Dewalt has launched a new FlexTorq impact-rated right angle adapter, DWALRAFT, featuring a built-in LED worklight and rechargeable battery,
The new Dewalt lighted right angle adapter has a 1.5″ head height, for accessing fasteners in tight spaces, and forged gears for longer life.
The built-in rechargeable battery can power the LED light for up to 3 hours on a full charge.
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Charging is done via USB (they don’t specify the format). A USB cable is provided, but you’ll need your own power source.
Price: $40
Dewalt describes the adapter as being part of their FlexTorq modular adapter system, and so it presumably works with their existing components for extended versatility.
Saulac
More drills and drivers should come with Bosch Flexiclick interface as standard. Dewalt has a metal shear that the attachment look horrible. Same as Graco airlines sprayer attachment. All those attachments will be a hundred times better with the Flexiclick interface. And the possibility is endless. How’s about a water pump? A tire inflator?
fred
I think it was the Bosch Flexclick that sold our cabinet installers on the brand. But attachments like this Dewalt have a visceral appeal to many buyers who think that they will come in handy once in a while. And that infrequent use may steer that buyer away form a dedicated (or even multipurpose tool.
Bacy in the halcyon days of the DIY awakening (1950’s and 1960’s) Sears sold all sorts of attachments for your electric drill. Some – like a circular saw attachment – seemed potentially dangerous to me. But if you had a drill – and cost was your main driver – maybe a saw attachment looked good. Those were also the days when a lot of Shopsmiths were sold. Today, if you search Amazon you can still find lots of questionable (IMO) attachments for your drill – some perhaps just as cheap as some of those old ones from Sears.
PW
Amazon is rife with tools that seem incredibly dangerous to me. Things I assume no US-based corporation would get past their legal department. I assume that when you’re a fly-by-night, here-and-gone again Chinese “brand” with no US footprint, it doesn’t matter.
How can you possibly sue YIOPIANG or KLEIMIN after you drillsaw your fingers off?
JR Ramos
When you said “drillsaw” I thought you meant one of these horrid old things for just a second. And they were 100% US invented and marketed…I remember Black & Decker, Vermont American, Eazypower, and Bestway, and I think General Tool all selling them. Probably more, too. Thank goodness Rotozip made better sense…
https://www.amazon.com/Best-Way-Tools-51626-Speed/dp/B00W9P5WK2
fred
At least those things had some use in enlarging holes in wood – rather than just wiggling and side-loading a twist drill bit.
Bonnie
I’ve seen *chainsaw* attachments for drills. Absolute insanity.
JR Ramos
I think if it can cut and hurt you, it’s probably been made to be chucked in a drill at some point. One of our ancestors realized at some point that a rotating drill motor could be put to use just like a lathe, which is the handiest do-all invention ever created. Ha.
Nathan
Absolutely.
Hammer drill suck, everyone knows this, but most people don’t want to carry around a full SDS drill as well. Flexiclick lets you add an SDS onto a normal drill, taking away extra weight and another point of failure on the drill itself.
I’m actually a bit annoyed at Milkwaukee for not licensing or copying that for their own installation driver. Also not giving us a locking offset attachment…
People use impact drivers as drills often not because they need the reactionless drilling, but because they want the QD chuck and reduced overall size. Flexiclick lets you put a locking 1/4 hex QD chuck on your drill.
The industry would do well to adopt it as a standard like Starlock or X-Lock. Yes there are royalties, but do you want some of the pie or none of it?
James
I have personally never had good luck with 1/4 » hex twist drills in my impact, and at this point I don’t even bother (and haven’t in at least 5 years).
Any tips? Is it me?
I do love swapping the heads on my installation driver rather than swapping drivers and drill bits. On an install, I generally have a pilot drill bit in the installation driver chuck, then another size twist drill in a regular drill, then I’ll load up the quick chuck with maybe a square and my impact with maybe a nut driver, obviously depending on the fasteners needed for the job.
People sometimes say « you really need all those drills? ». I don’t, but slow is smooth and smooth is fast.
fred
In our metal fabrication shop the drills were almost always pneumatics (Cleco, Dotco, Nova etc.). They fit into spots even the smallest cordless drill would never go – and were used with threaded-end adapter drill bits. Lucky that Kitchen cabinets give you lots more working room than some of the panels we built (or worse yet refitted) for aircraft.
