If you’re wondering exactly how an “internal combustion” cordless nailer works, Sean’s here to show you. He walks you through the basics, then drives a few nails to give you a feel for the nailer.
It’s been a busy week here at Toolmonger. If you’ve been spending time in the shop — you should! — and you haven’t had a chance to keep up with Toolmonger this week, we suggest you start with these posts, which our readers helped to select:
Perfect Punch Placement
When the name of the game is accuracy, and optical center punch can introduce a whole new level of “dead-on” to your projects. With this center punch system you can punch within .002″ of your mark, so your final hole position will be about as accurate as it gets.
Irwin’s Line-Marking Tape Measure
Irwin’s 25′ Strait-Line tape measure features a pencil-less, quick-marking tip. Just measure out your distance, press the bottom of the tape against your material, and mark your line. It’s not laser-accurate, but it’s great when speed is the key.
Maglite With A Side Of Beat Down
Rothco has expanded on the notion that Maglites look like modern-day Billy clubs. Their new side handle system turns any C or D Maglite into a police style tonfa club — for defense or for just showing off your mad flashlight-twirling skills.
Hole Saw Slug Problem
Recently we were testing some hole saws in the Toolmonger shop, and we managed to get a giant, circular hunk of two-by-four stuck in the cup. We ended up removing the chunk with a small drill bit and a large common screwdriver, but we couldn’t help but wonder if there are better solutions. Toolmongers answered “hell yes.”
Preview: Hitachi’s New Pneumatic Staplers
Hitachi recently released a new 1/2″ standard crown stapler and a new 15/16″ wide crown stapler. Both lightweight staplers are sleek, metal-clad stapling thoroughbreds. There’s no crazy green rubber, either — just metal and performance. We dig it.
Help us choose next week’s Top 5!
We’d appreciate your help in choosing next week’s Top 5, which’ll be featured here, elsewhere, and in the podcast as well. While you’re reading TM this week, look out for the “Interesting Post” button at the bottom of the article:
When you see an article that piques your interest, click the button once. You’ll return to the same page, but TM’s software’ll score your click for future reference. We’ll check in on the totals before selecting next week’s Top 5.
Some jobs are remote enough to make carrying an air compressor problematic — for instance replacing a few slats at the back of your wooden fence or building a shed in the back forty. That’s when the Paslode CF-325 Cordless framing nailer shines. It drives nails just like your standard pneumatic nailer — but without all the extra gear.
Read on past the jump to find out how this sucker turns butane and battery power into nail-drivin’ fury.
Join us as we run down this week’s top five, plus give you a peek into our testing this week — specifically Husky’s 5-in-1 drywall tool, Stanley’s new FatMax levels, and Paslode’s CF-325 cordless framing nailer. Remember, if you’ve got a question or comment you can call us at 866-718-9403. (Podcast Download)
Some tools don’t lend themselves very well to dust collection — you have to manhandle the dust-collection hose with complicated twists and turns to get it into position. Rockler’s new FlexForm hoses can help.
The 12″ FlexForm hoses can expand to three times their compressed length, and the segmented design maintains its shape no matter how you position it. Rockler makes the hoses from polypropylene plastic in both 2-1/2″ and 4″ diameters.
The 2-1/2″ FlexForm hose retails for $13, and the 4″ FlexForm runs $15.
FlexForm Hose [Rockler]
What does your shop floor look like? In the Toolmonger shop, we work on a concrete floor sealed with a water- and oil-proof coating. It gets a bit slick when there’s a spill, and it’s hard to stand on all day long. So when I saw this photo of a non-slip mat posted by photo pool member Looking Glass, it really got me thinking. I know there are a ton of anti-slip and anti-fatigue mats, floor coverings, and whatnot — but are they worth it?
Growing up, I always held with the dogma that a workshop should have a concrete floor. My reasoning: “What does it matter if it gets stained?” Since then I’ve worked on dirt floors, wood floors, lots of tile, and even carpet — and I’ve discovered there are benefits to each.
What do you do in your own workspace? What’s most important about your shop floor? Let us know in comments.
Toolmonger Photo Pool [Flickr]
Wouldn’t your rolling toolbox look bitchin’ with ground-effects lighting? Snap-on seem to think so — they recently introduced a few colored light kits to pimp your toolbox.
The 23″ tubes attach to any ferrous surface with magnetic clamps. UL-Listed in the US and Canada, each two-piece set is wired in series to use a single cord. Snap-on is a little sketchy on exactly how you power these lights, but from the specs it appears they come with an AC adapter of some sort.
