1/2" Impact Wrench Recomendation

[wxm]

... When the gun is shaken, should have a dampened rattle, if it sounds like loose parts rattling inside it needs grease. The grease is distributed by the parts contacting/working inside, so results are not immediate, give it a bit (1 pump on an auto type gun, 4-5 on a small tool type) use the tool and recheck/add more later. If you add too much the tool will bog, not a problem, it will work out though the exhaust. When properly greased the rattle should be somewhat muted and a small amount of grease/oil should constantly be visible at the anvil/bushing.

I had no idea that you supposed to grease the guns. I do however oil them after ever use. I have a Blue Point AT531 rattles badly, and I was thinking it was on the way out. Maybe I should try to grease it? It doesn't have any grease fitting, shall I open it up to grease it. What kind of grease do you use? Could you cover a bit details?

Thanks in advance.

 

[bigredmachine]

use gun grease, i got mine from the matco guy 20 dollars for a tube and the pump. tube should last about 5-7 years. if you use your gun alot, a pump or two of grease about once a month will keep it well greased and a few drops of oil every few days and your good to go. also dont buy mac air tools they are the worst ive ever seen. someone that i work with has sent his 1/2 gun back 3 times in the last year, the 3/8 once and the 1/4 twice. they have always been oiled and greased, they just dont work well. thats a lot of money for tghe guns to s*** out in just a few months.

 

[Tools R Us]

I had no idea that you supposed to grease the guns. I do however oil them after ever use. I have a Blue Point AT531 rattles badly, and I was thinking it was on the way out. Maybe I should try to grease it? It doesn't have any grease fitting, shall I open it up to grease it. What kind of grease do you use? Could you cover a bit details?

Thanks in advance.

IIRC the AT531 takes oil in the impact mechanism. There is a screw in the side of the alloy housing, over the tricker. The factory method: Remove the screw, stand the tool upright, air inlet down (I hold it in the vice) wrap a rag around the handle/tricker area and the old oil will dribble out. Replace with ~1/2 oz of non-detergent 30W motor oil or med weight hydraulic oil.

I find that they are often/always empty, leaked out. Filling through the small screw hole is a pain. My method: Clean around the housing split/screws and anvil, stand the tool on the rear housing, anvil up, remove the 4 front housing screws, apply finger pressure to the anvil holding it in and remove the front housing. There is an o-ring that often comes off, stays in the handle housing, recover it and put it over the snout of the front housing. Most times they are empty, if not soak out any oil with a rag. Pour new oil (~1/2oz) over the mechanism, there is a depression in the housing that will hold it, replace the housing and snug the screws.

Pretty simple deal, takes longer to talk about it, than doing it.

 

[Tools R Us]

I'm not a big fan of the grease method on the plastic guns, it works, but doesn't really do a good job of putting the grease where needed. One of the shop guns needed grease, so shot pix of my favored method.

Holding the front housing on the gun, fully unscrew the screws, no need to remove them from the gun. Stand the gun with the anvil up, apply finger pressure to the anvil and remove the front housing. Hold the hammer frame (the outer part containing the hammers) rotate the anvil back and forth, while gently pulling it out (sometimes takes some fiddling, rotating, to find the happy spot). Dip the end (hammer contact area) of the anvil in grease, moly works great. ....

 

[Tools R Us]

Put the anvil back, again may require some rotation/fiddling. Make sure it is fully seated, the step/ring on the anvil needs to be even with the top of the hammer frame. Replace the front housing, turn the screws in until they just touch the housing and check the gasket for proper fit/placement. The gasket is often slightly expanded, it has a step on the plastic housing side that needs to fit inside of the housing, so if needed, put it in place with a small screwdriver. Once the gasket is correctly placed, snug the screws, they don't need to be very tight, it is a plastic housing.

Good to go, no need for a special grease gun and only takes a few minutes.

 

[Tools R Us]

... a few drops of oil every few days and your good to go. ...

I disagree. Most wear in air tools is from dirt, debris and moisture/rust, if enough is used, oil will flush all of it out. A few drops is enough to lube the gun, but will stick debris in place, forming an abrasive paste. I always use enough to have a good fog ejected out the exhaust, about a teaspoon, depending on the size of the tool. Check the color of the ejected oil, if darker than what you put in, you are not oiling enough.

