Socket adapter for impact driver or drill. What are you using?

Socket adapter for impact driver or drill.

What are you using?

I need to get a set to use for either the impact driver or drill.

Thanks,
John

Are you talking like a 1/4″ hex to a square drive?

I have a 1/2″ and 3/8″ square drive impacts. Not a fan of adapters because of the wobble they have. I have some adapters laying around I think they are dewalt but they don’t get used.

Jimbo

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I picked up a set from Harbor Freight. I’ve had them for about 5 years now and they’re working out pretty well.

99_XC600 wrote:

I picked up a set from Harbor Freight. I’ve had them for about 5 years now and they’re working out pretty well.

I have a set from HF but they are just square drive adapters going between 1/4″, 3/8″, and 1/2″ square drives.

This is what you need for a drill or a 1/4″ hex drive impact.

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Jimbo

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I have some Milwaukee ones I picked up at home depot.

I have some from dewalt, harbor freight and the makita ones that work great.

Pretty much every manufacturer offers adapters there really isn’t one that’s better than the other.

Jimbo

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Yeah,they arent very expensive either. Just grab whatever ones you find first. 1/2 and 3/8 square impacts are on my list for heavier duty stuff,but the adaptors work ok for putting in bolts and such,making your own nut setter with sockets is cool. I use them in my 12v and 20v kits.

I use these

I bought the Milwaukee set.

Do.not.buy.

That are pretty crappy for what you pay. The cheapo set I got in a free Makita bit kit are better.

The Milwaukee set is very poorly made, the set bearing gets stuck, the 1/2 is bent right from the start. Same thing happened when I bought the 4″ shockwave Robertson bit, it was warped right out of the package.

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As long as they can hold up to the impacts it doesn’t matter.  I’ve had some break off flush with the impact driver chuck.  It takes a good deal of creativity to remove them.

The makita swivel ones look really nice and you can lock out the swivel when you don’t need it.  Unfortunately until I break a few more I can’t justify any new socket adapters and they don’t make 1/4″ square.

Edit:  Also the cheap ones are malleable and have poor enough tolerances that they stick in the chuck and you need to impact on something in reverse to break them free.  Or sometimes the chuck is malleable and has poor tolerances, but there’s not much you can do about that.

I have Bosch and Titan. I really like the Titans, they were $9 from Amazon but they feel more solid than Bosch.

I use Titan Adapters not that I use them daily but none have failed me yet….I have 2 different lengths…

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Those look nice Comp,Do you recall where you got them from? The longer length ones look ideal for some assembly things.

Thanks for all the replies. 

Yes I was looking for hex to square drive.

I went to HD today and found a Makita 3/8 and 1/2 inch, but they were tilting so I didn’t buy them.

There are several in this thread that looks like they would do the job.

Thanks again,

John

I like Ridgid bits.

I have three sets from various manufactures, one set is from HF, and they all seem to work fine for the light duty work I use them for.  I can’t tell any difference between them.  For heavy duty work I use my M18 1/2″ impact so the hex 2 square drive adapters are not stressed much but are used a lot.   The Titan adapters do look pretty good.

Question: Impacts rely on that the socket and fastener is adecate stiff, (opposite of springy) to get the torque you are paying for. And I wonder if cheaper hex to square adapters would limit the max fastening torque in an substancial maner?

generally any time you use an adapter you loose a % 

Yes of course. Not only adapters, even an longer extension rod will have more than a short one. Not sure how much tho. An extreme example are theese torque limiting rods, that is “calibrated” to become springy when it reaches a certain threshold. I would guess it happens on any metal, just not as much.

But the question is, is it any practical difference on the quality of the adapter?

I have some cheap ones, and haven’t been able to destroy them. But then again, it might limit the performance more than it has to?

I use the makita swivel adapters..the swivel/non swivel action comes in handy in tighter spots

Andrull wrote:

Question: Impacts rely on that the socket and fastener is adecate stiff, (opposite of springy) to get the torque you are paying for. And I wonder if cheaper hex to square adapters would limit the max fastening torque in an substancial maner?

I have been using “hex 2 square adapters” with my M18 impact driver but wanted a impact driver with more oomph.  That is one of the reasons I just bought a M18 Fuel drill/driver set.  I tested my new impact driver against the old impact driver using the same “hex 2 square adapter” and the new impact driver will tighten nuts tighter using the same “hex 2 square adapter”.  So I assume the adapter is stiff enough and has not yet started to loose torque.

HiltiWpg wrote:

I bought the Milwaukee set.

Do.not.buy.

That are pretty crappy for what you pay. The cheapo set I got in a free Makita bit kit are better.

The Milwaukee set is very poorly made, the set bearing gets stuck, the 1/2 is bent right from the start. Same thing happened when I bought the 4″ shockwave Robertson bit, it was warped right out of the package.

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I think the Milwaukee bits are a crapshoot. I hear a lot of bad things about them but I have the 3/8 and 1/2 and haven’t had any issues with them at all. It just depends on the batch you get. I like them because they are shorter than a lot of the other options. Most hex bits are loose to begin with, so when you extend that out on a longer bit and then put a heavy impact socket on the end any wobble really gets exaggerated.