Make an impact screwdriver?

[homestead]

From reading another thread, some suggested an 'impact screwdriver", I thought of making a hammer-activated impact screwdriver. I have lathe, mill, etc., but no plans for its' design. Can anybody share design/build plans?

[BCRider]

Years ago I had a hammer smacked impact screwdriver. At one point I took it apart. It was sort of like this sketch. The pin and the hole allowed for about a 90 movement. To use it you hold the outer barrel (not shown) with some twist to it like you would use if loosening the offending screw. This causes the blue pin which is held in the outer barrel to ramp up the sides of the V shape. Then give the outer barrel a whack on the end. The pin is driven forward against the ramped sides which pushes the center body forward and torques it sharply. This sketch is actually not TOO far out of scale for the size of the notch. Although I'd form the corners to be the same radius as the pin to better let the inner piece withstand the impact forces. The ramps can actually be quite short just as shown. After all you're just trying to break the thing free. So once the original grip is broken... or the head snaps off... it should come out more easily with a regular driver.



Making one isn't going to be easy. For starters the whole inner body and hex socket on the end needs to be heat treated to harden then temper it back to a tough violet bordering on blue temper. And you'll want to get a source for sturdy impact resistant hex bits as well.

[Bented]

The lowest cost method of producing such a device is to drive to Lowe's and buy several for $16.00 each.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Kobalt-Impact-Tool-Set/999957785

[BCRider]

The lowest cost method of producing such a device is to drive to Lowe's and buy several for $16.00 each.
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Kobalt-Impa...-Set/999957785

I'm pretty sure that's the exact same design as the one I had back in the 1980's and which I recall taking apart to clean out and look over.

[boslab]

Wonder if there’s a smaller impact sausage, like 1/4 bit size, some electrical screws are buggers to shift
mark

[BCRider]

Wonder if there’s a smaller impact sausage, like 1/4 bit size, some electrical screws are buggers to shift
mark

For that I'd just use gentle power settings from the now very common cordless impact driver that most of us have. And I say "gentle settings" because full power on most electrical screws would either strip the heads or snap them off.

[Michael Edwards]

There are also Vessel Impact screwdrivers...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/284137291398?hash=item4227e6fe86:g:JqsAAOSwhSpf8yFA:sc:ShippingMethodStandard!98240!US!-1

[boslab]

What I was thinking ( hard these days!) was a screwdriver/ automatic centre punch hybrid, probably best left in my imagination I suppose
mark

[BCRider]

What I was thinking ( hard these days!) was a screwdriver/ automatic centre punch hybrid, probably best left in my imagination I suppose
mark

A hand tool version! I like that!

The impact action of an auto center punch is pretty well documented on YT and other sites on the web... and in some older books too I'm sure.

Seems like it should be not too hard to put in the same idea of a V and pin or two V's that fit and ramp up each other. Twist to determine the direction then push to load then release the impact.

[Willy]

I have several styles and sizes of hand held hammer impact drivers, my oldest Vessel is still going strong after many decades and has saved the bacon more than I care to remember.
This thread though is a reminder to build a shop built knock-off of an air hammer version. I used one like this a while ago at buddy's shop to remove some auto body door hings and it worked great. I've already aquired some HD impact duty slotted, Philips, and JIC bits, just need some elbow grease to seal the deal.
I need one!

[Arcane]

Wonder if there’s a smaller impact sausage, like 1/4 bit size, some electrical screws are buggers to shift
mark

Several years ago at Princess Auto I found a smaller version of the regular size impact driver and it's exactly like this one. I've only used it a couple of times but the small Phillips bit saved the day.The body is just a shade under 5 1/4" long and a tad over 1" in diameter.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/192410046060

[homestead]

Looks like Vessel and Craftsman designs are similar. Searched 'images' with "hand impact screwdriver".