First round of server updates are completed

The first round of server updates have been completed. ToolPartsDirect.com has been moved to the new web servers with only a few minor glitches along the way. I'll get the category level images fixed here soon so you don't have to look at black boxes all the time, but otherwise everything appears to be working well behind the load balancers and across all three web servers. As soon as I have one technical difficulty with an API that isn't liking our 64 bit OS worked out I'll be moving ToolBarn.com as well.

The real trick will be getting the database servers all hooked up and running, but that should't be too hard either. I have a call coming in from the database vendor on Tuesday to discuss replication vs. clustering. I prefer the idea of clustering, but much prefer the pricing on replication. I guess we'll just wait and see which one ends up making the most sense for our customer's needs.

What Does S.D.S. Stand For?

Yesterday, I made reference to an email that we received some time back. I located the first of his emails and thought I'd share it with you, along with the answer to his question.

Hello,
I am a Tool Specialist at [big box store], what does S.D.S.
stand for? I sell Bosch and DeWalt Hammer Drill bits and
a customer asked what S.D.S. was. Thanks.
Louis [last name removed]

Well, what Louis did was made us all laugh here. Any tool geek, or "Specialist" as he put it, should be able to tell you that SDS is Slotted Drive System or Slotted Drive Shaft. I found the following information on their website now, which makes me wonder if they published some of our answers to him on their site.

• SDS (or Slotted Drive System) bits for hammer drills/rotary hammers allow the bit to slide in the chuck and enhance the hammering action of the tool. For most applications, these bits provide plenty of torque.

• SDS Max bits are similar to SDS bits, but have larger shanks and come in larger sizes than SDS bits. These powerful bits are useful in industrial applications.

So, now that you know what SDS is, here are all the cordless SDS drills, electric SDS drills and SDS drill bits you'll need to get the job done. Oh, and I'll mention that SDS has moved on to being SDS Plus (or SDS+) which has some minor differences but still works the same way.

SDS Max to SDS Plus Adaptor

I remember back a few years, we got an email from a so-called "Tool Expert" from one of the big box stores asking what SDS Plus and SDS Max were. He sold the tools, but didn't understand the bits. If he really didn't understand those concepts, I hope he could sell people one of these as well. It's an adapter between the two different shank styles.

If you've got an SDS Max tool and want to use an SDS Plus bits, then this is exactly what you need. I also noticed the note that this would also allow an SDS Max tool to use a standard drill chuck adaptor, which would be a nice addition to those tools as well.

Looks like The Max (SDS Max, that is) just got an upgrade in utility.

Milwaukee 14.4V Deal

I was browsing our site and came across one that looked like a great deal today. It appears we bought quite a few 14.4V combo kits that are currently at a great price. I can't say how long they'll last for sure, but if you want to pick up some decent tools, check this one out.


Drill, Impact and Flashlight

This kit includes a drill, an impact driver, and a flashlight. Most people tend to use these tools quite often, so it's a great combo. Of my kit, I use the drill and flashlight the most and often wish I had an impact.

14.4V Power

This kit includes a couple of 2.4Ah 14.4V batteries, which is enough power for most anything you'll need to do. Sure, there is more power available, but do you really need to drill through anything other than wood and light steel with a cordless? Do you need to break the studs off when tightening lug nuts on your vehicle? Do you need to blind animals and direct aircraft with your flashlight? I'm being silly here, but the point is that most people can function just fine with 9.6V power, so 14.4 is plenty for everyday use.

Nice Flashlight

Milwaukee does make a nice flashlight. The fact is, most cordless tool manufacturers do. But they've got one distinct advantage over the Makita that I currently own: a belt clip. Sure, the LXT line fixed that, but it costs considerably more.

Contractor Bag

Unlike my kit, which has this huge plastic case that doesn't fit in my back seat real well, this one fits neatly in a contractor bag which could be placed just about anywhere. I know, many people prefer the plastic cases. Personally, I like to use the tools outside of the case. The zipper makes getting at one of these tools much quicker and the bag keeps it all bundled up neatly without taking up a huge amount of space. If you could only see my closet full of plastic cases from tools, you'd understand why I like the idea of a contractor bag so much.

