Trick to make an electric screw driver with adjustable torque from a nonadjustable drill

cost-effectivedrillscrewdriver

I have an electric drill without a feature to adjust its torque. Because too many bolts and screws to fasten as quickly as possible, I need an electric screwdriver.

Using a screwdriver bit directly connected to the drill is very risky because the excessive torque might damage the screw head, etc.

Question

Is there any trick to solve this problem with at most $30?

Best Answer

You could use a drywall screw adapter:

enter image description here

This one is for drywall. It does not limit torque, instead there is a clutch inside which disengages when the metal "tube" around the screwdriver bit in the center hits the workpiece, and that prevents screwing all the way through the drywall. It works pretty well, with reasonable accuracy. You can also change the drill bit, so it is not limited to drywall screws.

If you have a zillion drywall screws to install, rent one of these.

I think you can also buy torque limiters for your drill. That will probably be expensive.

Note standard AC mains powered electric drills aren't well suited as electric screwdrivers, because they generally use triac phase angle dimmers which have about zero control at low speed, also they're way too powerful and have lots of rotational inertia which means it's almost impossible to stop when needed. Battery powered drills are much better, the trigger has much better torque control usually.

EDIT Here's a neat video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2R7klA7Cc80

Cheaper models don't have a clutch so they just make the bit cam out of the screw, which works with Philips (drywall) bits which are designed for this, but destroys other bits (PZ, Square) pretty quick... that's inconvenient. The one in the video has a clutch, that's what makes a "bbrtttt" noise when it disengages. So it would work with PZ bit wood screws, which is quite convenient for OSB floor panels...