Ryobi R18IW3-0 One+ Impact Wrench

What’s an impact wrench? What can you do with it?

An impact wrench is a little like a drill in style and in that it has a tool holder that rotates when you pull a trigger. But it has a lot more power and a rotating hammer action that helps to turn tight things. If you ever have tyres changed on a car, your tyre supplier will invariably use an impact gun to remove or fit your wheel nuts. It has a characteristic “machine gun” sound in use and normally it will be powered by compressed air.

So why would you want one for DIY? They are increasingly used for driving in screws and fixings. You’ll see a lot of workshop based YouTubers using them for assembling all kinds of projects. I bought mine for work (engineering) where they are a godsend for loosening tight bolts and unbolting panels that have dozens of bolts holding them together but I increasingly use it on woodwork. I used it constantly for the raised beds projects for driving in the 200mm screws (the screws came with a driver bit specifically for an impact gun) and I use it for larger screws on other projects.

Certainly in terms of this one they lack a bit of the finesse and power control that a drill driver has and if you’re not careful they’ll easily snap a smaller screw but they come into their own when your drill driver starts to grunt a bit.

Would I buy it again? Yes I would, even if it were only for undoing wheel nuts to change a flat tyre because it’s awesome for that.

There are different sizes and style available, some with square drive for sockets and some with a smaller hex drive for things like screwdriver bits. Mine is square drive but came with the hex bit adaptor shown in the pic.

Note: It doesn't necessarily come with any addons shown in the picture. I'm just showing what you can get with it. Also most battery tools are sold as "Bare" or “Tool only” which means NO BATTERY so you may need to buy the battery (and charger) separately

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