Makita Narrow Belt Sander

Ever needed to use a belt sander in a very narrow area? I know I have, and Makita makes just the tool. In fact, they make a 3/8" belt sander which is perfect for every tight squeeze.

Long, Narrow Belt

The problem with many narrow belt sanders is that they also have a short belt. This particular model has a 21" long belt, so you've got plenty of surface to prevent build-up from clogging the grit too quickly. It also makes it easy to get into areas you can just get your fingers to. After all, what's the use of a narrow belt if the tool is in the way?

Wide Range of Speeds

Older belt sanders seemed to assume you just wanted them to run fast all the time. Most newer ones include variable speed, but this model allows you to adjust from 980 - 5,600 ft./min. That's a very wide range, allowing you to dial in just the speed you're looking for. Obviously, material is going to be one of the bigger reasons to select a different speed. But you may also want to go slower when you don't need to take as much material off.

Inexpensive Belts

Many of the "Specialty" belts are rather expensive. Makita has that problem covered with belts costing just over $1.00 ea. For a specialty size, that's not bad at all. By comparison, the odd size I have to buy for my Bosch unit (1.5" x 12") are closer to $2.00 ea. and the tool doesn't work in all the situations I'd like. This Makita would be a perfect fit in my tool collection.

Coming Soon - A Faster ToolBarn

We've heard the complaints about our site being slow at times. We're stepping up to the plate and upgrading the web servers and the database backend to try and make this less of a problem. We're buying more than we need to handle future growth and have everything planned so we can expand upon the technology as our needs grow. What's that entail? Lots.

1) Load Balancers
If you are interested in learning a bit about them, you can read a bit here. They're not exactly power tools, but they are powerful and are tools for making our site highly available.

2) Web Servers
We're upgrading from a single web server to 3. If you'd like to know some of the specs (for the geeky types out there), I've spelled it out here. ...started (our blogs are moved and testing more right now)...

3) Database Servers
Again, we're going from a single server to 2 with clustering. Specifics on the hardware can be found here.

4) Mail Servers
Since email is a necessary evil in doing business online, we're moving it from our web server to a dedicated machine with fail-over. Sorry, no specifics here.

5) Switches
Connecting all of these will be interesting. We ordered 2 Dell Gigabit managed switches to handle the connections - 1 for each NIC on most of these machines.

We'll be hooking all this up into different power grids with flywheel backup, and no piece of equipment will be without a backup / redundant machine. Of course, we also have our Google Mini for our search results, so we'll have 9 servers in our cabinet when it's all said and done. All this because someone said it took too long for a page to come up. I love technology. :-)

Processing Parts Orders

Parts orders are labor intensive. With over 15,000 unique parts in stock at any moment, finding those parts to fill orders can easily be a full time job for 8 people. We were at that point once. Now, we utilize technology and machinery to process more orders in less time with fewer people. (We moved them to packing boxes and applying labels. No employees were let go in the name of technology.)

So what's the answer to increasing speed and accuracy in filling our customers orders of replacement parts?

Horizontal Carousels

Horizontal carousels sound like they belong in a carnival to me. But rest assured, they're very at home in our warehouse. You can see a picture of them being set up to the right (our old warehouse - the new one has much higher ceilings). They occupy a section of warehouse 56 feet wide by 70 feet long, have a lift platform at one end and large motors that turn the entire assembly (there are 4 carousels pictured) to bring parts to our order fulfillment crew. I might also mention that they stand about 14 feet tall. The result is that our employees don't have to go look for a part, the part comes to them and lights tells them how many of which one they need to grab. Add in some verification scanning to the actual products and it becomes tough to make an error in filling an order.

