Driving fasteners into concrete or steel can be painfully slow and difficult, but Toolmongers during WWII needed a fast way to attach a steel-plate patch to the steel hull of a damaged ship. So, Yankee ingenuity produced powder-actuated tools. A chemical propellant — like gunpowder — explodes inside the tool and drives the fastener, with action similar to a firearm.
To ensure 90 degree corners and plumb walls, a contractor runs string lines between batter boards when laying out foundations, pools, or landscaping. Rousseau claims their reusable batter boards reduce labor costs by making setup faster and easier. You could also see long-term savings by using their batter boards instead of expensive wooden ones.
Need a square hole in a brick wall? You can try to cut it with a circular saw, but what are you going to do about the corners — chip ‘em out? Why bother, when you can use the AS160 from Arbortech? The AS160 cuts so precisely, you can remove a single brick from a wall without damaging the surrounding bricks. If you find that hard to believe, watch their repetitive but informative video.
Moving in an orbital motion, two forward-facing blades provide a simultaneous hammering and cutting action, minimizing the danger of kickback. This arrangement also cuts cleaner, throwing no dust, so the work is more visible, and there’s less mess to clean up. Another advantage: The blades cut dry, so all you need is a standard vacuum to suck up the debris, and with an optional dust boot you can clean as you cut.
Big D Bolt and Tool is selling this DeWalt hammer drill for $240 — it’s one versatile tool. The 8A motor makes 2-1/2 ft-lbs of impact energy and operates in three modes: hammer-action drill mode for tough concrete/masonry drilling jobs; hammer-only mode for mortar chipping; and rotation-only mode for wood and metals, using an SDS-to-round shank adapter.
At 11-1/2″ in length and 6-1/2 lbs., its size and weight add to its versatility — it can work in some tight spots without arm fatigue. Another nice feature: a dust extraction connection on the hammer drill allows you to use DeWalt’s D25300D dust collection system with it. If you want to save another $60, Tool King is selling refurbished units for $170.
Three-Mode SDS Hammer [DeWalt]
Three-Mode SDS Hammer [Big D Bolt and Tool]
Refurb Three-Mode SDS Hammer [Tool King]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Lithium-ion batteries are allowing tools usually limited to cords to break out into cordless versions — Makita’s concrete pencil vibrator is one of these tools.Makita’s 18V Li-Ion concrete vibrator improves the finish and strength of your freshly poured concrete by vibrating it at 13,000 VPM.
Makita makes two models, with either a four foot or eight foot extension depending on how big the job is. The Li-Ion batteries will only run for 25 minutes of continuous vibration under load, but the batteries can completely recharge in 45 minutes, so downtime is limited.
Forget those glass blocks! Don’t you wish you had a building material with the structural integrity of concrete and the light transmitting ability of glass? Litracon wins major cool points by putting fiber-optic strands in concrete blocks to achieve results like the ones above. Even cooler: Light can travel 20 meters through the fiber optics before losing brightness.
While doing some research on the deck I’m going to build next summer, I ran across these Bolt-Rite anchor templates over at Awesome Tools. You can get ‘em in a variety of sizes to suit your project/job. This 9″x9″ adjustable template takes anchor bolts up to 7/8″, and you can run conduit through the 2-1/8″ center hole.
Their aluminum construction makes them lightweight and reusable. You can adjust the templates for multiple applications. Center-line marks on the templates help with transit layout and stringlines. Normally $15 apiece, the price drops to $14 apiece when you buy a 10-pack.
Bolt-Rite [Corporate Site]
9″x9″ Four-Bolt Anchor Template [Awesome Tools]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Buildex’s new Tapcon line of anchors cut their own threads as you drive them into masonry. And unlike most other types of masonry anchors, they’re removable.
You especially appreciate ‘removable’ when you’ve driven a bunch of anchors into a wall, then decided to rearrange or adjust your setup. With most anchors, you’re, um, screwed. But with Tapcons you just pull out the screw, fill in the hole with concrete patch paste, paint it, and you’re good to go.
Traditional drilling systems — especially modular core bits — are often made up of multiple pieces, like extension shanks, centering bits, and threaded arbors. The gaps between these pieces compromise the bit’s strength, and any time you want to use them or switch sizes, you have to piece it all together. Metabo’s newly-released a one-piece core bit family claims to solve that problem, making the bits easier to use and more effecient (read: faster) at drilling through concrete, block and brick.
Ok, so it’s not meant to be deadly, but it sure looks that way to us. This drill employs microwaves to drill through concrete, stone – and even glass without breaking it. And it produces no dust or noise, either. Of course, stray microwaves can effectively cook your internal organs if you’re not paying attention, so, um, pay attention.
Ingersoll-Rand’s workhorse rock drill is mean. It can drill a 2″ wide hole up to 18” deep into solid rock — perfect for when the s#!$ you need to break is made of stone. And just think how cool you’ll look weilding it!
Felker practically invented the first diamond-impregnated saw blade back in 1924, but the military’s use of the blades during WWII to cut quartz frequency crystals for radios and walkie-talkies secured Felker’s place in history. So we’re not surprised to discover that their new Tile Master XL Plus High Production tile saw is pro-level gear that’ll cut pretty much any kind of tile, from granite and marble to ceramics and porcelain — up to 31” wide (22” if you’re cutting diagonally) and up to 3-3/4” thick.
Not much will stop Stihl’s top-of-the-line cut-off saw, the Cutquik TS800. With a 6.7 hp gas engine and a 16″ cutting wheel, it’ll chew through six inches of stone, masonry, steel reinforced concrete, or a Jersey barrier on I35 — probably. Encased in a lightweight polymer housing, it weighs just 28lbs. By incorporating vibration control into a well balanced design, Stihl reduces operator fatigue and makes the TS800 handle like a smaller saw.
Amazon is currently listing this 18V cordless concrete vibrator for $126.66. Features include a 1-1/8″ diameter flexible shaft that’s just a smidgen shy of 31-1/2″ long and am 18V Ni-Cd battery with a one-hour quick charger.
Via Amazon
Street Pricing [Google Products]
I’ve never handled concrete before, except in the small amounts required to set a fence post, but I’d really like to pour a short walkway extension in my back yard. A little Googling this morning turned up this how-to over on DoItYourself.com. It looks pretty thorough, but I wondered if maybe any of you had found better information.
Am I wrong in thinking that planning is going to be one of the most difficult parts of this project?
(Thanks to rkimpeljr for this great CC-licensed photo.)
How To Pour Concrete [DoItYourself.com]
Though I’ve never had the occasion to try it, many of my friends have saved a ton by laying their own tile. Ray, my blacksmith friend who joined us in Tool Talk Podcast #3, for example, finished out most of an extension to his house in tile, all of which he installed himself. If you’d like to give it a shot, check out this how-to from DoItYourself.com which leads you through the whole process with animations.
How To Lay Tile [DoItYourself.com]
Over at Amazon you can get this bull float bracket for $50.78 with free shipping. Bull floats are used to smooth out concrete, and this bracket allows you to work at hip level, eliminating back strain from caused from lifting and bending as with conventional floats. A half turn of the wrist gives you a full up or full down pitch, and it’ll work with an extension handle.
Via Amazon
Product Catalog [Marshall Town Trowel]
Street Pricing [Google Product Search]
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