You may not see news like this on Reuters or CNN, but we love reading about the latest tool releases — like these new ratchets from Stanley Proto. In 1/4″, 3/8″, and 1/2″ sizes, these ratchets are narrower than Proto’s previous offerings so you can cram ‘em into tighter spaces. They’re also quick release; just push the button on the back to free the socket.

Read the rest of this entry »

You don’t own a boat or a trailer and you’re wondering what to do with your vehicle’s receiver hitch, so why not mount a grill? The Margaritaville from Freedom Grill sits on a heavy-duty swing arm that mounts in any 2″ receiver.

The grill’s 20,000 BTU stainless steel burner heats its 352 square-inch cooking surface using a 1 lb. propane tank or, with an optional adapter, a 20 lb. propane tank. The grill features fold-out side tables, a fold-down condiment tray, and even has carrying handles if you don’t feel comfortable with open flames near your gas tank.

You’ll pay about $400 for the Margaritaville Tailgating Grill.

Margaritaville [Freedom Grill]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

(TV Tonight, Friday, November 6th, 2009) We get a new episode of How It’s Made tonight where they explain how the white stuff gets in Oreos, or Canadian Oreo equivalents.

All times are central

• Holmes on Homes: Out of the Ashes (Part 2) (HGTV, 5:00 pm)
• How Do They Do It?: Ports, Contact Lenses, Tires (Science, 5:00 pm)
• Ask This Old House: Garage Organization, Ceiling Fan Installation (DIY, 5:30 pm)
• How Do They Do It?: Mining trucks, Ikea, air traffic (Science, 5:30 pm)
• Cool Tools: On the Surface (DIY, 6:00 pm)
• Dirty Jobs: Spray Insulation Technician (Discovery, 6:00 pm)
• How Do They Do It?: Glass, Changing a Jumbo Jet Tire, Soft Drink Cans (Science, 6:00 pm)
• How Do They Do It?: Gold, golf clubs, escalators (Science, 6:30 pm)
• Top Gear (BBC America, 7:00 pm)
• Dirty Jobs: Ice Salvage Crew (Discovery, 7:00 pm)
• How It’s Made: Rubber boots, binoculars, sparklers, circular-saw blades (Science, 7:00 pm)
• How It’s Made: Jukeboxes, tortilla chips, spark plugs, anatomical models (Science, 7:30 pm)
• Disaster House: Good Bones (DIY, 8:00 pm)
• How It’s Made: Stickers, surfboards, sandwich cookies, concrete roofing tiles (Science, 8:00 pm) NEW
• How It’s Made: Waffles, custom wires and cables, train wheels, metal golf clubs (Science, 8:30 pm)
• Deconstruction: Home Security (DIY, 10:30 pm)

Right now Tooldiscounter.net has the Milton 4-in-1 tire valve repair tool for $1.05.

The 4-in-1 tire valve tool is used to remove the valve stem of a tire valve, rethread both the inside and outside of the stem, and remove a broken valve. It’s a handy little tool that you only need when you need it, but if you need it, you need it! There are cheaper ones out there but the Milton seems to be higher quality. At least their catalog gives the tap size, if you’re curious: .2108″-36 tpi.

Amazon also has the tool for $3.03 [What’s This?]w/ super saver shipping eligibility so that may be a better deal.

Milton 445 4 Way Tire Valve Tool [tooldiscounter.com]

In a world where cordless seems to capture all the headlines, it’s always nice to see some love directed towards corded lines as well, like this new 3/8″ corded tradesman’s drill from Milwaukee. With an all-metal gear case and chuck, a whopping eight amp motor, and 0-2800 RPM variable speed, this sucker should really tear through wood and metal.

Read the rest of this entry »

Our friend Brad seems to have more fun on the job than should be legal in most states. Here we see him working with some lighting. And by “working” we mean having some fun, and by “fun” we mean destroying things. Brad posted his short video of this chain of events to the Flickr pool recently — demo in its best format, loud and messy.

If we tried that around here it would most likely turn out that we just destroyed something that needed to stay up. We’ll give him this: it’s the fast way to get a bunch of hanging lights down. The scene reminds us of a Wile E. Coyote setup.

Toolmonger Photo Pool [Flickr]

(TV Tonight, Thursday, November 5th, 2009) Not a bad night, starting with an IKEA factory tour, then new episodes of American Chopper and Street Customs. OCC building an electric bike? We bet they’ll bring in some outside help for that.

All times are central

• Junkyard Wars: Manic Mud Racers (Science, 5:00 pm)
• Ask This Old House: Installing a Shower Base, Rain Barrels (DIY, 5:30 pm)
• Cool Tools: Speciality (DIY, 6:00 pm)
• Street Customs: Vans Van (TLC, 6:00 pm)
• Junkyard Wars: Power Paddlers (Science, 6:00 pm)
• American Chopper: OCC Band Bike (TLC, 7:00 pm)
• Ultimate Factories: IKEA (National Geographic, 7:00 pm) NEW
• American Chopper: Siemens Electric Bike (TLC, 8:00 pm) NEW
• Successful Farming Machinery Show (RFD-TV, 8:00 pm)
• Street Customs: 2007 Maybach (TLC, 9:00 pm) NEW

Unless you have a fully-enclosed router table, your chip and dust collection probably leaves something to be desired. Instead of fully enclosing the entire table, Rockler’s Dust Bucket just encloses the router to get the same level of dust collection. When used in conjunction with a fence collection port, the Dust Bucket will allow you to collect virtually all the dust from your table.

