If you need to check drive pulleys to see if they’re out of alignment, one way to do it is to use the Gates Drive Align laser alignment tool.  It can show you if the drive pulleys are offset or angled with respect to each other.

Gates’ tool uses a 650nm (red) laser diode powered by a replaceable lithium battery which provides 20 hours of continuous use. It can be used on all automotive serpentine belt drives with four or more ribs.

The Drive Align Laser includes glasses that help you see the laser better, a bungee cord to secure the laser tool to the pulley, and an Allen wrench to align the light beam. The tool comes in a high-impact plastic carrying with space for the other accessories. Overall the Laser Drive Alignment Tool will run you at least $125.

Lazer Drive Align [Gates]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

GMP Tools manufactures pentagonal head bolts to secure manhole covers. That’s right, not square, not hex, but pentagonal — another case of security through obscurity. Of course, if you sell bolts with heads that have an odd number of sides you need to supply the corresponding tools to turn them, so they also sell two different sockets: one with a 7/16″ hex drive for impact tools, another with a 19mm hole which you can turn with a rod.

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Lee Valley offers 6 reprinted volumes of vintage Bull of the Woods cartoons. Drawn by J.R. Williams, the cartoons come from his real-life experiences working in an Ohio machine shop (several cartoons are shown in that link to a Popular Mechanics article). The cartoons highlight the hazing, injuries, management issues and other day-to-day hilarity found in the early 20th century machine shop. It’s excellent reading at the end of the day or while sneaking a rest behind the planer. The books serves as a history of sorts as well, showing machines that no longer exist in most machine shops and practices that only the most experienced old timer machinists know.

Bull of the Woods [Lee Valley]
Street Pricing [Google Products]

General’s new Cordless Power Precision Screwdriver is probably one of those tools you would not appreciate until you’ve had to remove or insert a shipload of teeny, tiny screws in electronics, computers, models, and similar equipment. With six precision 1/8″ quick-change chuck bits (#00 and #0 Phillips, 1/16″ and 1/8″ slotted, and T5 and T6 Torx) and batteries (two AAA) included, the $24 Model #500 weighs only 2.4 oz. Its 100+ RPM motor has forward and reverse controls.

Cordless Power Precision Screwdriver [General]
Street Pricing [Google Products]

(TV Tonight, Monday, August 31st, 2009) Monday and we get a new Top Gear that takes a drive through France.

All times are central

• Cool Stuff: How It Works (Science, 5:00 pm)
• Trains & Locomotives (RFD-TV, 5:00 pm)
• This Old House: Newton Project (DIY, 5:30 pm)
• Cool Stuff: How It Works (Science, 5:30 pm)
• Ask This Old House: Stone Countertops, Chain-Link Fence (DIY, 6:30 pm)
• Top Gear: Season 7 Ep. 3 (BBC America, 7:00 pm) NEW
• Top Gear: Season 7 Ep. 2 (BBC America, 7:30 pm)
• King of Dirt: Replacing a Beloved Tree (DIY, 8:30 pm)
• Rock Solid: Stone Furniture (DIY, 9:00 pm)
• How Do They Do It?: Amazing Sea Vehicles (Science, 9:00 pm)

(TV Tonight, Sunday, August 30th, 2009) No better night to head out to the shop.

All times are central

• Ax Men: The Reckoning, Part 2 (History, 5:00 pm)
• How It’s Made: Gypsum boards, garden tools, firefighter boots, automated machines (Science, 5:00 pm)
• How It’s Made: Plastic bottles, jars, mail, wooden pens (Science, 5:30 pm)
• Successful Farming Machinery Show (RFD-TV, 9:00 pm)

(TV Tonight, Saturday, August 29th, 2009) Enjoy a Dirty Jobs marathon and thank your lucky stars you have an easy job.

All times are central

• Dirty Jobs: Bridge Painter (Discovery, 5:00 pm)
• Prototype This!: Traffic-Busting Truck (Science, 5:00 pm)
• Dirty Jobs: Gourd Maker (Discovery, 6:00 pm)
• Prototype This!: Boxing Robots (Science, 6:00 pm)
• Weapon Masters: Greek Fire (Military, 6:00 pm)
• Dirty Jobs: Abandoned Mine Plugger (Discovery, 7:00 pm)
• Prototype This!: Six-Legged All Terrain Vehicle (Science, 7:00 pm)
• Dirty Jobs: Diaper Cleaner (Discovery, 8:00 pm)
• Smash Lab: Blast Proof Building (Science, 8:00 pm)
• Under Construction: Roof Is on Fire, Secretary to Hire (Discovery, 8:30 pm)
• Under Construction: Two Projects and a Baby (Discovery, 9:00 pm)
• Dirty Jobs: Sheep Castrator (Discovery, 9:00 pm)
• Smash Lab: Crash Absorbing Concrete (Science, 9:00 pm)
• Dirty Jobs: Abandoned Mine Plugger (Discovery, 10:00 pm)

