Whenever you need to drill holes or drive screws, you would need a tool for it but the question is, which one is the right tool for the job? They might sound look the same but surely there is a difference between their Mechanisms and Applications.

There are plenty of drivers and drills available that fairly look similar but don’t be fooled by their looks because each one of them has its mechanism and differences to get different jobs done. Some of them might be able to do almost all the jobs while the others can be only used in their comfort zone.

Whenever you hear the word Hammer drill, it might give you an idea that the hammer is connected to power and force and it is somehow like this. In easy and simple words, the major difference between the Hammer Drill and an Impact Driver is that a Hammer drill uses power and force to drill while an Impact Driver uses rotation and torque to drill or drive screws.

Drill vs Impact Driver:

The Main differences Between Impact Driver vs Hammer Drill is The hammer drills have a very high BPM and An impact driver uses a heavy-duty spring.

Let’s get into a comprehensive guide to understand the difference better.

Hammer Drill:

As the name already suggests, it is a combination of a Hammer and a drill. As you start to drill, the teeth slip up and over the opposite bearings to create a linear striking motion that pushes forward along the path of the drill bit. It is a combination of force and drilling. The hammer drills have a very high BPM (BPM is used for Hammer drills to describe their impact rate while IPM is used for Impact Drivers), in tens of thousands while some of them even exceed the limit of 35,000 BPM.

Hammer Drills are perfect for drilling into blocks, bricks, stones, concrete or similar materials as it uses tons of force. As the heavy-duty hammer drills are capable of drilling through rock-solid materials or several feet thick walls, it is not a good option to drive screws with or to drill into plastic, wood, metal because of the force but if you still want to do that, you’ll need to detach the Hammer action. However, there are plenty of cordless hammer drills on the market that allow selecting between drive, drill, and hammer drill modes so that you use only one tool according to your need while there are a few that don’t have this option.

Impact Driver:

You might be thinking that an impact driver does the same job as a hammer drill. Well, in some ways it does. Though when we’re talking about an Impact driver, we’re basically talking about increased rotational energy known as torque.

An impact driver uses a heavy-duty spring. After every half turn, it is compressed and released, delivering an immense force. As we’ve talked about earlier in the hammer drill case, the energy goes forward along the path of the drill bit while in the case of an Impact driver, the energy goes in the same direction as the chuck rotation giving you extra rotational force (torque). The focus of the force is on the rotation that is why an impact driver works better to drive screws or other fasteners. An impact driver works perfectly fine to drill holes into wood, plastic, or metal though.

Like the impact driver? Wondering where to an impact driver? Here’s our list of the Best Impact drivers on the market right now.

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