Read the rest of this entry »

Following the more-is-better philosophy, the Bosch GPL5 uses five beams to project plumb, level, and square points. It also self-levels (up to 5°). Available for around $200, the 1 lb. unit is 4.125″ × 3.125″ × 1.625″, and can be secured using its 1/4-40 or 5/8-11 threaded mounts, or via straps or magnets with its multipurpose attachment. It can be easily re-calibrated in the field (and comes with a wrench for just that purpose). Its accuracy is ± ¼” @ 100′. Three AA batteries supply power.

If you’re not into multi-axis laser leveling, maybe you could modify the GPL5 for use as a garage/shop intruder alarm.

Bosch GPL5 [Manufacturer's Site]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Bosch GPL5 Via Amazon [What’s This?]

I mentioned a bit of a problem with my Shop Smith band saw that sprang up this weekend. The rubber tires that hold the blade on the wheels basically disintegrated after about 20 years or so, and the bottom one popped off the saw.

I called Shop Smith and was impressed with the service which was both prompt and knowledgeable. The very nice lady on the other end identified the model number of my saw and told me how I could save some cash by ordering a little differently and sent me on my way.

Read the rest of this entry »

Right now Kingsley North has the Raytech Tumble Vibe TV-5 vibratory tumbler for $90 with free shipping.

I admit I have tumbling on my mind a lot these days as I try to work out the best method for finishing production runs of our jewelry. Vibratory tumblers are excellent for using abrasive plastic media and ceramic burnishing media for finishing metal as well as for rock tumbling. Vibratory tumbling tends to be much quicker than rotary tumbling. This is not the same as the vibratory tumblers used for polishing as I posted in a previous Dealmonger; it is meant for heavier work, albeit smaller.

My only quibble with the Kingsley North deal is that the free shipping is actually $2.45 ($1.00 handing, $1.00 “special fee” and .45 insurance). It is still the lowest price out there for a small vibratory tumbler, however. And yes, I ordered one…

Raytech TV-5 [kingsleynorth.com]

(TV Tonight, Wednesday, November 4th, 2009) A new Mythbusters tonight about hurricanes and liquid nitrogen.

All times are central

• Ask This Old House: Replacing a Clogged Aerator, Proper Houseplant Care (DIY, 5:30 pm)
• Cool Tools: Power Play (DIY, 6:00 pm)
• MythBusters: End With a Bang (Discovery, 6:00 pm)
• MythBusters: Greased Lightning (Discovery, 7:00 pm)
• MythBusters: Hurricane Windows (Discovery, 8:00 pm) NEW
• MythBusters: Balloon Child; Ping Pong Rescue (Discovery, 9:00 pm)

This old dresser has been handed down through two generations of my family before I had it. It’s close to 50 years old and has been reworked more than once. It has no particular value save its clothes-holding properties. It has been in my bedroom for close to 30 years and it’s time for a change – preferably to something a little less Sgt. Pepper. It was time to overhaul this piece again.

As you can see this dresser has seen its share of beatings — admittedly some of them were at my hands — and the hardware has been replaced at least three times. The last time was my fault; when my mom asked what I wanted for new knobs, I answered brass because it was shiny (I was ten) and she dutifully stuck sixteen brass knobs on it to create what you see here. Read the rest of this entry »

Anybody with kids or grandkids has gone through the childproofing stage. You find yourself crawling around on all fours, permanently damaging your nice cabinets (and maybe your knees) by installing safety latches to keep the wee ones out of unfriendly places like cleaning cupboards. Then after a few weeks you find yourself walking halfway across the house to throw something away in your bedroom rather than fuss with opening the latch to the kitchen garbage.

Kidco’s magnetic child locks could solve some of the potential pitfalls of installing child safety latches.  First they attach with adhesives, possibly saving your cabinets from damage. Second they open simply with the touch of a magnetic key in the proper location. They claim the key will release the latch through over one inch of solid wood.

The best pricing we could find was $20 shipped for a pack of three locks with one key and key holder. Now if it only had a targeting laser…

Magnetic Child Locks [Kidco]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

Judging solely from what I can gather from the serial number on the headstock, my father’s Shopsmith — now pulling duty in my shop — was built in August of 1984. Almost exactly twenty-five years later it’s still going strong.

I mentioned a while back that my dad’s Shopsmith Mark V came to live with me on super-extended loan from the old man. Read: he’ll have to pry it out from under me to get it back. I left it be for a little while and started to read manuals and figure out what everything did.

Read the rest of this entry »

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]

Those of you who happened to catch the Washington Business Journal yesterday probably did the same spit-take we did:

“Power tool maker Black & Decker Corp. will be acquired by hand tool maker Stanley Works in an all-stock merger valued at $4.5 billion.”

That’s big news indeed. We haven’t had a chance to talk to anyone at Stanley about this yet, so please take our reactions with a grain of salt. But, wow. Assuming B&D’s current brands — DeWalt, Porter-Cable, Delta Machinery, and (of course) Black & Decker — go along with the deal, Stanley will have established themselves heavily in the power tool domain. Some of B&D’s other assets, like lock and hardware brands Kwikset, Weiser, and Baldwin, seem like they’d fit in perfectly with Stanley’s existing product line. Others, like plumbing fixture supplier Price Pfister, seem more dissimilar.

But regardless of the final disposition of all brands and products, one thing’s certain: this acquisition will greatly affect a number of products you see on the shelves today.

Black & Decker Being Acquired by Stanley for $4.5B [Washington Business Journal]
Stanley/Black & Decker Site [Corporate]