We came across this tool from the UK today online.  There’s not much information about it, but it looks pretty slick.

There are three holes and blades on the unit:  The largest is designed to cut through the whole cable bundle.  A smaller one is for trimming back the outer sheathing to expose the inner, separately-sheathed cables.  The smallest one is for stripping individual cables.

We couldn’t find a similar version available directly in the US, so the link below takes you to Tool-Up.co.uk, obviously a British company.  Their pricing was 2.92 pounds, which is about $5.50 as of this moment.  We have no idea how tax or shipping would work.

The Plasplug HWS827 Handy Wire Stripper [Tool-Up.co.uk]

We saw an item similar to this in a shop recently, and some poking around on the web turned up this.  It’s a large storage cabinet that not only holds items you’d like to keep out of view, but also carries 96 bins in the doors.

It’s made of 14 gauge welded steel with a gray baked-enamel finish, and it has a three-point locking door mechanism, which is nice considering how hefty the doors’ll be with the bins full.

It’s a bit pricey, though.  Complete with bins it sells for $1,875, which doesn’t include shipping.  We’re going to keep looking for ours.  We’re pretty sure we can find something like this for more around $500 or so.

Quantum Wide Welded Storage Cabinet with 96 Ultra Bins [CSN Supply]

(Thursday, July 27, 2006) As you can see, you get a bit of a variety tonight, scattered all over the dial.

All times are central.

Tonight:

• How It’s Made: Episode 28: Pottery, Recreational Vehicles, Erasers (Discovery, 6 p.m.)
• How It’s Made: Episode 45: Brushes, Push Brooms, Blackboards, Smoked Salmon, Zippers (Discovery, 6:30 p.m.)
• Building the Ultimate: Against the Sea (Science Channel, 7 p.m.)
• Trading Spaces: Seattle: Dakota Street (Discovery Home, 7 p.m.)
• Classic Tractor Specials (RFDTV, 7 p.m.)
• Flip That House: Susan’s Family Flip (Discovery Home 9 p.m.)
• Overhaulin’ Bling (TLC, 10 p.m.)
• Barrett-Jackson 2006 - The Auctions: Palm Beach (Speed, 10 p.m.) 
• Pimp My Ride (MTV, 10 p.m.)
• Barrett-Jackson 2006 - The Auctions: Palm Beach (Speed, 11 p.m.) 
• MythBusters: Confederate Rocket (Discovery, midnight)
• Unique Whips: Auto-Motives (Speed, midnight)

Our insomniac’s suggestions: Car Crazy: The Obsession of a Classic Car Restorer at 2:30 a.m. on Speed.

We’ve had a three-pack of Irwin’s Unibit step drills sitting around the shop for a few days, and today we got the chance to put them to use — in this case creating a 3/4″ hole in a steel bracket we were fabricating.

If you’re not already familiar with step drills, they’re quite simple:  They’re essentially of a cylindrical pyramid shape and alow you drill a number of different sized holes with a single bit.  As the drill cuts through the material it “steps” to each new step of the pyramid, enlarging the hole that much more.  When you’ve reached the desired size, you just stop at that step and you’re done.

The kit we have includes three bits: one which handles hole sizes from 1/8″ through 1/2″, one that handles 1/4″ through 3/4″ and one that handles 3/16″ through 1/2″.  Each one features quite a few steps, so carrying around this one three-piece set is almost like carrying around a huge set of 19 different drills.

The Unibits feature Irwin’s SpeedPoint tip which is a two-flute drill on the bit’s tip which quickly cuts material to create the initial hole — Irwin claims up to 6X faster than their original Unibit step drills.  The steps themselves cut with a single flute — a large notch cut into the “pyramid” all the way down the bit.  Fewer flutes, by the way, makes for a more aggressive drill, and a single flute drill is the most aggressive of all.

