The last time we rattlecan’d something in the shop, we tried to minimize the overspray by creating a “tent” around the paint area.  The bottom line: our tent sucked and we not only had to clean up overspray, we also had to clean up the tent. This looks like a quicker and more secure way to put up a plastic wall for a messy project. 

ZipWall’s barrier system consists of telescoping, twist-locking poles available in both twelve and twenty foot lengths.  The system locks the “screening” material (ordinary plastic sheeting, light canvas tarp, or drop cloth) firmly against the ceiling, creating a reasonably tight barrier.  Once in place, just lift and tuck the screening material under the pole to create a tight barrier from top to bottom — ready for you to make whatever mess you’ve got planned inside.

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What’s better than having a bike in the garage?  Having enough room in there for another one. The Wheel Dock holds your motorcycle upright by the front wheel without leaning it over — gaining you that little bit of space that might make the difference between having a bike, and having a couple of bikes.  Sweet.

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Roscoe writes: “This is the only valve that I’ve found which allows you to spray soap concentrate at high pressure through any pressure washer with any wand or tip.  It turns an affordable pressure washer from the home center into a machine that feels like the wand at the car wash.  Every pressure washer manufacturer should include this with their unit.”

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Griot’s Garage carries some pretty cool stuff, and we’ve purchased car cleaning supplies from them before.  But when they sent us notice of their new power tools — specifically the random orbital polisher — we didn’t see anything particularly special about it.  Then we noticed that it has a cool feature: a speed control.

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You’ve gotta love the way Ryobi’s adding everything but the kitchen sink to their 18V One+ line, including this new wet/dry canister vac.  What a great idea!  We’ve got a humongo-big wet/dry, but it’s a PITA to drag out just to clean up the car or pick up a small spill.  This looks great for that kind of thing, and if you’ve already bought into the One+ system via one of Ryobi’s low-price combo kit deals, you’re good to go.

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Sometimes the strap wrench seems like that third fork at a formal dinner setting – you know it needs to be there, but you’re not sure why.  Strap wrenches are pretty darn useful around the shop (and house); We actually feel a bit remiss having not mentioned one earlier.  Heck, almost everyone we know who actually owns a strap wrench can regale you with at least one story of how they were completely and utterly boned before this little wrench saved the project from a trip to the sledge hammer derby. 

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Think you’re not going to drop a bolt on the inside of an engine bay eventually?  That’s about like betting the next pull of a one-armed-bandit will come up all cherries – unlikely.  Why not forego the betting and instead stock up on some tools that’ll help get you out of a bind.  As we’ve mentioned before, a magnet can help. 

The Monster Swivel Magnet can defiantly help save the day when a wayward bolt runs off down a crevice of the engine.  With a 10 lb. lifting capacity, it might also help if you need to pull the Tin Man through a keyhole.

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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]

Here’s an interesting idea: a Dustbuster-style vac with a ten position pivoting nozzle to make it easier to fit into tight spaces and to improve accessibility in high and low places.  Even if you have a shop vacuum, sometimes these little vacs are just the thing to pick up small amounts of sawdust from a quick single cut. 

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With all the battery/charging systems out on the market today the shelf starts to look like a small electrical city of red and green blinking lights.  (And if you think your shop’s bad, you should see our test bench!)  Each tool with its own battery system and respective charger makes placing a new charger on the shelf the beginning of a load vs. structural stability calculation.  Black & Decker is among the first to at least try and address some of these issues with the FSMVC 9.6v - 18v Multi Voltage Fast Charger. 

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If Paul Bunyan had a bread twisty tie, this would be it.  KwikTwist is an industrial size twist tie able to hold (so they claim) up to 100 lbs.  That’s not too bad for something that looks like a big bendy straw.

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After dragging a standard drain tank around underneath a project car for the last week or two, this product looks pretty sweet: It’s a low-profile rolling tank (only 9-1/2″ high) that catches 17 gallons of oil (or other fluids like antifreeze), can be pulled around the shop by the attached T-handle, and includes an electric pump for simple drainage.

Think about it: You can just roll this baby under the car, dump a crapton of antifreeze in it, then use the included pump to return the refuse to the new fluid’s containers when you’re done. 