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:

Budget Shop Truck Build, Part 4: A New Transmission
After a bit of a hiatus we resumed our search for a transmission for our shop truck project. We learned several things in the process, not the least of which is this: transmissions can be expensive.

Counter Bore For Auger Bits
If you need to recess a large bolt when building a deck or other outdoor project, it’s usually a two-step process. This is okay if you only have to hide a few bolts, but if you have to recess a ton of bolts it’d be easier to slide Makita’s counter bore over one of their industrial ship auger bits and do it in one step.

Bosch RN175 Roofing Nailer
Bosch added another gun to its Full Force line with the RN175 Roofing Nailer. Like other roofing nailers the RN175 features a coil-style cartridge and is smaller and more balanced than a framing gun might be.

SpeedPak Utility Knife
The companies that make new and improved utility knives must think that millions of dollars in labor are lost each year when workers stop to change blades. Either that or they just need to make a better profit margin on blades. Not to be left out, Clauss manufactured yet another “next generation” utility knife that uses a cartridge-based system to hold and replace blades.

Dap 3.0 — The Official Goo Of The 21st Century
If you’ve had to do any kind of home repair in your time you’ve most likely hand your hands on a Dap product at some point. Dap has been sealing and weatherproofing things for years and the folks over at Dap R&D have now rolled out Dap 3.0.

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.

Bessey’s Maxis VarioPivot clamping system extends the versatility of your bar clamps by attaching them to your bench, somewhat like the previously covered VersaClamp.  It works best with Bessey’s K-Body Clamps, but they claim the system works with other bar or pipe clamps too.

The two C-clamp-like ends attach to your bench top and capture any length of bar clamp between them. The clamps fit into rotating holders which can lock the bar clamp at any angle between 0 to 270°.  The holders rest in an L-shaped track, which allows you to position the bar clamp along the side of the bench or over the work surface.

The Maxis VarioPivot Clamping system comes with the two c-clamp ends and runs about $50. You’ll need to provide your own bar clamp.

Bessey Tools [Corporate Site]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

It’s a familiar scenario: you twist the lever to clean your windshield, and the fluid mostly misses the glass and goes up over the roof. Though it could be worse; you could be in a convertible. I don’t know how many vehicles still have fixed nozzles (the ones on my truck are mounted on the wipers), but if your vehicle does, you can use this windshield washer jet tool from Klann Tools to aim them.

You can use the tool on ball head or fixed nozzles. Just stick one of the needles into the nozzle and use the pen-like body to move it to the right position. If the nozzle is clogged, sticking the needle in will unclog it if you’re lucky. Both ends have screw on caps to protect the needles or your chest when you use the pocket clip to store the tool in your breast pocket.

Klann’s Windshield Washer Jet tool will run you about $6 before shipping. Whether it’s worth the money when you can probably do the same job with a straight pin is your decision.

Klann Tools [Corporate Site]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

TM has mentioned plastic calipers before — but I’ve had the General 141ME for at least a couple of years, and have found it especially handy lately while doing some volunteer work setting up a search-and-rescue (SAR) van. It’s only 4″ long, made of fiberglass-reinforced plastic, can measure up to 3″ inner or outer diameters with its caliper, and has both metric and English readings.

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“This’ll be a quick and easy post,” I thought. There I was out in the garage, preparing to cut a piece of angle iron. I put the metal-cutting blade in my reciprocating saw, clamped the angle iron in my trusty Workmate (the Deluxe Dual Height version, no less), grabbed my beat-up old tube of Johnson’s #140 Stik-Wax to lube the blade, and zipped right through. Then I paused and thought “I should write a post on #140 Stik-Wax.” Ah, how naive…

After more than a few minutes of web browsing, I discovered that SC Johnson sold their industrial division to British Petroleum’s Castrol division many years ago. Castrol is apparently packaging the same product in a similar, although different-colored, tube as shown above. If you can find a place to sell you a single tube rather than a whole case of 24, it’ll cost around $18.