In our use, we were very happy with the Unibits.  They cut quickly and leave a surprisingly clean hole considering the aggressiveness of their design.  Of course sometimes a more aggressive bit can actually lead to a cleaner hole as users are less likely to “bear down” hard on the bit creating a punch-through and, hence, a distortion of the drilled hole.  The Unibits cut so easily that they required little pressure to generate satisfactory progress through the material.

Though the sizes are clearly marked and it’s easy to select and drill a particular size of hole, it’s also handy using the Unibits in fabrication situations where you’re not sure exactly how large a hole you need.  For example, we were creating a hanging bracket and wanted enough room for a particular fastener to fit, and it was very easy to just run the Unibit through until we reached a size that looked like it’d fit.

Irwin recommends the Unibit for drilling materials up to 1/8″ thick.  (Larger materials won’t fit over the steps.)  One of our brackets was 1/8″ thick and we had no problems at all.

Irwin carries quite a line of Unibits ranging widely in size.  Some are self-starting (with the SpeedPoint tip) and some (especially the larger ones) are used just to expand holes.  Most are high-speed steel, and some feature titanium coatings.

Unibits are available at most hardware and home improvement stores and start at around $12.

Unibit Step Drills [Irwin]
Street Pricing [Froogle]

The Handle Saver claims to be your answer to your mis-swing blues. The concept here is to compensate for all the times that you over-shoot your mark when swinging a hammer, breaking the hammer or delivering shock force to your arm. 

The Handle Saver is basically a large rubber collar that slides right under the head onto most standard hand tool handles. Theoretically, the rubber will absorb the impact shock and possibly a broken handle.  We haven’t yet seen one of these in person, but it looks to us more like the rubber will use the force of the swing and pop the tool back at the user and/or in an unknown direction possibly causing other damage.

Our first thought was perhaps a few practice sessions might help your swing more than a bit of rubber.  Of course, if you’re looking for this kind of thing, it can be had for around $5 plus shipping through the Awesome Tools website.  And hey, if you have one of these and think we’re out in left field on this one, let us know.

The Handle Saver [AwesomeTools]

We received the latest Craftsman Club flyer in the mail earlier this week.  Sorry for not getting it out to you sooner, but things have been a little hectic here in the Project Garage.

Here are some of the items that caught our eye(s):

• Deck-Out Screw Extractors — great for removing gamaged deck and drywall screws — $19.99 (reg. $24.99)
• Equus Products Innova 1003 OBD2 Code Reader — we really could have used one of these a couple of weeks ago when our older Jeep ZJ was throwing codes we couldn’t read — $99.99 (reg. $149.99)
• Craftsman 10″ Compound Miter Saw with LaserTrac — we’ve heard good and bad things about these saws, but the price jumped out at us — $188.00 (reg. $208.99)
• Craftsman 14.4V Cordless drill/Driver with Work Light — there are better drills out there, but not necessarily in this price range — $49.99 (reg. $69.99)

Of course there are plenty of other items in the circular — these were just the ones that we thought were particularly interesting.  Have fun, and remember that you can beat shipping charges by having pretty much anything sent to a store near you for pickup.  If they have it in stock at the store — as they almost surely will for any of the items in the circular — you can pick it up less than 2 hours later.

(Wednesday, July 26, 2006) It looks like there’s another new episode of MythBusters on tonight, as well as four episodes of How It’s Made — two on Discovery and two on the Science Channel.

All times are central.

Tonight:

