Impact Driver and/or Battery Drill?

jander3 · February 11, 2009, 09:46:26 PM

Anyone have experience with a battery powered impact driver or drill? I need to drill 1/2" holes with an auger bit about 12" deep for bolting toghether my foundation beams. I'm looking for something that holds a charge and with a couple of batteries will last most of the day. There is no way to charge a battery out at my cabin site.

I've been drilling by hand (with a bit and brace); however, I would like something a little quicker. I've heard some fairly positive feedbak on the Panasonic impact driver. Anyone care to offer an opinion?

Raphael · February 12, 2009, 12:21:17 AM

I don't know the Panasonic, but I'm pretty impressed by my Rigid. It won't last very long running on highspeed/impact through concrete but it holds up well under low speed high torque general boring. I did fairly well starting each morning with two fully charged batteries but ultimately switched to using the high speed side of a Boss boring machine for all my ½ & ¾" holes in the main timbers.

kfhines · February 12, 2009, 07:04:38 AM

I have the Milwaukee 28v set with the impact driver for changing the tires on the van and the 1/2" hammer drill both work great. The batteries last a long time as long as it's not really cold out.

kfhines

BBTom · February 12, 2009, 07:28:44 AM

I would be tempted to go with an engine drill for that many large deep holes. I love my rechargable drills, but the batteries have a real tough time putting out that much power over a days time. Check out a Tanaka engine drill. I have one and it is not fast, but it has enough torque to drill most any size hole through anything.

scsmith42 · February 12, 2009, 08:34:11 AM

Quote from: kfhines on February 12, 2009, 07:04:38 AM
I have the Milwaukee 28v set with the impact driver for changing the tires on the van and the 1/2" hammer drill both work great. The batteries last a long time as long as it's not really cold out.

kfhines

+1.

I don't have the impact driver, but I have the rest of the set (drill, sawzall, circular saw, and flashlight). The batteries last longer than any other cordless drill that I've owned, and we've used it to bore many 1" holes through utility poles.

The sawzall seems to draw the batteries down pretty quickly, but the other tools last a long time on a charge.

jander3 · February 12, 2009, 09:30:54 AM

BB Tom,

I looked up engine drills. I sort of like this idea as, then, I am not held hostage to a battery. What model Tanaka do you use? I see on prices between about 300 something and 550. Looks like the difference is a bit more horse power and a reverse lever.

Dave Shepard · February 12, 2009, 09:57:51 AM

I'm thinking reverse is worth every penny extra. ;) Echo and Stihl also make gas powered drills. Here is the search results for "drill" at Bailey's Online. There are gas drills on all three pages of the search.

witterbound · February 12, 2009, 10:12:44 AM

I think I'd buy a small generator that could be used at your cabin, then use a plug-in drill.

okie · February 12, 2009, 10:46:07 AM

I'm with witterbound. I'm sure you could find other uses for the generator once you had it as well.

shinnlinger · February 12, 2009, 04:41:46 PM

Hi,

I'm pretty sure an impact driver is only used for driving fastners and can't be used for dilling.

You want a drill and for hole that big I would say a corded drill.

THere are some big Lithium Ion drills that will do what you want (milwakee28 volt and Bosch 32 volt come to mind), but I still think you will have to bring some extra charged batteries if you want all day performance and swapping an expensive lithium ion battery in one after another will be hard on the drill itself.

I think you will be ahead buying a generator (as these big volt kits arn't cheap) and using a holehawg as has already been suggested.

ksu_chainsaw · February 12, 2009, 06:44:18 PM

I think that your best bang for the buck would be a generator and a corded drill. An impact driver can be used to drill holes, but you have to have a bit with the 1/4"hex shank and it needs to be impact rated- most long drill bits do not fit that category. A corded drill in the category you are looking for would be similar to the 36V Dewalt drill. It runs around $500 with 2 batteries. My little brother uses the 36V Impact putting grain bins together and will use 3-4 batteries per day (10 working hours). A 5000 watt generator will run around $650, and will have more uses further down the road when you are working on other projects. I would get the biggest generator you can afford, then you can always use it for backup power, or anywhere you dont want to drag an extension cord to.

Just my 2 cents

Charles

BBTom · February 12, 2009, 08:15:29 PM

The Reverse lever would be nice, but the smallest one (TED-210) is what I have and it has more torque than any electric drill I know of but no reverse lever. I used it for tapping maple trees, and drilling holes in locust posts, used it with a 2" auger bit to drill a hole under stumps for dynamite. Never had a problem with it running out of torque.

I like the generator/drill idea also.

Raphael · February 12, 2009, 08:57:01 PM

The one time I found my 18v hammer drill really handy was when drilling bolt holes into the basement floor through 2" of standing water. Not somewhere I wanted my corded drill and extension cords. ;)

ErikC · February 13, 2009, 02:12:55 PM

For about 50 bucks you can buy a small inverter that will plug into the cigarette lighter in your pickup. This will run your battery charger all day so you can just keep recharging. I use it for this type thing all the time. But I agree that the best use of your money would be a small generator and corded tools. If you have the cordless already though....

