Wera Kraftform Kompakt VDE – All the Drivers Needed?
Sometimes the right tools are just the ones needed for the job in hand – the fewer the better. And sometimes the right tools are the ones that you thought you might not need, but thankfully you have
I should note first of all the black nylon wallet into
which the kit is all carefully arranged. It is as compact as it can be as well as being compatible with ensuring easy use on site.
into place as it is pushed home. Literally a matter of seconds. The handles themselves are the standard bright
yellow and red VDE colours, with the yellow parts of the moulding having a slightly rubberized feel for easy grip.
The driver tips are arranged into four sections in
two groups of four tips and one group of seven tips. It helps end users to keep the whole case as compact as possible if they replace the tips after use in the same order and orientation in which they arrive from Wera. In this way the more bulky hex ends are balanced by the less bulky shanks and they kind of fit into each other more compactly. This works for me only because I just get used to replacing a driver tip in the opposite orientation as the one it is next to. The first section of four driver tips is the straight
screwdriver. These go from a small 2.5mm wide tip right up to a more robust 5.5mm wide blade tip. Each one is 154mm long, and as we would expect, the 1000v rated insulation goes all the way down the shaft leaving only 15mm of the working end exposed. The next section of four tips is the Torx section.
Much more commonly used now, Torx screws are found in all sorts of appliances and junction boxes nowadays. In the past, whenever I occasionally took apart a power tool, a simple Phillips or Pozi would do it, but Torx and other patterns are common now. Perhaps to keep the unqualified and incompetent out? – like the ones who wouldn’t buy a full set of Wera VDE screwdrivers? The Torx drivers are arranged in order as a 10, a
15, a 20 and a 25 – which again is a pretty comprehensive coverage of common Torx sizes. The insulation also goes all the way down the tips leaving only the last 15mm as the working tip. The last seven tips kind of open out together and
they are arranged alternately as Phillips and Pozi drivers and a standard straight driver. There are four Pozi drivers in all – PZ2, PZ1, PZ1/S and PZ2/S (PZ/S being Wera’s “Plus-Minus” blades for MCB screws
them there anyway. The Wera Kraftform Kompakt VDE sent up for review belongs to the latter category. With seventeen pieces in all it is probably everything an electrician would need in the way of screwdrivers for most, if not all jobs.
When folded up via the strong hook and loop
closures, it could easily fit onto a waist belt. Indeed, there is a strong belt loop provided on the back of the case. If used this way, all the tools are made to hang down so that they can be easily accessed from above. I am not one for carrying stuff on a belt, so I
found it equally easy to simple lay the opened case out flat on the floor or a flattish surface. In this position, there are two Wera Kraftform Kompakt handles at each end of the wallet. Wera has listened to some end users who said that sometimes they use more than one driver tip on a job so needed another handle for speed and convenience. These Kraftform handles are famous for
having been tested under very arduous conditions – under crushing loads and right down to -40 degrees Celsius where some plastics can become brittle and hence non- insulating. I guess that electricians working in London boroughs might be well reassured! Additionally, every product and component
bearing the VDE 1000v logo is individually tested to 10,000v in a bath test to check against current leakage. But the thing I most like about them is the ease with which it is possible to change driver tips. Simply push back the locking collar between forefinger and thumb, which releases the lock, pull out the driver tip and replace it with another which slides in and locks
16 ToolBUSINESS+HIRE
www.toolbusiness.co.uk
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