Anyone uses a Yankee screwdriver in this trade

[saabuldin]

Ive seen a few people using them and im wondering if its useful for the electricians. Any sparks here use them.

If you dont know what im talking about, its the screwdriver which you push and it turns by itself, if you know what i mean.

 

[telectrix]

about as much use as an ashtray on a motorbike when you've got a cordless drill/driver.

 

[Deleted member 26818]

Considered by many to be very dangerous.

I have actually seen an ashtray on a motorcycle once.
It was in America, so not that suprising really.

 

[saabuldin]

it doesnt run out of batteries though.

 

[Deleted member 26818]

It does require constant pressure to work though, there's no clutch to prevent overtightening, and if it slips, with all that pressure, it's likely to cause quite a bit of damage.
Of course, a normal screwdriver doesn't run out of batteries either.

 

[AP Electrical]

Thought they'd gone out with the stone age not seen one in years.....

 

[telectrix]

Considered by many to be very dangerous.

I have actually seen an ashtray on a motorcycle once.
It was in America, so not that suprising really.

especially when working on live terminals. OOPS, we don't do we?

 

[AP Electrical]

Cost £60 now for theproper stanley ones, bet they were less than half that in the day.... better to spend money on a spare battery.

 

[saabuldin]

Cost £60 now for theproper stanley ones, bet they were less than half that in the day.... better to spend money on a spare battery.

Refurbished on ebay for about £30

 

[AP Electrical]

Refurbished on ebay for about £30

Still £30 id spend elsewhere, honestly think it would never see the light of day after using it a few times tbh.

 

[vernam616]

Note to forum, the year is 2011

 

[glasgowbiker42]

it took pride of place in me da's tool box, every joiner in the ship yards on the clyde aspired to own a yankee in the 60's. and there right handy in a fight:shades_smile:

 

[rmc86uk]

I remember I joiner telling me that a lot of sites banned them because you could slip and seriously injure yourself. He told me that he was caught with one and the site foreman threw it over the fence.

Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk

 

[tical]

In this day and age of 'elf n safedy' most site managers would ban them after the tenth entry into the accident book ! I also heard people used to use a hammer and nails to fix bits of wood together instead of a paslode ? nutters !

 

[Des 56]

If you owned a Yankee,you were "with it","cool",on top of the technology that the Americans had consigned to history,but still new over here, and what a tool to own

Owning one meant a world of difference between screwing something up with a standard driver that took forever, and using the bees knees yankee

Never oil a yankee,the shaft had to be crystal clear and the spring action when it was released would certainly be measured by how many eyes it could gouge out in a shift

It played its part at one time,but in retrospect,its amazing how it was permitted

 

[l4urence]

I bought one recently at a boot fair, remembering how wonderful they were in years past! Never used it and realised that when they were wonderful there wasn't a cordless anything to compare it to. Great kit but probably best left to the past with meggers that had winding handles.

 

[Dcf]

i think mine is in the bottom of toolbox in the laboratory for the last 20 years.
it was handy for site work and repetitive fixings with old slotted screws tho.
while we are all retro, anyone remember the rawlplug tool??
for the yoot of the day it was a bit of metal you belted with a hammer and turned with each belt to make holes for rawlplugs! it was quite quick in brick and block if my memory is correct.usually for firms that were too tight to buy a hammer drill for each man.probably the reason i have forearms like popeye now.and a mangled hand.

 

[Deleted member 26818]

I got one, but the hole to release the Morse taper was in the wrong place, so I could never change the bit.

 

[funtime frankie]

there bloody dangerous, met a guy who had lost an eye due to. not quite sure how he did it though, he went all funny when i asked him about it.

 

[telectrix]

i remember being given a 1/2" star chisel, by a tight fisted boss. to go through a brick wall for a cable. laugh was on him when a whole brick fell out in the customer's sitting room along with a square yard of plaster and a load of expensive wallpaper, fell on the piano. for what the boss had to pay out in damages, he could have equipped all 6 of us with top of the range hammer drills.

 

[Geordie Spark]

i remember being given a 1/2" star chisel, by a tight fisted boss. to go through a brick wall for a cable. laugh was on him when a whole brick fell out in the customer's sitting room along with a square yard of plaster and a load of expensive wallpaper, fell on the piano. for what the boss had to pay out in damages, he could have equipped all 6 of us with top of the range hammer drills.

Thanks for that Tel ..... it brought back memories of when I was a kid & the time my Dad was using a Rawlplug tool to fix a cupboard to the kitchen wall.

There he was bashing seven bell out of it, while my Mum was sitting on the setee in the lounge which was on the opposite side of the wall. Just like in your story, there was a loose brick & Dad found it resulting in Mum being showered in plaster.

When she asked him what he was going to do about the hole in the wall, he very calmly & without a word took the calendar from the wall at the opposite side of the room, & stuck it over the hole.

That calendar stayed there for the next three years !!!!

 

[1shortcircuit]

I think the main question here is "Why"?

What use do you see that it still has in this day and age?

Bearing in mind we all work on electrics I cannot see that you would even dream of putting it near a terminal so I am just guessing that you may send the apprentice off with it when it comes to refitting and securing lifted floorboards???

My Dad used to love his complete collection, they found their way into mine and I must be honest I've probably used them a handful of times. Slot heads and these things are just and accident waiting to happen. They've kinda just disappeared now though... I think they had all been thrown around and cursed at lol

 

[roukel01]

I bought one recently at a boot fair, remembering how wonderful they were in years past! Never used it and realised that when they were wonderful there wasn't a cordless anything to compare it to. Great kit but probably best left to the past with meggers that had winding handles.

Ha, A sparky I know just bought one of those meggers on Ebay, "You know when you have a fault with one of these" he said...!!!!!!

 

[KFH]

I have had a Yankee driver for many years, could never get on with it so I have not used it for many years. I am sure it took a few chunks out of my fingers when it slipped on slotted screws. My Makita impact driver is lots better and quicker, I can break plastic boxes at least ten times quicker than with a Yankee.

 

[roukel01]

Strange this has come up. Just been emptying the van ready for the new one and came accross a Yankee Screwdriver, it was amongst my stilsons and immersion heater spanners. No idea what its doing there, I'll put it in the garage along with the Brace Drill.