Eastwood Co’s running a sale on their original Hotcoat powdercoating gut, knocking $25 of its standard $99 price to bring it down to $74.99.  If you’ve been considering jumping in and trying your hand at powdercoating, this might be a good way to give it a go.

There are a ton of inexpensive powdercoating guns on the market, but we’ve always thought Eastwood’s was one of the best — mainly because Eastwood has been selling products like these for years and we suspect they can handle the required customer support.  Of course, we’ve also always suspected that the gun isn’t the difficult part in getting started powdercoating; Don’t forget that you’re going to need an oven or heat light setup, which can make the price of the powdercoating gun seem small.

We’ve heard of people installing old household ovens as an inexpensive alternative to professional rigs, and we do know that Harbor Freight sells a small oven specifically for powdercoating.

If you have experience with this particular product — or any of the many, many knockoffs, drop us a line and let us know.

Original Hotcoat Powdercoating Gun [Eastwood Co.]

PS: If you’re interested, the page linked above features a video showing the gun in action.

If you’ve been spending all your time in the shop and haven’t had a chance to keep up with Toolmonger this last week — shame on you!  You might want to start with these posts:

Finds: Rubbermaid’s Trash Can Dolly
While it seems pretty pedestrian, the truth is: this trash can dolly’ll make your life easier.  Rather than dragging your full ‘can out to the pick up spot — wearing you out and wearing a hole in the bottom of the ‘can — you can just roll, baby, roll.  Commenters suggest some other benefits as well.

Finds: Crescent RapidSlide Adustable Wrenches
Here’s a great (and cheaper) alternative to the Black & Decker AutoWrench.  Instead of adjusting with a wheel, the RapidSlide uses a slider.  It’s still easy to operate quickly one-handed, but it doesn’t require batteries.

Finds: Upholstery Tool Kit
Why pay a fortune to have someone else install your next stereo when you can do it yourself?  We became connoisseurs of upholstery tools back when we were installing grab handles in the back of a Denail pickup.  All it takes is a few basic tools and you’re good to go. 

Finds: Mobile Max Model 2500
This portable saw table lets you convert your existing trusty 10″ table saw into one of the new-fangled portables.  It’s sturdy and looks to be easy to use as well.

Preview: Stanley Proto’s Jumbo Ratcheting Wrenches
Anyone who’s worked under their hood in the last few years’ll tell you: ratcheting wrenches rock.  But what happens once you break the 1″ barrier?  Leave it to Stanley Proto to offer up a set of humongo-large single-ended ratcheting wrenches to save the day.

We wrote about DeWalt’s other new portable compressor last week, and this one seems to be equally well designed, though larger — and more targeted more towards higher-CFM applications like auto body work as opposed to driving nailers and such.

It’s quick specs: 15 gallon capacity, 200 PSI max pressure, and a 78 dBA operational noise level.

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This little gem allows you to quickly attach the end of your chalk line to pretty much any point of any common building surface — as opposed to just the edges.  A three-position spike extends from the bottom to grip the material, holding the line in place.

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(Monday, October 23rd, 2006) It’s a good Monday — but mostly reruns: a new Biker Build-Off, a new Trains and Locomotives, and DIY tells us how to install a hardwood floor.

All times are central.

• Trains and Locomotives: “Railway Journeys, Part 4B.” Train chasing; “S” curves; pulling in at the yard. (RFD-TV, 5 p.m.)
• DIY Tools & Techniques: Bandsaw Maintenance and Viewer Jig (DIY, 5 p.m.)
• Flooring Wall to Wall: Installing a Hardwood Floor (DIY, 5:30 p.m.)
• American Chopper: Military Bike 2 (Discovery, 7 p.m.)
• American Hot Rod: ‘65 Mustang 3 (Discovery, 8 p.m.)
• Biker Build-Off: Brian Klock vs. Jason Hart (Discovery, 9 p.m.)
• Freeform Furniture: CD Storage System (DIY, 9 p.m.)
• American Chopper: Senior’s Vintage Project 1 (Discovery, 10 p.m.)
• American Chopper: Senior’s Vintage Project 2 (Discovery, 11 p.m.)
• Unique Whips: Blazing a Trail to NASCAR (Speed, 11 p.m.)

