Old Style Power Screwdriver

by Stan1y in Workshop > Tools

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Old Style Power Screwdriver

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Now depending on your age you're either thinking what's that? or that's a ratchet brace not a screwdriver, or oh yes I've done this.
In the days before cordless screw drivers if you had a lot of screws to put in you either developed strong wrists, or brought a helical screwdriver that converted a pushing movement into a rotary one.

Alternatively if you needed more torque which the mechanical advantage of the ratchet brace supplies, or just couldn't justify the expense of a fancy helical drive you did this.

Modern Twist

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When I recently need more torque than my cheap cordless or wrist could provide I remembered how my father had built our shed. Whilst I quickly found the brace as I still use it for its normal application of boring large holes in wood, I couldn't find the old screw driver blades he used to use in the jaws, they would have been of little use anyway as the screws I'm using are Philips headed.
However the jaws of the brace grip firmly on the shaft of a bit holder permitting any modern powered cordless screw driver bit to be used. Which means torq bits as well, which self cutting masonry screws use, some thing you couldn't do by hand and a cheap DIY electric screwdriver cant' cope with.

The ratchet mechanism also means you can get closer into corners than you could just with a srandard hand screw driver

In Use

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The technique is very simple,

place a bit holder in the jaws of the ratchet brace,

make sure the ratchet is either locked or set to the correct direction.

Fit the correct bit in the bit holder.

Engage the bit with the screw head and slowly wind the handle.