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I can't tell if this Dewalt drill has multiple speeds.

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Do you mean the torque setting? See diy.blogoverflow.com/2012/04/clutches-torque-and-you for lots of useful information –  Niall C. Aug 9 '12 at 1:29
Drills are for drilling, drivers are for driving (screws). –  DA01 Aug 9 '12 at 3:12
"0-2,500 RPM VSR trigger for versatility in drilling and fastening applications" stated as a bullet right at the top of the page. –  mike Sep 30 '13 at 2:41
"Enjoy the drill's variable-speed trigger ..." stated in the first paragraph of the product description. –  mike Sep 30 '13 at 2:42
"Variable-speed control from 0 to 2,500 RPM" stated as a bullet item in the highlight box. –  mike Sep 30 '13 at 2:43
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up vote 4 down vote accepted

I have one of the cheaper Dewalt corded drills. It does have variable speed (according to how far in you press the trigger), but seems to not go as slow as my battery drill. It also does not have a clutch. I would never use it for screwing.

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so do you have to have a cordless for screwing? should I just get a separate screwdriver since I already have the drill? –  andersonbd1 Aug 9 '12 at 1:27
The best tool for screws is an impact driver, other than a screw driver of course –  Steven Aug 9 '12 at 1:33
Impact drivers are fantastic for screws, just don't use them on finish work, soft wood, or soft screws (brass). –  BMitch Aug 9 '12 at 2:12
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If you see the letters VSR in a description for a drill, that means it is variable speed. More to the point VSR stands for:


which means the drill/tool can run from 0 RPM to the max RPM for the drill/tool in forward and reverse.

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This drill definitely has speed control (I've got the data from the DeWalt site in Russian, pretty sure that USA site has that data too) - it is claimed to have 0-2500 RPM controlled by how deep you press the switch button. However it will have rather low torque - around 11 Hewton-meters maximum and that's likely on the highest speeds (that's how drill motors work). The other problem is that you don't have fine control over rotation speed - all you have is a button with about 10 millimeters range and that range is mapped onto 0-2500 RPM so you will likely have hard time controlling the speed and you have virtually no direct control on the torque.

For your application you'll be much better off with a drill that also has a "maximum RPM" wheel on the switch - the wheel sets the maximum speed and how deep you press the button controls the speed in the 0-SELECTEDMAX range. This has virtually no control over the torque either.

The bottom line is this drill can be used for driving screws, but it's definitely not the best selection because of poor control over RPM and torque.

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