No, you’re not lost on an arts and crafts blog. These polyacrylamide polymer crystals can absorb 400 times their weight in water, swelling up to a jelly-like consistency and looking like watery ice, and photo pool member Poekie knows how to capture the beauty of that process. But these crystals can also save your lawn and your pocketbook.
Those of you with lawns, especially if you’re in the southwest, are probably dreading the summer water bills — or you’ve abandoned your yard to the summer scorch and the fire ants. These polymer crystals’ll catch and hold the water that hits your yard, slowly releasing the water as everything dries out.
If you’re in the market for Gerber’s Deluxe Mine Probe Kit, one of two things is probably true: A) You’re underpaid, or B) you need to move. People who remove unexploded ordnance work mostly on their bellies, inching across the battlefield, constantly in danger. For these serious people and their serious work, Gerber makes some precision mine probe tools to replace that old KA-BAR.
While it might be better to job out major asphalt repairs, you can definitely manage smaller projects yourself, and this patch kit can help. The FloMix kits advertise no dig-out — just sweep away loose material, then mix, pour, and spread. You can apply FloMix even in sub-zero temperatures. According to the instructions, once the components are mixed you have 9-12 minutes to work with the patch compound, and the patch cures in one hour.
In the aftermath of my nail-gun accident I’ve gotten on a safety kick, so I’ve been looking for a good pair of safety goggles. I stumbled upon these DeWalt DPG82-11C clear, anti-fog, dual-mold safety goggles over at Amazon for $12. DeWalt makes the goggles from a tough polycarbonate for impact-resistance, and they feature a replaceable lens and built-in ventilation channels to cut down on fog. An adjustable cloth head-strap and an injected rubber seal provide a comfortable fit.
I own a few pairs of those horrid, $3 splash goggles that cut into your face because of the underwear elastic that’s used to hold them on your head, but they spend most of the time on top of my head. I hope these DeWalt goggles’ll serve less as headwear and more as eye protection.
DPG82-11C [DeWalt]
Street Pricing [Google Product]
Via Amazon
(Friday, May 16th, 2008) As always, the bright spot for tonight is Forge and Anvil, with tons of good reruns on Home and DIY as well.
All times are central.
Enjoy.
In the past few years, the price of ultrasonic cleaning technology has dropped so low that a cleaner costs less than most power tools. Nowadays, you can buy an ultrasonic cleaner like the Sonic Wave CD-2800 for just $20 — and while it’s billed as a jewelery cleaner, you could just as easily clean small parts with it. Just drop the parts in the one-pint stainless steel tank; the Sonic Wave’ll blast ‘em for three minutes with 42kHz waves, then automatically shut off.
Read the rest of this entry »
Airplane mechanics keep detailed service and maintenance records in the plane’s logbook — it helps ‘em prevent that long drop with the short stop at the end. But a logbook can also remind you to do routine maintenance on your car, or it can help you diagnose the reason for loss of gas mileage before a serious problem develops. For tractors, combines, bulldozers, graders, generators — the machines that run and build civilization — logbooks can save jobs and lives. Mechanic Support makes this Mechanic’s Logbook software that you can configure for almost any application.
You can put Mechanic’s Logbook on your computer for $16 — you might pay more than that for a dead-tree logbook.
Mechanic’s Logbook [Mechanic Support]
Mechanic Support [Corporate Site]
In the Tool Talk Podcast #38, a caller asked about replacing the chuck on his Skil hammer drill. Though Chuck and Sean weren’t able to answer his questions on the spot, I found some answers at eReplacementParts.com, which boasts the Internet’s largest selection of power tool diagrams and replacement parts . By looking at a diagram on their site, I found that the chuck in question is standard-thread and removable. Also, before you can remove the chuck, you have to remove a securing screw that goes down the middle of the barrel.
For $15,000, you too can own a bulldozer! Every boy I know dreamed of driving a bulldozer, and although this one isn’t the huge general contractor variety you see at the highway work sites, you might find it handy for back yard applications. You could artfully arrange the dirt in the back yard into tasteful and trendy landscaping piles in the front yard, or knock down the neighbor’s garden gnomes, or even pull stumps on the south forty.
While doing the yearly maintenance on your lawnmower like a good Toolmonger, you pull the spark plug and discover it’s covered in crud. While replacing the plug is a fine idea, you might save a little dough and a trip to the store by cleaning it and using it for another year. And though you could clean the plug with a little elbow grease, why do it the hard way when this cheap-ass pneumatic spark plug cleaner’ll do the job for you?
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