Auto Screw Gun Time

Mike Finley

Okay, in a recent post I talked about how I had the Senco duraspin auto screw gun. Well right after, like the next day the thing takes a crap on me right in the middle of laying down 120 sq feet of hardi board for a tile floor. I thought it was the bit, actually the bit did need to be replaced. So I go and buy 3 new packs of bits, thinking might as well get them while I am here and I won't have to worry about getting stalled in the middle of a job before. $30 in bits for a $100 tool!

Turns out the gun is F'd. It starts snapping every screw I drill into the floor, you can hear them pop. Went through $15 in bits and 30 minutes of screwing around with it before I could get it to work about 50% of the time, which caused me to have to go back over about 1/2 the screws with a drill and make sure they weren't proud.

ANYWAYS - I'm done with the Senco, time for a real auto screw gun.

Thinking about the Makita for $300.00



Or something in the Quick drive family


What's the best option? I need something that I can get into tight places, use it for drywall, flooring ect...

From first glance it appears the Makita uses widely available cheap collated screws and the Quick drive stuff uses less widely available and more expensive proprietary screws.

RobertCDF

I have used the quick drive once before on my old crew, I did not like it very much we had 2 quick drives and 1 duraspin. I liked the duraspin a little better it seemed to set the screws a little better and did not have many issues. The quick drives got messed up more often. Of course this was 3 years ago and who knows how old the guns were at least 2-3 years old at that time.

__________________
Robert Shaw
Colorado Springs Custom Decks
Colorado Custom Decks
Custom Composite Decks

DecksEtc

Mike, we did talk about this back in the early summer. I never did go out and pick one up. My tool budget went to a new combo kit, new table saw, the impact driver, new mitre saw, new truck, etc., etc. Since I primarily do decks, I was concerned about using one when I had to do screws at an angle.
Anyway, the main reason I was responding to this post is because around August I saw a Black and Decker version that was an attachment for your drill. It was hilarious, you actually had to manually slide the screws down a tube to have it "auto feed". I can only imagine what a pain in the butt it would be to use - drive 10 screws, re-load the tube. Also, for a whopping $69.99 CDN, I can only guess as to how it would hold up under constant use.

What a piece of junk!

mdshunk

Mike... I don't know where you normally buy your tools, but my Milwaukee dealer will let me use any tool for 30 days to see if I like it or not. I think that is a Milwaukee corporate policy. Might be worth an ask if you're considering the Makita. I don't use auto screw drivers, but that quick drive system looks like a piece of crap in the stores. The Makita looks more "pro". The Milwaukee auto drive screw gun doesn't have the screw length capacity that the Makita does. It is more for drywall, but it is the fastest one on that market at the moment. If I was in the market for one today, I'd have to pick the Makita based on a side by side comparison of all manufacturer's features. Here's a link that compares everything on the market at the moment:

http://www.fantastictools.com/pages/...ng_systems.htm

justin savage

Mike we use senco guns also-you can get a tip holder and short bits to replace those expensive ones.go to www.juldan.com justin

magnum

Attachment 990
This gun has lots of power and is easy to use. I got mine free from my fasterner supplier as long as I bought my screws from him. It retails for $400

Mike Finley

I ended up ordering the Makita, found it online from Tool Barn for about 230.00. Hope it has the ability to hold up. While waiting for the Makita to arrive I got forced to break out the Senco again for some drywall. It actually worked without a hitch. I think it just isn't robust enough for hardi board on the floor, but it seems to work fine for drywall.

pob

A nice, well maintained quick-drive is the best option.

Mike Finley

Broke the Makita out yesterday. VERY NICE tool. I'm not disappointed in the tool even though it is more than double the price of the Senco. It feels very well made and solid. Adjustments and changes are made within seconds on the tool without any extra tools needed. The action of it is very crisp and precise. It pratically snaps the screws into place with a nice feed back to the user. One of the best traits of this Makita over the Senco I found is that it seems much easier to finish the screws, with the Senco I always seem to really have to concentrate keeping the tool perfectly aligned and just the right amount of pressure on it to make sure the screw gets finished properly, with the Makita it almost seems to do it all automatically. The Makita also gets into corners much nicer and easier than the Senco does. Only used it on some drywall so will have to see how it does on Hardi Backer.

cdac

...

Mike Finley

Chris, it takes only up to 2 1/4" screws according to the marks on the tool itself. It does take the Sencos screws. One of the qualfications I wanted was to be able to use readily available screws and not have to purchase ones specific to the tool, that was one of the big problems I saw with the Quick Drive system.

Those bit drivers for the Senco do seem to be made from too soft of metal. I went through like $20 worth of them that day the Senco acted up. It makes no sense to be spending 20% of the price of the tool on the bits!!!