Tools you wish you'd bought sooner...

[bodhi]

Personally I wouldn't go near a drill or impact driver for assembling furniture - not only do you risk damaging things but they are far too big and unwieldy for some of the positions you'll get yourself into whilst building. For eg yesterday I helped build the wife's new desk, with lots of rolling round on the floor looking up at various screws and bolts I had to tighten. A drill wouldn't have got near half of them due to the bulk of the drill itself, but our IXO was perfect.

The other thing about the IXO are some of the attachments you can get - want to treat yourself to a bottle of wine after you've finished? Pop on the corkscrew attachment (yes really). Fancy some dinner after? There's the pepper grinder attachment for that.

https://www.bosch-diy.com/gb/en/p/ixo-collection-s...

https://www.bosch-diy.com/gb/en/p/ixo-collection-c...

More seriously, all you need after that is a drill. We're team green so went for the Bosch Easy Impact range which has coped with most things we've thrown at it:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bosch-EasyImpact-550-Hamm...

Then the Bosch Professional Drill Bit set which covers most things you could be drilling into - lots of screwdriver bits for the IXO as well:

https://www.screwfix.com/p/bosch-multi-material-co...

Having a 30's house and drilling into brick a lot we also got a dedicated masonry drill bit set, recommended on here:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bosch-Professional-260858...

No money was recieved from Bosch in the creation of this post.

The bds.....

[leglessAlex]

eltax91 said:

My DeWalt impact driver has 3 power setting on the bottom by the battery. Number 1 is effectively the power of a power screwdriver

Don’t they all have this??

But, and I say this with respect to Bam89, it needs a delicate trigger finger still. An electric screwdriver is a much more foolproof and still very effective option.

[AJLintern]

leglessAlex said:

eltax91 said:

My DeWalt impact driver has 3 power setting on the bottom by the battery. Number 1 is effectively the power of a power screwdriver

Don’t they all have this??

But, and I say this with respect to Bam89, it needs a delicate trigger finger still. An electric screwdriver is a much more foolproof and still very effective option.

On the low setting it reduces the speed as well, and when it reaches a certain torque it pauses before continuing and bringing in the impact. Just have to remember to put it on that setting to start with...!

[leglessAlex]

bodhi said:

The other thing about the IXO are some of the attachments you can get - want to treat yourself to a bottle of wine after you've finished? Pop on the corkscrew attachment (yes really). Fancy some dinner after? There's the pepper grinder attachment for that.

Now this is a top, top quality tool thread paragraph

[MDT]

bodhi said:

The other thing about the IXO are some of the attachments you can get - want to treat yourself to a bottle of wine after you've finished? Pop on the corkscrew attachment (yes really). Fancy some dinner after? There's the pepper grinder attachment for that.

https://www.bosch-diy.com/gb/en/p/ixo-collection-c...

now that is juts as cool as I was hoping it might have been... I am going to get this.

wonder what will happen if you power this with a 18v drill? haha

[guitarcarfanatic]

MajorMantra said:

My Makita has one power level and it's 'vigorous'. Definitely not flatpack-friendly.

Why are you using an impact for anything needing finesse? That's what clutched drill drivers are for. Plus you avoid the noise! I've got a 12v Bosch and an 18v Milwaukee, but they are relegated to construction projects mostly.

[guitarcarfanatic]

Craikeybaby said:

I've got an earlier version of this, and it is great for little jobs around the house. I broke my first one, because I was too lazy to get something more suitable from the garage for a bigger job, but replaced it immediately, because I found it so useful.

I have been eyeing the Bosch blue one for a while, but grabbed the £12 Lidl Parkside version whilst shopping a few weeks back. Brilliant for electrical work (socket face plates!).

[Peanut Gallery]

Whilst not a tool, I have heard a rumour that from 2026 all tool brands need to have interchangeable batteries, kinda like USB-C.

How true, I do not know, etc etc! -

(yes, all ICE cars will be banned from 2025, etc, etc you know the drill)

[Luca Brazzi]

I think I bought this from reading this thread a while back….fantastic screwdriver.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0795471QZ/ref...

