What Is the Difference Between a Power Drill and an Impact Driver?
With all the power tool options available today, it can get complicated trying to keep up with which tools are best for completing certain projects. If you need to fasten screws and bolts into a surface for support, it’s important to know how to discern the differences in all the available tool options, since an impact driver vs. drill performance can provide better results, or even work more safely in certain circumstances or with particular materials.
For most work involving drilling and fastening materials, choosing the right kind of hand tool for the job is a matter of efficiency. For your next project, how do you know whether you’ll need to reach for an impact driver or a power drill?
What is a power drill?
A handheld power drill is one of the more common power tools most people have in their home toolkit. You might think of them as an all-purpose drill. A hand drill, which can be plug-in or a cordless drill, is useful for pre-drilling holes, driving screws into common surfaces like walls and fastening together parts. They are equipped with a chuck, which is the name for the attachment head that holds the metal drill bit in place. The chuck can be interchangeable with different sizes and drill purposes. Their rotational direction can also be reversed to remove screws.
Aside from needing to use a hand-powered screwdriver for short screws or driving screws into softer material, electric drills are more efficient than a handheld screwdriver, applying consistent powered force to drive in or unfasten a screw or bolt. Many models feature speed control and lighting at the front to give more visibility.
A drill set usually comes equipped with an interchangeable drill bit selection to outfit the drill chuck for pre-drilling different sized holes or adapting to various sized screwheads. Typically this type of drill bit set includes standard bits to fit both Phillips and flathead screws, in addition to bits for boring holes.
Best uses for a power drill.
Here’s a sampling of some projects you’d want to grab a power drill for:
- Boring holes into walls to insert drywall anchors for heavier objects like floating shelves or mirrors
- Adding screws into a wall to hang a lighter object, like a picture or decorative wall hanging
- General woodworking, like building a bench or shelf
- Mixing paint using a mixer attachment
- Buffing or sanding using a grit attachment
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What is an impact driver?
An impact driver creates power-driven torque, whether that’s around the head of the screw it’s driving or a nut it’s tightening, enabling more force for fastening tougher materials like thick timber or metal. Like drills, they also have a chuck collar, which uses a ¼-inch hexagonal shank to lock bits in for various different uses.
Impact drivers aren’t intended for boring holes. Rather, they excel at driving in screws and bolts into otherwise resistant materials, as well as removing toughly planted fasteners. They contain a spring-loaded concussive mechanism that delivers bursts of force to compensate when it senses resistance. This enables more controlled pressure that a drill cannot usually create. They also drive the screw in much faster.
Best uses for an impact driver
Some tasks you’d want to have an impact driver in your tool chest for include:
- Building a deck and driving deck screws into a post
- Fastening carriage bolts to metal
- Installing plywood subflooring
- Framing a treehouse
- Installing cabinets
What is the difference between a hammer drill vs. impact driver?
If you’re familiar with how a hammer drill works, you may be wondering how it’s different than an impact driver. After all, a hammer drill also utilizes bursts of force on resistant or tough materials. However, they’re different than impact drivers in both how they generate force and what they’re best used for.
Whereas an impact driver uses rotations and torque, a hammer drill uses bursts of forward percussion to generate force, similar to how a hammer would swing and hit.
A hammer drill is used mainly for drilling holes in masonry, including concrete, brick and rock. This is when you might use a masonry drill bit or a concrete drill bit.
However, it’s important to note that for other hard materials, such as ceramic tile, you should stick with a regular electric drill equipped with a tile drill bit, as a hammer drill’s pounding force can potentially crack the tile.