Experiences With Electric Impact Wrench
 

Hey,

Does anyone have experience with electric impacts?

I'm gonna get myself one for Christmas. I don't feel like dealing with a compressor at my house so a pneumatic one is pretty much out of the question(im only 20, gonna be moving around for the next 5 or so years im sure).

I've had terrible luck with cordless drills/saws so a cordless is pretty much out of the question, the lithium battery ones are like 150 more after chargers/Batteries. And from what i've found they can't match the specs

I've been looking at a dewalt one http://www.dewalt.com/us/products/to...productID=8665


If anyone has some experience with these types of impacts please school me.

thanks

They will work but generally are nowhere near as strong as thier air powered cousins.

Truth be told the more ft-lbs it pushes the better, the snap on cordless ones we use at work are 18V and put out about 400 ft-lbs. I can take lugnuts off HD trucks that someone put on with an airpowered impact.

But I digrees, more power the better..

I have the cheapo 110V one and well I use my pneumatic one(s). I carry one in my truck to use with the Powertank or the on board compressor.

I have both corded & 18V cordless Milwaukee impact wrenches
http://heavydutytools.net/ProdImages/9072-20large.jpg
http://heavydutytools.net/Scripts/pr...p?idproduct=75

http://heavydutytools.net/ProdImages/9079-20large.jpg

I use the cordless 18V frequently. Great for removing lug nuts, dismantling parts etc....They are both nice If I am working in the garage at night and want to avoid running the compressor-

Don't completely discount the new Cordless impacts - Milwaukee's V28 version puts is rated for 325 ft*lbs.

My milwuakees have great variable speed depending on trigger pull- very easy to control.

I have a Ryobi 18 volt cordless and really like it. Won't match up with air powered, but great for all but worst jobs

There's a makita cordless that puts out something ridiculous like 800ftlbs. The thing weighs like 20lbs, though, so it's not fun if you're using it for a while, but cordless is nice. Expensive, though; when I found it online it was listed for like six or seven hundred bucks.

I have a little Mastercraft Maximum that I bought for $130 on sale, regular price was $250 or so. They have them on sale for $99 now. Comes in a case with two batteries and a charger, a bunch of bits, a 1/2-3/8 adapter, and the attachment that turns it into a driver (accepts hex shank bits). It's only about 80 or 90 ftlbs (1100 inlbs) but it works well for basic disassembly and assembly stuff. It'll turn lugnuts on but I always make sure to torque them down properly afterwards. If I want real power, I'll bust out the pneumatic stuff :)

I use the thing in place of a regular cordless drill also. I'm definitely glad I bought it.

edit: the one thing that i hate about the corded impacts i've used is the dual-position trigger. i never remember which way is which and on smaller fasteners it's easy to accidentally tighten them a boatload if you're not careful which trigger you pull. i'd rather have a switch to choose direction and a single trigger. i'm a klutz, though, so it may be different for others.

I have one that's made by a less-known company known as Everest. But I've looked and seen the same impact gun, but with Matco logos on it. It even has the same specs as the "Matco" one. Mine is a 19.2 volt gun that supposedly puts out about 280 or so ft-lbs of torque (I really doubt it puts out that much). I take off lug nuts and stuff with them. It's surprisingly quite, of course, compared to an air impact, and like everyone's already mentioned it's not nearly as strong. But it's cordless, and quiet! Mine cost me about $300, included were 2 rechargable batteries and the battery charger. I think it was worth it, just the work I've used it for already, and especially if you don't have a nice air compressor around.

I have one of those $20 HF 12V impacts:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/pho...2399/92349.gif

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=92349

They do a fairly decent job for what they are. I did have to open mine up and tweak the dog clutch a little to make it work better (centered up the dog and made it move easier). I will grab it for small jobs where it would take more time to air up my compressor air tank and drag out the air hose, etc. It'll pop lug nuts off and have seen then used to replace idler arms on IFS trucks. It works by spinning up a heavy steel clutch assembly, then at a certain speed, the dog flys out and you get a big impact force/torque. Usually one of two shots and then it'll spin a lug nut off.

My buddy got a 120V electric impact and he finds it works OK, replaced his tranny/t-case with it.

I saw something similar for sale at Canada's HF-equivalent chinastore, it looked pretty neat. Having 12V would be nice just to keep the thing in the truck. They're on sale this week for like $12.99 or something, I might go pick one up ;)