TM has mentioned plastic calipers before — but I’ve had the General 141ME for at least a couple of years, and have found it especially handy lately while doing some volunteer work setting up a search-and-rescue (SAR) van. It’s only 4″ long, made of fiberglass-reinforced plastic, can measure up to 3″ inner or outer diameters with its caliper, and has both metric and English readings.

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The SmartMark Tape Measure Accessory from SMC magnifies and marks. This $5 magnifier from their Master Mind Tools line attaches to any standard 1″ tape and makes a pinpoint mark by pushing it down when you’re at the desired length.

There’s even a video — I guess for those unclear on the concept. The SmartMark is a little more complicated than a pencil, but, for some of us who are approaching old fartage and still haven’t gotten used to the damned bifocals, it just might help.

SMC [Manufacturer's Site]

The Brownells Top Dead Center Punch is an interesting tool. It’s a vee block that has a level visible on the top of the tool, with the vee below. There’s an adjustable stop that comes out from the front of the tool and a punch that rides in a hole perpendicular and centered on the vee. I bought one at a yard sale without knowing what exactly it was, so it took a bit of sleuthing.

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Frankly, I was going to post about the Alpha JackClamp a while ago, but when I went to their website to gather information, it was hacked, so I forgot about the clamp. As of late, I keep running into ads and reviews for the product and figured it was time to give it a fair shake.

The first thing you notice about the Alpha JackClamp it that it has this extra bar where other bar clamps just have a jaw pad. This extra bar gives the JackClamp some interesting abilities. As a bar clamp, it has a 13″ deep throat for clamping around obstructions. Flipping the handle around the extra bar gives the JackClamp a 33″ spreading span.

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Compared to the Milwaukee Cordless Detection Tool, your puny stud finder is only a toy. OK, we’re not sure about finding your keys, but it can detect rebar buried 6″ deep in concrete. It can also tell you the location and depth of wood, PEX, PVC, and metal behind gypsum, OSB, ceramic tile, and marble.

This pistol-grip cordless tool is yet another tool that uses Milwaukee’s M12 Lithium-ion battery. Gliding over surfaces on four wheels, it can differentiate between ferrous and non-ferrous metals and can even detect live wires. The white-on-black display with backlight will even show you the center and edges of studs.

If Google’s got it right you can pick up the Sub-Scanner starting at $200, but a more reasonable source like Ohio Power Tool has it listed for $310 without battery.

M12 Sub-Scanner [Milwaukee]
Street Pricing [Google Products]

You’ve seen magnetic levels before, but how about a level where you can turn the magnet on and off like a Magswitch™? Strong Hand Tools incorporates a switchable magnet in their Mag-Level with 50 lbs. of holding force. You get a level with a magnet strong enough to securely hold the tool, yet you don’t have to brace yourself with your foot to pry it off the surface.

Strong Hand Tools built three bubble vials into the Mag-Level: one each for level, plumb, and 45°. The magnet turns on and off with the flick of a switch. The 2 lb. level measures 16″ long by 1″ deep and is 4″ wide at the widest point.

Pricing for the Mag-Level starts at $30. I did see these at Harbor Freight a few weeks ago for $20, although their website doesn’t confirm the price.

Mag-Level [Strong Hand Tools]
Mag-Level [Northern Tool]

You carry a pen around religiously, but wouldn’t it be nice to have calipers always handy? If you owned a Messograf caliper pen from Cleo Skribent, you’d always have calipers.

Built into the retractable ballpoint pen is a 4″ Vernier caliper that measures in increments of both 0.1mm and 1/16″. The pen also functions as a metric screw thread scale and a tire tread depth scale.

Made in Germany from chrome-plated brass, the Messograf caliper pen retails for about $27 or so depending on the exchange rate, but you can find it as low as $20 before shipping.

Messograf [Cleo Skribent]
Messograf [Garrett Wade]
Messograf [Passion4Pens]

If your miter saw doesn’t have a digital readout, there’s no need upgrade to a newer saw. iGaging’s digital miter saw gauge fits in the blade slot and rests against the fence to let you set your angles to an accuracy of ±0.1°. Of course, it isn’t as convenient as a built-in gauge since you have to remove it before you can use the saw.

The digital display has a resolution of 0.05°, a range of ±50°, and a hold function. The body is made from solid aluminum and has an adjustable locking device to fit blade slots from 5/16″ to 7/8″.

A 2″ engineer square and a 3V battery are included with the gauge. Eagle America — the only place we could find it — regularly sells it for $50, but it’s on sale for $40 and $9 shipping if you use their cheapest option.

iGaging [Corporate Site]
Digital Miter Saw Gauge [Eagle America]

Do you have trouble trying to wrap molding around bullnose corners?  Bench Dog has a new product that can help. Designed to work with 3/4″ radius rounded corners, this trim gauge slips over the bullnose and indicates where each joint needs to land to get a professional-looking three-piece corner.

