For all the sub-rock dwellers clinging to the dark and safe ways of yore, this is an air compressor. It is your friend. Embrace it, love it and bask in its many conveniences. The new 26-gallon Campbell Hausfeld compressor is specifically aimed at the challenges and objections homeowners have to an air-powered rig.

To get the party started, just kick the big red power button at the bottom rear and the hose fills to 115psi; then the tank fills in preparation for continued operation. That’s right — the hose fills first. It might sound a little weird but it’s sort of a slick idea.

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Reader Scwetherbee has no idea what this tool might actually be. We confess it’s a mystery to us as well. It’s about ten inches long and the handle looks sort of like an old-fashioned frying pan. The business end features a pattern of teeth that are too large to be a file, but too flat to do any cutting. In short: we have no idea what it is.

My best guess is that it has something to do with horse grooming, but that’s just a wild shot in the dark. We’re hoping someone will be able to give us a positive ID because now we’re curious about what this tool might actually be for – other than back scratching. If you’ve got a guess let us know in comments.

Toolmonger Photo Pool [Flickr]

Carabiners make everything better, right?  That seems to be the mantra of SnapGate, a company who builds a carabiner into products like tape measures, flashlights, and pens. They sell both plastic promotional products and a few real tools.

One of the real tools is an 6″ aluminum flashlight they claim to be waterproof (non-submersible) and shatterproof. Two AA batteries power the flashlight’s krypton bulb. The other real tools are the tape measures which they manufacture in 16′ and 25′ lengths. Both tapes feature a rubberized coating over an ABS plastic case.

If you’re into snapping things onto your belt loops, the tape measures will cost you either $7 or $9 shipped while the flashlight will set you back $6 plus shipping. Check out SnapGate’s contact information on their website if you’re interested in their promotional products.

SnapGate [Corporate Site]
Flashlight [Campmor]
Tape Measure [Harbor Freight]

Use TapeNIX temporary pulls anytime you haven’t put pulls on the cabinet or drawers, but still need to easily open and close them. Presumably they are so named because Anthony LaFemina created them to replace the blue tape he saw being used as temporary pulls.

Made in the USA, TapeNIX pulls slide over cabinets and drawer faces up to 3/4″ thick. Simply slide them off once you’ve installed the permanent pulls.

A bag of 10 TapeNIX pulls shipped from McFeely’s will run you $12, but you get a better price break at 100 pcs. — $33 shipped.

TapeNix [FastCap]
Tapenix [FastCap eStore]
TapeNix [McFeely's]

Add Category Tool Type: Hardware

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:

Consumer Reports Responds
After reading Kevin Pace’s Hot or Not? Consumer Reports post — and the great comments it’s generated — our friend Bob Markovich over at Consumer Reports dropped us a line to respond. Read on past the jump to read his note we received last week:

FYI: Why Tape Measure Claws Move Around
Today a friend asked me a question that the folks at Stanley tell me they hear all the time: why does the claw — you know, the little catch at the end of your short tape measure — move back and forth?

Eat its Dust: Drywall Dust Eater
Whenever you work with drywall, dust gets everywhere — ceiling, walls, and floor — and getting it off all those surfaces is a chore. That’s where Wooster’s Drywall Dust Eater comes in. It’s a triangular tool that looks like a mop but uses a specially-treated material that attracts and holds dust without water.

Folding Pocket Sharpener
Do we really need more stuff in our pockets?  We already have keys, cell phones, knives, multi-tools, wallets, change, and even Pocket Chisels. So now FastCap recently introduced yet another tool we can stuff into our bulging pants: a pocket diamond sharpener. 

Hot or Not? Harbor Freight Knockout Punches
The industry standard for knockout punches, Greenlee screw- or hydraulic-actuated two-piece piloted dies are designed to make holes in sheet metal for conduit and instruments. But what about for the weekend warrior or the guy starting out in the trade?

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.

The Lab Equipment Store has the Celestron 44302 Handheld Digital Microscope for $51.74, and it’s so sweet. The details are a bit thin as both the Lab Equipment and Amazon listings have an entirely different picture than the Celestron site, but it looks to be a fairly high-resolution (compared to the “toy” ones, anyway) digital microscope that has 10X, 40X and 150X magnification with a built-in illuminator.

