Decent Cheap Battery Rattle Gun ?

[Hybrid_From_Hell]

Is there such a thing ......without spending a Ferkinfortune ??

If so linkies would be good - need something as can't get air to the workshop and have a need !

Nige

[daveturnbull]

Not if you want a sensible amount of torques. Cheapest non-air option with most torques is the wired 240v clarke offering CEW1000.

[Retroanaconda]

I have a Rolson 24v one which was £50 or so, putting it at the cheaper end of the market. It will do most light duty things and is more useful as a nut-runner than anything else. It won't undo Land Rover wheel nuts (though does OK on normal cars), but I mostly use it for putting the wheel nuts back on before final tightening with the torque wrench. Saves a lot of faff with the ratchet/wheel brace.

For proper cordless ones you're looking at several hundred pounds, but they can do Land Rover wheel nuts and more. Funnily enough I was speaking to a mechanic in the forest today who was working on something "a little bit bigger" than a Land Rover and he was using a very nice looking Makita one. Think it was something along the lines of this. He was using it to fit band tracks to the wheels of a harvesting machine. Looked bloody powerful!

[CwazyWabbit]

Being as it's you Nige and you have an ... erm ... appreciation for power why not go for a 2 stroke impact gun? http://www.erico.com/products/gt3500ge.asp

You could probably megasquirt it to!

[landroversforever]

Being as it's you Nige and you have an ... erm ... appreciation for power why not go for a 2 stroke impact gun? http://www.erico.com/products/gt3500ge.asp

You could probably megasquirt it to!

Barry that creased me up completely

Very 'Nige' Let me guess, the handle is solid not tube?

[dirtydiesel]

Have you looked at 110v corded impact wrenches? I've watched second hand Bosch and makita ones go on eBay for about £60.

I have a really old 18v snap-on cordless that I bought for £50, because the trigger was faulty and one of the batteries was dead, the trigger was a loose connection and a new battery was £90. This easily pulls landy and van wheel nuts off.

I also have a 18v lithium Bosch (the little one not the HT one) and its super nice to use but not powerful enough for vans and landys,

[steve b]

Snap- on mate , job's a good'un , I haven't plugged an air rattlegun in since I bought my Snap-on guns

....well apart from the 1" for Big stuff

cheers

Steveb

[Hybrid_From_Hell]

PMSL 2 stroke MS Rattle gun

Fancy battery powered tho

Cheapish

Any recomendations ?

N

[mickeyw]

Nige, give us an idea of what size bolts you want to work with. Cheap will not work on big bolts with many torques. However they make good nut runners if you have loosened bolts in advance.

My Bosch gun you saw the other day is a heavy weight at 440Nm, and has a price tag to match. Knocks off Tdi crank pulley bolts and tractor wheel nuts with ease.

[andy2986]

I have both a large and a small DeWalt 18v rattle gun. They are both great, although I tend to use the smaller one more than the big one..

It's great for getting in tight places. That being said the big one took the crank pulley bolt off my 300tdi without missing a beat, I tend to only use it when I need a lot of torque.

[simonr]

I have two (big & little) that I'm more than impressed with - and they get used a lot!

Big one is a Clarke: http://www.tool-net.co.uk/p-372731/clarke-cir220.html?gclid=CPmE5IHJx7YCFfLKtAodXQsAJg

Little one is Makita Lithium: http://www.toolstop.co.uk/makita-tw100dwe-10.8v-li-ion-cordless-3-8in-impact-wrench-2-x-1.3ah-batteries-p16738

The Makita one is surprisingly good. Not quite enough for wheel nuts, but great for virtually everything else - and it's tiny! Fits in the palm of my hand so great for tight spaces.

Although the Clarke reckons it delivers 220Nm, I'd say closer to 150Nm. The Makita claims 110Nm but again, I think about 90 is closer. I think you need to take the torque claims with a pinch of salt on all of them (even the Snap On ones). The Clarke is the second one I've bought of the same type after the batteries died in my previous one. It was cheaper to buy a new gun with 2 batteries than one replacement battery! It did carry on working for 10 years heavy use though!

Si

[muddy]

I have the latest snap on lion one, second one has been great first one I had was at snap on more than I had it over 8 months, but I think it was just a bad un. Does most tractor wheelnuts wich are 500nm although rusty ones it can struggle on however these make the 3/4" bar wince. I am abit snobby and wouldn't have anything else at the moment although I did look at Milwaukee, a grinder gun and drill with 3 batts is about 600 plus vat my snap on was 500 plus vat with two batterys which is more than enough for most things only waited for batt when re tipping some spreaders.

Snap on also do a bare drill for 190 plus vat.

I looked at a gun grinder and drill packages but Nopehing seemed to stand out on paper and trying to get a demo out of anyone is nigh on impossible so I plumped for the easy option and am happy although snap on themselves are utter exercisers when it comes to customer services.

Will.

Once you have one you won't be without!

[studmuffin]

In all honesty do not use a rattle gun at work but from experience, can generally recommend Makita kit as the poodles plums.

All day every day we use 110V Makita nibblers which cut up to 3.2mm/10swg high carbon steel which can be up to 1000N/mm2. They get a very hard life. Occassionally we change the punches and the tool lasts on average 3-4 years. The only tougher gear is Duplex and they are mega bucks and get used for 5/6mm plate. Unfortunately you gets what you pays for.