I see that Cleco has branched out and now offers some cordless tools (mostly nutrunners) but they look bulkier than the pneumatics:
https://dotcotool.com/?swp_form%5Bform_id%5D=3&s=cleco+cordless
fred
https://www.panamericantool.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=adapter+drillls
JR Ramos
Twist drills in an impact have never ever made any sense at all to me (nor step drills and countersinks) but I guess they’re fine in softwood most of the time. Norseman and Montana have good ones, there are some cheaper JefeHex on Amazon that are surprisingly decent and better than the lion’s share out there from Milwaukee, DeWalt, Bosch, Ryobi, etc, etc. Wiha has some solid one-piece bits in a limited selection and are a little pricey. The two-piece ones often suffer from poor staking and/or poor quality bits being used but some better than others. I don’t know if Champion or Drill Hog might have some but if so they’re likely better quality. Not sure about the Snappy ones. There are one-piece stubby sets from China in both brad point and regular twist…handy to have and I’ve only broken the small 3/32 with the sets I have, but they aren’t great quality…I’d expect 5/32 and larger to be fine in an impact. They have a new crop of cobalt M35 in that style, which I’d buy except they all look like absolute crap grinding in product and customer photos…but the M35 in theory should be much better in terms of strength (I have some China M35 in a couple of step bits and zero flute hex shank countersinks that were well made and they’ve performed very well and stayed sharp…but those hex twist bits don’t look good at all).
But generally if I need to drill then I’m using a plain rotating drill motor. Impact makes no sense and to me it’s no wonder that bits chip, break, or bend when I see people going at it with impact drivers (let alone using the combo tap drills….ugh). I guess with spade bits and smaller forstner-type hoggers or boring twist bits it’s probably fine and may help the weaker torque motor make it through.
fred
Tapping with a drill really benefits form having a specially made tool. We had a Bosch corded tapper – and a Sioux air.
They are designed for RH tapping – start rotation when you push and reverse when you pull back. Fein and Metabo are making cordless ones – with the Metabo looking to be more affordable. I have not seen reviews for either one.
https://www.amazon.com/Metabo-602362840-Metabo-602362840-GB-18-LTX-BL-Q-I-Cordless-Tapper/dp/B08XQQVL2K
MM
@fred
Yes indeed, nothing speeds up tapping like that auto-reversing mechanism. Tapmatic (among others) make mechanical gearboxes which do this; you can attach them to a drill, drill press, milling machine, etc, and they auto-reverse when pulled out of the hole. Many models have built in slip clutches to help avoid breaking taps, and quite often the reverse mode has a higher gear ratio so it spins extra-fast when backing the tap out of the hole.
Or, if you have a good industrial drill press meant for metalworking it will likely have some kind of tapping feature built in. Some use a switch to reverse the main drive motor. That kind of system is not so good in my opinion because there is too much intertia tied up in the system. My Carlton radial drill has a manual clutch that instantly reverses the spindle with just the flick of a lever, that makes tapping very easy.
James
Thanks all. Didn’t know about the Tapmatic. I tap in a lot of 1/4” NPT pressure gauges and sample valves etc, mostly into SCH 80 PVC, and being able to speed up the process would be great.
Munklepunk
Depends on the material and job. If it’s wood and I just need a hole and don’t care, impact driver is the way. Metal or a clean hole, a drill is needed. Even in wood where precision isn’t necessary I will haved multiple drivers being used, it’s easy on a workbench, not on a ladder, gets a bit heavy with 4 drills dangling from your tool belt.
However, I found out very quickly that spade bits and impactors make a HUGE mess, so don’t use them when you can’t easily clean up.
Nathan
A lot of it comes down to the slop, intentional or otherwise, in most E.6 chucks and bits. If you look at the Festool QD system it has the extra benefit of a taper to really help with concentricity, but the vast majority of it is just better tolerances in the shank size and the chuck holding the shank.
Manufacturers have been getting better at it on both sides, but it’s hit or miss so you can’t take any combination for granted. For example, Vessel has a series of impact rated metal drilling bits (https://dogutool.com/en-us/products/vessel-cushion-metal-drill-bit-set-metric-amd14s) where they add a rubber o-ring to help tighten up the lateral play in most chucks.
