Maverick of Maverick Solar put the IkePak together to help his son after Hurricane Ike. He did not spend time doing extensive calculations, but just used what was readily available — he runs a solar energy company, so he probably has a few relevant things available — or easily obtained at the local WalMart. The wheeled Igloo cooler holds a marine battery, a 400W inverter, a solar charge controller, an inline fuse for protection, and most of the wiring. It provides enough power for a few CFLs, a small TV, and a cell phone charger. The total cost was ~ $360; the most expensive item was the $175 20W solar panel.

Additional pictures and details are the link below.

IkePak [Maverick Solar]

Apparently available only at Woodcraft, the $90 Vika Quickbench is way less expensive than the $475 Festool MFT/3 (see TM 7/27/09), and 40% less than the $150 Vika Twofold™, but does it warrant a place in your shop or garage? It has a 32″ high, 30″ × 24″ work surface with a 24″ × 3½” opening vise and four plastic bench dogs. The Quickbench can hold up to 300 lbs and, when used in pairs as sawhorses, has a capacity up to 2,000 lbs. Two or more units can also be connected together to make a workstation or larger area bench. There’s a 15A, 3-outlet power strip with circuit protection in the base of one pair of its legs.

What do you think? Would this replace — or supplement — your trusty old Workmate (e.g., TM 8/26/09)? Let us know in comments.

Vika Quickbench [Woodcraft]

A reader in the comment stream from my post about Longacre Racing Products’ toe gauge asked about tools for setting the other two most commonly-referenced suspension characteristics: caster and camber. Caster is non-adjustable on the vast majority of vehicles. Unless you have a full-race car or some serious modifications, it’s never something you’ll need to worry about, since it’s built right into the suspension components. Camber adjustments aren’t exactly commonplace, but a few vehicles (like the famous Dodge Neon ACR) have factory-adjustable suspensions that allow camber tweaks, and you can buy aftermarket camber adjustment plates which permit slight shifts in a car’s suspension mounting points. For the amateur racer, more or less is generally all you need to know, but if you’re looking to repeat or record settings, you’ll need something like Longacre’s camber gauge.

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Leatherman multi-tools and accessories have been a popular topic on TM (3/4/08, 5/22/08, 3/18/09, 7/7/09 and 7/24/09 to list a few). Well, their “original super-duty Leatherman is back.” The Super Tool® 300, 4.5″ long (closed) and weighing in at 9.6 oz. with stainless steel handles and body has 19 tools “for the working man.” The 300’s tools include “larger” regular and needle-nose pliers — which are really just different sections on the same jaws, but I guess you have to count everything to get up to 19 tools — file, saw, straight-edge knife, serrated knife, bottle opener, can opener, awl, and wire cutter for both regular and hard wires (the small notch at the base of the wire-cutting area is the hard-wire cutter). The wire cutters are removable so you can sharpen, perhaps with the 300’s own file, or replace it if needed. (more…)

All-Spec is having a 50% off sale on over 30 different Bucket Boss® tool organizers (tool bags, tool rolls, aprons, etc.). Three examples are pictured above: (from left to right) the Bucket Boss 56-pocket tool organizer for $14.43; the Pro GateMouth Jr. tool bag for $14.59; and the 22-pocket duckwear tool roll for $7.35. I suppose it has to be noted: the tools, buckets, etc. shown in the pictures are not included in the sale — tool organizers only.

Prices are good until December 31, 2009, so this might be a good opportunity to pick up some Christmas gifts, or drop some hints for your wish list.

50% Off Bucket Boss [All-Spec]
Bucket Boss [Manufacturer's Site]
Pro GateMouth Jr. Via Amazon [What’s This?]

Spline wrenches are cool because you can turn a variety of different fastener heads such as hex, partially rounded hex, 12pt, square, external Torx, and yes, even spline heads, with one wrench.  If you’re willing to give up the ratcheting feature in the Stanley Proto and SK spline wrenches, you can get a set of seven Craftsman combo open end/box spline wrenches from Sears for under $20.

Craftsman angles the wrench heads by 15° to save your knuckles and they reinforce the open end so the wrench doesn’t deform under high torque, rounding the head. The set normally includes 5/16″, 3/8″, 7/16″, 1/2″, 9/16″, and 11/16″ wrenches, but to be nice Sears is throwing in a 5/8″ wrench and a storage tray.

Universal Wrench Set [Sears]

Instead of adjusting the air flow at the compressor, Astro Pneumatics’ digital flow regulator screws right onto your spray gun or other air tool to precisely control the flow of air. Love it or hate it, instead of a analog gauge it uses a digital readout.

Constructed with a mirror-plated finish, the regulator’s electronics are sealed and the display is behind impact-proof glass. Unfortunately this also means the battery’s not replaceable, but the display shuts off 45 seconds after you press the button to give the battery a life expectancy of 5,000 readings.

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Part of the fun of doing TM posts is the discovery of tools I’d never seen or used. The Ideal 9-in-1 Ratch-A-Nut Screwdriver is one such beast. It’s a ratcheting screwdriver with 1/4″ and 3/16″ slotted bits, #1 and #2 Phillips bits, 1/4″, 5/16″, and 7/16″ nutdrivers on one end, plus a ratcheting wire nut wrench on the back end that can handle a variety of wire connectors. The typical price runs around $19, but True Value has it for a bit over $9.

