Are you aware of the Impuls feature boasted by Metabo drills and drivers? This Impuls setting is supposed to provide improved control for tougher jobs, such as removing stripped screws and starting holes in difficult materials. Before watching the below-embedded ToolStop demo video, I had never heard of this feature before! Have you?
Incorporated in many of their drills and drivers, Metabo’s Impuls feature can be toggled with a push-button switch to create a pulsating on-off-on motor power cycle. In doing so, the Impuls-toggled tools can tackle jobs that can be a challenge with ordinary drill/drivers.
The Impuls feature actually makes a lot of sense when you think about it. Think about how impact drivers and impact wrenches work. When resistance is encountered, the impact mechanism primes and engages, transmitting an impulse of torque to the fastener or bit. Essentially, that is what’s going on here when you toggle the Impuls mode of a Metabo drill or driver. The short impulse of torque that is created by the on-off-on Impuls cycle, combined with slower rotational speeds, will inherently be more effective than a pure rotational motion (for certain applications), without necessarily being more powerful.
Additional Information via ToolStop Blog
Impuls Drills & Drivers, via ToolStop (UK):
For years we had always used 1/2 inch square drive electric impact guns (Skil and Milwaukee brand – corded tools) to set big lags. Then we found chucks that would convert them to drilling larger holes with Silver & Deming twist drill bits in steel (e.g. wide flanges). While not a replacement for our Bux magnetic base drill press – it saves your wrist because you avoid torque reaction at breakthrough. The impact mechanism senses the added torque requirement – and instaed of twisting your arm off – it gives the bit a few impacts and the hole is drilled through.
That’s a great point! I’ve had good experiences with small holes saws in an impact driver, but never thought to add a chuck to use larger twist bits with.
With these drills and drivers, it looks like the Impuls feature is best used at the beginning of an operation. Once it’s disengaged so that the rest of the operation is completed at normal speed, the tools should perform similarly to ordinary drills or drivers. I imagine that your tip should still work with these tools as well, although I’m not sure Metabo makes a 1/2″ square drive impact.
Thank for the link to our blog!
Stuart, many thanks for the Toolstop references. We have raved about many of the Metabo tools for some time, they’re patented features are quite impressive. Look out for an exclusive coming soon on our blog which is a new attachment for the very cordless drill in this post. It’s a hi-torq attachment with a 1/2 in sq drv or torx head which will screw 800mm x 16mm screws without a pilot hole. It’s an amazing demo.
You’re very welcome, and thank you for the great video! I’ll keep an eye out for the next hi-torq attachment demo.
A quick search to see if the Metabo Impuls line was available here in the US came up with nothing, although the standard drill/drivers seem to be readily available. I wonder why the Impuls hasn’t been released here yet. Unless it has and I just can’t find it anywhere.
Hi guys, just a few notes from my side back over the pond in the UK.
The Metabo Impuls function is a pure rotational pulse that can shock seized screws or give you extra purchase on a screw head or shinny surface such as a tile or steel pipe. Impuls does not have any forward impact action like say an Impact driver. This feature comes on drill/drivers and combi drills sold in Europe, but so I hear maybe not in the USA at the moment.
If you want impact action with rotation, then you would be looking at a Metabo SSD 18 LTX which is our Impact Driver with a 1/4″ hex drive. These are great if you driving in lots of screws. As Fred says, they really do save your wrists!! If you want an Impact Wrench for use with sockets, e.g. for handling nuts and bolts then you’ll be looking at the Metabo SSW 18 LTX with a 1/2″ drive.
However if you need high, consistent high driving torque then you’ll need a Drill/Driver or a Combi (impact drill) such as a BS 18 LTX or a SB 18 LTX. With these machines it is purely a matter of selecting gear 1 and holding on tight! Watch out for the WORLD FIRST BS 18 LTX Quick PowerX3 machine which is due out in Q4. It has 3 TIMES the torque of any current drill in the Metabo range, now this is power, really quite incredible!!!
For further details please contact Metabo USA on:
Metabo Corporation
P.O. Box 2287
1231 Wilson Drive
West Chester, PA 19380
Phone:
800-638-2264
or
610-436-5900
http://www.metabo.us
Hope that helps and all the best.
Am I wrong to think that you can achieve this “pulse action” by simply pulsing the trigger of your regular drill? Some one please clarify.
No, your thinking is spot-on. Still, I’m not certain the performance would be the same. I don’t think that manually pulsing an ordinary drill would have any detrimental effects, but with motors getting more sophisticated and battery-protection circuits more sensitive, I’m not 100% certain. If anything, the Impulse feature offers more controlled pulsing and does away with the hassle and fatigue of having to manually toggle the trigger repeatedly.