It also really depends how neat of a hole you want. If you don’t mind it being a bit rough or intend to go back in with a counter sink/bore it’s usually fine since the initial cut/surface has the worst results and the rest of the bore helps tighten up the drill wobble.
A split point bit helps a lot since it will want to walk, I don’t think you can get away without it really.
JR Ramos
No. The handle is nice, if the gears are actually forged, that’s really nice, but no. Too fat. The expense and bulk of the onboard battery and charging circuit seems superfluous.
I have their regular old model (preferred it over Milwaukee’s current offering because it’s just a tad smaller diameter at the head) and although fiddly to use sometimes, it has really been handy several times. Undersink tilt-out trays, securing cabinet and curio shelves to adjustable peg brackets, and it was a surprise benefit when installing a gate sag cable bracket at ground level on a friend’s fence last spring…but every time I have needed it the most the side clearance has been such that this new edition looks like it would not work.
The old all-metal Milwaukee model was great, sure wish I still had mine and that they would reintroduce it. Lean and strong.
James
Agreed. Way too big and pointless features. Plus another battery to keep charged. Silliness.
MM
These kinds of adapters seem popular, but what I’d really appreciate is an updated, dedicated 90 degree impact driver. Several companies have these but they are mostly older designs which are not very compact or powerful compared to what I think could be done today. Milwaukee has both M12 and M18 models & Makita has one on LXT but none have very impressive specs. Skil’s 12v model beats all of those. I’d like to see a new one from Milwaukee, Dewalt, etc.
Big Richard
Upvote for Skil’s 12v, it a fantastic tool for the money.
ColeTrain
All skill 12v stuff is great
James
I use my right angle Dewalt attachment (old school 1 piece) regularly, but it often comes in handy where a right angled drill would be a little too bulky. For any other applications, the installation driver works great. I don’t find I need the right angle very often when I need big power.
JR Ramos
I wonder if they have a limitation in what the gear teeth can handle, given the material most gears are made from now. Surely nobody is going to add the expense of cut steel gears but maybe that would let them bump up the torque. Or is it as simple as a motor upgrade, if the current gears could handle it? For the low torque they produce it seems like the housing could surely be shortened and shrunk quite a bit. Might need to keep some bulk around the gears and head, though, just for heat dissipation/insurance during extended use. One of those tools that may be stuck in the quandry of “it doesn’t sell well enough to justify improvement” but that might also sell better if it *were* better…..
MM
There’s clearly a limit somewhere but I don’t think it is the gears, at least not currently. A couple years ago Project Farm did a comparative test of several of these right-angle adapters. They did not do any measurements of torque at failure, either static or dynamic, but if I remember correctly most of the failures were of the housing coming apart rather than the gears themselves, which looked like MIM (metal injection molding). This new Dewalt adapter claims to have forged gears, if true that would be superior even to gears machined from billet.
But really I was complaining about the lack of updates from the big companies when it comes to 90 degree impact drivers. Dewalt doesn’t have one, neither does Metabo, Hilti, or HPT, and a $99-for-the-complete-kit Skil walks all over Makita, M12 and M18. At the very least they can play catch-up if not do better. And I think it is possible to do better; I’m pretty confident that this new adapter paired with a modern 18V impact driver would outperform the Skil, so why not have it in an even more compact 1-pc unit? A dedicated 90-degree driver would likely perform even better because it would eliminate the play from the 1/4 hex coupling between a driver and adapter.
JR Ramos
Yes…I was referring to the impact drivers, too, not the adapters. I had to look up the Skil and it’s still comparatively low torque compared to a regular inline driver. Odd setup with the impact hammer striking ahead of the gears but I suppose it has to be done that way and I wouldn’t think there would be any torsion lost in the first shaft/gear, and gears are pretty efficient with power transfer no matter the cut (not enough to matter in this application even with the “best” choice). I’m curious why the torque is so low on the angle models but surely there’s a good reason.
Rog
I have one of Dewalt’s right angle attachments. Rarely use it and wouldn’t want to daily, but when I need it it has come in handy
Jared
I could say the exact same thing.
Scott K
Yep – after a few scenarios where one would’ve been helpful I finally pulled the trigger. I’ve only used it a handful of times but it’s been essential for some tasks.
Jared
I don’t understand the FlexTorq compatibility. How does this work with the square drive adapter for example?