Why do you need a microscope in the shop? Three reasons, really: I use several optical ones for finding and removing insanely painful and tiny metal splinters in my finger, checking the edge of tools when I sharpen them, and on a mount for aligning and inspecting work on my milling machine and lathe. A digital microscope would allow me to view objects on my laptop instead of through a tiny eyepiece. I’ve been looking around for a good digital one and this might be it.

Celestron 44302 Handheld Digital Microscope [scimedlabequip.com]

(TV Tonight, Friday, July 3rd, 2009) Tonight we get a look at the making of socket sets and other interesting items on a new How It’s Made.

All times are central

• Deconstructed: Catalytic converter, toilet, bathroom scale, barbecue (Science, 6:00 pm)
• Deconstructed: Juice extractor, strongbox, telephone, lava lamp (Science, 6:30 pm)
• Wrecked: Code Red (Speed, 7:00 pm)
• Wrecked: Marci’s the Boss (Speed, 7:30 pm)
• Wrecked: The Blizzard (Speed, 8:00 pm)
• How It’s Made: Socket Sets, Leather Shoes, Aluminum Water Bottles and Bike Chains (Science, 8:00 pm) NEW
• Wrecked: Coldest Day of the Year (Speed, 8:30 pm)
• How It’s Made: Aluminum Boats, Alpine Horns and Luxury Watches (Science, 8:30 pm)
• Wrecked: Odd Jobs (Speed, 9:00 pm)
• Wrecked: It’s a Dangerous Job (Speed, 9:30 pm)
• Forge and Anvil: Welcome to Forge and Anvil. Episode 101 (RFD-TV, 10:30 pm)

For us, one of the most important tools this time of year is the BBQ lighter. It has a great way of kicking off most of the important activities that will be going on this Saturday — fireworks and steaks. Around our home town, you notice two things that mark the 4th of July season: lighters of all shapes and sizes are marked down and available everywhere (even places they aren’t normally for sale), and metal-clad stands spontaneously spring from the ground and start selling legal black-powder products.

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We got a kick out of talking to the Milwaukee accessory guys a few weeks ago while attending their product symposium. It was almost a counterculture inside the rank-and-file of the power tool reps, and we’ve seen it at almost every manufacturer. “Those tools are nothing without a good bit at the business end.” They say it without fail wherever we go and they said it over and over at the product launch for Milwaukee’s Shockwave bits.

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Okay, so we’re not condoning laughing at someone else’s injuries. But in this case, it’s too, um, educational not to watch. This video shows a guy, presumably in England, who decides a good place to light up is right on top of a Shell fuel truck. Ahh, Darwin. Is there anything you can’t prove?

Shell Garage [YouTube]

I’m not fond of doing finish work; however, for projects that go on the inside of the house they are almost required, if for no other reason than they’ll stand up to the wear and tear of family life for a long time. Reader Benao_t posted pictures of his finished dining room floor, and we must say it looks great.

The last pic we saw had the room in a state for sanded flux, so it was good to see it all finished out and polished. I don’t want to think about how many layers and the buff time that had to happen before he got the slick shine we see in the picture, but with some of the new finishing products on the market and electric floor buffers, this might have been easier than it looks.

Regardless of the toil factor of the gloss, we think it looks great and hope it provides decades of maintenance-free service. Well done, sir.

Toolmonger Photo Pool [Flickr]
Weekend Sanding Project [Toolmonger]

You’re probably not going to have a set of break-over torque wrenches in your garage, but that doesn’t mean they’re not handy tools in a production environment where you need to repeatedly torque the exact same fastener or set of fasteners. The name comes from the fact that the wrench breaks over at 90° when the preset torque is applied — supposedly the break-over mechanism minimizes the shock to the fastener.

These interchangeable-head, break-over torque wrenches from Mountz come in torque ranges from 25 ozf.in to 50 lbf.in. and can hold the torque setting to ±6%. The aluminum handles help make the wrenches lightweight, are small enough to be used in confined spaces, and come in six different colors so you can color code specific torque settings. Read the rest of this entry »

Yeah, we’ve posted a lot of FastCap products week and we’re still not done. This is because FastCap is actually cranking out a ton of unique tools right now. Whether these tools stand the test of time or are relegated to the back shelf remains to be seen, but you have to hand it to them for having the nerve to put out new specialty products in this economy.