You can also nail Bench Dog’s bullnose trim guide in place and use it to hold the tip of the tape measure — which could come in handy if you’re trying to compile a cut list by yourself. Made from hard plastic, the gauge comes with complete instructions for use and costs $12 before shipping.

Bench Dog [Corporate Site]
Bullnose Trim Gauge [Rockler]

Whenever we mention Bridge City Tool Works on this site, the word “Tool Pr0n” gets thrown around quite a bit. Although their latest tool, the KM-1 KerfMaker, is a bit on the expensive side, it looks like a useful tool for anybody who has ever tried to make tab A fit into slot B.

The precision-milled aluminum KerfMaker cuts grooves and dadoes that exactly match your stock material thickness using your table saw, radial arm saw, or router table. Bridge City has an excellent video on their web site explaining how to use the tool, but we’ll give you the summary. (more…)

A framing square just isn’t designed to work with sheets of plywood. Especially when making cabinets, most pieces you need to lay out exceed the length of a standard sized framing square. That’s why Woodpeckers designed their 36″x24″ giant square.

Woodpeckers’ CNC machines the square in the USA from 1/4″ phenolic and guarantees the giant square won’t deviate more that ±.005″ from 90° across its entire length. They make the 36″ long leg 3″ wide and the 24″ leg 4″ wide, and machine three handle slots into the square to make it easy to hold and store. Finally, they laser engrave markings in 1/8″ increments along both sides of the square.

Woodpeckers will begin shipping their giant square the 27th of July (2009) and it will cost about $80 shipped.

Giant Framing Square [Woodpeckers]

If you’ve seen any old WWII movies that feature planes at all, one of the first instruments they zoom in on is the artificial horizon indicator. It’s the big ball in the middle of the cockpit that shows how the aircraft is positioned relative to the ground. The CH Hanson 50024 Precision Ball Level has the same kind of thing, and it’s sweet.

Someone should have thought of this years ago. The aviation-style ball, which replaces a bubble vial, is both accurate and simple to read. Because the level is ball-style it can measure in two directions at once, just like the one in a plane. Plus, it measures angles in degrees or pitches.

We love the idea and how large the ball-style readout is. If it can make it through a few drops around the job site without the ball shattering, it looks like an extremely handy rig to have. We wonder how long it will take for other manufacturers to try to follow suit. Pricing starts at around $40 for a 24″ model.

Note* Thanks to reader Kyle for the heads up.

50024 Precision Ball Level [CH Hanson]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

Carabiners make everything better, right?  That seems to be the mantra of SnapGate, a company who builds a carabiner into products like tape measures, flashlights, and pens. They sell both plastic promotional products and a few real tools.

One of the real tools is an 6″ aluminum flashlight they claim to be waterproof (non-submersible) and shatterproof. Two AA batteries power the flashlight’s krypton bulb. The other real tools are the tape measures which they manufacture in 16′ and 25′ lengths. Both tapes feature a rubberized coating over an ABS plastic case.

If you’re into snapping things onto your belt loops, the tape measures will cost you either $7 or $9 shipped while the flashlight will set you back $6 plus shipping. Check out SnapGate’s contact information on their website if you’re interested in their promotional products.

SnapGate [Corporate Site]
Flashlight [Campmor]
Tape Measure [Harbor Freight]

You’re probably not going to have a set of break-over torque wrenches in your garage, but that doesn’t mean they’re not handy tools in a production environment where you need to repeatedly torque the exact same fastener or set of fasteners. The name comes from the fact that the wrench breaks over at 90° when the preset torque is applied — supposedly the break-over mechanism minimizes the shock to the fastener.

These interchangeable-head, break-over torque wrenches from Mountz come in torque ranges from 25 ozf.in to 50 lbf.in. and can hold the torque setting to ±6%. The aluminum handles help make the wrenches lightweight, are small enough to be used in confined spaces, and come in six different colors so you can color code specific torque settings. (more…)

Today a friend asked me a question that the folks at Stanley tell me they hear all the time: why does the claw — you know, the little catch at the end of your short tape measure — move back and forth? Is it just poorly attached? The short answer: no, the loose claw is no accident of manufacture. It’s loose on purpose. The longer answer lies after the jump.
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You’re not going to build a house with the Measure ‘N Mark tape measure and ballpoint pen combo from General Tools, but that’s not the point of the tool.  You’d carry one for the same reason you carry a Leatherman — so you have something available when you need it, even if it isn’t the best tool for the job.

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The Modified Square isn’t an easy tool to wrap your head around — I’m still trying to completely understand it myself.  At first glance it looks like a framing square that got into a bad accident, but upon closer inspection there are some intriguing uses for it, like transferring measurements from the underside of a workpiece to the top and finding the quarter points on round stock.

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