• How It’s Made: Episode 27: Pre-Inked Stamps, Cranberries, Cotton Yarn, Road Signs (Discovery, 6 p.m.)
• How It’s Made: Episode 44: Grinding Wheels, Compost, Window Bilnds, Milk (Discovery, 6:30 p.m.)
• Building the Ultimate: Sub Zero (Science Channel, 7 p.m.)
• Trading Spaces: Seattle: 137th Street (Discovery Home, 7 p.m.) 
• Chop Cut Rebuild (Speed, 7:30 p.m.)
• MythBusters: Confederate Rocket (Discovery, 8 p.m.)
• Extreme Engineering: The Snohvit Arctic Gas Processing Platform (Discovery HD, 8 p.m.)
• MythBusters: Killer Whirlpool (Discovery, 9 p.m.)
• Pinks:  Chevy vs. Dodge (Speed, 9 p.m.)
• Pinks: Gainesville (Speed, 9:30 p.m.)
• MythBusters: Cooling a Six-Pack (Discovery, 10 p.m.)
• Unique Whips: It’s Electra! (Speed, 10:30 p.m.)
• How It’s Made: Episode 29: Wheel Loaders, Vegetable Oil, Hand Tools, Cotton Swabs (Science Channel, 11 p.m.)
• How It’s Made: Episode 30: Metal Fences, Ashpalt Chingles, Expanded Poylstyrene, Candles (Science Channel, 11:30 p.m.)
• Pinks: Gainesville (Speed, 11:30 p.m.)
• Extreme Engineering: The Snohvit Arctic Gas Processing Platform (Discovery HD, 11 p.m.)
• I Love Toy Trains (RFDTV, 11:30 p.m.)
• Unique Whips: Jets & Jaguars (Speed, midnight)

Our insomniac’s suggestion: Chop Cut Rebuild at 4 a.m. on Speed.  Ok, we have to ask:  Has anyone seen the Big Joe Polka Show on RFDTV?   We happen to have DTV instead of Dish, so we’ve never seen the show, but we wonder what the heck it is every time we see it listed.  So if ’ya know, do tell.

We’re smack in the middle of the Project Garage Yukon’s engine swap, and while we’re not quite ready to spring the next post on you, we did want to give you a heads up on a couple of items that are awfully usefull to have around when you’re taking on an engine swap.

The first is what we’ve always referred to as “board tape.”  It’s the stuff that professional audio engineers use to label mixing boards as it fits perfectly in the little indented strip below the faders.  We use it to label plugs, wires, and other items that we want to be sure to put back in the same place during assembly. We’re not horribly concerned about its specific size, but we like to use it because it’s easy to write on with a pen, very smudge resistant, and comes in a nice-sized roll.  You can usually pick the stuff up at big music stores, or you can order it online from a variety of sources.

The other item is a box of locking-top sandwich bags.  We’re partial to Heftys or Ziplocs as they have the “zipper” across the top for easy opening and sure-fire closing.  The Ziplocs also have a slick white section on which you can write with a Sharpie.  The advantage to these: now you can put all the bolts, nuts, or other little parts that go with a larger part in a bag and label it.  In fact, if you’re pulling the part you can also go ahead and tape the bag to the item as well, which makes reassembly easy.  You can find these at any grocery store.

You can lose hours or even days if you misplace fasteners during a large task like this, so why not spend the $20 or so on these items and make sure you’ve got it all under control?

We’re just sayin’.

Ziploc [Ziploc.com]
Board Tape [Froogle]

Apparently everyone wants to get in on the small li-ion cordless screwdriver game.  We ran across this one from Chicago Electric at Harbor Freight today priced at the standard just-below $20 point.

The only thing that appears at all different about this unit is that it appears to have a clutch system — something we haven’t seen on the others.  It’s similar to the Kobalt unit in that it offers no charging stand, instead simply plugging the wall wart directly into the tool.  It does, however, come with two standard and four Phillips head bits as well as a magnetic bit extension.

So far, this market seems divided in two: the “high end” (SmartDriver & iXO) at $40 and the “cheaper” units (Kobalt & Chicago Electric, though we fully expect to run across others as time goes on) at $20.

Whether or not giving up a charger stand and 20-30 bits and accessories (as well as a serious manufacturer’s name and quality) for $20 is a good idea we’ll leave up to you.

Chicago Electric Cordless Screwdriver w/3.6V Li-Ion Battery [Harbor Freight]

The guys over at Rockler’s woodworking blog are recommending a couple of tools that’ll help you increase the speed and accuracy of your trim work: the Starrett ProSite Protractor and the Infiniter RS-1 Laser Cutting Guide.

