Often the simplest designs are the best, and the Pak-Lite is about as simple as lights get: it’s a tiny package of circuitry and two LED lights that snaps to the top of a standard 9V battery to form an extremely useful little flashlight — perfect for when your giant sewer-pipe of a light won’t fit.
Aptly named after American inventor Thomas Edison, the Edison Project is Craftsmans answer to other tool companies’ more active means of finding new ideas for hand tools, power tools or garden tools. They want you to bring your ideas right to them!
In my Lowe’s weekly circular I found this Dewalt DC940KA 12V XRP Drill/Driver Kit marked all the way down to $99. Weighing five pounds, this heavy duty drill features a 1/2″ ratcheting metal chuck and an all-metal 3-speed transmission. The kit includes the drill, two 12V XRP batteries, a one hour charger, and a heavy duty carrying case. Lowes is offering this price both in stores and online until Sept. 30th.
Dewalt DC940KA 12V Drill [Manufacturer]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon
This kit was designed for those in earthquake prone areas who find that after even the most minimal tremor, their wall-mounted picture and poster frames are in need of some re-alignment. (Hell, I’m always straightening out my collection of prints, and I don’t even live in California.) With the kit’s magnetic insertion tool, you attach tiny double-ended nails to the back of the frame. Then you press the nailed frame into the wall once it’s level. This holds the frame in place – even during an earthquake.
If you spend any real time getting greasy in the shop — like I do — this is an essential tool. Ryder Fleet Products is currently offering this one-gallon container of Gojo hand cleaner for $9.45. (Shipping runs around $7 as it’s heavy.) You get a one-gallon pump dispenser with a removable nail brush, and Gojo works well on most industrial oil and grease.
Orange Hand Cleaner [GOJO]
One-Gallon of Gojo [Ryder Fleet Products]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
(Thursday, September 20th, 2007) Tonight: new episodes of Boneyard and American Hot Rod. We saw some of the pics of Boyd’s motorhome stuck on the salt flats a few weeks ago, and we got a mighty chuckle out of it.
All times are central.
Enjoy.
Remember old-school Toolmonger that was all young, dumb and full of… vigor? So do we. Check out what we were discussing a year ago this week:
Of course, you don’t have to wait for us to call out these great old posts. Try plugging your areas of interest into TM’s search engine to turn up hours of old-school TM fun. See you next week.
Not content with a Nighthawk that’d been left outside long enough to rot and peel, TM reader and photo pool member tncook took on the project of bringing it back to life. He writes: “I replaced everything but the seat. The thwart, grab handles, seat drops, hole plugs, and small inserts in the ends are walnut. The gunwales and seat are ash. All the wood is finished with thinned pure tung oil.”
Thanks for sharing — and inspiring us — and enjoy your set of free work gloves.
And if any of you other Toolmongers out there have a cool recent project — or just want to show us your shop or latest tool unboxing — add just sign up with Flickr and add your photos to the pool. We’ll keep an eye out and slip our favorites some free gloves every now and then — until we run out. (And right now, that’s a way off.)
Toolmonger’s Photo Pool [Flickr]
I posted this a few days ago over on FullOnCustom, but apparently the car guys aren’t into work trucks. Here’s the deal: the exhaust system on my F150 — yep, the one in which we replaced the heater core a while back — is fine, but the chrome tips someone installed before I got it are so rusted through that they’re about to fall off. I’m happy with the exhaust system, so I just want to have some new tips tacked on.
What should I expect to pay for them, and do any of you have recommendations as to sources? Let me know, if you would, in comments — here or on FullOnCustom.
Note: Yeah, that’s a stock photo. My F150 is a ‘97 three-door with a camper shell — like I said, a work truck.
Reader Question: What Exhaust Tips For an F150 Work Truck? [FullOnCustom]
The Milwaukee 4208-1 Adjustable Position Electromagnetic Drill Press sounds like something NASA would use, doesn’t it? That’s not too far off the mark. It’s essentially a drill press with a magnetic base, allowing you to take the press to the work when you can’t bring the work to the press — perfect for drilling accurate holes into heavy ferrous metal surfaces.
Not much will stop Stihl’s top-of-the-line cut-off saw, the Cutquik TS800. With a 6.7 hp gas engine and a 16″ cutting wheel, it’ll chew through six inches of stone, masonry, steel reinforced concrete, or a Jersey barrier on I35 — probably. Encased in a lightweight polymer housing, it weighs just 28lbs. By incorporating vibration control into a well balanced design, Stihl reduces operator fatigue and makes the TS800 handle like a smaller saw.
Basic voltage and current measurements from a simple multimeter are adequate for DC electronics work, but when you deal with inductors, an LCR (inductance, capacitance, resistance) meter becomes essential. Siborg’s new Smart Tweezers combine an ergonomic design with a great feature set, targeted squarely at the surfacemount market.
Here’s a deal for all you Gerber knife fans: over at Amazon they’re offering this Gerber 22-47188 Paraframe II and Mini-Paraframe lockback knife set for $25 — with free shipping. The set includes the Paraframe II (3-1/2″ blade) and Mini-Paraframe (2-1/4″ blade), both equipped for single-handed opening. Both knives have stainless-steel handles, and are lightweight at 4.1 ounces and 1.4 ounces, respectively, with a 1-year limited warranty.
Paraframe [Gerber]
Via Amazon
Street Pricing [Google Products]
(Wednesday, September 19th, 2007) In spite of all the new Mythbuster’s ads, we don’t get a new episode tonight. We do, however, get a new Build it Bigger and Modern Marvels tonight — if you care about batteries or Donald Trump.
All times are central.
Enjoy.
You’ve got to watch closely to see it, but keep an eye out throught the left-hand garage door around the 0:16 mark in the video — you’ll see a contractor dump his wheel, tipping over it for a fall.
The good news: in comments we discover that the guy’s OK, if maybe a little ego-bruised.
And if you’ve got a cool Doh! moment you’d like to share — it’s cathartic, really — drop us a line.
As routers have become more powerful, woodworkers have begun using them to perform tasks they could previously accomplish only using a shaper with larger bits. But the cutters of larger bits must turn at slower speeds since they move faster with respect to the wood. Thankfully many new routers include a speed control, but if you’re trusty old one doesn’t, you might want to consider picking up a router speed control — like Grizzly’s G3555.
As we continue giving away gloves to some of the Toolmongers who’ve posted their latest projects, let me call your attention to our next winner: TM reader and photo pool member bmcmullen77, who’s almost done with this incredible slate installation job.
This post particularly inspired me, as I’ve been thinking about installing some Pavestone in my back yard for a while. I’m really tired of trudging through grass to get from my porch to my driveway, but I’ve been putting it off. If he can install something this nice, I should totally be able to get off my ass and do some Pavestone.
Anyway, great job on the slate, and we’ll send you a set of work glove which will hopefully protect your hands during your next project.
And keep posting the great projects and shop photos! We’ll continue giving away gloves every so often until we run out — which might take a while.
Toolmonger’s Photo Pool [Flickr]
www.flickr.com
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