hex to square and square to hex adapters.. With the new types of accessories coming out such as Impact Driver Hole Saws, and Impact Drill Bits, owning an adapter so that you can use Hex Shank Accessories on your Square Shank Tool or vice versa is a good idea.