Don’t buy a drill and driver twin set without reading this…
When I was starting out, I bought a Milwaukee drill and driver set from Toolstation or Screwfix… and the impact driver they supplied seemed amazing for the job that I was doing at the time (construction joinery – building a SIPS garden room). Anyway, a few weeks passed and I came to fit the oak worktop: I was semi-crouching, semi-lying in the cupboard underneath the worktop… trusty impact driver in hand… but after trying about 10x and rounding off all the screws, I switched to a manual screwdriver.
What I hadn’t realised was there was literally zero speed control other than the trigger… and when you’re in a super awkward position, controlling your finger accurately is extremely challenging. I sold that impact driver on Marketplace (sorry random guy!) and bought the Milwaukee M18 BLID2 Impact Driver which has a power mode switch. Admittedly, it’s not the best impact driver that Milwaukee do – but for the majority of jobs, it’s perfect.
I bought a hex to 1/2in socket adaptor so I could take off my van wheels… it didn’t like that much, it sheared the adaptor before being able to transmit enough power to loosen the bolt. When I used a breaker bar to do the initial loosening, it was fine to finish the job. Milwaukee do make specific impact drivers for car mechanics: Milwaukee M18 M18FIW2F12 or for even more nut-busting torque the M18ONEFHIWF12.
I quickly found the build quality was excellent and super sturdy when my mate left it on the top rung of a ladder and proceeded to move the ladder, my almost brand new impact driver smashing onto the concrete below – I gave him a piece of my mind. There wasn’t any damage though, just a little nick in the protective rubber and it’s still working to this day.
Peter loves working with wood but has experience with most other things and has built houses and garden rooms from the foundations to completion – he just doesn’t touch gas or anything overly dodgy!