Ratch-A-Nut [Manufacturer's Site]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Ratch-A-Nut Via Amazon [What’s This?]

The CobraHead® Weeder and Cultivator (modestly called “The Best Tool In Earth®”) can apparently do almost everything “with ease”: weeding, cultivating, scalping (?), edging, digging, furrowing, planting, transplanting, de-thatching, and harvesting. Its “steel fingernail®” blade works in almost any soil, and is easily used by either the left or the right hand.

It comes in two sizes: the short handle for $25, and the long handle (48″, 54″, or 60″) for $60. Prices include shipping to the USA or Canada.

It certainly sounds good, and all the reviews on Amazon are positive. Have any Toolmongers used the CobraHead? What’s your impression?

CobraHead [Manufacturer's Site]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
CobraHead Via Amazon [What’s This?]

If you sharpen your own handsaws or backsaws, the Gramercy Tools 14″ Saw Vise, seen on Ron Hock’s The Sharpening Blog, might just be the clamp you’re looking for. Its ¼” thick machined steel jaws are set at 45° to the saw, providing clearance for your files and allowing you to slope the gullets. The rotating clamping cam has lots of travel and provides plenty of pressure at the jaws. It’s designed to be bolted to a bench for more rigidity and less flex.

The Tools for Working Wood site has some interesting notes on how the design process went for this saw vise.

The vise’s pre-production price is $98.95 (shipment “sometime in October”).

14″ Saw Vise [Manufacturer's Site]

A commenter after a recent Toolmonger post about French curves complained about the cost of 3D software, which is a very good point. Retail copies of software like SolidWorks, Autodesk Inventor, or CATIA can go for ridiculous amounts. No, seriously. Their markups can make Snap-On reps run for cover.

But, as is the case with basically every rule in human history, there’s a loophole. An online retailer called JourneyEd offers software at educational prices, which are massively less than retail. SolidWorks, my graphics program of choice, sells for $140 through JourneyEd, but full retail is $2995. 95.3% off, anyone?

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You wire your shop for electricity and run ducting for your dust collection system, so why not outfit your shop with compressed air outlets where you’ll need them rather than dragging the air hose around?

RapidAir makes running air lines throughout the shop as easy as running PEX water line. You don’t have to cut and thread pipe or mess with pipe dope at the fittings. The system can handle pressures up to 150 PSI using just flexible 1/2″ nylon tubing and simple push-on fittings.

Pricing for the master kit starts at $140; it includes one compressor manifold, two outlets, and 100′ of 1/2″ blue nylon tubing. Outlets, tubing, and fittings are also available separately.

Master Kit [RapidAir]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

Are these awesome pry bars? I don’t own these, but I’m gonna guess not. So if you’re prying the tops off nuclear reactors or something, this one might be more your speed. But if you’re just looking for a way to keep your screwdrivers from ending up bent or otherwise molested, they sound pretty great (considering the price).

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Necessary Numbers: An Everyday Guide to Sizes, Measures, and More by Mary Blocksma may not make you the “Cliff Clavin” of your local pub, but it will give you a broad overview of all types of numbers. An expanded version of her earlier book Reading the Numbers: A Survival Guide to the Measurements, Numbers, and Sizes Encountered in Everyday Life, this one covers a variety of diverse numbers including zip codes, highway route numbers, pencil leads, bar codes, SS numbers, clothing sizes, and — as the title says — “more.”

A new paperback costs $12, but you can find used copies for around $4, or “swap” for the earlier version.

Necessary Numbers [Barnes & Noble]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]
Reading The Numbers [PaperBackSwap]

You’re rolling down the road and the sound of your own trailer’s driving you crazy. That unholy racket could be caused by the hitch bar being loose in the receiver. Luckily there are a few ready-made solutions that’ll dampen that clanking.

Just slip Valley’s anti-rattle hitch bracket over the hitch bar and tighten the bar against the receiver with a single bolt. Made from steel, the bracket fits most 2″ square receiver hitches. If Valley’s anti-rattle hitch bracket just doesn’t get the job done, there’s always the Eliminator from Surco. This beefy anti-sway bracket slips over the 2″ hitch bars and clamps down on both the bar and the hitch with 16 points of contact on all four sides! Surco coats the steel bracket with a rust-resistant black powder coat.

If Valley’s anti-rattle bracket will work for you it’ll only set you back $20; otherwise you’ll need fifty bucks from that “friend” of yours to buy the Eliminator.

Valley Towing Street Pricing [Google Products]
Eliminator Street Pricing [Google Products]
Valley Street Pricing [Google Products]
Eliminator Street Pricing [Google Products]
Valley Via Amazon
Eliminator Via Amazon [What’s This?]

We’ve covered miter sliders before, but here’s a different take on the problem from Micro Jig. Rather than use set screws or “adjusting disks” to fit into a miter slot without slop, their ZeroPlay guide bar uses two stacked half-bars that expand and contract along the entire length of the bar so it’ll work in any 3/4″ wide by 3/8″ deep miter slot — even Shopsmith and General miter slots.

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I always heard this saying applied to your melon when talking about, say, riding a motorcycle. In this case, it’s something almost as important: your ears. You can pick up a pack of 200 Howard Leight LL1 Laser Lite cordless earplugs at Amazon for $20. Made of expandable foam and resembling stylish red-and-yellow rocket ships (hey, it’s cool), it’s worth 20 cents a pair for long-term hearing protection.

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