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Odds are that if you’ve been watching live TV lately, you’ve caught this Half Time Drill Drive advertisement. The idea for the product certainly has appeal: Who hasn’t been involved in projects requiring a drilled pilot hole followed by a screw? But chucking and re-chucking the drill bit and the screw driver head takes forever and is an annoying, repetitive task.
While we at Toolmonger reserve judgment on the longevity and durability of this innovation, we applaud the outside-the-box thinking it took to create this solution. If you’ve used the Half Time Drill Driver we’d love to hear what you think of it.
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40 Responses to Half Time Drill Driver
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Which self-respecting toolmonger does not own two drills/drivers? :-/
Ding Ding. This 100%
I only own one drill driver and a 3.2 V cordless screwdriver. The combination was good enough to put together my workbench and some shelves in the basement.
So you need to use their drill bits? No thanks.
you should be able to use any hex shank bit… but what is the point, besides not needing to keep track of the other bit when you swap them out? I finally decided I MUST have one after having to fix my mailbox after the plow decided to rip it off the post in the middle of winter.
I’ve had one of these for a few years now, under the name “flip-a-bit”. It mostly sort of works, but the tolerances aren’t high enough so there’s a lot of wobble in the drill bit. It’s also surprisingly annoying having the whole thing be about six inches longer, it makes it much more difficult to work in any sort of confined space.
I also found that the tool has not been machined properly. No matter how I loaded it, it still wobbled at the end. A screw can tolerate a bit of wobble but a drill cannot. It’s obvious the pivot point is not exactly in the center.
It bugs me when a product is presented as if it’s something unique.
More than 5 years ago I bought a Hitachi drill-bit/driver set with a quick-change drill/drive adapter. And, Rockler has been selling the “[a href=”http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=10607″>InstyDrive” for at least that long.
I’m with blore40 on this one. Since my early days of building speaker boxes in college, I’ve learned the fastest way, especially with multiple people on a large project, is lots of drivers. Nowadays, I use a drill with a chuck for drilling and a screw gun with power bits for screwing. I can switch between the 2 much faster than 5 seconds and it’s much more convenient unless I’m standing on a ladder.
Besides, who drills and screws after EVERY hole. Drill all your holes, then swap it ONCE. Put all your screws in. As a rule, I’ll categorically reject any tool sold by announcerman in infomercial-ish manner.
It does seems like a clever idea – especially if you’re on a ladder and don’t have to futz around with re-chucking your drill.
But…what’s wrong with drilling the pilot holes first, then switching to the driver bit and putting in the screws second?
–S
er…uh…what @Fong said.
Or even a single drill driver and a cheapie 3.2 V cordless screwdriver. This combination worked for me when I build a workbench and shelves in the garage.
Back in college (ie too poor to own multiple guns) we used to use these bits that had a drill bit and a coutersink on 1 end and a replaceable #2 philips bit on the other. We used them mostly to install arboron/duron/masonite (forget what we used back then) onto stage decking. They were nowhere near 20 bucks plus shipping. I think the one I had was in the $7-10 range. Possibly took a little longer to switch ends (pull back the collar, pullout the bit, flip it, and reinstall it and then push the collar forward. A few seconds max). But it was much more durable than this looks to be. This creation looks to be more of a solution in search of a problem.
Nowadays, we have an even better and faster way of making countersunk holes in masonite and similar materials in our scenery shop. We have round shank, piloted countersinks that mount nicely into a standard router. Stack up the required number of sheets on some sawhorses, snap a chalk line grid on the top sheet and start plunging the countersink into the material at each intersection. The speed of the router makes the countersinks lightning quick, and with the base of the router set to the proper depth, all of the countersinks are uniform. Once the top sheet is countersunk in the necessary places, it is removed to reveal a sheet with holes where each countersink needs to be made.
Makita used to sell those, I still have a kit with a standard countersink and drill and a second kit with a guide sleeve for the drill like a Vix bit. Tapcon masonry screws also had drivers that used either a quick change drill & driver or a sleeve that snapped over the drill to drive the screw. The whole flipping thing looks flimsy and gimmicky compared to a quick change chuck.
Hmm…Canadian Tire here sells a reversible drill and driver. The idea is the same: drill, flip, drive, and switch back. It (supposedly) allows quicker driving of screws. This onw can take any kind of hex bit. Personally, I found that using a drill and cordless screwdriver works as well. I find that simply drilling all your holes and then screwing it together is faster than flipping bits with one of these reversible bit holders.
My $0.02.
T
For a short while I used the one that had the locking collar that held a drill/driver bit in a tube. It was ok, but I didn’t like how it added so much length to the bit. Now I just use two drills or a drill and the PS20.
Sears has their new compact version of the locking drill/driver thing. I found it around March and use that compact version and its much better than their previous (longer) model and way shorter than this device shows (looks like 4-6″ on that video). Also its shorter than the Dewalt ones I see at HD or Sears.
http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00964332000P?prdNo=6&blockNo=6&blockType=G6
+1 for the PS20 – I use a combo of the Bosch PS31 drill and the PS21 driver. I have the PS41 impact too but so far the PS21 has enough torque to drive 3 inch screws even without a pilot hole. I’m a full-blown Bosch fanboy now.
