when did the impact driver become the tool of choice to do terminals up ?

[Dustydazzler]

Pretty much every celeb sparks on Youtube and every celeb diy training video on how to do a board change shows the sparks using an impact driver

When did this become the norm ?

 

[GBDamo]

You want one of these....

View attachment 101037

Remember getting a "good hiding" for knackering my old man's. Think it was either light sabre or sonic screwdriver related tomfoolery.

 

[LukeD]

No it isn't, it has a variable trigger or mine does.
It also doesn't "impact" until it reaches a certain resistance which engages the "hammer".

The "hammer" is actually two parts, one anvil attached to the bit holder and another spring-loaded anvil is driven by the motor. Only when enough resistance is met by the fixing will sufficient torque be applied by the motor for the spring to be compressed allowing the the anvils to ride over each other and apply the hammer action.

There's some good animation in this video that shows the anvils in motion.

I don't have this exact model and have to rely on my finger.

You can be surprisingly subtle with an impact before it starts to impact.

And at the point of impacting will it have reached the correct torque and what happens in that split second etc where its still running ? A small drill with controlled torque points and a nice action trigger is still superior as it will stop when told to !

 

[GBDamo]

And at the point of impacting will it have reached the correct torque and what happens in that split second etc where its still running ? A small drill with controlled torque points and a nice action trigger is still superior as it will stop when told to !

You don't get anywhere near the point of impacting, it's called trigger discipline, the more you practice the better you get.

I can fix a plastic back box with it as well and without smashing the living love out of it.

My dentistry with it is still a work in progress though, not many willing volunteers to practice on.

 

[Megawatt]

Pretty much every celeb sparks on Youtube and every celeb diy training video on how to do a board change shows the sparks using an impact driver

When did this become the norm ?

Dusty I can’t answer that but the young bucks have all there tools that is battery powered. We didn’t have technology in the old days. I’m not sure if they know how to use real tools without batteries.

 

[Dustydazzler]

Dusty I can’t answer that but the young bucks have all there tools that is battery powered. We didn’t have technology in the old days. I’m not sure if they know how to use real tools without batteries.

I think is the problem

The other day I watched a young lad trying to change a plug top using his 18v impact drill

 

[pc1966]

I think is the problem

The other day I watched a young lad trying to change a plug top using his 18v impact drill

W.T.F?

Really, you have to wonder at times

 

[LukeD]

You don't get anywhere near the point of impacting, it's called trigger discipline, the more you practice the better you get.

I can fix a plastic back box with it as well and without smashing the living love out of it.

My dentistry with it is still a work in progress though, not many willing volunteers to practice on.

So unless you finish with a torque driver .How do you know you are within the level the RCBO is made for etc ? With a drill set with different torques , you can measure each...Or as I did , email festool and ask them !! Chances are if you took 100 people and asked them to use the festool and a impact , they will get it a lot closer with the festool etc ? As they cannot make the drill go past each setting just by using the trigger

 

[Dustydazzler]

No 2 impact drivers are the same either

I have a 18v Erbauer impact and an old 18v Hitchi impact and if I set them to say mid torque on the dial they will both screw to very different tightnesses

I reckon I could do a complete board swap with my old Hitachi as its trigger is very sensitive so I feel fairly confident I wouldn't mangle and terminals but the Erbauer is a bit all or nothing with its trigger so one false move and goodbye Rcbo screwhead

 

[ferg]

I have a Dewalt one which on it's lowest setting won't impact.

Like others I can use it to mount hard plastic boxes without worrying about cracking them.

 

[GBDamo]

So unless you finish with a torque driver.

I think my first/second post on this thread states that's exactly what I do.

How do you know you are within the level the RCBO is made for etc ?

Because my torque screwdriver is calibrated and the correct and recommended tool.

With a drill set with different torques , you can measure each...Or as I did , email festool and ask them !! Chances are if you took 100 people and asked them to use the festool and a impact , they will get it a lot closer with the festool etc ? As they cannot make the drill go past each setting just by using the trigger

If that works for you and gives you the correct results then crack on but don't assume someone doing something differently to you doesn't know what they're doing.

There is, after all, more than one way to skin a cat.

 

[littlespark]

There is, after all, more than one way to skin a cat.

Don’t tell me you use an impact driver!

 

[LukeD]

I think my first/second post on this thread states that's exactly what I do.



Because my torque screwdriver is calibrated and the correct and recommended tool.


If that works for you and gives you the correct results then crack on but don't assume someone doing something differently to you doesn't know what they're doing.

There is, after all, more than one way to skin a cat.

I agree! I just think a drill with 1-11 torque settings is a better option

 

[GBDamo]

Don’t tell me you use an impact driver!

Not always I but have, in combination with a torque screwdriver.

 

[Petej999]

Not watched… but is it an impact, or a torque setting on screwdriver?

