Wera IMPAKTOR
Anyone who has used a Wera product can’t fail to have noticed a certain superiority in performance that is designed and built in. I use my Wera bit sets constantly – almost to the exclusion of any others, because they are, quite simply, better.
But the landscape of screwdriving applications has changed a great deal in the last five years or so with the adoption of impact drivers by many trades. Why have they done so in such great numbers? The answer is that impact drivers make driving even large screws a painless and easy process. I have seen screws of up to 300mm long being driven into hardwood at toolshows without the slightest sign of torque effects on the user’s wrist. But it has really been the advent
of Lithium Ion technology and bigger voltage impact drivers that has revealed the shortcomings of the “standard” driver bit in some demanding applications. These bits have either been so soft that they wear out very quickly, or they have
been hardened to the point where the steel is so brittle that they break under heavy loadings. Many users have therefore tended to push harder against the screwheads in order to reduce “cam-out” and screw breakage that tends to undermine the reason for impact driving in the first place – to reduce torque stress.
As in so many other screwdriving applications it has been Wera that has examined the issues that have arisen, done the research and designed a comprehensive solution to the “simple” problem of bit breakage and “cam-out” experienced every day by professional users of impact drivers. As is usual for Wera, the solution has a number of different parts to it that work together as a total answer to impact driving whether it is in wood, steel or other materials and with whatever type of bit pattern - be it PH, PZ or Torx. Known as the IMPAKTOR System, it consists of a range of IMPAKTOR bits in two sizes and various configurations and two specially designed IMPAKTOR bit holders. To deal with the bits first. They come in two sizes, the “standard” 25mm long bit and the longer 50mm size. They, of course can be used in other makes of bitholder, but you then forgo the advantages of the Wera version. They are forged from a special steel and they do look different from other Wera screwdriving bits because they are a dark gunmetal grey in colour and they seem to be even more precisely milled. Having done the research, Wera has worked out that different kinds of bits suffer different types of stresses. A standard IMPAKTOR PH2 bit therefore has a different hardness and tempering specification than an IMPAKTOR Torx bit because, as the name implies, Torx bits are often used in very high torque applications. In 1992 Wera pioneered the use of tiny diamond fragments embedded into the tips of the screwdriver bits. Used now in the IMPAKTOR range, these diamond fragments bite into the driving heads of the screws and increase the grip of the driver, reducing the likelihood of “cam-out” and therefore the need for the user to put extra pressure on the impact driver. This in turn, reduces the number of broken
14 ToolBUSINESS+HIRE
Future Driving – Now Independent Review by Peter Brett
screws and also the fatigue levels of the operators. IMPAKTOR bits have been tested to have a working life of at least five times longer than any other bits on the market. Used with the IMPAKTOR bit holder the life span is doubled to ten times longer. It does not take an economist to work out that there would be significant advantages both in terms of cost and in better screwdriving for end users. I believe that the retail price of the IMPAKTOR range is no greater than the other Wera screwdriving bits, so there should be no quibbles should retailers ask the question “impact bits or standard screwdriving bits sir?”
These above improvements would be enough for many users, but with typical thoroughness, Wera’s research has revealed that a redesigned bit holder offers a much more complete answer. Remember the Wera BiTorsion bit holder? Well enter the Wera TriTorsion system that is designed to absorb the
unique loads that impact drivers place on the bit and holder. To explain briefly about the three torsion zones. The first torsion zone is on shaft of the bit itself. The second and third torsion zones are in the bitholder. The various torsion zones react differently according to the type of bit used – again the simple PH2 bit would need to absorb the torsion in the shaft of the bit itself and one torsion zone in the bitholder, while the higher torque used in a Torx bit would need the combined effect of torsion zones one, two and three to ensure that it doesn’t break.
By using a hexagonal system in the bitholder driving shaft that absorbs excess torque energy before gripping against the next “flat” in the shaft, breakages are eliminated.
The two types of IMPAKTOR bit holders come with a few other features as well. The IMPAKTOR R holder has a magnetic screw-retaining ring that will easily hold the large screws that are commonly used in impact driving applications. The biggest screw I could find in my workshop (100mm long) did not trouble the magnet’s holding power at all. This holder holds standard 25mm long bits with ? inch hex head drives. The Ringmagnet function is optional – by clicking back the sleeve it is disabled, allowing screws to be buried where necessary. The other IMPAKTOR holder is made from stainless steel. It does not feature the magnetic screw-holding function, as it is meant to be used for industrial screw assembly work. It has the same two torsion zones as the holder above. I suppose the key question that many readers will be asking now is “Does all this technology work?” Well, using my most powerful 14.4v impact driver, a big lump of hardwood and the biggest screws I could find, I tried every which way to test the claims that Wera makes for the IMPAKTOR. And, you will not be surprised to know that I think that these bits and bitholders work fantastically well. I certainly noticed the extra grip provided by the diamond particles. Even after being driven in and driven out again up to twenty times the screw heads showed only minimal signs of driving marks from the bits. Using the IMPAKTOR bitholder is
www.toolbusiness.co.uk
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32