[skwdenyer]

Peanut Gallery said:

Whilst not a tool, I have heard a rumour that from 2026 all tool brands need to have interchangeable batteries, kinda like USB-C.

How true, I do not know, etc etc! -

(yes, all ICE cars will be banned from 2025, etc, etc you know the drill)

There is an EU reg coming in about right to repair etc. But a power tool with a removable battery is already compliant. And batteries won’t have to be common. I don’t think there’s another regulation on the books relating to power tools.

[loudlashadjuster]

How great would that be though, eh?

A flexible, extensible standard that would allow anything from 3.6 V to, say, 50 V packs to be used and charged over a standard electrical and physical interface?

Can't see it happening unfortunately. If there was already a de facto standard as there was with USB-C for electronic goods then maybe...

Edited by loudlashadjuster on Thursday 4th April 13:23

[skwdenyer]

loudlashadjuster said:

How great would that be though, eh?

A flexible, extensible standard that would allow anything from 3.6 V to, say, 50 V packs to be used and charged used a standard electrical and physical interface?

Can't see it happening unfortunately. If there was already a de facto standard as there was with USB-C for electronic goods then maybe...

You seem to have fallen into the trap of believing that USB-C is a standard electrical and physical interface for charging anything

More seriously, the electrical characteristics would mean that your tiny 3.6V power screwdriver would need to accommodate a lumping great 50V high-amperage pack and associated socket!

I think you can achieve 90% of what you seek right now with freely-available adapters, can’t uou?

[dickymint]

skwdenyer said:

Peanut Gallery said:

Whilst not a tool, I have heard a rumour that from 2026 all tool brands need to have interchangeable batteries, kinda like USB-C.

How true, I do not know, etc etc! -

(yes, all ICE cars will be banned from 2025, etc, etc you know the drill)

There is an EU reg coming in about right to repair etc. But a power tool with a removable battery is already compliant. And batteries won’t have to be common. I don’t think there’s another regulation on the books relating to power tools.

From memory different systems use have different 'protection' circuits, Makita for instance is within the battery whilst some other brands is within the tool itself? So I'm guessing there's no way they'll enforce all batteries must be interchangeable.


ste wording but I know what I mean

[loudlashadjuster]

skwdenyer said:

You seem to have fallen into the trap of believing that USB-C is a standard electrical and physical interface for charging anything

More seriously, the electrical characteristics would mean that your tiny 3.6V power screwdriver would need to accommodate a lumping great 50V high-amperage pack and associated socket!

I think you can achieve 90% of what you seek right now with freely-available adapters, can’t uou?

Not falling into anything. USB-C, as it exists today, is capable of delivering up to 240 W at up to 48 V, more than sufficient for almost all but the hungriest of consumer electronic devices.

I did not say that was suitable for power tool use either more that the EU was only really able to mandate a single power/charging solution for CE devices because USB-C had already proved itself in the market and was well on the way to becoming a de facto standard anyway, and noting that nothing equivalent for power tools exists.

It's perfectly possible to have a fairly modest connector that supports comparatively high power transmission though. Or this could be managed by a modular connector so that lower power devices only need, say, 4 pins while high-current devices might need 8 or 12. That would mean you might not be able to power an electric screwdriver from some enormous 10 Ah battery pack, but the standardisation and cross-manufacturer compatibility would still pay dividends.

As I say though, it's a pipe dream

[bodhi]

USB-C would make sense for smaller tools, like the screwdrivers we've been discussing, or anything without a removable battery (like our Tyre Inflator), can't see them being too useful for the bigger stuff though. I suspect we'd just end up with charging docks with USB C connectors, which wouldn't change things too much.

At least with tools they avoid the big issue with the USB-C connectors on phones, which is the socket rapidly filling up with pocket fluff meaning the phone won't charge after a while....

