You can run drill bits in an impact driver. They have to have a quarter inch hex shank on them though.
A big difference is the size. An impact driver will be smaller and lighter than a hammer drill. Also a hammer drill, unless set up for SDS bits can accept anything up to the max size of the chuck. The impact driver must have a hex shank on it. Performance wise an impact driver can do a lot more for the money. You can put a Phillips bit in the driver and when the screw tightens up too much it will start impacting and it will drive the screw home without having to feel like you are bench pressing the screw into the wood. I have an impact screw driver from Makita that also does this but at a much lower torque. I run the spade or paddle bits in mine and it takes a lot less effort to bore a big hole. And when I like most is the impact driver is much less stress on the wrists. If it binds, it starts impacting and keeps running. If a drill binds it can hurt you. The only problem I've had with mine is it will keep going and you can strip a screw if not careful. But that's not much to complain about as far as I'm concerned. BTW, mine is from Dewalt and runs on 18 volts. I might have gone with the Makita but couldn't find the bare tool only at the time and I have a lot of 18 volt Dewalt tools already. I think the difference in weight between my drill and impact is about 2 pounds. And it's shorter from front to back so it drives screws in tighter places. ----- Original Message ----- From: Jewel To: [email protected] Sent: Wednesday, October 01, 2008 8:34 PM Subject: Re: [BlindHandyMan] Impact Drivers How does an impact driver differ from a hammer drill? To me, they seem the same. Jewel [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
