Impact Wrench vs. Impact Driver: All You Need To Know
Having the proper tools for your work is very important. Without the right tool, you are only going to find your work harder than it really is. Let’s admit that we all get confused between impact wrench and impact driver, and have many-a-times used the wrong tool at various places.
Well, not anymore! Let’s do a quick comparison between the both impact wrench vs. impact driver. Let’s have a quick look at how they are similar in working, yet different in application.
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The Similarities
Both impact wrench and impact driver are designed for different purposes. But they both have the same principle behind their working. When compared to a standard drill, they deliver concussiverotational blows to the driver to increase its torque.
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Imagine trying to remove a stuck bolt using a standard socket wrench. If you cannot remove it with your strength, you bang the ends of the wrench with a hammer to provide extra power on the wrench. This is exactly how the impact driver and impact wrench work.
The Differences
Impact drivers are sleek and provide more torque when compared to the standard drill, whereas the impact wrenches are giant and heavy and more powerful than impact drivers, thus providing the higher torque than impact drivers.
Generally, impact wrenches are bulkier but more powerful and have higher torque when compared to the sleeker and light impact drill. The impact wrench commonly uses a square drive, usually half an inch and is used for loosening or fastening socket. Whereas most impact drivers use quarter hex drives and are made for driving screws.
Impact drives come with an adapter with which they can be transformed into a half inch square driver and can be used with socket drivers.
When And Where To Use?
The impact wrench provides you with a considerably higher torque. This difference in powermeans that both the impact wrench and the impact driver have different applications.
An impact driver can produce a whopping 2,200 in-lbs torque, whereas an impact wrench can produce up to 6 times that produced by impact driver, nearly 13,000 in-lbs to be exact. Most of the times this much power go wasted without any use. So unless you have some really big trucks to work on, an impact driver will work perfectly for you.
Impact Wrench
Impact wrenches find more use in industries like the automobile repair industry, heavymachine maintenance, and constructions project and product assembly. Most common impact wrenches are powered by compressed air, but electrical and hydraulic models are also currently available.
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Impact Driver
Impact drivers are made to drive screws and bolts into wood and other surfaces that may not be possible using a standard drill. They do this with the help of concussive rotational force which drives the screws and bolts into the surface.
Over to You
It is important to have a proper tool kit, and further even more important to have the right tools in the toolkit. And to have the proper tools, knowledge of the usage of each tool is necessary. For general applications, owning an impact wrench can be useless. Most of the needs and requirements can be easily met with the help of an impact driver.
But if you have heavier work, then you are going to need a heavier tool. This is where the cordless impact wrench comes into play. The impact driver is more of a household tool whereas an impact wrench has many industrial applications.
There are many different brands and models of both impact driver and impact wrench to choose from and it is important that you choose one that is most suited to your needs and requirements.
