I was putting together some furniture the other day and was just wondering what the best setting for a job is. There is a switch labeled 1 and 2 (speed I’m assuming). Then there is the dial of numbers that can be adjusted. What effect do they have?
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The big 1/2 switch is speed. Generally softer materials get higher speeds, and harder materials get lower speeds.
The dial is for torque limiting. If you don’t want to screw something too tight, you can turn the ring to a low value. This can help avoid overtightening or stripping out screws. The clutch will slip at a certain torque, make an awful sound, and stop driving. If the screw doesn’t go in all the way, turn it one or two spots higher and try again.
The torque limiter usually also has a drill setting. That means no torque limiting, and you should use it for drilling. If you don’t see one explicitly labeled, just twist the ring to the highest possible setting.
The #1 speed also has much more torque than #2. so if you are driving a long screw, the lower speed should work better. In our shop, we pretty much leave all the drills/drivers on the ‘drill’ setting, & ignore the clutch settings. But they can be useful in certain situations.
The 1-2 (sometimes 3 or more) is a speed switch. Depending on the type of material you’re drilling into different speeds may be desirable. It’s easier to have some presets rather than trying to modulate through the trigger because it’s less consistent that way.
The numbers are torque values. Of course whether the numbers mean foot pounds or newton meters or even just an arbitrary high low scale is not always clear. In general you use it with trial and error. If something is delicate and you don’t want to risk stripping the hole you can use a low setting and if it’s not enough give it more juice bit by bit. In time if you’re using the same tool you learn to intuitively set it at whichever number you want. Sure you could also just always use the highest setting and just be quick on the release but again if you’re after consistency it’s easier if you use those settings.
Then in many drills there’s also the option of a hammer function. Really all these depend on the material and application. For some these functionalities may be useless but for others they do a great deal in making the tool more versatile. Personally I usually tend to stick to impact drills for most applications but you’d be surprised to how many times I’ve used cheapo small battery drills to get work done. Even people with low demands and little need for these tools benefit from the multiple functionalities since it basically means they can get all work around the house done with a single small drill instead of having to buy multiple power tools.
Did the drill not come with an instruction manual?
high speed is good for drilling, low speed can be good for driving large or long screws, it can also give more control over the speed.
Torque settings should be ignored, they suck, they rarely benefit anything ever, put it in drill mode and leave it forever.
If you need to insure your not overtightening something, you should go on slow speed and feel the resistance. Or you could finish it with a screw driver for more feedback/control, or even a torque screwdriver (VERY rarely necessary).
tighten screws until they are snug. rarely do good things happen when you keep tightening past that point.
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