5 ms·

> " if you use a power tool on a screw, only use it for 95% of the task. finish the job with a hand-tool or you will do damage." Or, learn how to use the torqu

> " if you use a power tool on a screw, only use it for 95% of the task. finish the job with a hand-tool or you will do damage." Or, learn how to use the torque setting properly on your electric drill / screwdriver.

rimunroe 6y ago
Not all drills have a torque limiter. As I understand it, you're more likely to find those on cordless drills than their corded brethren. I've actually never used a corded drill with a torque limiter, but most of cordless ones I've used have had them.
- throwanem 6y ago
  Corded drills seem hard to find these days. The only one I have is a couple of decades old, and I don't run fasteners with it, not least because it lacks both torque limiting and speed control. I'd expect a modern corded drill to live in the high-power contractor tool niche, like how a rotary hammer compares with a handheld hammer drill. Ikea, perhaps unsurprisingly, sells a cheap cordless driver ($20 US) with a torque limiter.
  - Spare_account 6y ago
    https://www.diy.com/departments/bosch-550w-240v-corded-hammer-drill-easyimpact-550/3165140840668_BQ.prd https://www.diy.com/departments/bosch-550w-240v-corded-hamme... Perhaps this is unusual in the US but entry-level corded drills are readily available in the UK. I don't know if this store is a good example, but this USA based store appears to stock a range of cheap corded drills: https://www.lowes.com/pl/Drills-Drills-drivers-Power-tools-Tools/4294607722?refinement=4294776950&int_cmp=DrillsDrivers%3AC%3ATools%3AMerch%3Acorded_drills_visual_taxonomy https://www.lowes.com/pl/Drills-Drills-drivers-Power-tools-T...
    - throwanem 6y ago
      I can't see the Lowes page right now, but Home Depot is a comparable retailer, and a store near me (but not the one I usually go to) looks to stock a couple of absolutely bottom-tier corded 3/8" drills, plus a broad range of light and medium corded hammer drills with 1/2" chucks. The broad niche between those, of general-purpose 3/8" and 1/2" light and medium drill/driver tools and impact drivers, looks to be pretty universally filled by cordless tools. (Which makes sense, given the razor-and-blades or inkjet-and-cartridges business model to which battery-powered tools lend themselves.) I wonder if corded drills might be more common in the UK because your higher mains voltage means less current is required for a given power output. With conversion losses, you can't realistically pull more than a horsepower out of a typical 120V/10A circuit without risking a breaker trip, even if there's nothing else connected to the circuit. That makes a corded tool potentially much more of a pain to use than a battery-powered one, so even if the corded version would otherwise be much more cost-efficient, it still may be a tougher sell in the US. I've heard the same power limitation described as a reason why electric kettles basically don't exist here, although since kitchen circuits are typically rated for higher current than most others, I suspect the absence of good electric kettles may have more to do with steeped tea having been displaced by drip coffee in Americans' morning cups.
      - Reason077 6y ago
        > "I've heard the same power limitation described as a reason why electric kettles basically don't exist here" I never realised that, but it makes sense. Canadians don't use electric kettles either and they like their tea! When I lived in Canada everyone seemed to have a stovetop whistling kettle. Looking at my Australian-designed Chinese-built UK kettle, it's rated at "2760-3000W", which is far more than can be drawn from a standard US 120V outlet.