Oil is cheap, tools are expensive. I take tools apart daily that are full of goo, if they were oiled properly, they would be clean as new inside, even after years of daily use.

 

[spressomon]

There is a grease zerk/fitting. On the early steel nose guns (2112 & 2131) it is near the tricker. On the Ti guns (2115, 2135, etc) it is on the nose near the anvil. They don't have the grease system of the older guns, so are somewhat more tricky to get right, easy to over grease. When the gun is shaken, should have a dampened rattle, if it sounds like loose parts rattling inside it needs grease. The grease is distributed by the parts contacting/working inside, so results are not immediate, give it a bit (1 pump on an auto type gun, 4-5 on a small tool type) use the tool and recheck/add more later. If you add too much the tool will bog, not a problem, it will work out though the exhaust. When properly greased the rattle should be somewhat muted and a small amount of grease/oil should constantly be visible at the anvil/bushing.

Special grease needed?

 

[Tools R Us]

Special grease needed?

For hammer type impact mechanism guns (most IR, private label and copies) moly grease is good stuff. Most, pin, walking dog, some other brands hammer, etc, type impact mechanisms call for oil, most recommend 30W non-detergent motor oil.

 

[Tools R Us]

... dont buy mac air tools they are the worst ive ever seen. ...

Agree, disagree, somewhat, maybe. All of the wagon jobbers do some things well, others not so much. Anytime you buy from any of the trucks, your paying the most possible for your tools. They are loan sharks with tools, so if you need the loan, it maybe worth it?

On the subject of Mac and impacts. In the early years, IR built private label guns for them, great guns. When the 231 twin hammer patent ran out, they took the private label gun and ran it through the copy machine. The resulting gun had lots of problems (POS), most dealers still sold them as, inferred that they were IR guns. IR was not amused, the story I heard is IR quit doing biz with Mac, leaving them in a bind to replace all of the tools/parts that IR had supplied.

The AW232 was an exclusive to Mac, IR dealt almost exclusively with Mac in the wagon jobber biz. When Mac copied it, IR opened it others, so all of the wagon jobbers have or do sell it and IR now deals/sells/has sold to all of the brands. IR again does biz with Mac, but little/nothing is exclusive. All of the wagon jobbers have their air tools made by a variety of manufactures, some good, others not so much.

IMHO, in the 1/2" impact category it depends on your needs/use. If ultimate durability is needed, nothing beats the 231 family. Yes, they are a man's tool, heavy, loud, rude, ugly, etc, but make great power and keep doing it. The plastic guns are lighter, more ergonomic, make slightly more power, cost more and have slightly less durability. I don't see the point in buying anything else, by web shopping they can be had a good price.

 

[bigredmachine]

ya the mac guy said all the air tools were ir weather thay are or not the guns have been sent back way too many times for the price payed. i like my 231 even though it is ugly, heavy, causing me to go deaf, and may not have the mosty power in the world,but it had been thrown from one side of the shop to the other (someone took their anger out on my gun) and it still works great. and when you can get them on sale for about 100 dollars, how can you go wrong.

 

[copasspupil]

I have several Snap ons that I use. The im6500 and im32 butterfly. Low on noise but big on workload.

 

[wxm]

IIRC the AT531 takes oil in the impact mechanism. There is a screw in the side of the alloy housing, over the tricker. The factory method: Remove the screw, stand the tool upright, air inlet down (I hold it in the vice) wrap a rag around the handle/tricker area and the old oil will dribble out. Replace with ~1/2 oz of non-detergent 30W motor oil or med weight hydraulic oil.

I find that they are often/always empty, leaked out. Filling through the small screw hole is a pain. My method: Clean around the housing split/screws and anvil, stand the tool on the rear housing, anvil up, remove the 4 front housing screws, apply finger pressure to the anvil holding it in and remove the front housing. There is an o-ring that often comes off, stays in the handle housing, recover it and put it over the snout of the front housing. Most times they are empty, if not soak out any oil with a rag. Pour new oil (~1/2oz) over the mechanism, there is a depression in the housing that will hold it, replace the housing and snug the screws.

