Drill Technology
Sometimes a manual screwdriver just won’t cut it and you need something with a little more power to it. That’s where a drill can come in and get the job done. However, with all the different types of drills on the market knowing which drill is right for your task is complex. Handheld screwdrivers, drills, screw guns, hammer drills, and impact drills (or impact driver as it is also called) all use similar technology. You have a power source, either corded AC power or a cordless battery that provides the power to the tool, when the trigger is pulled power is provided to the motor and then the motor turns the gears in the gearbox and moves in either forward or reverse. Simple right?
Although the technology of brushless motors has been around since the 1960’s it has only been in the last 20 years or so that this tech has made its way into power tools. Makita was the first manufacturer to do so and many of the other major manufacturers followed suit. The design of the brushed motor is to provide the maximum amount of power whenever the power source is engaged. This made it harder to finesse jobs like screwing into softwoods, styrofoam house wrapping, and drywall. The brushless motor fixed this issue by removing the commutator and brushes. The brushless motor also swapped the positions of the magnets and copper windings. The winding now surrounds the shaft of the motor (where the magnets had been placed) and the magnets have been moved from the motor shaft to the surrounding motor housing (where the windings had been placed). A small circuit board now functions in the same way as the commutator and tells the drill how much energy to give to the windings.
Now that we have a general idea of the tech behind drills we can look at which type of drill is going to be best for your needs.
Drills
The answer to why people find battery-powered drills to be superior to AC powered drills and a more detailed discussion of drills can be found here: Comparison article about Drills
Handheld Cordless Screwdriver
These types of small drills are great for household projects that a normal size drill would just be overkill for such as small woodworking projects, installing a light switch and socket covers, mounting cable concealment tracking and so many more.
We discuss some of the pros and cons of handheld cordless screwdrivers in this article linked here: The pros and cons of Cordless Screwdrivers
Impact Drivers
While working on the same concept as a normal drill, Impact Drivers allow you to drive long or stubborn deck screws or lag bolts with ease. However, some stark differences allow the Impact Driver to outdo a drill.
We discuss the differences and some of the pros and cons in our impact driver article here The pros and cons of Impact Drivers
Hammer Drills
Although a hammer drill does have drilling capabilities it is specifically designed for drilling through masonry, stonework, and concrete not so much for drilling screws and other tighteners. The design of the drill differs from a regular drill or impact drill by the way the drill bit is extended and contracted in a hammering motion. The hammering motion of the bit allows for the chipping of the material while drilling at the same time. Many hammer drills are also equipped with a small mechanism that will periodically eject a puff of air which removes the chipped material from the drilling site.
We talk about the differences between normal hammer drills, rotary hammer drills and Slotted Drive System (SDS) hammer drills in this article found here: Article Comparing Hammer Drills
Screw Guns
While the first thing to run through your mind when the words screw gun is said is “drywall installation.” Screw guns are very versatile tools. They can fit into jobs like installing corrugated metal roofing, building decks or replacing deck boards, and of course, hanging drywall.
We have a small article about Screw guns here. Article about Screw Guns
The market for drills is expansive, so expansive in fact that we haven’t been able to review and compare every brand or model. Consumer feedback is an important part of what we do at TekEons so if you have an experience with a certain tool that we have covered in this article or even with ones we haven’t covered we would like to hear about it. If you have a tool that you think would fit into the drills category but we haven’t covered it here we would like to hear about that too. We have conveniently included a form at the bottom of the page for any feedback you would like to submit.