      - Lev1a 6y ago
        > I wonder if corded drills might be more common in the UK because your higher mains voltage means less current is required for a given power output. With conversion losses, you can't realistically pull more than a horsepower out of a typical 120V/10A circuit without risking a breaker trip, even if there's nothing else connected to the circuit. That makes a corded tool potentially much more of a pain to use than a battery-powered one, so even if the corded version would otherwise be much more cost-efficient, it still may be a tougher sell in the US. I wonder if that's also why I've seen almost no electric/induction cooktops in American media even though from my Central European POV induction tops are safer, easier to regulate etc. than gas cooktops.
  - jdeibele 6y ago
    My dad left me his tools. One day the garage door was left open too long and somebody stole some drills. They only took the cordless ones, leaving the two with cords. It gave me some idea of what things were worth at the pawn shop.
- tgsovlerkhgsel 6y ago
  I've never seen a corded drill that was meant for driving screws as opposed to drilling only. If you use a sledgehammer instead of a screwdriver, don't complain about furniture falling apart.
  - selectodude 6y ago
    >I've never seen a corded drill that was meant for driving screws as opposed to drilling only. That's more a function of battery-powered drills being good enough and the stuff that requires a plug is designed to drill through concrete. My cordless Milwaukee has pressure-sensitive speed and a very granular torque setting, along with hammer drill and screw settings. My Ikea furniture is basically bulletproof.
    - firebird84 6y ago
      You can drill through concrete with a cordless drill too, they're definitely good enough, especially with modern batteries.
- mywittyname 6y ago
  Ikea sells a drill designed for putting together their furniture. The $20 version is fine for most use, but the $40 one is much heftier and can be used for lot of stuff. Everyone should have a basic toolbox that includes a cordless drill.
- slingnow 6y ago
  If you're using a corded drill to assemble furniture, you're doing it wrong. Corded drills are just _drills_. Cordless drills are typically drill / drivers.
dheera 6y ago
What setting though? IKEA should specify the torque setting in N-m for each screw and the torque limiter should have settings in the same units. Much like electrical circuits, it's not really that useful to have a limiter when you don't know what to limit it to.
- bigyikes 6y ago
  The lowest setting which turns the screw.
- ars 6y ago
  Most electric screwdrivers are anyway not marked with torques. Instead you start low and increase the setting one click at a time until the screw is seated properly, then use that setting for the rest of the screws.
  - dheera 6y ago
    Maybe they should pay attention to science and mark them properly in N-m. It would make jobs programmable and reproducable from one screwdriver to another. I could own a DeWalt and borrow someone's Ryobi or Makita or some other brand and nail the setting the first try by dialing the correct torque in N-m. The limiter is already there; they just need to change the markings.
- ThePadawan 6y ago
  I don't know about your electric drill, but after assembling two sets of shelves with mine, I know which torque setting is "about as hard as I can do by hand".

