# Ridgid R82233 Right-Angle Impact Driver



## Howard Ferstler (Sep 27, 2007)

I have owned this impact wrench for some time and never really found a way to make serious use of it until my wife and an interior designer she hired decided that our kitchen cabinets (which I installed several years ago) needed crown moldings at the top. 

The problem is that the space between the cabinet tops and the ceiling was fairly tight and a conventional impact wrench would have had problems squeezing in to secure the backer boards to which I attached the moldings to the cabinet tops. The Ridgid driver saved the day. If you read my review of the Ryobi drill that was used along with the Ridgid wrench you will see a photo of part of the molding project.

I drilled the holes with a right-angle Ryobi drill (to be reviewed later) and drove the screws in with this Ridgid impact driver. Note that the attached tool picture also shows the Ryobi drill.

The Ridgid unit worked just fine, but I do need to make some points.

First, the forward/reverse buttons are located in such a way that when you are working the trigger lever you can accidentally push them in and stop the function. You can get used to it after a while, but it would be better if the buttons were a bit further south.

Second, the unit is rather long and it is difficult to get the kind of leverage and pressure you need without using both hands: one on the handle/trigger area and one at the working end to keep the screw tip inserted into the screw head. One-handed use also makes it tricky to just get the bit into the screw head when working at odd angles. Of course, this is just the laws of physics in action and cannot be blamed on the tool.

Third, this is a 12-volt unit and it lacks the wallop of my two Ryobi 18-volt standard impact drivers (to be reviewed later). Still, in most situations (certainly this one) the device has enough power.
I recommend this device highly, but one needs to remember that it is pretty specialized and so it may not get much use until a special situation comes along.

Howard Ferstler


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