From Rockler’s blog:

If only Don had a Starrett ProSite Protractor, he’d know that the corner he’s trying to miter is a hair under 89 degrees, not  “about 90.”  And if he had an Infiniter RS-1 Laser Cutting Guide, he’d have put the cut he was shooting for in exactly the right spot on the first try, and he’d be three or four pieces down the line.  “Nice job, Don,” his boss would have said. 

The protractor is pretty simple and straightforward; You physically place it in the angle, and you get two readings: one showing the measured angle and another that’s the correct angle at which you’ll need to set your miter saw to make the cut.  The laser is an attachment for your miter saw that converts it to a modern, laser-guided cutting tool.

We’d be interested to see how the Infiniter RS-1 compares to Irwin’s laser miter saw attachment.  The RS-1 is cheaper — Rockler sells it for $20 as opposed to a street price of around $40 for the Irwin.  We couldn’t find you a link to Infiniter’s product page as we couldn’t find Infiniter online.  We did find a site selling laser pointers under that name, so maybe they manufacture this on the side.  Anyway, when we get a chance, we’ll check it out and let you know.

Two Tools for Faster, More Accurate Trim Work [Rockler]
7″ ProSite Miter Saw Protractor [Starrett]

(Tuesday, July 25, 2006) TLC’s making with the Foose tonight with two episodes of Overhaulin’ and a re-run of the Rides treatment of his “Impressions” build.  Might as well cruise on over to TLC and check it out.

All times are central.

Tonight:

• How It’s Made: Episode 12: Aluminum Screw Caps, Chocolate, Pills, Pasta (Discovery, 6 p.m.)
• Autobahn (National Geographic, 6 p.m.)
• How It’s Made: Episode 43: Conga Drums, Metal Plating, Buttons (Discovery, 6:30 p.m.)
• Classic Tractor Fever (RFDTV, 6:30 p.m.)
• Overhaulin’: LeMama’s Boy (TLC, 7 p.m.)
• Building the Ultimate: Road Warriors (Science Channel, 7 p.m.)
• Trading Spaces: Colorado: Stoneflower Drive (Discovery Home, 7 p.m.)
• MegaStructures: Ultimate Oil Rigs (National Geographic, 7 p.m.)
• Pinks: Civic vs. Mazda (Speed, 7:30 p.m.)
• Rides: Impressions (TLC, 8 p.m.)
• License to Grill: Nothing But Chicken (Discovery Home, 8 p.m.)
• Overhaulin’: Junk in the Trunk (TLC, 9 p.m.)
• MegaStructures: Ultimate Oil Rigs (National Geographic, 10 p.m.)
• Build or Bust: Kick Start John (Speed, 11 p.m.) 
• Overhaulin’: Junk in the Trunk (TLC, 11 p.m.)
• Pimp My Ride (MTV, 11:30 p.m.)
• Pimp My Ride (MTV, midnight)
• Unique Whips: Rayzah Burned (Speed, midnight)
• Pimp My Ride (MTV, 12:30 a.m.)

Our insomniac’s recommendation: Build or Bust at 4 a.m. on Speed or National Tractor Pulling at 2 a.m. on RFDTV.

We saw this in one of the Craftsman Club emailings this week and thought we’d pass it on: Craftsman’s put their 19.2V Drill/Driver/Impact Driver Combo Kit on sale for $99.99 — it’s normally $149.99 — for club members through July 29th.

They’re also offering a mail-in rebate for free shipping, but if you ask you can almost always pick up the tool directly at any Sears store almost instantaneously after placing your order.

We haven’t tried out the impact driver, but the 19.2V drill/driver is pretty slick.  We’ve got one in the shop.  There are much better drill/drivers out there, but — assuming you catch it on sale — this one offers a lot of bang for the buck.  420 ft-lb. of torque in a sub-$100 driver is nothing to laugh at.

We can’t provide a link because the link from the email provides, well, too much information.  But check your mail for the offer if you’re a club member, or sign up on the Sears site to get the deal anyway.

