Preview: Milwaukee Shockwave Bits
By Sean O'Hara
We got a kick out of talking to the Milwaukee accessory guys a few weeks ago while attending their product symposium. It was almost a counterculture inside the rank-and-file of the power tool reps, and we’ve seen it at almost every manufacturer. “Those tools are nothing without a good bit at the business end.” They say it without fail wherever we go and they said it over and over at the product launch for Milwaukee’s Shockwave bits.
The funny part is, they’re sort of correct. The bit is majorly important and often blows right by many manufactures as a throw-in or “also ran.” The Shockwave system was engineered to deliver more power and resist breaking. That’s a tall order for little bits, but Milwaukee claims they added life and more strength in their new tapered bits.
A smart consumer’s first question is likely the same as ours was: “What’s with the taper?” Milwaukee says that little taper allows the bit to twist and flex just the tiniest amount. That smidge of give lets the shaft accept some of the back force instead of shearing under the enormous load that modern drills put out. Also, the tip of the bits are compression forged, which, according to the Milwaukee guys, makes the head much less prone to failure under high-stress applications.
We’ve been through more than our share of busted bits, so we’re anxious to see if these bad boys stand up to what we’re dishing out. Only time will tell.
Shockwave Bit System [Milwaukee]
July 2nd, 2009 at 10:35 am
Why would you machine the taper after the bit has already been black oxide coated?
July 2nd, 2009 at 11:55 am
Probably so it’ll look cooler.
I imagine the marketing types made the call.
July 2nd, 2009 at 12:02 pm
The taper looks ground, not machine (even though grinding is machining but that’s another story). I’m guessing to get a better surface finish. Not only will that make it “look better” it will make it stronger.
July 2nd, 2009 at 12:14 pm
Marketing Guy: we made it different so it’s better.
Engineer: But it takes another manufacturing step so it cost more
Marketing Guy: but it’s different, so it’s better, people will pay more. Not to mention look at the size of the package for a single, we’ll sell millions!
Wera did this with BiTorsion, then Irwin copied it with Torsion, then…
everyone is just solving another issue that doesn’t need solved
July 2nd, 2009 at 12:46 pm
You’re telling me that you’re going to shear a bit before the Phillips tip cams out.
Come on, has that ever happened to anybody?
July 2nd, 2009 at 2:13 pm
Re:Benjamen Johnson
Sure if you use an impact driver. I have done it a few times while installing sleeve anchors.
July 2nd, 2009 at 2:39 pm
Are you crazy I shear #2 bits all the time using them high rev on my drywall gun, screwing down 5/8th ply into steel stud.
Will I buy these, no, ill just keep buying the 50packs of #2 bits and keep them in my bags, unless these are like only a buck or two more for a 50 pack
July 2nd, 2009 at 4:02 pm
Nick asks:
Yes, a little. Thanks for asking.
Like I said, I thought Phillips were designed to cam out before breaking the screw, I guess I have broken the heads off screws though with a Phillips driver, so that’s not always true in the real world.
I’m still having a little bit of trouble understanding why the bits shear vs. shearing the head off the screw. If it’s a one time over-torque thing you’d think the screw would break, or does it have to do with repeated stress on the bit building up and weakening it until it finally shears.
July 2nd, 2009 at 6:13 pm
Here’s a swag as to why the torsion area is free of coating: Perhaps if they had coating on the area designed to flex, the coating would tend to fail due to the flexing. Also, that’s an area where many people rest their fingers as they start the screw - certainly don’t want flaked-off coating spinning into flesh.
July 2nd, 2009 at 9:08 pm
I’ve seen hilti bits that look quite similar. After checking, my Hilti #2 phillips drywall bits are a tiny bit tapered like these.
That said, I can’t stand those Hilti bits! I’ve had two shatter as I over-torqued a screw, one came very close to lodging serious chunks into an eye! I think the particular problem with those is they are over hardened. Their screws seem to be the same way, I find their coarse thread screws sometimes have an issue driving into wood, I’ll break one in 50, instead of, maybe 2 in an 8000 pc. box of grabbers. Those those have started to suck lately too. Thanks China.
If they’re reasonably priced, I’ll check’m out… I’ll wear my safety glasses, it can’t hurt
As far as it goes, Dewalt seem’s to be the standard bearer for bits, reliable and well priced. I find Bosch to last a fair bit longer, but there’s a price difference. The ones you get in the big Ryobi bit kits are decent, but don’t hold up to serious work.
July 3rd, 2009 at 11:42 am
I would definitely use the tapered area as a finger guide, usually I hold the top of the phillips head.
July 3rd, 2009 at 12:23 pm
We have found that the Dewalts seem to last longer than some others.
Maybe what we need is a bit made like an old sword. Hard metal at the tip, a softer more resilient shank and then a good rear-end material that not too hard to messup the chuck if its over-torqued. Maybe a Japanese balcksmith can make these - but probably at some price no one would spend.
July 5th, 2009 at 5:16 pm
These torsion bits are not all that new. Wera has had both the bits and a matching torsion bit holder for some time.
I saw Irwin torsion bits at Grainger a few months ago. As I recall, I saw some DeWalt torsion bits at Home Depot as well.
It really would be nice to have a truly independent test of bits.
July 6th, 2009 at 11:28 pm
I’m not going to weigh in on whether or not the design’s an improvement on standard bits (at least in the real world), but there’s sound logic to the bare metal in the machined portion. The idea here is that the thinner cross section will deform elastically. In a nutshell, a thin, hard, brittle coating that doesn’t have mechanical properties very similar to the substrate will produce small cracks that can nucleate much larger fractures, ultimately causing the bit to fail. Google “crack tip propagation” and you can find much more detailed explanations.
As in interesting aside, this same phenomenon created some major headaches when GM decided to put deformable plastic body panels on the Saturn line. The paints they were testing in the pre-productions phases kept causing panels to fail in minor impacts because they nucleated fractures. They went through many formulations before they found one that flexed with the plastic without cracking.
July 7th, 2009 at 7:25 pm
I wonder if these are made in China. It seems that more and more of their products come from there, sad to say.
True of just about every American tool brand as well.
August 4th, 2009 at 9:30 am
I can’t see how a small little 1″ bit tip will flex. Maybe the 2″ or longer. But I’m not going to pay for the longer bits that “MAY” work. Rather just keep using may holder and dewalt tips.