Ever wish Craftsman offered their lifetime warranty on power tools, too?  Looks like Ridgid wants to make a name for themselves, and they’re doing it by offering one of the sweetest power tool deals around.  They call it their “Lifetime Service Agreement.”  It’s free, and — get this — it even covers normal wear items like batteries.

Think that’s hot?  Try this formula: Ridgid’s new 24V XLi lithium-ion tool line + free batteries for life = best. deal. ever.

As a guy I knew in college once said after telling me how his roommate came home the night before with identical Sweedish twins, “That #(@$ just doesn’t happen.”

(more…)

Here’s an idea we’re surprised more manufacturers haven’t thought of: a portable fan that’ll run off your tool batteries.  Ryobi’s P3300 portable fan is just that — a two-speed (1200/1400 RPM) fan that runs (a claimed) 6 hours on a single 18V “One+” series Ni-Cd battery charge.. 

It’s been an especially hot summer all over the country, and we’re sure you (like us) have been seeking any way at all to stay cool.  If you’re inside in the shop, you’ve probably got a couple of fans around.  But what if you’re out in the field — or even just in the driveway — where you’re out of reach of easy power?  Or what if you want to drag the fan around with you under the car?  This looks like the ticket.

We wonder how long it’ll be before we see other manufacturers adding this to their cordless lines.

We couldn’t find pricing for you yet, as the P3300 seems to have just barely hit the Ryobi website.  (In fact, the 360-degree view feature doesn’t seem to have been implemented yet.)  We can, however, tell you that you’ll find it at Home Depot — and probably only at Home Depot.  We’d also bet that it’ll be reasonably priced.  Say what you will about Ryobi, but don’t accuse them of overpricing.

The P3300 18V Portable Fan [Ryobi]

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]

When exiting the check out lane of your local Home Depot now until the 30th of July, be sure and grab one of these customer appreciation coupons from the cashier. They’re valid from the 27th thru the 30th of July and good for 10% off store wide purchases up to $2000 at The Home Depot. See the back of your coupon for further details.

So if you are considering that large summer purchase anyway, go down to the Depot and pick one of these bad boys up first.

Home Depot [Home Depot]

The Cable Cuff is an inexpensive, all-purpose alternative to the bread twist ties and zip strips currently in service holding your cords and cables together.  The main advantage: they’re re-usable.

A thumb lock on the top releases a catch and opens the cuff, and since it’s made from high impact plastic it’s quite durable. They’re available in range of sizes and able to span cables or cords of 1 to 5 inches diameter. 

We came across these while looking for a way to keep shop extension cords and power tool cables wrangled.  They’re sold through Home Depot for $0.98 to $1.35 cents each.

Cable Cuff [Home Depot]

Is it just us, or does the Home Depot website’s search feature seem to never locate the item you’re looking for? 

We were looking for a specific item today and had no luck at all finding it by search term even when using each part of the name individually and in all possible combinations.  Once we’d made the trip to the store itself and had the item in hand we tried searching for the product number and did find it online.  It was there the whole time, but just never showed up.

This is really frustrating.  Home Depot, if you’re listening out there, we like to search to see what you have available before we come in to buy.  We have a Lowe’s equidistant to us in the opposite direction, so it’s frustrating to have to drive all the way down just to discover that we have to drive back in the opposite direction.  You’ve got a search feature — why not give it a once-over and make sure it locates items easily?

We came across the Gage-It hardware gauge this week when we were at Home Depot picking up some fasteners.  It’s an 8″x4″ piece of plastic with cut holes and slots and printed markings to help you measure all kinds of fasteners, drills, rod, tube, pipe, etc. 

The top and bottom are covered with ruler markings — both metric and standard.  The triangular cut in the left measures steel, brass, copper, PVC, and CPVC pipe by size.  The fork-looking extrusions on the right size nuts by internal thread diameter, and the holes in the center measure and identify screws and bolts.  A scale printed just inside the nut gauges identifies finishing nails, and a the big slot running horisontally measurs drills, rods, tubes, and wires by outer diameter.  The V-shaped cut bends out to measure pipe and tube fitting sizes by internal diameter.  The back also features lumber sizing and conversion charts.

At 89 cents each, there’s really no reason for you not to have one of these kicking around in your toolbox.

(No link — we couldn’t find it online.  Looks like you’ll have to pick it up from the brick & mortar like we did.)

We’d forgotten to mention this to you until today, but last week we were wiring in an air compressor and found ourselves wanting to make a couple of bends in conduit.  It’s a lot easier than it would seem.

A quick trip to Home Depot netted us the bender pictured here, made by Ideal.  To use it, you simply insert a handle through the center, insert your conduit through the end, and bend.  The curved shape of the bender prevents kinking.  To make it easy to apply pressure with your foot, it includes a serrated “step” edge that provides good traction.  Between your foot on the edge and your hands on the handle, it’s pretty easy to control.

