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by Peter Brett - April 2007
For more information call Christine
01444 440188
01444 440188
You thought it couldn't be improved…
Some people might well say that the idea of a magnet has been around a while, and is by no means an original one. This is true, but it has taken the Development Team at Wera to put in a magnet that is actually worth its name, and won’t simply drop screws willy-nilly when you bring them into working position, and also to provide a high quality bit holder, that enhances working speed and makes it easier to place and screw in steel screws whatever the angle you are working at.
The difference is that the magnet is a powerful ring magnet, not simply a magnetized screwdriver bit. This ring fits well around the circular head of screws and well and truly holds them into place. The ring magnet also ensures that the screw is held straight and ready to be placed against whatever surface it is being screwed into. On many magnetized screwdriver bits, particularly if you are holding the screw horizontally, the screw will hang down and needs to be held straight against the surface when starting to screw it in, which seems rather to defeat the purpose of having a magnetized holder in the first place.
The transition from ordinary Rapidaptor® to Ringmagnet® Rapidaptor® has not been as simple as simply adding a magnet to the front of an ordinary Rapidaptor®. In order to allow the screwhead to sit firmly against the magnet, the screwdriver bit has had to be accommodated in a slightly longer than standard chuck body, allowing just the screwdriver tip to engage fully with the head of the screw. This alteration does not change the usual arrangement on the standard Rapidaptor®. Users still have the fast installation and self-locking mechanism of the standard Rapidaptor®. In practice what this means is that you simply insert the bit into the hex shank, push, and it is then firmly held. Also, the tip can be quickly ejected by pushing the collar firmly forward, however the magnet is so powerful that the tip is usually held pretty tightly and the user has to pull the screwdriver tip away firmly.
Unlike many screwbit chucks, the Wera has a free-spinning outer sleeve that will allow the user to stabilize a particularly long screw in preparation for driving it in. It will also help hold the bit more firmly in the screwhead. This sleeve also slides up and down, allowing the rapidaptor® to accommodate and adapt to any length of screwhead.
The same standard Wera screwdriver bits, even the longer Series 4 bits can all still be used with this Rapidaptor®, so existing users need only buy the Ringmagnet® Rapidaptor®.
I am particularly keen on the Wera Bit-Check® format of presenting their bits and adaptors. The Bit-Checks® are compact and neat, fitting easily into a pocket or work vest so that you know that they are there and are not simply floating around in a bag or toolbox. Because the Wera screwdriver bits are standard, the user can choose which bits are needed in the Bit-check® and fill it according to need. For example, if you don’t use Phillip’s head screws you don’t need Phillip’s bits. This may not always be a choice with other makes of screwdriver bits.
The Bit-Check® also opens up nicely leaving the choice of bits clear and the Bit-Check® able to stand open on any flattish surface.
I don’t often do much work that involves driving in screws at odd angles, but in the past, whenever I did something like it I always wished I had something like the ring magnet Rapidaptor®. I did a series of short trials with it and found that I could easily hold screws up to 70mm long (the longest I had) firmly to the Rapidaptor® at any angle. Supporting the screw shank very lightly with my fingers while I got the point of the screw started enabled me to drive home screws quite easily into softwood and manmade board. As long as I didn’t get too enthusiastic with piling the pressure onto the screw before it had time to bite, it did what was intended. Another thing I noticed was that the screw heads were always driven to the same depth, just below the surface of the timber. This makes the work look neat and professional, and is made possible by the fact that the ring magnet butts up against the surface as it screws the screwhead home.
Using smaller screws of about 20 to 25mm long was actually a doddle. Although the screwheads are actually a bit smaller than the size of the magnet, they are still firmly held and with a short burst of power from the drill/driver they are driven home in a flash.
The Ring-magnet® Rapidaptors® are available in a variety of formats with Bit-Checks® and Bit-Safes®. As we already know from experience, the Wera range is very systematic, so buyers can chop and change around to find the ideal combination for their user profiles.
Independent Review by Peter Brett
Airstream Communications