this post was submitted on 03 Feb 2025
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Woodworking

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A handmade home for woodworkers and admirers of woodworkers. Our community icon is submitted by @[email protected] whose father was inspired to start woodworking by Norm and the New Yankee Workshop.

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Got the uppers painted and installed.

Time to find some MDF for the face frame, drawer fronts, and shelves. Which reminds me, I need a router bit for the integrated drawer pulls she wants.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I am living in Europe and been thinking about a hand drill like yours. Reason being that I rarely drill and almost only screw. So why carry around the weight and more importantly the extra failure points? How is your experience with this one? Is it an impact driver based design or a regular drill? Is it resilient? Can't seem to find them here as nom impact versions .

[–] Botzo 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Great question! The answer here is all opinion.

The blue drill is old. Maybe 20 years old. It's from a time before lithium batteries. From before actually good battery powered impact drivers (I had a nice ½in. air wrench). I guess I got lucky because Ryobi still uses the same battery connection and voltage.

The things I like are 1: the adjustable clutch, so I can slowly approach the maximum force when I have a sensitive piece I'm screwing into; 2: the spirit levels that work vertically and horizontally; and 3: a second tool so I don't need to switch between drill bits and driver bits.

The green impact driver has a ¼in. quick release hex chuck, so it would be silly to drill with it (maybe there's a universal bit chuck for it, but I've never gone looking). It's also fairly low powered, so I'm not overly concerned about driving through the plywood. It would be nearly useless on high torque situations like wheel nuts.

If I were looking to buy new now and have only 1 too, I'd go for an 18V to 20V ½in. compact brushless drill from a reliable brand just because it can do both things well. I'd add the impact driver for the system later.

[–] qwertilliopasd 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I will add: If you are sinking 2" (50mm) screws into wood, a little 1/4" speed chuck impact like that green ryobi is perfect. Every brand will have one so choose your quality/price balance and get one. Impacts are more forgiving about camming out on screws, they don't jerk your wrist like a drill, and they are not as hard on batteries.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Do impact screwdrivers give comparable torque to battery drills before activating the impact function? I'd imagine having the tool work in impact mode wouldn't be good for drilling wood or metal.

[–] qwertilliopasd 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

For driving fasteners impacts are better. For drilling drills are better. Impacts can drive fasteners that would stall a drill, but drilling metal with an impact would make a dog's dinner of the bit and piece.

edit: the impact engages at a mid-low torque. That is the point. They drive with the impacts, not direct drive. The ryobi will start impacting about a quarter though a 2" deck screw.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Looking good! I don't want to think about how long it took to get all those drawers spaced and leveled properly but the effort was worth it.

[–] Botzo 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I mentioned that the drawer spacing and leveling was actually easy in a comment on my last post! https://lemmy.world/comment/14279992

Just a scrap of plywood starting with the top and setting the slide on top, then cutting to size for each height working down. Even linked to a video where I learned the trick!

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago
[–] qwertilliopasd 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Very nice! Nice combo 😅

[–] Botzo 2 points 1 week ago

Hah! That's great!

I've been happy with these since upgrading to the lithium batteries when I got the impact 12-14 years ago.