1/4 or 3/8 drive

[kenskip1]

Gentleman,I used a mans battery operated 1/4 Dewalt impact driver (18 volt) and fell in love with it. My question is do any of you use a tool of this type? I have a 1/2 drive air operated impact gun along with a 3/8 air ratchet.My primary use will be small engine repair.I was nosing about on line and I am unsure what drive (1/4 or 3/8) to get! the 1/4 has 1550 inch pounds of torque.I think this one would do.Anyone have an opinion? Thanks, Ken

[John Mc]

I didn't even know they made 1/4" impact drivers. I thought they were all 3/8", 1/2", and up...

[Al_Smith]

Actually they do,sort of .About the only place they are used is on assembley lines though . However I do own a DeWalt 18 volt drill that has an impact on it for drilling masonary anchors .

Rambling on about air tools  ,those industrial drivers more times than not use a hex shaped adaptor with a square drive for the socket wrench or whatever tool it might be operating .Could be a socket wrench, torx driver ,you name it . Most of them are not impact but simpley  air powered drivers .

[Jim H]

I've got one of those, mine takes the 1/4" hex drive bits.I put in a 3/8 socket adaptor, it works great for small stuff and running larger stuff in and out once its broken free. Very handy.

[JohnG28]

I think what he is talking about is not a drill with an adapter, but an actual battery operated impact driver.  I havent used one, but have looked them over, the specs do show a lot more torque than a regular cordless drill.  If it will work for your needs and isnt out of your price range, then why not get one.  I doubt you will be changing tires with it, but probably will make many repairs easier.  As for the drive size, Id think 3/8" makes most sense, at least to me.  Depends on what you use most often though. And you can adapt 1/4 to 3/8, or 3/8 to 1/4, but I would rather have larger 3/8" for normal use and use an adapter to decrease the size if needed.  Good luck, hope it helps.

[Cut4fun]

I dont have one myself, a 1/4 impact that has rechargeable batt. I have used one on chainsaws to do repairs and they are sweet.

[Al_Smith]

Oh I suppose I have about tool box full of air tools of sizes from 1" to 1/4" but other than spinning a clutch off I don't use them for chainsaws . Spinning a clutch off though they are the cats' meow .

At work I have a little power screwdriver made by Milwaukie,battery driven .It would work on a saw .It's 1/4"drive .Low torque,made for  screwing down wire terminations  .

[trapper]

I repaired tools in an assembly plant for the last 18 years.  using the quarter inch hex drive in an  impact tool replace the adaptor when it shows a bit of wear.  That quarter inch drive likes to break at the retaining grove and is not fun to remove most of the time.  I would pefer three eight  square drive

[Al_Smith]

Going off on sort of a tangent  regarding tightening devices ,the more modern trend on assembley lines verses air tools are servo drives .While the air turbine does a good job of tightening ,the servo drives produced by FEC or Atlas-Copco can tighten to a specified torque and keep a record of it . Rocket science stuff . I have to deal with them every day plus the associated robots .

So with that in mind I would imagine a battery driven power tightening device would work well for small engine repair if a person where carefull about the settings .If not however then perhaps a person would become quite good at over sized tapping of holes and retrofitting threaded inserts .Remember,tight is tight -too tight is broke .

[trapper]

I had experience repairing and programing the electric tools. They are very accurate and reliable but I think too pricy for most small shops $10,000.00 plus for the ones I worked on.

[Al_Smith]

It's 10 grand just for the controller,the tool is above and beyond that plus a quarter of a mil for the robot .Real pricey for a mom and pop shop .