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So there you are on the side of the road at two-in-the-morning, your once glorious, well-lit 4-wheeled steed now a lame mule ready to be put out to the pasture beside you.  Well, it might be a pasture.  If only you had a flashlight.  Oh yeah, did you bring tools with you? 

Ah, but you simply smile as you remember your spiffy “more than meets the eye” Achiever REM14250 Utility Flashlight with Tool Kit by Remington.  Or, “a flashlight with a built in tool kit,” as we laymen like to call it.

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Develpoed for race engine troubleshooting, the Provision Eagle is based on fiber optic technology and uses a long cable to view hard reach and sometimes impossible to see areas.

The concept is much the same as the scopes that doctors use to look inside a patient, except the cable is surrounded by a stainless steel armored shaft and has a machined-aluminum lighted lens tip to protect it against heat and harmful chemicals such as motor oil. The ProVision will fit into holes as small as 1/4 inch diameter, allowing you to look behind walls, down into drains, or even inside engines without costly demolition or disassembly.

The system is powered by 2 “AA” Lithium Batteries and sports a street price of around $225 (with some careful shopping).  That’s not super cheap, but then again it’s something that you just couldn’t even put your hands on for under a grand just a bit ago. 

We’re thinking about making the investment in one of these ourselves.  How handy would it be to be able to stick this through a spark plug hole and see what’s going on inside a cylinder?  Or how about seeing what’s actually stuck in the drain?  We can think of dozens of applications, and based on the response to our post on mirrors the other day, we bet you can, too.

The Elite ”Eagle” Fiber Optic Scope [Provision]
Street Pricing [Froogle]

D’you ever wish you had an extra set of eyes on the tip of your wrench?  Well, for those of you who aren’t X-Men, a telescoping mirror’s probably the next best thing.

Telescoping mirrors are by no stretch of the imagination a new thing, but we’ve run into quite a few people who don’t keep one in the toolbox.  Shame on you.  These can be a life saver if you can’t see what you’re trying to grasp or otherwise get to. 

Recently we were attempting to remove a lock ring from a water pump — damn Porsche to hell for putting the thermostat there, pointing downward of all ways – and just couldn’t get the right view and still see where our pliers were positioned without a mirror.  The concept’s pretty simple — it’s just an adjustable mirror on a telescoping bar handle.  Slide the mirror into place and adjust as necessary to see an object at the correct angle for the task at hand.

Available in almost any shape and size with street pricing starting around $2, you can pick one up in a multitude of places both on the web and in your favorite brick and mortar establishment. 

Pick one up and throw it in the drawer, you won’t be sorry down the road.

Mirrors-On-A-Stick [Froogle]

Whether you admit it or not, we know that you know what we’re talking about – that brief second where things all go wrong and that little bit of metal something falls into a space that by all calculations it shouldn’t have been possible for it to fall in.  Yet there you are jamming your fingers down a hole altogether to small for them, trying to reach that little whatsit.

Hasn’t happened to you yet?  You’re not trying hard enough.  For those unhappy occasions, it’ll help to have a flexible grabber.  The design is simple yet effective;  Just slide the grabber end into the offending space.  Once you’ve found your target, push the claw open by squeezing the handles together and then release them and pull the wayward object free.

Grabbers come in varied sizes and can be found for a few dollars on the net or at your local auto center.  The one pictured came from a local dollar store.  (Guess how much it cost.)  Trust us: You want one of these.  Really.

Flexible Grabbers [Froogle]

A well lit work area is one of the starting points of any project in the garage or shop, and when we recently went looking for a light to go in one of our work areas, we came across the diamond plate utility light from Lithonia Lighting.  This unit hit all the high points that makes a true Toolmonger grin.

The diamond plate utility light is a 48” shop light featuring a 6-1/2 In. reflector with a pull chain on/off switch and mounting chain hangers.  There’s no extra wiring to speak of; You just plug the unit into a normal electrical socket –  if you’re installing it in your garage you could use the same outlet your garage door opener is plugged into — and hang it from the ceiling using whatever hooking device you deem suitable for its 8 lb. bulk. 

It uses two 40 watt T-12 bulbs, which are not included in the package but will only cost a few extra dollars more.  Best of all, did we mention its diamond plate?  Seriously, what’s cooler than diamond plate?

We found our light at The Home Depot for just a tad over $20, a cool-looking value for the money.

Diamond Plate Utility Light [The Home Depot]