Who needs a Rotozip, when your cordless drill will work just as well? Grizzly’s Beaver saw-drill can cut a starting hole with its tip and rip through material with its tooth-covered shank. Chuck this bit up into any drill with a 1/4″ chuck or larger, and you’re ready to cut drywall, paneling, and a slew of other materials

For drilling the initial pilot hole, the first 5/8″ of the Beaver saw-drill’s tip resembles a common, 135°, split-point drill bit. The saw portion — with 90 sharp, side-cutting teeth — makes up the next 1-3/4″. For faster cutting and longer life, both the drilling and cutting portions are precision-ground and coated with titanium nitride. Grizzly makes the entire bit from M2 high-speed steel.

Made in USA, the Beaver saw drill will only run you $4 at Amazon — a heck of a lot cheaper than a Rotozip, and one less power tool to lug around.

Beaver Saw-Drill [Grizzly]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

Setting router bits to the correct height takes patience and plenty of test scrap pieces. To aid in this process, Sommerfeld Tools recently released two Easy-Set (EZSET) gauges: a red one with eight different Freud profiles, and a yellow version with eight different Sommerfeld profiles.

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How do you make tambour doors — you know, the rolling doors in roll-top desks and appliance garages?  You could glue the slats to a cloth backing, then fish a wire through every slat to hold the tambour door together, or you could use Amana’s new bit set. With Lonnie Bird’s three carbide-tipped tambour/appliance garage door bits, you can create uniquely shaped slats that interlock.

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Whiteside Machine combines a flush trim bit and a template bit into one router bit, saving you money, time, and confusion. The two ball bearings — one on the tip and one on the shank — allow you to use this bit for cutting out templates and patterns, as well as for flush-trimming laminates and edgings.

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Amazon is selling this 38-piece impact-ready accessory set for $24 — you’ll have to throw something else in your cart to get the free shipping. The set includes eight #2 Phillips 1″ insert bits, eight #2 Phillips 1″ reduced-diameter insert bits for drywall, five #2 Phillips 2″ black oxide power bits, eight #2 Phillips 1″ double-ended bit tips, a 1/4″ nut driver, a 5/16″ nut driver, a 3/8″ socket adapter, a pivoting bit tip holder, and a 3″ stainless steel bit tip holder with a hog ring. You also get 3/8″ drive sockets in a variety of depths — 9/16″, 3/8″, 7/16″, and 1/2″ deep.

Impact Driver Set [DeWalt]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]
Street Pricing [Google Products]

The unusual-looking profile of Megapro’s DoubleLok bits allows them to engage the locking mechanism in quick-change chucks, like those found on the pocket lithium screwdrivers that’re becoming so popular. The bits also feature a spring-loaded ball in the middle, which holds them into manual screwdrivers that take regular double-ended bits.

Here’s the great part: Megapro makes a whole pile of different bits, from the full gamut of straight and Phillips sizes, to tamper-resistant Torx and spanner bits, to specialty stuff like Schrader valve core removers and clutch bits. Curiously, not all of them feature the DoubleLoc design. Still, if you’ve been hunting for a double-ended security Torx bit to complete your portable toolkit, give Megapro a look.

Megapro [Corporate Site]
Megapro Products [Grainger]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]
Street Pricing [Google Products]

Meet the new 18V 1/2″ LXT lithium-ion hammer drill/driver kit from Makita. I know, I want one too. This baby’s four-pole torque motor delivers up to 560 in-lbs of torque, which is a lot of power considering the Makita is only 9-7/8″ in length and 4.9 lbs. It drives in three speeds, and with Makita’s shift-lock system you can quickly shift it from hammer into driver mode.

The lithum-ion battery gives the tool a longer running time with 5x lower self-discharge; the battery also sports 16 firm-holding contact terminals for constant high-power output. The fan-cooled charger can charge the battery in 45 minutes and has three active controls for current, heat, and voltage, to optimize the charging capacity of the battery.

The tool comes in a carrying case and includes two batteries, a charger, screwdriver bits, and Makita’s standard three-year warranty on the tool and one year on the battery. The lowest price I found was $266 over at Tool Plus.

