kelly_rivera•2h agoProlific Poster

Talked to an old electrician who said he never uses impact drivers for outlets and it got me thinking

I was helping my buddy wire his basement in St. Louis last weekend and his dad walked in, been an electrician for like 40 years. He saw me reaching for my impact driver to put in the outlet boxes and just shook his head. He said impact drivers strip out the plastic tabs on cheap boxes too easy and he always uses a regular drill with a clutch. I argued that impacts save time but he pointed out that I’ve already snapped two box ears this year doing it my way. Made me realize maybe speed isn’t everything when you’re spending extra money fixing mistakes. Anyone else ever get called out by an old timer and actually changed how you work because of it?

3 comments

3 Comments

barbaradavis2h ago

Has anyone considered that part of the problem might be the cheap boxes themselves, not just the tool? In my experience, the thin plastic tabs on budget outlet boxes are way easier to strip compared to the heavier commercial grade stuff. Your mileage may vary but I switched to the nicer boxes a few years back and the impact driver debate got a whole lot less important.

alext521h ago

My buddy Ryan was doing a kitchen reno last fall and swore by his impact for everything. He went through three outlet boxes in one afternoon, cracked the tabs right off. His old man neighbor came over to borrow a saw and just laughed, said "you're not building a deck, it's a light switch." Ryan switched to a regular drill with the clutch set low and hasn't busted a tab since. Funny part is he still uses the impact for the cover plate screws because he says it's faster, but he's real careful with those now too.

david_palmer1h ago

Wait, is Ryan using the impact on outlet box tabs without the clutch or just going full send? Because that sounds like he never learned to feather the trigger (which is honestly half the battle with impacts). @barbaradavis is onto something too - I've noticed the cheap blue boxes from the big box stores have way thinner plastic than the larger deeper ones. The tabs on those budget ones snap if you look at them wrong, let alone hit them with an impact.