While looking for #140 Stik-Wax information, I came across a few references to AnchorLube G-771, and people praising it for metalworking.

As a metalworking hack who does this kind of stuff infrequently, I think #140 Stik-Wax — or its equivalent — does a good job. For all you real metalworkers out there, what’s the insider’s solution to proper lubrication when amateurs are cutting, tapping, sawing, or drilling metal?

Castrol Stick Wax [National Supply]
Castrol Stick Wax [Anchor Chemical]

You would think that with my collection of purchased and inherited tools and overall tool hang-up, I would have at least seen one of these before. I have some old Craftsman double-ended ratchet wrenches that are dog-bone shaped, but this version is new to me; I don’t know how I overlooked this.

Sears has their DOG BONE wrench in both SAE and metric for $20 each. Thorsen seems to have an equivalent for $15, although their version does not have the all upper-case name.

This could either be super handy to have around, sparing you trips back and forth to the tool box to find the right socket — or the bone ends would get in the way left, right, and backwards.

Sears [Manufacturer's Site]
Street Pricing [Google Products]

Wax can make any wood project look so much better — some kind of wax should be in everyone’s wood shop. Woodcraft has the 200ml 7 oz. can of Renaissance Wax for $19.99. That’s not bad for high-end product.

Formulated originally for the British Museum, it seems that Renaissance Wax has found use in finishing and refinishing any wood, leather, or metal item where a wax finish is appropriate. We’d love to hear what people who use it think of it compared to regular old wax products.

Renaissance Wax [Woodcraft.com]

(TV Tonight, Friday, August 28th, 2009) There’s a new Catch It Keep It tonight; we’re not sure what an open air cinema is, but we’re assuming it’s one of the precious few drive-ins left in this country.

All times are central

• Cool Tools: Military (DIY, 5:00 pm)
• Holmes on Homes: Pasadena 911 (HGTV, 5:00 pm)
• Cool Stuff: How It Works (Science, 5:00 pm)
• Extreme Mega Factories (Travel, 5:00 pm)
• This Old House: Newton Project (DIY, 5:30 pm)
• How Do They Do It?: Speeding Car, Water Display, White Wash (Science, 6:00 pm)
• Ask This Old House: Energy Efficiency, Replacing a Toilet Seat (DIY, 6:30 pm)
• How Do They Do It?: Cruise Liner, Satellite, Suspension Bridge (Science, 6:30 pm)
• Modern Marvels: World’s Sharpest (History, 7:00 pm)
• Top Gear (BBC America, 7:00 pm)
• MythBusters: Blind Driving (Discovery, 7:00 pm)
• How It’s Made: Fire extinguishers, doughnuts, shock absorbers, banjos (Science, 7:00 pm)
• How It’s Made: Dress forms, boat propellers, duvets, faucets (Science, 7:30 pm)
• Motorheads (History, 8:00 pm)
• How It’s Made: Ropes, billiard tables, sailboards, cymbals (Science, 8:00 pm)
• How It’s Made: Bowling balls, barber poles, felt, radar guns (Science, 8:30 pm)
• Catch It Keep It: Steel Blockbuster (Science, 9:00 pm) NEW

A trained professional would use the Mighty Probe from T&T Tools to try to find buried lines without ripping up half the yard. After de-energizing the lines, they’d keep sticking the probe into the ground where they thought the line was buried until they hit it, or until they give up and get the shovels.

If a pro ever contacted an energized line, the Mighty Stick provides up to 50,000V protection from shock. That’s because six inches of high-strength reinforced composite insulates the 11″ vinyl-covered solid-steel handle from the probe.

Three different shaft types, 3/8″ round, 3/8″ hex, and 7/16″ hex for the Mighty Probe are available in many different lengths. The shafts and tip are threaded for easy replacement. The tip is special alloy steel which has been heat-treated and has tapered edges for easy penetration and withdrawal.

As stated there are many configurations for the probe, and the retailers are a little sparse on specifics, but it looks like a 48″ Mighty Probe runs about $90. But don’t get any wild ideas — go call the dig line.

Mighty Probe [T&T Tools]
Street Pricing [Google Products]

I can’t say I’m 100% sure on how these rotating gate valve lockouts from Master Lock are intended to be used, but I’m guessing one possible use is to prevent somebody from turning the water — especially if it’s heated to steam — back on when you’re working on a plumbing project across the building. If lock-out tag-out works for electricians, why not for plumbers?

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