tooling advice - Air impact wrench

[Geko]

Folks, i'm on the hunt for a pneumatic impact wrench and eying at a COMPACT model made of composite material, 500 ft-lb torque. Was wondering whether -being light (1.5 KG) and compact- the torque will go where it needs to that is on the bolt and not bouncing to my forearm...

 

Advice please

 

cheers

 

[Waldi]

There are several old threads about this topic.

I have an electric one, 230V, it was much more powerfull than 2 pneumatic ones, we tested all 3, all were new.

Cheap pneumatic ones are a waste of money, but same price electric ones can be ok.

Mine is a silverline, but there are several. It was around 55 pounds (65euro).

Waldi

[Motorsport Mickey]

I've never seen that model before, good point about the lack of weight, I use the Machine Mart mains electric impact wrench CEW 1000 which stuffs out 450NM, it's a beast !

At £71 it's a snip, and if you time your buy using the VAT free ( yes we know, it has to have VAT on it, but they reduce the retail price to account for it) offers they do, it comes in at near the £60 area

Although much of the casing is plastic or similar composite material the wrench weighs lots more than a Ham sandwich ! when you press the trigger you definately need to be holding the wrench with both hands, at these torque levels and with the impact effect the kick back is considerable. The inertia of it's considerable weight helps damp the " snatch" and no doubt the impact gains from it,

 

Mick Richards

Edited August 17, 2018 by Motorsport Mickey

[Drewmotty]

+1 for electric

[Lebro]

My first one (air) was a Sealey, it was fairly useless even at 150 psi.

I now have a "double hammer" one,

Can'T remember the make, but it's much better

Bob

[Geko]

Thanks all, electrical it shall be, which one to opt for is another story

[Ian Vincent]

I have to admit that i have never seen the need for one.

 

I did buy an air driven spanner in the early days of rebuilding my car but it was pretty useless and in the end it was consigned to the bin.

 

I have a high quality De Walt cordless drill and use that with a set of adaptors (1/4", 3/8" and 1/2") to drive sockets for repetitive jobs - like dropping the sump, but otherwise for re-assembly I use a torque wrench. Oh and I have a couple of substantial breaker bars for those nuts that don't want to come undone.

 

Rgds Ian

[Motorsport Mickey]

Dog bolt on the crankshaft nose needs 120 lb ft, after lots of years its set. Impact wrench makes it easy, recommissioning 30 year old barn find engines ? Impact wrench makes it easy... theres a place for them.

My Marita battery wrench does 145nm but wont handle the dog bolt, the mains big dog does.

 

Mick Richards

[Eddie Cairns]

I inherited the MachineMart Clarke CEW1000. By choice I use a battery unit but the batteries on my Clarke £100 battery unit are starting to feel their age after some 8 years and the cheepo Aldi £30 Pnuematic unit only works on loose nuts even with a heavy compressor.

 

The Mains CEW1000 just works, OK it is a bit of a handfull but it is not will it work today like the battery unit.

 

It is great on the two post lift if you are taking all the wheels off the car.

 

Some days I can have three or four cars on the lift and it makes the whell jobs very easy especialy in late October when there are four or five cars needing winter tyres replacing the summer tyres.

[Don H.]

I've retired my pneumatic impact wrench. This DeWalt DCF899HB 20V MAX battery impact does a better job, wherever I want it.

 

https://www.dewalt.com/products/power-tools/impact-drivers-and-wrenches/20v-max-xr-high-torque-12-impact-wrench-w-hog-ring-anvil-bare/dcf899hb