We’ve got a massive drawer full of pliers in the Toolmonger shop, including a good many tongue-in-groove pliers.  They’re particularly handy because they’re adjustable to fit even large items and the long handles let you get a good purchase on what you’re gripping.  (Ironically, it seems that in many cases a firmer grip, while still biting into the object more than a softer hold, actually does less damage because you’re less likely to slip/rotate and machine in gouges.)

When we tried out Irwin’s new Vise-Grip-branded GrooveLock pliers, we thought just what you’re probably thinking: Decent quality pliers are decent quality pliers, right?  We were thoroughly (and happily) surprised.  While the GrooveLocks fill the same role as a set of standard tongue-in-groove pliers, they function quite differently, and are significantly easier to use.  Read on to find out what’s so different about them and why you’ll want to own a set (or three).

Unboxing

The GrooveLocks come in a partial package so you can feel the nice molded rubber grips when you’re shelf-shopping.  They’re the same thermal plastic rubber (TPR) ProTouch grips shared with a number of other hand tools in the Vise-Grip lineup, and they make the tool very comfortable to hold in your hand.  The grips are larger than they seem in photos, and their molded shape is designed to encourage you to hold them in a way that keeps your fingers out from between the handles (where they can get pinched).

The majority of the tool is forged from chrome nickel steel and incorporates a black oxide finish.

The GrooveLocks’ most noticeable feature, though, is the ratcheting adjustment system.  Unlike standard tongue-in-groove pliers where you adjust them by moving the handles out and slipping the tongue in the groove, the GrooveLocks’ adjust with a button release.  To adjust the jaws, you simply push the button and slide them to the desired position.  They slide freely as long as the button is depressed, and lock into the closest groove when released.

It’s worth noting that the GrooveLocks grooves are much smaller than those you’re used to as they’ve been relieved of the additional machining required for a slip-adjustment mechanism.  In fact, the 12″ version we tested had 19 grooves — about twice as many as other similar pliers.  This means you can adjust the GrooveLocks much more accurately.

Irwin also touts their “metal injection molding” (MIM) metal forming process which is used to create the GrooveLocks’ internal mechanism.  They claim MIM gives them the ability to mold small and complex-shaped metal parts with improced surface finish, close porosity, and high final density.  What this means to you is that the GrooveLocks’ mechanism is quite strong and should last for quite a while.

GrooveLocks feature an “all-purpose” jaw that’s shaped to grip flat, square, and hex shapes more accurately than a simple curved-with-teeth design.

Read on to see how the GrooveLocks performed for us in everyday use.

(more…)

(Monday, July 24, 2006) Discovery’s really laying it on thick again tonight with How It’s Made, Biker Build-Off, American Chopper, and American Hot Rod all back-to-back tonight running from 6 all the way to midnight.

All times are central.

Tonight:

• How It’s Made: Episode 11: Plastic Bags, Solar Panels, Plastic Gasoline Containers, Hockey Sticks (Discovery, 6 p.m.)
• How It’s Made: Episode 32: Yogurt, Candles, Neon Signs, Book Bindings (Discovery, 6:30 p.m.)
• World Biker Build-Off: The Votes Are In (Discovery, 7 p.m.)
• Building the Ultimate: Tugboats: Moving the Monsters (Science Channel, 7 p.m.)
• Trading Spaces: Colorado: Andes Way (Discovery Home, 7 p.m.)
• Biker Build-Off: Kendall Johnson v. Eddie Trotta (Discovery, 8 p.m.)
• American Hot Rod: ‘40 Ford - Part 3 (Discovery, 9 p.m.)
• American Chopper: Leno Bike 2 (Discovery, 10 p.m.)
• American Chopper: Rick’s Bike 2 (Discovery, 11 p.m.)
• Harley-Davidson: Birth of the V-Rod (Science Channel, midnight)
• Unique Whips: Dump Trucks, Doctors & Denver (Speed, midnight)

Our insomniac’s recommendation: Used Cars (1980, Kurt Russell, Jack Warden) on Speed’s Lost Drive-In at 2:30 a.m. or Pimp My Ride from 2-3 a.m.