I think you can get torque adapters for battery drills/drivers that are as exact as the hand held torque drivers from WERA/ WIHA ….. which is the preferred method of tightening terminals

Still as rough as a Badgers wotnot way of doing it

Don’t tell me you use an impact driver!

If he is a Butcher he still does, but knot knowing him I can't be sure

 

[ferg]

Not always I but have, in combination with a torque screwdriver.

I'm trying very hard not to picture where exactly you put the torque driver while you skinned the cat with the impact driver.

 

[Petej999]

Pretty much every celeb sparks on Youtube and every celeb diy training video on how to do a board change shows the sparks using an impact driver

When did this become the norm ?

Celeb Spark??????????????? Celeb Money grabber you surely mean Mate, cus most of these "Celeb Sparks" have a cheek calling themselves Sparks, the Trade is dying a slow death.

 

[LukeD]

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Cat Impact driver !

 

[UNG]

Celeb Spark??????????????? Celeb Money grabber you surely mean Mate, cus most of these "Celeb Sparks" have a cheek calling themselves Sparks, the Trade is dying a slow death.

Couldn't agree more and the slow death is rapidly speeding up

 

[Dustydazzler]

Couldn't agree more and the slow death is rapidly speeding up

Some of the new build lash-up wiring i have seen over the past 5-10 years , the trade died along time ago

 

[7029 dave]

Some of the new build lash-up wiring i have seen over the past 5-10 years , the trade died along time ago

Bloody disgraceful, definitely saw the best times in the late 70's to the late 80's IMO

 

[UNG]

Some of the new build lash-up wiring i have seen over the past 5-10 years , the trade died along time ago

One question I seem to get asked more frequently these days is "are you a proper electrician"

Bloody disgraceful, definitely saw the best times in the late 70's to the late 80's IMO

You mean when being an NICEIC approved contractor actually meant something and was something worth having

 

[Dustydazzler]

The Domesticated Installer scam Killed any prestige the trade once had , giving a title to DIY sparks was a real killer

 

[UNG]

The Domesticated Installer scam Killed any prestige the trade once had , giving a title to DIY sparks was a real killer

The NICEIC's defined scope approval was the start of the slide it was then accelerated by the Domestic Installer scheme

 

[7029 dave]

One question I seem to get asked more frequently these days is "are you a proper electrician"


You mean when being an NICEIC approved contractor actually meant something and was something worth having

This is true, you know because like me we were there in that era.!! The trade is unrecognisable as we knew it.

 

[Dustydazzler]

This is true, you know because like me we were there in that era.!! The trade is unrecognisable as we knew it.

I started within the trade in around 1997 and as a young apprentice I wore my NIC branded uniform with real genuine pride, it made me feel like a real tradesperson

by the early 2010s I had given it all to the local charity shops as wearing it felt cheap and nasty

I love this trade but I am glad I only have about 5-10 years left in it before I can pack it in

 

[freddo]

Here is a very poorly filmed video I recorded last year when trying to remove an MCB from an MK consumer unit. The screws on this MCB were insanely over tightened. I had to take the busbar out with the MCB attached so I could put all my weight on it with a new driver bit to get it out. The video isn't staged, that actually happened.

 

[UNG]

I love this trade but I am glad I only have about 5-10 years left in it before I can pack it in

I enjoy the trade and the more difficult challenges it throws up from time to time I don't see a time where I will fully retire but I will pick and choose what I do and when I want to do it

What I find depressing is the acceptable standards that are getting lower and lower in the 46 years I have been in the trade the definition of what a qualified electrician is has changed and not for the good or betterment of the industry when we now have an industry that is operating in a far more complex environment to what it was 30 - 40 years ago.

I always remember saying to one of my college lecturers back in the late 70's that the industry will change and become more complex and we will have to move with it or just become wiremen installing cables from A to B and leave the connecting and commissioning to someone else and it started with the new upstarts from the data industry who didn't install their own containment because that is what the electricians did and then they suggested that the electricians put the cabling in as well, as time has moved on the data industry has lost it's niche
When I started electricians installed anything that used cables the 3 - 5 years at college covered all aspects of what you were expected to install or fault find and now and now we find the college or quick training covers the bare basics and the rest is filled in with expensive specialist courses that quite often have to be refreshed every three years

 

[Dustydazzler]

I will be well out by then , but it will be interesting to see the state of things in the next 10-20 years and if things get a bit better or a lot worse in that time

 

[Lister1987]

Don’t tell me you use an impact driver!

Would have though a multi-tool would be better suited?

 

[Lister1987]

You mean when being an NICEIC approved contractor actually meant something and was something worth having

....and when the 239* was actually technical and required acknowledge working knowledge and ability to recal information and not just find it ina book........I'm sorry where were we going with this again?