Popular Woodworking 2009-11 № 179, страница 18
Makita Delivers a Compact Impact Driver The newest members of the handheld power-tool party are impact tools. Everywhere you turn you see impact drivers and wrenches being pushed as the best tool for anyone's shop. But we've often wondered just what woodworkers need with an impact driver - there's an occasional use, just not a huge need for this tool. But Makita has just introduced an impact driver that makes it an easy addition to a woodshop. The Makita BTD144 is not your ordinary impact tool. This impact driver has three settings that allow you to dial in the amount of speed (0-1,300/02,000/0-2,600 rpm) and torque (0-1,300/02,800/0-3,400 impacts per minute) you need. If you select the lowest setting, you have a small amount of torque and could use the tool as you would a standard drill/ driver. But when the need for big-time driv-ability arises, switch settings with a button on the tool's base, and you have ramped-up torque to drive long screws. The BDT144 motor is brushless. Just what does that mean to you? No more brushes to wear and change out after a couple years. But more than that, brushless motors are highly efficient (20 per- i cent more, according to the company) and very reliable. They run more quietly and are cooled by conduction, which means there is no need for air to flow around the motor. So, the motor can be encased to keep dirt and dust out. The only disadvantage of a brushless motor is its higher initial cost, but you can recover that cost through the greater efficiency over the life of the motor. And ifyou have any other Makita 18-volt tools and batteries, the BTD144 fits right in. You can purchase this impact driver with or without a new battery and charger. Makita's newest impact driver is compact in size (only 51/2" long) and weighs in at just more than 3 pounds, but the BTD144 delivers 1,420 inch pounds of torque. The V4" hex chuck is easy to use and simple to change; just snap a drill bit or driver tip into the tool and you're ready to roll. Makita ■ 800-462-5482 or makita.com Street price ■ BTD144 (no battery or charger), $183 ■ BTs (w/battery & charger), $345 For more information, go to pwfreeinfo.com. Here's the opportunity and the rationalization to bring a workhorse into the stable. This impact driver can handle your everyday jobs and is set up to take on the toughest task you have. — Glen D. Huey New Joint Tweakers Will Float Your Boat Floats are interesting tools; they're similar to a file and a rasp, but with grooves across the working surface that act like a gang of scrapers. They excel at tweaking tenons and modifying mortises to achieve a perfect fit. With a good float, you can remove wood in miniscule, controlled amounts and leave a nice-looking surface behind. Sawmaker Mike Wenzloff recently alerted us to these Iwasaki Japanese floats and after giving his a try, I ordered some in for testing. What sparked my interest was the quality of the tools, and when I learned the price I was even more curious. Instead ofthe continuous straight grooves found on traditional floats, the cutting edges on these are curved with a slight radius. The edge also has small, staggered breaks along each edge. These features combine to reduce resistance and clogging, and they leave a nice smooth surface. The floats cut only on the bottom edge so you don't get one tool with both a curved and flat face as you do with a premium hand-cut rasp. The safe edge on the side is a real advantage when working on mortises and tenons; you can't inadvertently dig into a tenon shoulder as you work the cheek or deform one side of a mortise while fixing an adjacent one. Iwasaki floats are very sharp when new, and they can be a bit grabby during their break-in and the user finds the right touch for using them. That's not a complaint, as the edges last a long time and the tools are quite effective. Available in several sizes with flat or curved surfaces and medium and fine cuts, these are a welcome addition to any toolbox. My favorite was the smallest one - the IW-8CPFEF is 10mm wide with an extreme-fine cut and an integral rubber grip. It fits Iwasaki Floats The Best Things ■ 800-884-1373 or thebestthings.com Street price ■ $29.95 to $34.95 For more information, go to pwfreeinfo.com. easily inside through-mortises, but it's also long enough and wide enough to adjust tenons as well. If you're curious about using floats, it is a good place to start. —Robert W. Lang popularwoodworking.com ■ 27 |
