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Independent Tool Review
by Peter Brett - February 2005
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Wera Kraftform Kompakt
And you thought it was just a screwdriver
The German made Wera range of screwdriving products is one I have always looked at with envy and one that I have aspired to. Just use a few of the Wera products and you will find out that not all screwdrivers are equal. When you have to use a screwdriver as part of making your living, cheap and nasty ones can literally become a pain to use.
What makes the Kraftform Kompakt different is that the user can enjoy using the lovely Wera Rapidaptor chuck in an electric/ cordless drill-driver as well as manually. I reviewed the Rapidaptor Chuck a few months ago and was impressed with its strength and accuracy and amazing ease of use. I am also very happy with the screw bits themselves. They last a great deal longer than many others I have tried and seem to come in the sizes I need, in a handy case that I have not yet managed to lose. Even my ham-handed Design Technology students have been unable to wear them out yet.
The extra part of this package is of course the handle. It retains the distinctive Wera black handle shape with rubberized grippy inserts in green. But all is not as it looks. When you push the green button on top of the handle a secret compartment in the handle springs open to reveal a set of six of Wera’s screwdriving tips. Choose one, add it to the Rapidaptor chuck and you have a short handled screwdriver to use where space is tight. Should you need a bit more torque, a green collar at the base of the handle releases a hex shaped shaft about 80mm long. This makes a screwdriver with a respectable length of 200mm that is actually quite efficient and suitable for many simple tasks where getting a cordless driver out is impractical or a waste of time.
Pull the collar further back and the hex shaft is released from the handle and it can then be mounted in a drill-driver. Here it functions just as a standard Rapidaptor chuck although the driving shaft is a few cm longer than usual. I rather suspect that Wera Rapidaptor fans will already have a chuck mounted in a drill driver anyway, so only the screwdriver bit needs to be changed.
What really sets this Wera tool apart from the usual array of cheap, wonderful, “Do Anything” tools on the market is that the quality threshold is typically German and therefore high. It is not a gimmick. The handle retains all the qualities of standard Wera screwdriver handles. It is a good shape, easy to grip and solidly made. Using it, you would hardly suspect that it is hollow and holds six screwdriver bits. You can hardly see the join, as Eric Morecombe once commented.
To really make the whole package a practical reality that will be used daily, not simply stuck in a toolbox and forgotten, the handle chuck and bits are kept in a compact nylon case. This case can be strapped to a belt where the Kraftform Kompakt is available for immediate use in whatever guise the user wants.
There is no doubt that Wera quality does not come as cheap as a Far Eastern novelty, and this probably precludes it from turning up in some DIY fanatics Christmas stocking. It is meant as a professional quality tool, meant to be a timesaver, and meant to provide a range of sensible options for the screwdriver user. The pictures show the range of uses and formats. They may convince where my words have been less than descriptive!
Independent Review by Peter Brett
Airstream Communications