# My son gave me the Makita Impact Driver and Driver/Drill Set that purchased from Home Depot



## Wallace Jeong (Aug 14, 2011)

*My son gave me the Makita Impact Driver and Driver/Drill Set that purchased from Home Depot*

I went to Home Depot and asked those experts what is the difference between those two tools and when do you one over the other. No one there can give an straight answer. Can you guys give me an answer to this question?


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## oh'mike (Sep 18, 2009)

Wallace--I moved your threat to 'tools'

Here is the difference in a nutshell----drill driver just spins forward and reverse---with a variable speed control.
Perfect for drilling holes and driving most screws---add a magnetic bit holder for ease of use.

Impact gun not only spins but slams as it turns---ideal for breaking a stuck nut or screw loose.

Also handy for driving screws into very hard wood.

A tool nut(expert) will be along to give you a technical description.

Play with both----the impact is nice to have but I think the standard drill will get more use.


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## Doc Holliday (Mar 12, 2011)

Wallace Jeong said:


> I went to Home Depot and asked those experts what is the difference between those two tools and when do you one over the other. No one there can give an straight answer. Can you guys give me an answer to this question?


 
I bought the exact same set maybe two months ago. I already have the 18v li-ion hammer/driver lxt drill and flashlight kit.

The driver drill from this new set I only pull out when I need to drill a masonry anchor or attach my plenum hole cutter, when a bit needs to be grabbed.

I use chucks for my impact which the impact has the quick release just for these chucks, 1/4" and 5/16" mainly, and use it first and foremost everyday, all day.

The older lxt hammer drill I hardly ever use any longer, only for seriously stubborn walls or concrete as it is the strongest, equipped with the most torque and it has the hammer capability.

I think that whichever you use you'll be more than satisfied with those drills.


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## Mr Chips (Mar 23, 2008)

my impact is my "go to" driver. I only use the drill/driver for drilling holes ( maily because it has a chuck and the majority of the bits I own are round shanked)


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## mbryan (Apr 10, 2011)

Once you get over the noise the impact makes it wil be your go too tool. Hardly ever use drills. What models you looking at?


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## scyarch (Oct 20, 2011)

Sooooo it's kind of been explained- the differences, but here's my 2 cents..

Drill- Basically meant for its name. Drilling holes. It's chuck is adjustable and can fit drill bits of all sizes for the most part, usually up to about 1/2" bits (you are normally limited with the impact to about 1/4" as well as needing specialized bits). You can also get 1/4" hex adapters to plug in phillips/torx/other bits for driving screws if you'd like.

Impact Driver- As oh'mike said, it slams as it spins although not in the way you might think. It doesn't slam like a hammer would but slams in the direction of a spin. The easiest way to think about how it works is if you look at a ratcheting socket wrench. 

Now the more detailed explanation- if you were to try and screw a lag bolt in something with a drill- it's basically brute force as if you took a bolt driver and tried to twist the screw in, without stopping (think, hold the bolt driver and walk in circles around it. If you were to use an impact driver... it's more of taking a socket wrench as well as a hammer and tapping the wrench repeatedly with the hammer. A significantly easier task as far as the amount of force that translates through the tool into your arms. 

Hopefully this kind of helps clarify any residual questions you might have. Suffice it to say, an impact driver generates a LOT more force in-pounds than a drill is capable of with significantly less effort on the part of your wrist. It's generally used to drive screws and bolts, and the longer the screw, the bigger the bolt, the better the tool works. I've actually burned out a drill trying to drive some lag bolts once while installing some security screens because the drill wasn't able to take the constant strain of screwing where the impact basically ratchets at thousands of revolutions a minute, reducing the constant strain on the driver. So just use it to drive screws. The drill is used to drill and only to drill from now on. For one thing- because the revolutions are so obscene on most impact drivers, it's scary fast to use a drill on one and thus also pretty unsafe if you can't control your speed that well and if you are working on delicate materials. A drill works best for that application.

Sorry for the slightly long winded, possibly incoherent explanation. I'm much more visual and could probably have cleared this up visually in like 3 minutes tops to the point that you could teach someone else, rather than spend a good 20 trying to figure out the easiest way to try and explain this through text  Hope it helps!


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## itin1200 (Oct 10, 2009)

I'll add a couple cents here. 

You will come to LOVE the impact driver! It is definitely my "go to" tool for driving screws and lags. The impact force is with the rotation of the bit-think of it as a small hammer hitting the bit in the same direction as the spin of the bit. This takes the pressure off of your wrist while driving lag screws.

This differs from a hammer drill, which pounds in and out as the bit is turning, perpendicular to the spin of the bit. 

The Makita tools are pretty nice and the batteries last for a long time on a single charge.


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