It looks as though the LED light is part of the right angle adapter – e.g. is the whole silver part one piece? If that’s the case, is Dewalt just saying the side handle can be attached to the right-angle square drive adapter? Or maybe you can extend the whole thing with that middle piece of the adapter set?
I might just be misunderstanding how it works.
Stuart
It wouldn’t, it would mate with the handle extension in place of the square drive head. There’s also a flex neck extension.
Nathan
Didn’t the modular kit come 2 or 3 ways. One end had 1/4 drive square the other had 1/4 hex female. One extension handle and one kit even had a flex shaft to go with. This seems like it would fit that stub extension handle and might fit the other piece
Looks heavy and not necessary to me but someone must have asked for one
JoeM
*Drool* …We Needs It, Precious, We Does…
I’m a sucker for DeWALT’s many, many Right-Angle and Flex-shaft attachments. I even have the Impact Ready metal sheer attachment. This one does look like the attachment to the FlexTorq set is under the extra handle there. Detach that like you would the other DWARA mini Right-Angle attachments, and it would click right on into the 5-piece sets easy. MaxFit Or FlexTorq editions, wouldn’t matter, it’s the same identical mould, at two different torque maximums.
Still hunting for the Yellow MaxFit DWARA 5-piece shown as a related article. The black FlexTorq set is easy to find here in the North, that Yellow One is rare. I’m to the point where I would dream to build, or outfit, a box dedicated to all the Right-Angle and Flex-shaft attachments I have accumulated for all my tools. Versatility is key when you may have to improvise a solution to something!
Dave
Lost me at battery powered. I feel like this could easily self-generate. Anyway, I have the dedicated M18 Right Angle Impact and it’s perfect other than it’s brushed.
Chris S
Chargeable battery instantly makes me not care about this. Why not shave off $10 and make the circuit way simpler.
https://electronics.howstuffworks.com/gadgets/other-gadgets/shaker-flashlight-pictures.htm#:~:text=The%20power%20for%20the%20LED,when%20you%20shake%20the%20flashlight.
Use the shaft to create enough charge to power the light for 30-60 seconds at a time at the cost of pre spinning the drill for 1-3 seconds (Everyone I’ve ever met tends to pull the trigger on the tool before ever needing it to test for a charge or just to feel the power, this could actually be put to use).
I believe a narrow capacitor without a USB port, cover, and shell to contain all that would make this device smaller and therefore more useful.
Adding a battery and LED also doesn’t add much in my opinion unless you have a drill that doesn’t already have a light to begin with. DeWalt, with their triple LED setup already makes this obsolete except under the most extreme conditions. This just seems like a half baked idea that could have been much more innovative, instead of feeling like something you would find on a value tool with the price of DeWalt.
Actually, this feels like those hats with the built in LED that uses a watch battery. Crappy hat with unoptimized system vs buying a hat that you like and adding one of those nice lights with a clip for better optimization.
Chris S
Based on the symbol on the charge port cover, I would guess it’s USB-C.
eddiesky
I tried the Bosch clik model and was like, “Where was this when I was assembling cabinetry and hardware???”. This Dewalt thing looks like a widget for the bottom of the back drawer. (aka an afterthought).
It needs TWO hands and that is the problem. I need a hand to hold the drill and other the hardware I am fastening. Plus I have worklights to flood the area since I’ve learned “when you need the light, the chances you need to recharge it are near!”
Mike
I dunno about you guys, but I always need an impact-rated tool and bit to drill tiny hinge screws into cabinetry with the lights off just like this picture DeWalt supplied. 🤪
CMF
7I see that Dewalt has a variety of these right angle attachments, all costing less, even half.
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=dewalt+right+angle+drill+attachment&crid=8O91M2NCCH7X&sprefix=Dewalt+right%2Caps%2C109&ref=nb_sb_ss_pltr-xclick_2_12
This one at $40, is the LED the price difference or are there other reasons?
This one, from the pics, looks beefier than other models?
Scott ALKB
@JR Ramos
>I think if it can cut and hurt you
Have you seen the attachments for KitchenAid mixers? That attachment port is what got me to buy a used unit from a local guy. Shred your own cheese, make ice cream, slices, dices, juliennes…
Wait, which website am I on again?
JR Ramos
Everything can be turned into sausage or dough…..