Our insomniac’s suggestions: Catch a rerun of Trains & Locomotives on RFD-TV and 1 a.m. or (of course) just watch Speed.

The Transformers theme song played in our heads when we saw this one: The Mobile Max Model 2500 is a full-sized table saw platform that converts to a wheeled portable dolly for your table saw. It doesn’t come equipped with dual plasma cannons, but it does make the trip from fully-set-up to transport mode in around 3 seconds.  More than meets the eye!

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(Sunday, October 22nd, 2006) Sunday is a hash of reruns: HGTV has Stress Test, which should be amusing if you’re the type who loves destruction.  It’s a good time to catch “Air Cylinder Rocket” if you missed it on Wednesday.  Besides bringing back some great A-Team memories, it offers a great lesson on why you want to use those caps on your cylinders when transporting them.  You do have your cylinders tied down, don’t you?

All times are central.

• MythBusters: Mega Movie Myths (Discovery, 5 p.m.)
• MythBusters: Crimes and Myth-demeanors 1 (Discovery, 6 p.m.)
• How It’s Made: Episode 4 (Science, 7 p.m.)
• How It’s Made: Episode 5 (Science, 7:30 p.m.)
• MythBusters: Air Cylinder Rocket (Discovery, 8 p.m.)
• Special Presentation: Stress Test (HGTV, 8 p.m.)
• Classic Tractor Specials (RFD-TV, 8 p.m.)
• Rock Solid: Concrete Countertop (DIY, 9 p.m.)
• Tricked Out: Mitsubishi 3000 GT: Custom Leather Interior (DIY, 9:30 p.m.)

Our insomniac’s suggestions: Chop Cut Rebuild (Speed, 1 a.m.).

Ever heard someone say, “If at first you don’t succeed, get bigger hammer?”  Well, if you don’t succeed the first couple times you start to get to a hammer like this. 

A pneumatic forging hammer is quite a serious piece of gear to have around the shop.  A unit like this on brings a falling weight of 165 lbs. to bear every time the hammer comes down, which in this case is an impressive 210 times per minute – or 3 times a second.  That’s faster than you can see with the untrained eye.

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Sears is offering some pretty decent discounts on some Craftsman tools and kits this weekend.  Don’t get too overly worried if you’re not ready to buy, though, as they generally run these types of sales almost every weekend through Christmas.

Some items that caught our attention:

• a 137-pc mechanics’ tool kit for $88 (normally $129.99)
• a 7-pc locking flex ratcheting wrench set, SAE, for $88 (normally $124.99)
• and a 237-pc mechanics’ tool kit for $188 (normally $269.99)

Good hunting…

All the cordless lately in tool releases sometimes overshadows some really cool innovations in corded tools and robs them of proper mention in tool news — like, for example, the Bladerunner circular saw with the Revolver system from Worx

Worx released the Revolver line of swivel grip tools in 2005; The most recent release in the line is their recip saw, which we reviewed quite positively a while back.  The Bladerunner bares the same 60 degree handle rotation that graces the recip, so we imagine it’d be quite useful as well.

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(Saturday, October 21st, 2006) You should be out in the shop turning wrenches and making chips and/or sparks, but DIY does have some good shows tonight when you’re cleaned up and ready to relax.

All times are central.

• G.I. Factory: Episode 1 (Military, 6 p.m.)
• MythBusters: Chicken Gun (Discovery, 7 p.m.)
• Freeform Furniture: Nesting Tables (DIY, 8 p.m.)
• Wood Works: Asian-Inspired Trestle Table (DIY, 8:30 p.m.)
• Handmade Music: Gruhn Guitar Restorations, Episode 2 (DIY, 9 p.m.)
• Woodturning Techniques: Candlesticks (DIY, 9:30 p.m.)

Our insomniac’s suggestions: Robot Rivals (DIY, 1 a.m.).

We’re always lugging our Rubbermaid Brute trash bin around the shop to get it out of the way of a project — or to carry it out to the big bin to empty it.  But since we ran across this at Lowe’s, we lug no more.  Now we roll, baby.

