Whenever you want to work on a project let us say building a shed, it is possible you would need to use power tools to accomplish some of the steps.
Considering power tools can be many, it is always great if you can get the right distinction to understand how they work before buying.
Below are some of the various power tools you can get on the market today and how best you can use them.
Power tools help make your work easier. Let us say you are handling a home improvement project, you need power tools to make easier and finish it faster too.
If you are new to power tools, you are likely to find several options available. Not all of them will be necessary to buy. That is why you need to understand what each power tool can do.
Below are the most common power tools in the market and how best you can use them.
1. Drill Driver
This is a power tool that is mostly used for drilling and driving screws. Because of its functionality, a drill driver features two speed options. It can still have more speed options depending on the model.
The lower speed setting is best suited for driving the screws into a surface. The higher speeds will be best for drilling into a surface.
Most models also come with a torque adjustment option. This is vital to ensure that your drilling or screw driving is done at the right torque to avoid any breakage.
2. Hammer Drills
Hammer drills as the name suggests will have percussion hammering and drilling functionalities. Because of this action, such a power tool is great for drilling through hard materials such as concrete and masonry.
The short and rapid hammering action make it easier for you to drill through the hard surfaces without burning the motor.
In case you want to only use the drill part, it is possible to turn off the hammering action. That is how you can find hammer drills also being used to drive screws into different surfaces.
Because of the two mechanisms combined into one power tool, it is expected that such a tool would be more expensive and bulky too.
3. Impact Wrenches
Impact wrenches might seem simple at first until you use them. The impact wrenches are designed to deliver high torque with minimal input by a user.
That is why an impact wrench would be used for various locking and unlocking applications thanks to its socket wrench design.
Most impact wrenches would use compressed air as their power source. Such impact wrenches are mostly available in repair shops and industries.
For light-duty use, you can always opt for the electric impact wrenches. Other than being electric, you can get cordless models too that make portability quite easy.
4. Table Saw
A table saw is a vital power tool consisting of a circular blade that is driven using an electric motor and mostly mounted on an arbor. Its large blade protrudes above the table surface for cutting wood mostly.
You may notice that a table saw is mostly used when you need to work with large pieces of wood. However, the table saw can still be versatile to work with different types of workpieces.
Most table saws right now have the option of adjusting the depth of a cut. You simply have to adjust the height of the blade by moving it up or down.
5. Band Saw
This is another popular power tool that consists of a long and sharp blade. The blade has a continuous band of teeth that are stretched between two or sometimes more wheels. When the wheels rotate, then the teeth easily cut through the workpiece.
It is easy to find a bandsaw mostly used in lumbering, metalworking, and woodworking. It can still cut different types of materials depending on the type of blade attached to the wheels.
The biggest advantage of a bad saw should be its uniform cutting capability. Since it has even tooth load distribution, you should find it great for uniform cutting applications.
6. Jigsaw
In case you ever want to cut irregular curves from a workpiece, then you need to use a jigsaw. That is why it is commonly used when working with stenciled designs.
A jigsaw has a reciprocating saw blade and an electric motor as the main parts. To make it better, the saw can be leveled up to 45 degrees so that you can make angled cuts.
You will mostly come across the U-shank blades and the T-shank blades when you need to get one. T-shank blades are known to offer a better lifespan and also have a tighter fit.
7. Chainsaw
The name should give you a clue of what you will be working with. Well, a chainsaw is a portable saw with a rotating chain containing teeth rotated along a guided bar.
It can be gasoline powered or sometimes electric or contain a rechargeable battery.
It is possible you have come across the gasoline models more often compared to the electric chainsaws.
Due to the functionality of a chainsaw, it is suitable for pruning, felling trees, cutting firebreaks, bucking, and much more.
8. Reciprocating Saws
A reciprocating saw has almost the same working principle as a jigsaw. This is where the blade is moved in and out so as to cut the workpiece. However, they will have different uses.
A jigsaw is mostly used by DIYers or other professionals for cutting some intricate shapes and designs.
Things are different when using a reciprocating saw as it is more heavy-duty. As such, you would use it for demolishing and sometimes house remodeling.
9. Circular Saws
A circular saw is paired with a round blade or abrasive disc to help cut through a workpiece. The saw works by spinning its blade at a high speed making it possible to cut through different objects with ease.
A circular saw can cut different types of materials. This is mostly based on the type of blade used. As such, you can find it cutting through metal, plastic, wood, or masonry.
You can also mount it to a machine or you can use it in its hand-held form. This makes the circular saw quite versatile.
Those with blades designed to cut through wood would be used to make cuts such as the cross-cuts, rip-cuts, or sometimes a combination of the two.
10. Miter Saw
A miter saw is vital for making accurate miters and crosscuts in different workpieces. This is achieved by correctly positing the mounted blade with the workpiece.
The best part about the miter saw is that you can always adjust several aspects of the cuts. It can be tilting, angles, changing direction on how the blade cuts, and so much more.
Since the miter saw also comes in a wide range of sizes, you can get one with the best cutting capacity depending on your needs generally.
11. Rotary Tools
The rotary tools are lightweight power tools that will come with several rotary tips. Because of their versatility, you are likely to find yourself using these tools more often to handle several projects.
The tools are mostly used for operations such as grinding, lapping, buffing, drilling, and more. It all depends on the attachment that you use.
Whenever you decide to get a rotary tools set, make sure it comes with all the important collets and attachments.
Keep in mind they are mostly meant for light-duty work. In case you need to handle heavy-duty projects, go for a tool meant for such work.
12. Nail Guns
Working with nails does not always have to be hard. It is why you need to get yourself a nail gun. With a nail gun, you can drive nails into different surfaces a lot faster and accurately too.
A nail gun will have multiple applications. This includes flooring, roofing, and woodwork. So long as you are working with nails, this is what you need.
Nail guns can be powered by compressed air or electricity.
13. Sanders
Sanders are vital for making the rough surface of a workpiece smooth. The sanders do this by using a sandpaper abrasive material.
Because of how they work, you can find them in woodworking shops, auto body repairs, and sometimes in home improvement projects.
You are likely to come across different types of sanders such as belt sanders, orbital sanders, disc sanders and more.
14. Grinders
There can be many grinder types, but the most popular is the angle grinder.
An angle grinder can be described as a handheld power tool mostly used for polishing and grinding on surfaces.
It is also used for removing excess material from a surface. It does this through the use of an abrasive disc attached to a motor.
Grinders can be powered by compressed air or electricity.
15. Air Compressor
An air compressor is vital in any workshop. It is what powers most of the tools mentioned above. So, how does it do it?
An air compressor is described as a pneumatic device which works by converting power into potential energy that is stored in the form of compressed air. The power in this case can be an electrical motor, gasoline or diesel engine.
An air compressor will have a tank where it can store the compressed air. When its upper limit is reached, then the air compressor shuts off immediately until when it needs to store more compressed air.
- Inverter Generator
An inverter generator works like a normal generator to generate electricity. However, the biggest difference is that this one would have an inbuilt inverter too.
The work of the inverter is to convert the DC power from the generator into AC power so that it can be used for a wide range of applications.
Most electronics we have in the house use AC power thus the reason you need an inverter.