Here's What The Icons And Numbers Mean On Your Makita Drill

There are a few tools that no handyman should be without and a drill is one of them. Not only do they make projects such as renovations and building furniture much easier versus using a screwdriver, but you can also add other drill extensions to your power tool that have nothing to do with drilling. It really has become a universal tool. Once you purchase a drill, it's important to understand how to use the tool. It's more than just inserting the right drill bit for your drill and screwing in a screw. Nowadays, many come with torque setting controls, speed switches, and an action collar if you buy a hammer driver.

If you just bought a Makita drill or you're still unsure how to use all the settings to achieve the most out of your power tool, this article will help explain what the icons and numbers are for. We'll be examining Makita's 18V LXT Lithium-Ion 1/2 in. Brushless Hammer Driver to discuss these features, but the information learned can easily be used for other drills and even other brands.

The Makita hammer driver comes with three icons that are a reference for three different modes: drill, screw, and hammer. Drill mode, which looks like a little twist bit, uses the full power of the drill with zero restrictions. It's the most common setting to be used for the drill. The next feature is the screw mode. Screw mode, which is shaped like a screw, allows you to work with the torque settings, which gives you more control while cautiously driving screws into wood, drywall, or another surface. The torque settings will be explained later in this article.

The hammer mode is the last feature on the action collar, which makes for a perfect tool to use during a masonry project. The icon is shaped like a hammer. This mode helps impact the drill, so you'll have more force for drilling into stone, brick, and concrete. Drilling into these types of materials is the only time you'll need to use hammer mode.

You'll notice that there are two places where numbers exist on your drill. There's a one-and-two switch location on top of the motor and a collar right behind the chuck where the drill bits are inserted. The one-and-two switch is your speed mode. When it's set in one, it will rotate the drill more slowly which helps to give you more control and more torque. Speed one works well when you are in screw mode and need the control to help drive screws in. Speed two gives you more speed and less torque, which is good for drilling and driving.

On the drill, you'll see torque setting controls. On Makita's hammer driver being discussed in this article, these torque settings can only be used when the drill is in screw mode — for a drill without the hammer feature, the torque can be used as normal. One is the least amount of torque while 21 is the most. All you have to do is line up the torque number with the screw icon and that torque amount will be applied while in use. If the drill starts to slip, that just means that the screw isn't getting drilled in too tight. If you need more torque, though, simply adjust the torque setting, and you'll be good to go.