Shopsmith Forums

It seems that each change that happens in the shop brings more things to learn. Here is an example of what I found out recently when using a quick change chuck with an adapter bit and one of my newer drills.

The newer battery drills I have exceed the power of my older battery powered drills such that I have gone to bits and drivers that are torque rated, but I still have a lot of the older parts laying around the shop because they still work most of the time.

How much torque you ask? Enough to shear this shaft.
Perhaps a modest review would bring us all up to date on the two most common ways these bit holders hold bits. Yes they are 1/4" hex shanks but most shorter bits make use of a wire retainer. Longer bits make use of a detent. This image will help you see what I'm discussing.
The holder has a wire like the one shown in this next image.
What got me in trouble was to use this holder to hold the ball detent adapter that broke. The bit is not held in place very well and even when the bit is bottomed to the magnet it still is driving only the lower portion, that is the part below the detent.
The holder I should have used is one like this Hitachi version which holds both types of retainers.
In this last image I have pulled the driver forward from the seated position after marking it. As you can see this holder has contact areas on both sides of the detent.
So now don't make the same misteak that I did (in honor of Norm).

Ed

Ed, were you using an impact or regular drill? I can definitely see how the ball detent area is a weak spot.

I have a little 10V Makita impact drill (also a regular drill) that can bury a 3" #10 screw into a pressure treated 4x4 without pre-drilling. That has to be putting a lot of torque on the bit. I keep thinking that I should buy a pair of ~18-20V regular/impact drills, but I just haven't yet found a need (or even lame excuse) for anything larger. The closest I've come to breaking a bit was when I was working on some computer server racks, had to move the rear vertical rails, use the impact along with a couple few impact-rated Torx bit to get the screws out and put back in; tore up the Torx end of 2 or 3 bits to all but unusable.

FYI 18V drill driver trying to loosen a 1/4" cap screw.

I forget what the torque rating is for these but it is quite high, no problem twisting off 1/4" bolts or none torque rated drill/driver parts.

I do have a impact driver which would have been a better choice if I would have had it with me. The torque level on those are even higher but the impact might have got it loose before anything broke.

I did not see this with my old 12V or old 18V drill/drivers but to be honest it could have just been a part failure from a previous use that showed up later when I used it again.

Ed