Thehardway · February 13, 2009, 03:20:17 PM

I use Makita tools and they have a great impact driver. Impact drivers don't have adjustable chucks. They are made with a locking mechanism to accept hex bits only. I don't think it would work well for drilling large diameter holes with auger bits. I would vote for the small generator with a hole Hawg type drill or better yet a boring machine. Jim usually has some for sale.

olyman · February 13, 2009, 05:10:02 PM

as eric sasid--the inverters to run off the car battery--can be had in many diff wattages--the larger ones will connect directly to the battery--and you need to keep up the speed on the inverters--as they pull more power than you would think--but they mostly cost less than a gene--but then the gene--if you buy a quality one--is about forever---

jander3 · February 14, 2009, 01:47:14 PM

Thanks. I appreciate all the feedback. I picked up Bosch 18V drill/driver for now (I need it around the shop, my Dewalt died). In the spring when I can get back to the camp with an ATV, I will get a generator, which should make life a little easier.

ScottAR · February 16, 2009, 11:51:26 PM

Actually, I used my Bosch 18v to drill 23 half inch holes in some
PT 2x and 4x lumber on a deck project last weekend. That was on
one battery. I needed 26 holes ;D but that's how cordless tools
work sometimes. I know it was 26 because I had 25 bolts and had
to go back to town for that last one. :D

jander3 · February 17, 2009, 07:10:32 PM

Drilled and lagged up some foundation beams this weekend with the Bosch 18V. I drilled 15 holes that were 1/2" diameter and about 12 inches deep in oak beams and stumps. To finish up the job, I needed to pop in the second battery. The drill worked very well.

Jon

tyb525 · February 17, 2009, 07:39:10 PM

I have a ridgid 18V hammer drill that works really well. Just as a test, I drilled about 50 1/2" holes through 2 inch oak, and when it was done it still had juice left in the battery.

StorminN · February 17, 2009, 09:52:28 PM

Jon,

I wouldn't recommend drilling with a dedicated impact driver. I tried that with my 18V Li-ion Milwaukee, because I was drilling holes in studs to run romex, and the impact driver is a shorter tool than the drill... more room to maneuver... but as ksu_chainsaw said above, when you use an impact driver, you need impact-rated drills... I learned this the hard way... I broke a drill bit and an extension... and then ended up going back to the tried-and-true Hole Hawg (arm-breaker).

You could always get a small solar panel and a battery and leave them at the cabin, then wire an inverter to the battery and run your charger off of that... or maybe Bosch makes a car charger for their cordless drill batteries?... I say this because you might be able to scrounge this stuff together... I've found 400W inverters at Big Lots for $15... otherwise, it would probably be cheaper to just buy another battery for your Bosch if you needed the extra run time...

-Norm.

WoodMiller · February 18, 2009, 12:56:58 PM

Another thought is to check into 12 volt plug-in chargers for your Li-ion battery. I have one for my Ryobi 18v Impact Driver and it works great - runs off one of the power ports on my truck.

MattJ · February 20, 2009, 07:36:46 AM

Now that it was mentioned I have to say the 18V drill and impact driver from Ryobi have been one of my favorite tools. I have a lot of other "higher end" brand tools, but that ryobi (18V) just keeps going, was rated well by finewoodworking, and at $40 for two batteries and an extra charger (either the drill or impact driver with a charger and 2 batteries is always under $100) I loaded up on batteries and when I got out to work on a project I never have problems with running out of juice. Built a tree mansion for my son this past summer (700+ BF of ERC just for decking, trim and rails alone), working 12+ hours a day pre-drilling and putting down decking, railing, etc and with four battery packs I never ran out of juice. The impact driver has the benefit as well of making it almost impossible to strip screws, and it was great for driving lag bolts. I do have to say though it is just below the torque level for changing tires.

Ironwood · August 17, 2009, 10:57:42 PM

Tell me about Rigid's warrentee? They say "lifetime " replacement on everything.

Ironwood

shinnlinger · August 18, 2009, 01:18:01 AM

I also understand even the battery is covered with Rigid. Their tools may not be the greatest, but that warranty is interesting. I wonder though if the batteries are prorated like with an auto battery? My brother has a fairly new 18 volt Rigid Impact driver and it did not seem to hold up as long or drive as well as my older Nicad 14.4 Makita Impact. We were shooting a bunch of the 11 inch panel screws in my roof and were cycling our batteries fairly frequently. The Makita Charger would have a fresh battery ready when needed but the Rigid did not.

I have a neighbor who I don't know very well who drives a Ryobi truck and I asked him a week ago or so if I could borrow an impact driver so a friend could help me install metal roofing on my house. He didn't BUT it turns out he is also the Milwaukee and Rigid rep and he mentioned the Rigid lifetime warranty . He also had a special on an 18v Lithium Ion Milwaukee combo set impact-driver and drill for $200 bucks with a case of quality bits. Sounded good to me so I now own that set and it seems to be a winner also. Not too big or heavy but seems to have good power and run time.