Before you jam a potato into that broken bulb, take a look at the Bulb Base-Out tool — you insert it in the broken bulb base, twist the base of the tool, and then twist the bulb out.  I never had any luck with that old potato anyways.

The Bulb Base-Out’s magic is in the fingers at the end — they expand when you twist the base so they can grab the inside of the broken light bulb. Strategic Insight makes the tool from non-conductive plastic so the danger from shock is minimized.

You can get the Bulb Base-Out directly from Strategic Insight for $5 — any tool at this price is worth giving a shot.

Bulb Base-Out [Strategic Insight]

If you’re just a few feet short of the outlet, you don’t want to break out the 25ft extension cord.  This five-foot retractable extension cord from Zip-Linq might look a bit more attractive than 23 feet of coiled cord.

With a probable rating of 8-10 amps, this 18-gauge power cord may not carry enough juice to operate your table saw, but it still can come in handy for smaller tools and chargers.

Prices for the extension cord vary wildly from $10 to $25.

Retractable Extension Cord [Zip-Linq]
Street Pricing [Google]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

Sometime you have no choice but to run wires under the carpet; you might have finished rooms above and/or below where you need to run networking, speaker, or other low-voltage wiring.  You’re not going to get very far just trying to push the wire under the carpet — that’s where an under-carpet snake comes in handy.

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Quite a few products out there will prevent toggle switches from being turned on or off, but the SwitchGuard is the only one we found that allows you to easily operate the switch if need be.

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In last week’s post on the Black & Decker Power Monitor, we talked about monitoring your power usage.  If you want to monitor the power consumption of a single appliance the old-school way — with a clamp-on ammeter — try an AC line splitter like this one from Elenco.

The problem is, you can’t just clamp an ammeter over a power cord and measure how much juice the appliance is taking;  you need access to a single conductor to measure the current.  That’s where this tool comes in handy — rather than ruin a power cord you can just plug in the line splitter.

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Some individuals like to defy convention, and they decide to cobble together a system to get their shop tools working correctly — and a few folks, like reader Lungofish, do it with sufficient panache to make the rest of us look bad.

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This combo toolbox reminds us of those little Russian Matryoshka dolls — you know, the ones that have a dozen dolls nestled inside each other.  You can just keep taking this thing apart, and you find more compartments.  Best of all, it provides the three things you need for taking care of projects around the house:  tools, power, and reach.

If you’ve got this toolbox, you never have to go back for a stepstool, tools, or an extension cord — that’s a lot of time-saving.  By keeping you from standing on the sofa, it could also save your relationship with the significant other.

If you take it to the jobsite you might be laughed out of business, but at home it’s a winner.  Lasko must be keeping this a secret, though — Amazon and Google Products seem to think it doesn’t exist, and there’s no pricing on Lasko’s website.

Power Toolbox [Lasko]

At first glance, Greenlee’s CableCaster looks like someone slapped a fishing reel on a toy dart gun — that may be exactly what they did, but the $100 list price is no joke.  The CableCaster allows you to pull cable through hard-to-reach spaces, like above a suspended ceiling or through a crawlspace.

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On Klein’s “What’s New” page they’re featuring a new Free-Fall snip.  Our question:  What exactly is a Free-Fall snip?  Klein’s Electrician Snips, which we’ve previously covered, seem to be almost identical except for the larger loop on the one handle.  Maybe that’s the only difference — but then why is it called a Free-Fall snip?

Klein makes the new snip from high-carbon steel rather than stainless steel like their previous Free-Fall snip, so while this snip is slightly harder, it’s also their less expensive — $18 vs. $24.  Both snips sport a scraper and file on the outside of the blades, and they feature serrated teeth for non-slip cutting of 19 to 23 AWG wire.

The cheaper, harder Free-Fall snip doesn’t yet seem to be available anywhere except the Klein Connection store.  If you know where the name comes from, let us know in comments.

Free-Fall Snip [Klein Connection]

We read about the Paladin Universal Cable Slitter for the first time today and decided to look for the lowest price — we found it at Technical Connections for $21, a good $4 off the list price.  The cable slitter strips cable both longitudinally and peripherally, which looks like a great timesaver when doing any intensive wiring jobs.

Paladin Universal Cable Slitter [Technical Connections]
Street Pricing [Google Products]

Corded electric yard tools have one problem — the cord.  You have to uncoil and recoil the cord every time you use it, plus it can trip you or even get shredded in the equipment.  To solve this problem for their electric tiller/cultivator, Mantis sells a cord management kit.  But who says you can’t use it for your shop-vac when cleaning out the garage, or for your other outdoor electric tools like edgers, mowers, blowers, or weed whackers?

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If you’re in the market for a cheap and cheerful power inverter, then head over to Buy.com and check out the Jensen JP-20.  It features a load capacity of 160W continuous power/300W peak power, which makes it perfect for charging power tools and running lights.  Buy.com is selling it for $15, with free shipping.

Jensen JP-20 [Buy.com]
Street Pricing [Google Products]

If you want to bore large holes in wood you can choose from a huge variety of bits — and since there are so many choices, companies have to differentiate their products from the crowd.  Taking their customer suggestions into consideration, Greenlee recently redesigned their E-Z Bore bits to drill cleaner holes faster.

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Seems like everything you buy today needs power and you can never find an outlet when you need it.  Sure, you can plug in a power strip or run extension cords from other nearby outlets, but that’s really just a band-aid that adds clutter.  In response to this ever-growing need for places to plug things in, Leviton makes a triplex receptacle that can accept three plugs simultaneously.

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You need to run a phone line to your bedroom, and you decide you might as well run some network and coaxial cables for good measure. Heck, why not pull some cables to other rooms while you’re at it? Using cable pulleys or blocks will make the job much easier, but you probably don’t want to invest in these expensive tools for just one job. Instead, take a look at these 2nd Man cable pulleys from Jameson.

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Whether you’re installing a ceiling fan at home or giant three-phase motor at the plant, you’ll probably want to lock and tag the circuit so someone can’t reactivate it. What do you do if you don’t have locking breakers or service panels? The electrical panel lockout works with almost all electrical panels with covers secured by screws on the front.

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Making a bend in conduit takes a little practice, and to make multiple bends line up correctly you’ll have to work even harder — unless you’ve got No-Dog’s offset level. Correct use of the No-Dog will help you eliminate dog-legs in your offset and saddle bends.

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