The thing that bothers me most, is you get TWO of these for $19.
But if I have two drills, I don’t need this.
I’m with Joe (above).
What happens when you break a couple of their extensive selection of drill bits? I bet the replacements cost as much as the whole gizmo (if you can get them).
I’m with the other 2 drill folks. Can’t afford? Seems to me that decent corded drills are a dime a dozen now that everyone “needs” cordless ones.
This is just a minor change (and seems like a non-robust one) to the bit-switching attachments that have been around for at least 10 years.
The absolute best are the Dewalt’s from ~10 years ago. The modern Dewalts are high quality but won’t use the interchangeable parts of other manufacturers. I believe Craftsman and Makita sell models that will use the same parts, and Hitachi seems to make the best that use the same parts.
The Ryobis that look like the modern Dewalts seem to break within seconds, unfortunately.
I would *love* a compatible model that was rugged enough to use with an impact driver without breaking quickly.
Utterly agree with the 2 drills route. Apart from the cost (and no doubt unavilability when you need them) of the proprietary bits, you’ve got the flex and wobble of the tool to think about, plus two drills means twice as mans screws before those batteries are flat.
Just another junk gimmick.
I have something better: a Black & Decker Firestorm with . It’s a removable chuck. You can have a drill bit in the chuck and a driver bit behind it. It’s amazing.
That link works, but only the word “Fast Drive” was supposed to be the link. That’s what the technology is called.
So no one here has used a Jack Rabbit before:
http://www.jackrabbittool.com
1 drill here, I’m not candyarsed so it doesn’t bother me to change bits as needed.
This flipper dipper reminds me of the crap upper management dreams up. Looks good on paper, in practice it’s not any better, or out right creates another problem.
I have a couple of 1/4″ chucks with 1/4″ shanks. They make quick changes between drilling and driving easy. The bits are hard to lose with a chuck on them.
By the time you spend $35.85 + tax! Time is money and most people have two drills… On paper it looks good, but what’s the pay off? S&H x 2 Wow! How is that a deal?
My father-in-law bought three / got three free for all of the sons and son-in-laws. It’s cheap crap, and they whacked him over $60 in “shipping and handling.” I told him, “sorry, but there is no thing as buy one get one free.”
Better off with a drill and driver rather than another gimmick tool.
I would not recommend this tool. On a scale of one to four, I’d give it a one. While the concept is great, the lack of quality with the Half Time unit is not. The Chinese manufacturer didn’t bother with alignment.
The Q&A isn’t there. Using the Half Time Drill & Drive is like drilling with a bent drill bit. The drill/screww point menanders around. Holes and screw placement aren’t clean or precise.
The Half Time Drill & Drive will be a one-season gimmick tool
I bought this thing thinking it was a great idea. And it is,however, it is poorly made. I find the collets won`t tighten properly causing the bits to come out too easy and the set screws stip out and the drill bits get left behind in the wood. I think they named it half time because you spend half your time trying to fix it. No more Chinese tools for me.
Rule of thumb. always be smarter than the tool you are working with. Just sayin!
The concept behind this was good in theory. The problem with it is this – The big advantage is that it is supposed to save time. Well the design is rediculous. If they had made it with a magnetic bit holder to hold the hex shanked bits it would have been tolerable. Instead they made it to where you have to loosen the ends and then re-tighten them when changing the bits. It takes 5 minutes to get the thing ready before you ever drill the first hole. My advice would be use a magnetic bit holder with a hex shank that fits your drill. They will hold hex shank drill bits, nutdriving bits, all types of screw head bits. I don’t know why they think if you are drilling more than 1 hole that you would switch back and forth each time anyway. Drill all the holes, switch bits and be done with it. I think Kobalt and possibly DeWalt make a similar item that is more in line with what I am talking about. Just pop the bits in and pull them out without having to tighten them down.
what a rip off. You don’t even to get to see the invoice before your order is processed. I immediately called and said that I wanted to cancel my order – their customer service said it would take 24 – 48 hours for them to see my order. My card was charged the next day and supposedly the order was placed. I was charged $91.70 instead of $35.85. If I don’t keep the item – I still pay a $31.80 shipping and handling fee. Then I see that I could have bought it from Amazon for $6.96
This is the one you really want.
http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=10605&site=ROCKLER
Even if this were a good product (which it’s not, I bought one) the deceptive pricing kills any value the tool may otherwise have. The marketing on this is designed to grab as many impulse buyers in the short-term before word gets around what a crappy deal it is. There must be a term for these shysters, but all that comes to mind are obscenities.
drill bit chuck broke. is there a way this can repaired or replaced?
Everyone is right. made poorly. I found that the set screws won’t tighten down on the drill bits. Plus the wobble is not for a craftsman.
When I was putting in screw driver the first time, the pieces that holds the bit are broke. I used drill end one time and it worked great. Are they a warranty on this product?