Getting More Use From A Powered Ratchet

When I bought my Craftsman V20 cordless powered ratchet I mostly got it to have a powered "nut-runner"  It's a nice tool that let's me insert it into openings and crevices of racks and furniture I have to assemble in my work as a handyman. I like avoiding carpal tunnel syndrome if I can.


It's not a powerhouse of torque.  It puts up about 35 ft lbs of torque, plus some more if you turn it by hand.  That's a nice feature too.  It's also reversible with a manual switch.

But, not that much in terms of turning bolts and nuts in the furniture assembly business.   There's much more in terms of screws and bolts that are Phillips, Robert's, Torx, and Hex bits.  Phillips and Hex being the vast majority. 

I use a couple other drivers as my "go to" main tools when assembling furniture and such. Sometimes however, a drill or screwdriver is too tall or long to fit into the space where a bolt needs to be tightened down.  

So, to get more use out of my powered ratchet,  I bought some hex end sockets.  Now I can easily get into those tight spaces where a drill/driver or screwdriver won't fit and it has the power in most cases to apply enough torque to firmly tighten the bolt down.

One nice thing about this Craftsman ratchet is it's controlability.  The paddle switch makes it very capable of running at low speeds to stop before it's "too late.

Keep in mind that even though the ratchet "only" produces 35 ft lbs of torque, you don't want to count on the tool to do the final tightening anyway.  Remember that in almost all cases of pre-fab furniture,  it's made out of engineered wood.   That means stuff like plywood. MDF,   particle board  and other such materials.

You do NOT want to over tighten with a power tool and tear things up.  Trust me, it WILL happen.  You only want a glorified nut-runner or bolt runner to get it "surface snug" but not finished tightened.  Finish tightening these with a manual driver or ratchet/ wrench to prevent damaging the piece.

If you're putting a bolt into a metal nutsert which has been installed into the piece, you're a little less likely to over-tighten but there's no point in taking unnecessary chances.
 

In the end, it's been a very handy way for me to get more use out of my powered ratchet.  Also consider that I finally got a smaller battery (2 ah) which not only gives it a smaller profile and able to fit in more places (and less heavy to handle than the 4ah battery).

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