Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/08/20/the-spinner-drive-is-one-of-th.html
…
Ain’t no such thing.
This thingy looks useful enough to give it a try - but not at $64.99.
You can get a really good set of screwdrivers for that.
13 Likes
I am disappoint because it’s not this kind of spinner:
7 Likes
A $65 screwdriver? Who do you think we are? The military?
8 Likes
You can get things like this for under $10, which I’m sure I’ve seen discussed on BB:
This one might have less torque, but more degrees of freedom:
5 Likes
an italian guy on youtube just started a kickstarter campaign for a small screwdriver…
1 Like
If anything, this tool will be noted for having an ad that somehow connects a hand tool with eating toast while looking out a window.
5 Likes
Prior art alert.
This made me think of the screwdriver kit I purchased for my dad in the 70s.
https://patents.google.com/patent/US3742787A/en
Also on ebay, search for “easydriver ratchet” for the commercial packaging of above patent reference.
Spoiler:
Any design that offers a moment arm at a greater distance from the center of rotation is what allows for the greater control and torque to be applied. In this case the greater moment arm is the size and shape of a baseball as opposed to the narrow cylinder shape common on screwdriver handles at half of the diameter.
5 Likes
This looks really cool, but in my experience, it seems like torque becomes an issue at about the same time that stripping does. Maybe I should upgrade from nickel-coated silly putty…
3 Likes
Yabut in this configuration you are forced to engage with the screwdriver using precision grip rather than power grip. You aren’t physically capable of transmitting as much power into the tool, despite the larger moment arm.
In general, even with a large diameter that facilitates power grip (think jar lid), you have less surface area to work with as compared to a narrower tool so the power transmission from wrist to tool gets kind of iffy. Despite an ordinary screwdriver being relatively narrow, there’s tons of surface area between your hand and the tool that’s normal to the axis of rotation.
For $65, you’re better off combining some regular screwdrivers for precision work and a ratchet handle and square drive screwdriver tips (or adapter to 1/4" hex drive). These kind of guys:
You’ll get a ton more torque, way more controllably, using a ratchet. And I’d be hard pressed to spend $65 on them.
2 Likes
Nope. The greatest screwdriver ever is my bendy ratchet screwdriver that can unscrew things round corners. This space station looking doodad that costs as much as a full tank in the car is silly.
A multibit screwdriver is almost an one-stop tool, I use the largest of these as a hammer. The medium one is the most versatile, and the tiny one is in my glove box for fixing glasses.
1 Like
I can get about 80% of the way through most major home appliance repairs with one of these POSs because the driver sockets are exactly the right size for the two most common appliance machine screw heads.
2 Likes
$65 and it’s not even made by Snap-on?
Plus that ring is down way too low. Screwdrivers are long because there is often stuff up around the screws that would prevent your hand from getting in there. Worse, this one has replaceable bits but the bits are short so you can’t fit them in recessed screw holes.
If this were $5-10 (maybe delete the tiny ratchet mechanism and make the ring a solid piece) I might pick it up, but if I’m spending over $50 on a screwdriver it’s gonna have to be useful for a lot of projects.
4 Likes
Or, you could just put a screwdriver bit into a socket wrench with an adapter (widely available).
If you can’t loosen something with the torque of that long handle, then you need a drill bit or a torch…
1 Like
That’s mainly what I do, but sometimes there’s no room to swing a handle. I don’t have one of the disk screwdrivers I linked to, but I’ve been thinking about getting the second one for a single recurring job where it would be useful.
1 Like
You just gave me an idea. I’m going to be that A-hole with a mig welder, and weld an adapter to an arm length piece of 1/2" square steel about the length of my arm. Then I’m going to hot punch a 1/2" square hole in a 1" bar about a foot and a half long to use as a handle.
If you can reach your arm in to use a spinner disc screwdriver, you can use this tool. If whatever you have can’t be loosened with a 1.5’ T-bar, then it needs to be liquidized with a torch.
What you really need is some way to spin the driver without moving the bar; in any situation where you have space to do the latter, you could just weld a starndard ratchet to the end of your bar. (Or do what I do, and stick the handle of the ratchet into a pipe with a bit of tape to hold it in place.)
1 Like