BHP451 [Makita]
Makita BHP451 Kit [Tool Plus]
Street Pricing [Google Products]

Although there are a lot of ‘pros’ for hole saws, a few ‘cons’ also stand out: the limited variety of sizes, and the high cost of collecting them. The next time you need to drill a 1-9/16“ hole, you can look into Vermont American’s solution — an adjustable hole saw.

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You don’t always have enough clearance to drill a hole or drive a screw where you need it. Maybe an obstruction blocks the hole, or the combination of drill and bit just won’t fit, as with closely spaced studs. At times like these a tool like Fuller’s flexible extension could come in handy.

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So you twisted the head off a brass wood screw — bummer. If you try to back out the remaining screw with a reverse-thread screw extractor, you may just deform the soft brass rather than remove it.  And if you grab the broken screw with pliers, you could end up doing more damage. It might be time to try these broken screw extractors from WoodCraft.

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These days everything ratchets: screwdrivers, box end wrenches, adjustable wrenches, hex key sets — so why not bring your old drill press or power drill into the 21st century with a ratcheting chuck key from Ratchkey? If you’ve ever pinched or skinned your fingers trying to use an original chuck key, or had problems loosening the chuck to remove a bit, you’ll appreciate Ratchkey’s design.

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Your Yankee screwdriver sits in the drawer collecting dust. You’d use it more, but it’s missing most of the special bits. Buying a new one is expensive, and so is buying the bits — if you can actually find someplace that sells them separately. There’s another option: head on over to Lee Valley Tools and spend $6 to make your Yankee screwdriver more versatile than ever with a hex adapter.

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When drilling to a set depth, collar-type drill stops — think donuts — provide a less-than-ideal solution. Since they’re metal, they may damage the drill bit or mar the work surface. What’s more, you need one for just about every drill bit size, and when it’s time to use or adjust them, you have to find the right size Allen wrench. Recently I stumbled across something that may replace the metal, collar-style stop in my toolbox: adjustable plastic drill stops.

Made from brightly colored, high-impact plastic, you can spot these drill stops easily in your toolbox or drawer. They come in sets of two: the smaller one fits bits sized 1/16″ to 1/4″, and the larger fits bits sized 1/4″ to 1/2″. You simply twist the threaded sleeve around the internal double-ended collet to lock it at the desired depth.

At $5 to $6 a pair, are these stops the slickest invention since sliced bread, or worthless pieces of plastic? Tell us what you think in comments.

Street Pricing [Google Products]
Plastic Drill Stops [Lee Valley]
Plastic Drill Stops [Woodcraft]

The Dust Bubble disposable dust collector adheres to walls and other surfaces for a quicker and easier post-drilling cleanup. The Dust Bubble also cuts down on preparation time because it eliminates the need to remove or protect furniture and other belongings in the vicinity of the to-be-drilled zone. Stick it. Drill it. Bin it. The days of holding a drill with one hand and a vacuum with the other are over!

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Drilling holes in ceilings really, really sucks — dust gets in your eyes, which both stings and makes it difficult to see what you’re doing. You could wear uncomfortable chemical safety goggles or a whole face shield — or you could try Hole Pro’s solution: the Power X series twin blade hole cutters.

A high-impact ABS plastic shield encompasses the hole saw to capture all the dust and debris. Not only does it capture dust and debris when you’re drilling above your head, it also makes cleanup a snap when drilling into walls. (more…)

You’re trying to pull some wire through a hole with wire from a previous installation, but the hole just isn’t large enough. How the heck do you enlarge the hole without pushing the wire back through and losing it in the wall? The Rebore-Zit comes to the rescue. From the makers of the previously posted Base-Boar-Zit and other various -Zit products, the Rebore-Zit’s free-spinning swivel-eyelet allows you to keep the wire attached to the drill bit while you ream out the hole. (more…)

Pulling wire, whether it be for speakers, cable, or network, can be a pain in the ass — any tool that makes this job quicker and easier deserves a look. Labor Saving Devices designed the Base-Boar-Zit to drill a hole through the baseboard below the carpet line. The hole then curves upward into the center of the floor plate and into the wall cavity to provide an invisible and professional installation. (more…)