Types of Impact Wrenches – All you Know About!

Impact wrenches are high torque production tools. It is named a rattle gun, impactor, air wrench, torque gun, windy gun etc. Lug nuts are with different diameters and should be tight to recommended torque. When the diameter of the nut is increased, it should be subject to high tension. High tension will require more torque. In order to apply high torques impact, wrenches are manufactured.

A regular impact wrench is used for small size nuts and bolts but more than that high torque is required for the higher diameter nuts and bolts. So types of impact wrenches are used for this task with different torques. So let’s see what are the types of impact wrenches and their usage and more detail. Let’s check all in detail.

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Impact Wrenches Classification

In this topic, we can identify the classification of impact wrenches. Normally impact wrench main output is torque. Normally the torque is high, its usage is less. Because higher diameter nuts and bolts are not used in day-to-day usage.

A screwdriver and impact driver is used for driving the screw inside the wood. Those are with very low torque tools, and electric impact wrenches are used for the lug nuts operations. When we need more power than that, we can use pneumatic impact wrenches. For the extremely heavy-duty works, we can use hydraulic impact wrenches.

Impact wrenches are classified according to the power source and torque production.

Impact Wrench Type	Expected Medium Torque (ft-lbs)	Expected Maximum Torque (ft-lbs)
Electrical impact wrench	<500	<2000
Pneumatic impact wrench	<1,300	<2,500
Hydraulic impact wrench	<3,000	<13,000

01. Electrical impact wrenches

• Corded impact wrenches
• Cordless impact wrenches

02. Pneumatic impact wrench

03. Hydraulic impact wrench

Electrical Impact Wrenches

Electrical impact wrenches are the most popular impact wrenches in the world. Normally domestic lug nuts are not higher diameter, and those can be tighten using a below 500 ft-lb impact wrench. So using the impact mechanism that much torque is really easy to produce. According to the power supply method, electrical impact wrenches can be divided into two.

Cordless Impact Wrenches

Cordless impact wrenches are really useful for lightweight tasks. Especially for the DIYs and domestic usage. Cordless impact wrenches are powered by the Battery. The batteries can be Li-Ion or Ni-Cd. Li-Ion is the most used impact wrench battery and it is more advantageous to use than Ni-Cd. Available batteries are 12V,18V, 20V, 24V, and 36V etc. According to the capacity of the battery, its torque capacity has increased.

Normally cordless impact wrench can produce less than 500 ft-lb torque for lightweight tasks, and for the special task, there are tools that can produce 2000 ft-lb torque.

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Corded Impact Wrenches

Corded impact wrenches are used for the permanent low torque requirements. Normally removing lug nuts will need less than 1000 ft-lb torque. So if we wish to use it continuously corded impact wrench is really useful. Corded impact wrenches are powered by a wire cord that is plugged to the power supply. It can produce more torque than cordless. Roughly both can produce the same amount of torque just a difference in usage.

Corded impact wrenches are more weight than cordless.

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Pneumatic Impact Wrenches

Pneumatic impact wrenches are really popular in 19 century. But it is not popular now with cordless tools. Pneumatic impact wrenches are powered by compressed air. Normally 70-90 Psi is required for the Pneumatic impact air. Pneumatic impact air is really high powerful than cordless or corded tools. It is really used for mid-range heavy-duty tasks.

Pneumatic impact wrenches are not user friendly. There is a power-up terminal and it should always connect with the impact wrench always. So it is a real disadvantage.

According to the inside hammer types, pneumatic impact wrenches are 05 types.

• Super Light V-Hammer
• Lightweight F-Hammer
• Single Hammer
• Double Hammer
• Twin Hamme

Hydraulic Impact Wrenches

This is the most powerful impact wrenches that we can use. For extremely heavy-duty tasks, hydraulic impact wrenches are used. The hydraulic impact wrench works with the compressed liquid, and it can produce more than 10,000 Psi with more than 13,000 lb-ft torque.

This tool consists of a hydraulic compressor and gun. Both are connected with two terminals. Because of these terminals, it can’t move quickly here and there. Hence handling is very poor. This tool is used for the higher diameter bolts and nuts when it needs more than thousands of torques. So it is really important for the extremely heavy-duty machines.

These tools are used in heavy-duty equipment, wind towers, oil and gas industry, which require more tensile force to tighten two connections. You have to use the same table and charts the determine the suitable torque and pressure from the machine.

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