Most of us will never need a single clamp that holds seven tons — hell, most of us will never need a combination of clamps that collectively hold seven tons — but if you’re supposed to move some big equipment at highway speeds or across stormy seas, or if you just need to hold down a tarp in a tornado, then you may need the Flash Clamp.
Powerful magnets are cool — powerful magnets that switch on and off are even cooler — and magnets powerful enough to lift a manhole cover rank way up there on the coolness scale. This Magswitch manhole-lifting magnet can lift manhole covers up to 400 lbs!
Doh! Tie down your load, know the length, know the height! Obviously this story happened in 2006, but breaking S#!$ is cool any time. Check out more photos of this whoopsie on Snopes.com.
While we’re on the subject of bridges, when was the last time you watched a video of the Tacoma Narrows bridge collapse? Structural failures, machinery failures, tool failures — Toolmongers usually arrive on the site before anyone else, either containing or cleaning up the mess. And sometimes a Toolmonger pulls a Tim “The Toolman” Taylor stunt.
Let us know in comments about the failures and mistakes you’ve seen.
Hoe Down [Snopes]
Bright red and yellow make for a very cheery machine! Though it looks like a children’s toy, this portable backhoe should prove fairly useful for a farm or small operation. The website contains hardly any information besides contact info for the manufacturer, but at least they put up some pretty pictures. This sure looks better than Red Green’s Cadillac backhoe.
Portable Backhoe [Collins Machinery]
Toolmonger Sean O’Hara has wanted a bulldozer since he was a kid; maybe the tracks are the common theme, but in an unprecedented statement Sean has rated this lettuce harvester as a tie with a bulldozer for which he would get first! The “Headrazor” lettuce harvester sports all stainless steel construction, for easy removal of lettuce guts, and you can slide the walkways and canopy in and out to easily transition between transport mode and lettuce destructor mode.
I didn’t find pricing on the site, but I’m sure Ramsay Highlander will provide you with a price quote if you want a Headraiser of your very own.
Headraiser [Ramsay Highlander]
If you’ve got a yard with lots of “trash” trees or big old trees that drop lots of branches, you may not need an ark-sized chipper that costs a bundle. For as little as $175 you can get one of these garden-gnome-sized McCulloch electric shredders. It’ll handle the stuff not worth cutting up, and the rest goes on the woodpile for the winter. It’s not a beast, but it might be the right tool for the job — and maybe it won’t bring back unpleasant memories of that scene from Fargo.
Electric Shredders [McCulloch]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon [What’s This?] [What's This?]
Airplane mechanics keep detailed service and maintenance records in the plane’s logbook — it helps ‘em prevent that long drop with the short stop at the end. But a logbook can also remind you to do routine maintenance on your car, or it can help you diagnose the reason for loss of gas mileage before a serious problem develops. For tractors, combines, bulldozers, graders, generators — the machines that run and build civilization — logbooks can save jobs and lives. Mechanic Support makes this Mechanic’s Logbook software that you can configure for almost any application.
You can put Mechanic’s Logbook on your computer for $16 — you might pay more than that for a dead-tree logbook.
Mechanic’s Logbook [Mechanic Support]
Mechanic Support [Corporate Site]
For $15,000, you too can own a bulldozer! Every boy I know dreamed of driving a bulldozer, and although this one isn’t the huge general contractor variety you see at the highway work sites, you might find it handy for back yard applications. You could artfully arrange the dirt in the back yard into tasteful and trendy landscaping piles in the front yard, or knock down the neighbor’s garden gnomes, or even pull stumps on the south forty.
Are you tired of lifting and pouring five-gallon pails all day? Morse’s Model 83 Pail Handler might be the answer to your aching back. This 125-pound machine can lift a five-gallon pail that weighs up to 150 lbs. We’re not exactly sure what material weighs 30 lbs per gallon, but maybe you need to move a pail of iron filings.
Last week I was on-site to help put up a truss structure for an outdoor event. We requested four forklifts from the equipment rental company. What we got were not your standard warehouse forklifts, but these bad mamma-jammas with telescoping booms — they’re called telehandlers, or Lulls, the Kleenex of telescoping boom lifts.
Splitting logs will give you a workout, even if you use a machine. Most log splitters only do just that: split logs. You still have to lift the logs onto the splitter, pick up the pieces , and split those yourself. Timberwolf’s TW-7 log splitter picks up all three of those tasks, so you can knock out cords of wood in no time.
Unlike your average splitter, the TW-7’s special “box” splitting wedge sections the splits into uniform pieces. Instead of picking up the pieces, you just push them onto the splitter bed. With 28 tons of force the TW-7 splits logs up to 26” long, and with an optional hydraulic log lifter you won’t break your back getting them off the ground. A video on Timberwolf’s website shows the splitter in action.
Timberwolf TW-7 [Corporate Site]
TM reader and photo pool member Jason offered up some great pics of the view from his office — in a backhoe! And yes, operating a backhoe appears to be as cool as we’d imagined. Jason writes: “All that videogame playing has finally payed off! The button at the top of the right-most lever activates the jackhammer. The foot-pedals swing the arm from side to side.”
There are quite a few more photos in the set he shared in the pool, so if you’d like to see more, give it a look.
Toolmonger’s Photo Pool [Flickr]
www.flickr.com
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Tool Talk #49: Bookcases & Ending Laziness
Tool Talk #48: Christmas & (Paint) Strippers
One Beer Projects: Repairing Wood Surfaces
One Beer Projects: Fixing Simple Problems With Your Dryer
One Beer Projects: Winterizing/Storing Your Bike
One Beer Projects: De-Badging Your Truck
One Beer Projects: Staining Your Fence
One Beer Projects: Doing Your Own Brakes
One Beer Projects: Balancing Your A/C For The Summer
One Beer Projects: Installing A Dimmer Switch
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Head 2 Head Hands-On: Bosch SPS10 vs LI3000 SmartDriver
Hands-On: Striker Magnetic LED Light
Hands-On: Dremel Duo Kit -- Dremel Driver
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Budget Shop Truck Build, Part 5: Engine Teardown
Budget Shop Truck Build, Part 4: A New Transmission
Budget Shop Truck Build, Part 3: Building An Engine Stand
Budget Shop Truck Build, Part 2: Pulling The Engine
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Project Garage: Yukon Engine Swap (Part 4) -- Installation!
Project Garage: Yukon Engine Swap (Part 3) -- Fabricating Engine Brackets
Project Garage: Yukon Engine Swap (Part 2) -- GM Performance Parts