Another one of these new products is their pattern marker — so called because it’s primarily used for tracing patterns. The long nosed marker also lets you trace around other objects without resorting to tilting the pen at a funny angle. Another use would be transferring the locations of small holes where everything but a scratch awl would be too thick.

The long nosed pattern marker actually is two permanent, waterproof markers in one. One end has a  1-1/8″ narrow extension tip for getting into tight spots, and the other has a wide chisel tip for normal marking uses.

FastCap’s long nosed marker will run you $5 when it becomes available.

Long Nosed Marker [FastCap]

Discount Paint has the Hyde 09170 Dust Dog Drywall Vacuum Pole Sander for $19.70.

The pole sander is used to manually sand drywall while collecting the dust in a shop vac. The 09170 doesn’t come with the pole, though — the cheapest price we found for the 01975 kit with the pole was $58.85, which is a lot of money for a telescoping pole alone. So supply your own pole and save money!

Hyde 09170 Dust Dog Drywall Pole Sander [DiscountPaint]

(TV Tonight, Thursday, July 2nd, 2009) TLC seems to have abandoned their motorheaad programming tonight, although one could make the argument that they abandoned it several years ago. We do get a new Wrecked, World’s Toughest Fixes, a Naked Science on fireworks, and the new How Do They Do It looks at “supercars,” whatever they might be.

All times are central

• Cool Tools: Cut Above (DIY, 5:00 pm)
• This Old House: New Orleans Project (DIY, 5:30 pm)
• Ask This Old House: Wall-to-Wall Carpet, Table Saw Safety (DIY, 6:30 pm)
• Break It Down: Diesel Locomotive (National Geographic, 7:00 pm)
• World’s Toughest Fixes: Mississippi River Barge (National Geographic, 8:00 pm) NEW
• How Do They Do It?: Super Cars (Science, 8:00 pm) NEW
• Successful Farming Machinery Show (RFD-TV, 8:00 pm)
• Wrecked: Code Red (Speed, 9:00 pm) NEW
• Naked Science: Secret World of Fireworks (National Geographic, 9:00 pm) NEW
• Wrecked: Joe, Terminal Manager (Speed, 9:30 pm)
• Top Gear (BBC America, 10:00 pm)

Rather than get down on your hands and knees to remove leaves around your plantings and trellis work, pick up a steel adjustable-tine rake like this one from Bond Manufacturing. I used to dread cleaning out the garden every spring until a few years ago when I picked up a similar rake. It’s not something you use to rake the entire lawn, but the variable-size head lets you clean out areas where your normal rake won’t fit.

The head of this particular model expands from 7″ to 25″ wide and can be locked at any width in between. By contracting the head back down to 7″, you can store the 69″ rake in much less space than you would need for a full-sized one.

Shipping on this rake runs about $15, or you could probably pick up a knock-off for under $10 at a local store like I did.

Bond Manufacturing [Corporate Site]
Street Pricing [Google]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

Our friend Rick wrote to us about a problem he was having with his PS40-2. It seems he found out what happens when you use a straight bit in a quick change chuck.

I’ve got a little bit of a dilemma. So I had let my brother-in-law borrow my Bosch PS40-2 (The Impactor) When I gave it to him I only gave him the bit so he could use it with a 3/8″ socket set for his brakes.

Anyway - today I was over at my in-laws and he still had it and I needed to screw some sheetrock screws into some plywood and figured I’d use my handy dandy PS40-2. Problem was I didn’t have any quick change Phillips bits. So I used a regular bit (half inch tall one, or 3/4″ or whatever the normal ones are). I screwed in a few screws and everything worked great - I even pulled it out once or twice. Well at some point between the 4th and 8th screw, it seemed to sink into the quick change chuck a little more than it had been - and when I was done I could no longer get the bit out. I’ve tried everything - but there’s barely anywhere to get some purchase to grab it. I’ve gotten a good hold on it with a needle nose pliers and still no dice. The Quick Change chuck only comes up a little - but it doesn’t pull up all the way to completely disengage.

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