Sure, it’s a little over priced at $30, but if you move your ‘can around often, it’s a total lifesaver.  And why build one when you can have one that fits (a number of different sized Brute ‘cans) perfectly and does the job?  And come on: How often to you really buy trash cans anyway?

Note: Normally we like to avoid linking directly to a single seller, but in this case Froogle turned up a bunch of prices that were dramatically higher than Lowe’s, so this time we’re just going to link to them.  If you’d like to pick it up elsewhere, just drop it into Froogle for dozens of other retailers.

Rubbermaid 18″ Black Round Dolly [Lowe's]

Stanley Proto’s generated a few interesting new products in this last month or so, and this one particularly caught our eye.  Lots of companies are making ratcheting wrenches, but leave it to Proto — famous for their specialized aircraft and industrial tools — to make some of the biggest ones ones around:  These single-ended wrenches come in eight sizes ranging from 1-9/16″ to 2-1/8″ and are 15-1/2″ to 19″ long.

Kinda makes my little ratcheting combos look puny.

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Normally we shy away from Tim Allen quips, as we seem to have fallen squarely into his role on Tool Time — no, I’m not Al –  but in this case we can’t pass it up: Tim Allen would call this a 10.5 Amp, 450 rpm eggbeater, and then make manly noises.

Except that you’d need about 200 lbs. of eggs to give this eggbeater a workout. The EZR 21 S Dual-Paddle Mixer is made for some solid use.  No kidding – this thing mixes cement. 

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(Friday, October 20th, 2006) Wow — it’s not a bad Friday, with some Trick My Truck episodes that we can’t remember airing recently that could possibly be new.  (There’re also some other reruns, but we’ve definitely seen them a thousand times.)  Discovery Home brings the Diva and Holmes, and DIY has their excellent car shows and “metalworking” on Tools & Techniques.

All times are central.

• DIY Tools & Techniques: Metalworking (DIY, 5 p.m.)
• Trick My Truck: Armando Ozuna’s Low Rider (CMT, 6 p.m.)
• Trick My Truck: Mike Lopardo’s Inferno (CMT, 6:30 p.m.)
• Trick My Truck: Gregory and Patrick Baize’s Stealth (CMT, 7 p.m.)
• Dirty Jobs: Skull Cleaner (Discovery, 7 p.m.)
• Toolbelt Diva: Cabinet Addition (Home, 8 p.m.)
• Classic Car Restoration: 1962 Corvette Roadster: Engine Removal (DIY, 8 p.m.)
• Toolbelt Diva: Drywall 101 (Home, 8:30 p.m.)
• Classic Rides:  Walls, Air and Cabinets (DIY, 8:30 p.m.)
• How It’s Made 3: Episode 4 (Science, 9 p.m.)
• Holmes on Homes: Hell’s Kitchen (Home, 9 p.m.)
• How It’s Made 3: Episode 5 (Science, 9 p.m.)
• Holmes on Homes: Shower Stalled (Home, 9:30 p.m.)
• Tricked Out: Mitsubishi 3000 GT: Custom Leather Interior (DIY, 9:30 p.m.)

Our insomniac’s suggestions: Not much on late tonight…  Just check out the usual suspects.

Pimping your own ride? You’re not going to get far without doing some interior work.  A few weeks ago we found this out first hand when adding grab handles to a Denali. This “simple” mod required taking half the truck apart on the inside.  So if you’re going to be doing this kind of work, you’re going to need the right gear – like for instance a good set of upholstery tools. 

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A miter gauge is great for turning your table saw into a miter saw. The only issue can be the inaccuracy of the cuts when shifting or kickback occurs: a miter sled is a more stable way to go.  But the Miter Express takes the miter sled concept a bit further, giving you a stable zero-clearance platform for all kinds of angled cutting projects. 

Incra’s new Miter Express offers any miter gauge owner an extremely accurate cross-cutting and mitering platform.  The Express features two embedded T-Slot channels to secure the included hold down clamps and outboard fence support.  You can also employ the T-slots for mounting your own custom Jigs.

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