[=jon=]

I've got a Sealey 24v one as per:

http://www.tooled-up.com/product/sealey-24v-cordless-impact-wrench-1-2-square-drive-325lb.ft-1-battery/142701/

I rate it - has enough grunt to undo series wheelnuts which have a habit of tightening themselves up over time. Power drops off quite quickly as the battery goes down though, but you get a quick charger with it..

[ProteuS]

I've got the Ingersoll Rand 20v Battery impact and it is absolutely fantastic although very spendy. It's far better than my air impact.

[discomikey]

thinking outside the box slightly, its only a bambi, but i have one of these. Its an 18v lithium ion powered 1/4" drive impact gun. wouldnt cope with LR wheelnuts, or anything like anything too heavy, but will whiz off and on stuff like flange bolts, seatbox bolts, body panel bolts, manifolds, bellhousing nuts all the smaller stuff, you name it it will do it. properly quick.

it does up lr wheelnuts enough for me too, as i always nip up with a breaker bar to be sure, but theres only 1/4 or so of a turn needed to nip them up sufficiently afterwards.

all in all a great little tool, origionally bought as a screwdriver (as intended by makita) and its epic at screwing things even with a nearly dead battery.

to be fair we have a set of cordless drill, impact driver and cordless 4.5" grinder and cant beat any of them for what they are. the drill can physically hurt your wrist it has that much power, the impact driver just makes any job so much quicker, and the grinder, although no real match for a 240v grinder, can be a lifesaver in the middle of a meadow, or yard with no power etc, just so long as it has a good battery, (which only takes 20 mins to fully charge anyway) the other 2 work greatly up untill the battery is really dead!

[David Sparkes]

Can I ask questions about the use of these battery powered rattle guns?

Some classify specific examples as 'Powerful enough / NOT Powerful enough, to deal with LR wheel nuts'.

Those NOT powerful enough ... etc, are deemed to be useful as 'nut runners'.

Well, I've used battery electric drills (holding an adaptor) as nut runners, and I find them just a pain, as it's just another tool change, especially if there is only one socket that fits, and needs transferring from battery gun to hand tool, every time.

It's occurred to me that, whereas I slacken the wheel nuts, lift the wheel, then remove the nuts, the battery guns considered 'Powerful enough, to deal with LR wheel nuts', may, with the rattle action, be used to free off the nuts after the wheel is lifted off the ground. IE Their use saves the initial freeing off activity, that I currently do before lifting the wheel.

Is this how you use a powerful rattle gun?

I'm rather guessing that, at the lower price ranges, there is no adjustable torque setting when it comes to doing the nuts up. Stopping before the nut is overtightened is a matter of 'operator judgement'.

I ask as a private owner, rather than someone getting paid for his time.

Thanks.

[heath robinson]

You're exactly right, a powerful rattly gun applieas enough torque to undo a fuuly tightened wheel nut, in short enough bursts to not spin the wheel when it's in the air.

I've never done an empirical test, but I don't really trust ANY of their torque settings on the ones I've used, they don't equate to much more than "Loose, tightish, tight, and bloody tight".

They really do make life easier if you can afford one that's manley enough. length of charge is a bit less important if you're only using it occasionally than if you're using it all day long, every day.

HTH

Jake

[henk]

I have a Makita BTW450 on 18v and we can easily change tyres on 4 cars (16 off, 16 on) with one battery

Be carefull with small size nuts type M10 M12 as they snap easily

Bought it online on Ebay from Folkestone Fixings for +/- £150 without batteries.

[UdderlyOffroad]

Well, I've used battery electric drills (holding an adaptor) as nut runners, and I find them just a pain, as it's just another tool change, especially if there is only one socket that fits, and needs transferring from battery gun to hand tool, every time.

....

I ask as a private owner, rather than someone getting paid for his time.

Really, when using impact drivers, special impact-rated sockets should be used. Normal chrome-vanadium sockets can shatter when subjected to repeated blows. Therefore, most pros don’t have to change sockets constantly, as they already have two off sets. Even as someone who spanners for a hobby, I spent £30 on a set of deep, impact sockets from Ebay, and they do the job quite well.

In answer to Nige’s question, I have yet to come across a battery powered impact wrench that comes down on the price-power curve on the side that he (and indeed I) would be after. I suspect your best option would be to buy whatever brand/size matches your existing battery drill. – That way at least you can swap batteries in short order and have one on charge.

That said, for workshop use, I have an ebay-special air-driven £15 windy-gun, which will undo LR wheel-nuts (but needs a meatier compressor than I have). I also a cordless Screwfix 10.8v LI-Ion screwdriver – which as a nut runner is fantastic.

Not much help I’m ‘fraid, HFH.

[JeffR]

Some where in one my gardens hedges there is a Rolson hobby that I threw in disgust/bad temper sometime last summer whilst doing the hub nuts on the wifes Mini, you are welcome to try and find it....

coat is on and door is open.....

[Landy-Novice]

^^ haha!! :hysterical:

[heath robinson]

I've been looking at the sealey cp2450 which for 170 squids seems good. I've read mixed reviews though, which has slightly cooled my ardure. Has anyone used/got one?

If Si's experiences are anything to go by, I'm infering that it should probably be good for about 300lbft, which is quite good.

[=jon=]

I can't remember if mine's a 2400 or a 2450, I'll go and have a double check in a bit... I rate mine whichever one it is..

[heath robinson]

the 2450 has grey bits of plastic on the body and a silver nose, the 2400 is just black and silver.