rimunroe 6y ago

Not all drills have a torque limiter. As I understand it, you're more likely to find those on cordless drills than their corded brethren. I've actually never used a corded drill with a torque limiter, but most of cordless ones I've used have had them.

throwanem 6y ago
Corded drills seem hard to find these days. The only one I have is a couple of decades old, and I don't run fasteners with it, not least because it lacks both torque limiting and speed control. I'd expect a modern corded drill to live in the high-power contractor tool niche, like how a rotary hammer compares with a handheld hammer drill. Ikea, perhaps unsurprisingly, sells a cheap cordless driver ($20 US) with a torque limiter.
- Spare_account 6y ago
  https://www.diy.com/departments/bosch-550w-240v-corded-hammer-drill-easyimpact-550/3165140840668_BQ.prd https://www.diy.com/departments/bosch-550w-240v-corded-hamme... Perhaps this is unusual in the US but entry-level corded drills are readily available in the UK. I don't know if this store is a good example, but this USA based store appears to stock a range of cheap corded drills: https://www.lowes.com/pl/Drills-Drills-drivers-Power-tools-Tools/4294607722?refinement=4294776950&int_cmp=DrillsDrivers%3AC%3ATools%3AMerch%3Acorded_drills_visual_taxonomy https://www.lowes.com/pl/Drills-Drills-drivers-Power-tools-T...
  - throwanem 6y ago
    I can't see the Lowes page right now, but Home Depot is a comparable retailer, and a store near me (but not the one I usually go to) looks to stock a couple of absolutely bottom-tier corded 3/8" drills, plus a broad range of light and medium corded hammer drills with 1/2" chucks. The broad niche between those, of general-purpose 3/8" and 1/2" light and medium drill/driver tools and impact drivers, looks to be pretty universally filled by cordless tools. (Which makes sense, given the razor-and-blades or inkjet-and-cartridges business model to which battery-powered tools lend themselves.) I wonder if corded drills might be more common in the UK because your higher mains voltage means less current is required for a given power output. With conversion losses, you can't realistically pull more than a horsepower out of a typical 120V/10A circuit without risking a breaker trip, even if there's nothing else connected to the circuit. That makes a corded tool potentially much more of a pain to use than a battery-powered one, so even if the corded version would otherwise be much more cost-efficient, it still may be a tougher sell in the US. I've heard the same power limitation described as a reason why electric kettles basically don't exist here, although since kitchen circuits are typically rated for higher current than most others, I suspect the absence of good electric kettles may have more to do with steeped tea having been displaced by drip coffee in Americans' morning cups.
    - Reason077 6y ago
      > "I've heard the same power limitation described as a reason why electric kettles basically don't exist here" I never realised that, but it makes sense. Canadians don't use electric kettles either and they like their tea! When I lived in Canada everyone seemed to have a stovetop whistling kettle. Looking at my Australian-designed Chinese-built UK kettle, it's rated at "2760-3000W", which is far more than can be drawn from a standard US 120V outlet.
    - Lev1a 6y ago
      > I wonder if corded drills might be more common in the UK because your higher mains voltage means less current is required for a given power output. With conversion losses, you can't realistically pull more than a horsepower out of a typical 120V/10A circuit without risking a breaker trip, even if there's nothing else connected to the circuit. That makes a corded tool potentially much more of a pain to use than a battery-powered one, so even if the corded version would otherwise be much more cost-efficient, it still may be a tougher sell in the US. I wonder if that's also why I've seen almost no electric/induction cooktops in American media even though from my Central European POV induction tops are safer, easier to regulate etc. than gas cooktops.
- jdeibele 6y ago
  My dad left me his tools. One day the garage door was left open too long and somebody stole some drills. They only took the cordless ones, leaving the two with cords. It gave me some idea of what things were worth at the pawn shop.
tgsovlerkhgsel 6y ago
I've never seen a corded drill that was meant for driving screws as opposed to drilling only. If you use a sledgehammer instead of a screwdriver, don't complain about furniture falling apart.
- selectodude 6y ago
  >I've never seen a corded drill that was meant for driving screws as opposed to drilling only. That's more a function of battery-powered drills being good enough and the stuff that requires a plug is designed to drill through concrete. My cordless Milwaukee has pressure-sensitive speed and a very granular torque setting, along with hammer drill and screw settings. My Ikea furniture is basically bulletproof.
  - firebird84 6y ago
    You can drill through concrete with a cordless drill too, they're definitely good enough, especially with modern batteries.
mywittyname 6y ago
Ikea sells a drill designed for putting together their furniture. The $20 version is fine for most use, but the $40 one is much heftier and can be used for lot of stuff. Everyone should have a basic toolbox that includes a cordless drill.
slingnow 6y ago
If you're using a corded drill to assemble furniture, you're doing it wrong. Corded drills are just _drills_. Cordless drills are typically drill / drivers.

dheera 6y ago

What setting though? IKEA should specify the torque setting in N-m for each screw and the torque limiter should have settings in the same units. Much like electrical circuits, it's not really that useful to have a limiter when you don't know what to limit it to.

bigyikes 6y ago
The lowest setting which turns the screw.
ars 6y ago
Most electric screwdrivers are anyway not marked with torques. Instead you start low and increase the setting one click at a time until the screw is seated properly, then use that setting for the rest of the screws.
- dheera 6y ago
  Maybe they should pay attention to science and mark them properly in N-m. It would make jobs programmable and reproducable from one screwdriver to another. I could own a DeWalt and borrow someone's Ryobi or Makita or some other brand and nail the setting the first try by dialing the correct torque in N-m. The limiter is already there; they just need to change the markings.
ThePadawan 6y ago
I don't know about your electric drill, but after assembling two sets of shelves with mine, I know which torque setting is "about as hard as I can do by hand".