While we’ve been buying up any Mini-Bucks we find ever since Buck discontinued them, we’ve also been searching for a replacement for that sad day when the supply finally dries up completely.

(For those of you not familiar with the Mini-Buck, it’s a small folding pocket knife with a plastic handle that’s great for day-to-day carrying.  It’s durable and useful, yet very light and unobtrusive; It’s much less likely to get you dirty looks when you pull it out to cut open a package in the office, for example, than larger knives.)

Today we came across a knife by Gerber that might fit the bill: the Microloght LST.  It features a fiberglass-filled nylon handle and a high-carbon stainless steel blade, and best of all it’s just 3-3/4″ long, weighing just 4/10 of an ounce.  It even looks a bit like the Mini-Buck, with the same slightly-wedged utilitarian blade.

The Microlight LST’s available at the Gerber Store online for $10.95, though we saw it for just under $10 at Lowe’s.  The next time we’re in we’ll pick one up and let you know what we think.

Gerber also sells an Ultralight LST, which seems virtually identical except for being slightly larger at 4-3/4″ and 6/10 of an ounce.  It sells for $14.95 online.

The Microlight LST [Gerber]
The Microlight LST [The Gerber Store]
Street Pricing [Froogle]

The whole US is currently experiencing a massive heat wave, but we seem to be getting more than our fair share of it down here in Texas.  The heat in our shop’s been almost unbearable as the outdoor temps have rised to over 100 degrees F every day this week.  (We even hit 106 one day.)  We went in search of a way to take the hurt out of the heat and ended up trying out one of AdobeAir’s Mobile MasterCool series portable evaporative coolers.

Operational Theory 

All coolers work by transferring the energy from the hot air to somewhere else or converting it to some other less-annoying form.  In normal household A/C units, a coolant such as Freon is used in a closed system, sapping the energy from hot inlet air to evaporate the coolant, then releasing the heat outdoors as the coolant re-condenses.

Evaporative coolers — or “swamp” coolers as you may have heard them called — work on the basic principle of cooling by the evaporation of water.  Evaporative coolers are very simple machines.  They consist of a fan which draws hot inlet air through an “evaporative pad” — a piece of porous material which is constantly soaked with water via a pump and reservoir.  Energy is removed from the hot air as it evaporates the water.

As with all coolers, the heat must go somewhere.  Unlike closed-system Freon-based units where the heat is “moved” to another location, evaporative coolers simply blow out the resulting water vapor along with the cooled air.

This leads to the basic limitation of evaporative coolers: the source (inlet) air must be dry enough (low enough in humidity) to allow for evaporation.  If the water in the evaporative pad can’t evaporate, no cooling occurs. 

This means that the more humid the air is around the cooler, the less cooling it’ll provide.  If you live in a very humid area such as Florida or Houston, you’re going to see far less performance from an evaporative cooler than you will if you were to live in, say, Arizona.  It also means that you can’t use an evaporative cooler in a sealed-off environment.  As the cooler operates, it’ll continue to add humidity to the air until the air is too humid to allow evaporation — at which point it’ll cease to cool.

With this in mind, read on to take a look at the MasterCool MMB12 — one of AdobeAir’s mobile “spot” coolers.

(more…)

We’ve got a ton of spring clamps in the clamp drawer, but when we saw Bessey’s VarioClippix today it caught our attention.  It’s a spring clamp, but one jaw is adjustable, moving up and down a support bar that’s angled to keep the jaws parallel throughout the adjustable range.

Bessey also notes that unlike other spring clamps, the VarioClippix can clamp with varying force; By setting the jaw opening larger than the item to be clamped, you reduce the clamping force.

The VarioClippix has soft jaws to avoid marring your clamped object, and soft handles to go easier on your hands.  Street pricing starts around $10 for individual clips, and we found some 8-piece sets via Froogle for around $50.

The VarioClippix [Bessey Tools North America]
Street Pricing [Froogle]