Cordless ratchet

[angusguy]

I was just looking threw the northern tool catalog and found that Milwaukee tools makes a cordless 3/8 Ratchet. I was wondering if anybody owns one and if so what they think of it.

 

[crazyal]

I don't have the ratchet but I do have the Milwaukee 1/2" impact wrench and it's a beast. My Dewalt 1/2" 110v electric impact wrench can't keep up. Milwaukee tools seam to be very good. I'm not sure how much force it would have for breaking bolts free though. With an air powered ratchet you can use it as a normal ratchet to break stuff free and then let the air power take over. Being plastic I don't know how much force you could put on it.

 

[XSKIER]

I have the M12 1/4" hex driver, right angle drill, and 1/4" hex impact. They are wonderfully powerful for their compact size. Great battery life, and quick recharge. The great thing about the M12 platform is that there are a staggering amount of tools available. I use a 1/4" MAC rotating, sealed head air ratchet daily and have owned it about five years. When one of the M12 1/4" ratchets is available with a sealed head, I would buy one. I just don't like power ratchets with the spinning reverse tab of a conventional head.

 

[jmc]

That sounds about ideal for changing collets on a Bridgeport mill. By hand, it's a quarter turn to loosen or tighten, then 10 or 15 turns with no resistance. If the wrench didn't have enough torque, the quarter turn could be by hand if the socket stayed stationary.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I have a 3/8" drive pneumatic ratchet that I got from Walmart about 20 years ago ( Campbell Hausfield and came with a blowgun kit for under $20) but it has plenty of torque for small bolts up to about 1/2", it will twist off a 1/4" bolt if you stay on the trigger. I like it because you can hold down the trigger and use it like a regular ratchet to break loose or put more ummph to tightening after it stalls out vs an electric that would burn out the motor if you did that very much. Very handy for getting into those tight spots where you can only get maybe a 1/8 turn on a nut at a time which is why I bought it to start with, but use it all the time to install bolts in these kit built shelfs, tool boxes etc where you have a bazillion small bolts to install, and I like the sounds of an air tool also rather than electric motors that overheat, burn up, have very little torque etc. I just put a few drops of air tool oil in it before each use and so far never had any trouble with it.