Edited by bodhi on Thursday 4th April 14:11

[Captain Answer]

dickymint said:

From memory different systems use have different 'protection' circuits, Makita for instance is within the battery whilst some other brands is within the tool itself? So I'm guessing there's no way they'll enforce all batteries must be interchangeable.


ste wording but I know what I mean

My understanding on Makita is the same but some older batteries don't have the cutout (pre the STAR system stuff etc).... if I use an adapter with mine I tend to play it safe and not discharge them under 1/2 - but if i've a parkside on adapter I just abuse them, they are cheap as chips to replace

[snotrag]

[Bam89]

dickymint said:

The Gauge said:

Bam89 said:

DIY novice here, I’m getting fed up of using a screwdriver to put bits of furniture together as we slowly furnish our first home!

From a Google, it seems like buying a drill / impact driver set is a good solution, but is that overkill for someone who is unlikely to do much more than build furniture or put things up on the wall

The linked set seems good value based on having higher capacity batteries than others from Makita or Ryobi, but not sure if there are other options?

Also, what drill bit set would you buy given how basic my usage will be ?

https://www.screwfix.com/p/dewalt-dck2060m2t-sfgb-...

Get a cordless drill by all means, they are very versatile and can drill holes in brickwork for putting shelves top etc. But an impact driver would be overkill for simply assembling flat pack furniture etc. They are for power driving big screws into timber.

If it's just assembling flat pack furniture then something like this cordless screwdriver might suffice...

Yes yes yes but we all know that eventually Bam89 will need a decent drill and impact driver and that child's toy will be next to useless from then on

Bam do the right thing and crack on with that Dewalt combo (personally I'm a Makita fan but that's neither here nor there) it'll serve you well going forward

This feels like my usual mentality so I’m inclined to buy it anyway, although I may lay off the impact driver for a while!!

[Bam89]

bodhi said:

Personally I wouldn't go near a drill or impact driver for assembling furniture - not only do you risk damaging things but they are far too big and unwieldy for some of the positions you'll get yourself into whilst building. For eg yesterday I helped build the wife's new desk, with lots of rolling round on the floor looking up at various screws and bolts I had to tighten. A drill wouldn't have got near half of them due to the bulk of the drill itself, but our IXO was perfect.

The other thing about the IXO are some of the attachments you can get - want to treat yourself to a bottle of wine after you've finished? Pop on the corkscrew attachment (yes really). Fancy some dinner after? There's the pepper grinder attachment for that.

https://www.bosch-diy.com/gb/en/p/ixo-collection-s...

https://www.bosch-diy.com/gb/en/p/ixo-collection-c...

More seriously, all you need after that is a drill. We're team green so went for the Bosch Easy Impact range which has coped with most things we've thrown at it:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bosch-EasyImpact-550-Hamm...

Then the Bosch Professional Drill Bit set which covers most things you could be drilling into - lots of screwdriver bits for the IXO as well:

https://www.screwfix.com/p/bosch-multi-material-co...

Having a 30's house and drilling into brick a lot we also got a dedicated masonry drill bit set, recommended on here:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bosch-Professional-260858...

No money was recieved from Bosch in the creation of this post.

The bds.....

This is brilliant

[CorradoTDI]

MDT said:

Bill said:

A 12/10.8v impact driver is perfect for flat pack assembly.

Ah but flat pack is almost always done in the house, I find impact drivers loud and with no clutch setting, there is a chance of over doing it. I have just given away my 18V impact driver and replaced it with a 12/10.8v screwdriver. It has been a game changer, perfect for all / any screwing jobs round the house / garage. No it will not put a 18" coach bolt into fresh oak but this only seams to be a youtube thing.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Makita-DF032DZ-Drill-Driv...

I'd be more tempted to get the 18V version of this as it then gives access to all the LXT tools and garden stuff.

https://www.screwfix.com/p/makita-ddf083z-18v-li-i...

The small Bosch 12V blue drivers are great too (that used to be the 10.8V range) but they only seem to do an impact now I think and not a replacement for the 20 year old driver I have whish is great for furniture!