While doing the yearly maintenance on your lawnmower like a good Toolmonger, you pull the spark plug and discover it’s covered in crud. While replacing the plug is a fine idea, you might save a little dough and a trip to the store by cleaning it and using it for another year. And though you could clean the plug with a little elbow grease, why do it the hard way when this cheap-ass pneumatic spark plug cleaner’ll do the job for you?

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The nail gun revolutionized carpentry, but at the expense of tying the carpenter to a stationary compressor. Companies have devised some ingenious solutions to this problem — but battery-powered or battery-and-gas-powered nail guns can be heavy, awkward, and costly; and CO2-powered belt packs can only drive so many nails before you have to buy a new canister. Palmgren devised another solution: a portable, tank-less compressor that weighs just 6.6 lbs including the battery, so you can carry it easily over the shoulder or around the waist.

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These aren’t my X-rays, but last night, while working with my Craftsman nail gun, I had the pleasure of shooting a 2″ nail into my thumb. The nail passed cleanly through without doing any real harm. On the positive side, I came up with a new combination of swear words, I now have a great deal more respect for air tools — and I’ve started taking safety a little more seriously.

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What do you get when you cross a cat’s paw with an air chisel? The NailOut. Powered by compressed air, the NailOut drives the claw underneath the nail and removes it up to ten times faster than an ordinary cat’s paw. To get the full effect you need to check out the video here.

The NailOut connects to your compressor with a standard 1/4″ inlet and draws up to 4 CFM to deliver 4,600 blows per minute. If you need to remove 200 nails in a hurry, this is the tool for you. Check out the NailOut on Amazon for $150.

NailOut [Official Site]
VIa Amazon [What’s This?]

Bending over or working on your knees with your nail gun can be tough on your body, especially when you do it every day. Wouldn’t it be nice to drive nails while standing up? Sure Drive’s pneumatic Nail Gun Extension lets you operate almost any nail gun with a handle and a trigger from a standing position.

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Campbell Hausfeld is recalling several compressor models after 11 fires were reported. The recalled compressors pose a fire hazard due to improper motor coverings that can ignite during use. The affected products include certain Campbell Hausfeld and Husky compressors sold between July 2005 and November 2007.

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Archimedes said something like, “Give me a lever big enough, and I’ll move the world.” I’m fairly certain the same general idea applies to Matjack’s low-pressure, high-lift bags — at only 8 PSI they can lift one and a half tons or jack up three ton vehicles. Applications include everything from off-road 4X4 lifting to search and rescue.

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With the right attachment, Paratech’s Airgun 40SC can punch through concrete, smash locks, and cut through metal at a rate of 600 blows/minute. That’s pretty damn cool. But what’s even cooler? It’s portable – perfect for forced entry in firefighting.

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If you’re looking for a small, high-powered air compressor for your vehicle, I highly recommend the Master Flow. I picked one up a while back, but finally got around to using it this morning to inflate a flat tire at 6 a.m. in the rain — and I was very impressed. 

The Tsunami is powered by a 1/3 HP oil-less motor that delivers a maximum of 150 psi and features a built-in serviceable air filter. Its large gauge makes it easy to read — like, say, from inside a warm car — and the compressor connects to your car battery with alligator clip connectors. Or, you can permantently mount it and wired it in directly. It comes in a carrying case with 16′ of coiled hose and an easy-twist screw-on brass inflator nozzle. 

And I paid considerable more than the $49  — with free shipping, too, dammit — that Amazon wants for it now.

Master Flow 1050 [Q Industries]
Via Amazon [What’s this?]
Street Pricing [Google Products]

Ingersoll-Rand’s workhorse rock drill is mean. It can drill a 2″ wide hole up to 18” deep into solid rock — perfect for when the s#!$ you need to break is made of stone. And just think how cool you’ll look weilding it!

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Building codes across the country are now requiring more and more metal connectors (joist hangers, hurricane ties, etc). In order for a connector to meet code in most places, you need to have a nail in every hole available. This meant a lot of hammering, because you couldn’t just use a pneumatic nailer — until now. Stanley Bostitch’s StrapShot pneumatic nail gun actually exposes the tip of the nail, so you can place it right in the hole in the metal connector. Pull the trigger, and move on to the next nail.
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That old axiom that you can never have too many clamps in your shop? It’s true. And it’s time to add one more: the V-Clamp connects to your shop air supply to produce up to 330 pounds of holding force. It works on non-porous materials by creating a vacuum between itself and the work piece, and it can hold your work piece vertically, horizontally, or even upside down. And because it clamps to the bottom, the V-Clamp won’t get in the way when you’re working on the top and sides.

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So your humidity indicator says there’s moisture present in your air source. Now Once you’ve identified it, you need to remove it don’t you? DeVilbiss has you covered there, too. Their desiccant snake installs in-line — just like the indicator — and will remove the humidity. It also has built-in dirt and oil aerosol filters as well. And it’s compatible with HVLP and conventional systems.

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Whether you’re applying a finish to an old rod you’re restoring, or spraying some poly on a newly-built cocobolo desk, humidity in your air lines is a huge liability; it can ruin and otherwise flawless execution. Like a pregnancy test for your compressor, DeVilbiss’s humidity indicator changes color to indicate the presence of moisture — so you can take action before attempting a one-chance-only finishing process.

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Hilltop Design, an engineering firm in New Hampshire, has a 21st-century solution for moving around big shop equipment: the hoverpad. Instead of hoping your sorry-ass friends will show up and your dolly and steel toes will make it through one more move without injury, you can use hover technology to get the job done quickly and safely.

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I found a new site today called Today’s Concepts, and they’re currently offering this DeWalt heavy-duty brad nailer, stapler, and compressor combo kit for $215.  The kit includes a 2.0 SCFM/90 PSI pump, a 2.0 gallon tank compressor, DeWalt’s D51420K stapler, and their D51236K nailer — all with a 3-year warranty.

D55141BNS Combo Kit [DeWalt]
DeWalt Compressor Combo Kit [Todays Concepts]
Street Pricing [Google Product]

Over at Amazon this DeWalt D51238K 5/8″ to 2″ 18-Gauge brad nailer is $65 right now.  Features include: 360-degree exhaust, 110 nail capacity, four position vertical slide, low-nail reload indictor, and tool-free jam clearing.  Oh yeah, it also comes with safety glasses and carrying case.  Note: a couple of different vendors offer this tool reconditioned for $5 less through Amazons “New & Used.”

D51238K Nailer [DeWalt]
Via Amazon [What’s this?]
Street Pricing [Google Products]