When we went to post this tonight, we also came across a PDF guide from Ideal Industries that goes into great detail explaining how to perform more complex bending tasks such as back-to-back and offset bends.  Luckily we only needed two 90 degree bends a good distance apart, but if you’re looking to do something more complex, be sure to check out the guide.

Street pricing starts around $25.

Aluminum Bender Head w/Handle [Ideal Industries]
Street Pricing [Froogle]
Bender Guide [PDF -- Ideal Industries]

In a cordless power tool industry that’s struggling to bring new battery systems to market, Ryobi’s taking a slightly different tack: they’re keeping their batteries the same, shooting instead to make it easier and more cost-effective for you to cut the cord on all your power tools.

Ryobi offers all tools in the “One+” series in both a “kit” form (with batteries and a charger) and in a “bare tool” form for use with your existing Ryobi 18V batteries/charger.  The “One+” concept is simple:  you can start out with one existing 18V Ryobi tool — or purchase a tool in “kit” form — then add to your collection inexpensively by purchasing “bare tools” to use with your exisitng accessories.

Combo kits are also available, though Ryobi encourages you to “roll your own” from their complete One+ line, which includes (among others):

• numerous drill/drivers and hammerdrills
• a right angle “close quarters” drill
• a laminate trimmer
• a 5-1/2″ circular saw (w/laser)
• a 10″ chain saw
• a variable-speed orbital jigsaw
• a variable-speed reciprocating saw 
• a rotary cutter
• an 8-1/4″ miter saw
• a caulk & adhesive gun
• a finish sander
• a nailer/stapler
• a flashlight
• a handheld wet/dry vac

Pricing on the “bare” tools and batteries is quite reasonable.  For example, a single One+ system battery sells for $24.99, and a 1/2″ variable speed cordless hammer drill sells for $49.97.  Ryobi offers a number of combo kits ranging from the ”starter kit plus” (drill, flashlight, circ saw, and sander) up to “the works” (drill, circ saw, recip saw, jig saw, chain saw, wet/dry vac, flashlight, and accessories).

If you’re considering jumping on the One+ bandwagon, Home Depot should be your first stop as they’re now the exclusive Ryobi source.  Your local store should have a variety of One+ tools in stock for you to check out in person.

The One+ Series Cordless Tools [Ryobi]
Ryobi Products [Home Depot]

As we’ve said before, we come from a long line of toolaholics, which means that our fathers want — wait for it — tools for Father’s Day. With that in mind, we’d like to remind you that Fathers day is almost upon us. (It’s next weekend.  Don’t forget.)

One slick gift item we ran across this week is the Rotozip RZ20 Spiral Saw Tool, with Jigsaw Handle and Zipmate Cutting Attachment package from Home Depot.  Think of this as a Dremel tool on steroids.

The kit includes:

• the Zipmate ZM3 right angle cutting attachment
• RotoZip’s new jigsaw handle
• three zip wheels
• and a circle cutting guide

RotoZip says the RZ20 kit allows you to cut drywall, plywood, ceramic tile, stone, concrete, steel pipe, iron and more. Hey, not a bad gift idea for that dad who needs to cut lots of different materials. 

We mentioned Home Depot because they’re having a Fathers Day sale with free shipping on orders of $49 or more until the 18th of June, so you can ship it for free.  But you’d better buy soon if you’re going planning on shipping it to Dad.  Pricing for the RotoZip RZ20 Kit qualifies for the promotion with a list price of $149.

RotoZip RZ20 Kit [The Home Depot]
RotoZip Product Site [BuyRotoZip.com]

Truthfully, we have a hard time finding a place for the wet/dry vac in our shop.  It’s handy to roll it around, but when we’re done with it, it just takes up space.  Maybe the new RIDGID Stor-N-Go Cleaning Station is the answer for us (and you).

It’s essentially a standard 5.0 peak HP wet/dry vac, but instead of rolling around it mounts directly to the wall.  It comes with 7′ and 14′ expandable hoses, which you can put together to reach 21′ from the mounted unit.  It also detaches from the wall mount to become portable via a large carrying handle.

As with most RIDGID products it’s a Home Depot exclusive, and they’re listing it at $99.97 available now.

Stor-N-Go Cleaning Station [RIDGID]
Stor-N-Go Cleaning Station [Home Depot]

For about a month now Home Depot has been offering commercial customers gift card incentives for larger power tool purchase.  Ranging from $35 for a $199 to $399 purchase to $500 for a $2000+ purchase, this can really make a dent in the purchase of a large tool or a combination of lesser tools.  Though anyone could purchase from Home Depot’s commercial side, they’re now advertising the “sale” to the general public during its last weekend.

So, if you’ve been considering a large power tool purchase from Home Depot, today or tomorrow is probably the time.

Sale Details Page [Home Depot]