Pretty simple deal, takes longer to talk about it, than doing it.

Thanks for the instruction as well as the pictures. I greased it up with your suggestion, even put down some moly in the bearing and the shaft area. It runs so nice now and also doesn't rattle as much anymore.

 

[fj-rankenstein]

i have an older ir 1/2 2131 model i believe that i have been using for the last 7-8 years now and i had bought the 3/8 version at the same time... the 1/2 impact still feels very strong and the 3/8 impact is at about 90 percent of what it was when it was new.. i am only guestimating though because my new Mac 3/8s does a bit more now than that IR..
both impacts get a few drops of oil almost everytime i use them for extended usages and both shops and my service truck and my home compressor are all turned up to 150 psi... my impacts "sing" at 150 psi.. it all comes down to maintenance to keep an impact in good shape for a long long time..

the problems that i have had with these are that i have broken an anvil on both size impacts but i dont think it was their fault. although i have an excellent collection of impact sockets, i sometimes have a habbit of grabbing the most convenient socket and with both breakages there was a chrome socket on the end....
my brand new mac 3/8s impact had a defect right from new.. it wouldnt allow me to feather the trigger.. it was either on or off.. i got it exchanged and the new one works excellent.
my old Old Ir 1/2 impact had a problem where the buttons in the back would fall out.. i was able to get a brand new case and buttons through warrenty though and never had the problem again..

personally, i feel the IR impacts are a much all around better impacts than a lot of the other guys.. i am still not impressed with snap-on as they feel heavy and still bulky.. the brand new ones though are quite ballanced in your hand..

 

[TLCDino]

This thread was a great read. I am going with the IR!

 

[Tools R Us]

... all turned up to 150 psi... my impacts "sing" at 150 psi..
... the problems that i have had with these are that i have broken an anvil on both size impacts but i dont think it was their fault.

Sing and deliver good power are not the same. Running excessive air pressure affects hammer/anvil timing, the hammers may not make full contact with the anvil, possibly contributing to anvil issues. Also guns are making much more power than ever, basically a 3/8" gun is making what a 1/2" did in the past and delivering it through the same square drive. Anvils are stressed more than ever, without changing anvil size, they are close to running out of "magic" to make them stronger.

The bigger problem with high pressure is grinders. Most automotive grinders are not governed, so speed is determined by motor configuration/design, gearing and air pressure. When air pressure is increased, speed goes up, easily exceeding the rating of tooling. The biggest problems, injury rates have been with 3" roll lock and 3"+ cut wheels. Running higher pressure with grinders will make more power, but be careful to never run them wide open/full on when not in contact with the work.

... although i have an excellent collection of impact sockets, i sometimes have a habbit of grabbing the most convenient socket and with both breakages there was a chrome socket on the end....

Breakage with the chrome is likely just chance. The biggest problem with chrome is it is hard, abrasive, so wears anvils. When running chrome, the best bet is to use an impact adapter, like a stubby extension to protect the anvil.

... my old Old Ir 1/2 impact had a problem where the buttons in the back would fall out.. i was able to get a brand new case and buttons through warrenty though and never had the problem again..
...

Early on, there were a couple of issues with the plastic housings. On some the separator between the buttons was installed in backwards, others it wasn't solidly installed, both caused button issues and both have been solved.

 

[Tapage]

anyone running 1/2 cordless impact .. ? test a milwaukee one last weekend and was nice .. I was so impressed

 

[FJ60Seth]

anyone running 1/2 cordless impact .. ? test a milwaukee one last weekend and was nice .. I was so impressed

I have the IR. It's the coolest tool I own.

 

[wxm]

anyone running 1/2 cordless impact .. ? test a milwaukee one last weekend and was nice .. I was so impressed

I have a Makita 18v 1/2" dr cordless, I like it because of the size. Though I have to say, I use the air gun for any serious project and hand tools for most of the other circumstance. The cordless doesn't get used as much as I would like.

 

[Tapage]

I'm between DeWalt and Milwaukee .. but have no clue about Makita .. know it's good brand but anything else ..

 

[bigredmachine]

and again my friends mac gun died this time it worked for a record 4 months. way to go mac quality