More Carousels

Seeing how efficient these carousels are, we have an option on more of them later this year. It's our belief that small tools, batteries, chargers and even small boxes of nails and staples would be incredibly fast to pull if we put them all on carousels. Adding four more won't be hard - our software already supports as many as we want with however many PC's we want attached, so if we need 4 people pulling from 8 carousels, we're covered. The end result of this should be something just short of amazing. We should be able to fill 400 - 500 orders per shift for each person on the carousel. Add in some pre-sorting and a few more goodies and we'll get those orders out the door almost before you finish pressing the confirm button. Maybe not quite that fast, but there should be very little time between the order being placed and it being in line to be boxed and a freight label attached.

All In The Name Of...

These carousels are far from inexpensive, but we feel our customers are worth it. We've done it all in the name of customer service. There is no way that we could run like a normal repair center with parts thrown all over and expect to fill orders in a timely fashion. But our customers are worth the effort to get parts to them quickly and accurately. Ideally, the parts won't ever break again and we won't have any repeat customers. But realistically, the next time a tool breaks we'll be there, ready to ship your parts order faster than ever.

Planer Blade Sharpener

As I was walking through our new showroom today, I noticed an odd looking product. I hadn't seen one like it before (we didn't have enough room in our last showroom), so I had to ask what it was. Turns out, it is a planer blade sharpener and we already had it on our website.

Japanese Waterstone Sharpener

Japanese waterstones are known for being very good sharpeners, but they're very manual and tiresome to use. Makita addressed this problem by taking the benefits of a waterstone sharpener and making the stone spin at 560 rpm. Thanks to Makita, you can get the super sharp finish without the tiresome work.

Sharper Than Sharp

That's right, when you get a new planer blade, it's supposed to be sharp. But this sharpener makes it even sharper than brand new, so it's sharper than sharp. If you want precise planing, this is exactly the tool you need.

Catalogs?

We get asked quite often if we have a catalog we can send out. I guess my question is this: what's a catalog? Isn't it just a list of items we sell, just like our website? If so, what reason would we have for making a catalog when our website shows a much more up-to-date and much more comprehensive list of what's available than anything we'd print? Below are some of my favorite responses to why someone wants a catalog from us.

Reason #1: I don't have Internet access

Great. So how did you call us? We don't have our number listed anywhere but through our website, so you must have found some way of locating it online. Ok, so I can understand that we have some sweet products and maybe you had to go to your neighbor's place to find it and just wanted to call us.

Reason #2: I don't have time to find everything on your site

We use a Google search appliance, so you don't have to find everything. Just ask it what you're looking for and it'll spit out results much faster than what a catalog can. Maybe I'm just too used to searching Google for my needs, but catalogs seem slow to me. I suppose they're faster for some people, though.

Reason #3: I'm not always around a computer

Well, that one I've got to give to some people. Personally, if I'm not at a desk my laptop isn't ever too far away. If I have my laptop, I'm probably within range of an access point. But then again, I don't ever really remember where a catalog went about a week after it shows up, so it wouldn't help me in that case anyway.

Reason #4: I like to browse for nothing in particular

Well, you can do that on our site as well. Simply search for "tools" and it'll show you stuff in no particular order. Restrict the search to products only in the drop down to get rid of categories if you like, even add in negatives to get rid of a brand you dislike or categories you're not interested in. But I can relate to this one as well... I like browsing catalogs when I get them. I just don't usually find anything I can't live without.

On to your reasons

What reasons do you have for wanting a catalog from us. I was really wanting to get some legitimate reasons so I can talk to our marketing folks about getting one, but had to throw in some of the "Good" reasons to make us smile here first. I'm looking for those reasons that shout "File / Print!"

Made in the USA - Now just a myth?

I received an email on 3/22/2006 that I'll post below as a nice introduction, then get into the bulk of my post below that.

Brian Mark,

I read your posting about not liking the Craftsman truck series commercial about bowling (no, I didn't watch it as I am sure it was not very good).

To write "you're going to need to buy quality hand tools that aren't from Craftsman. I'll make the recommendation for Stanley Tools". Come on now. I am not a Craftsmanite by any stretch of the imagination. Infact I do not own one Craftsman socket or ratchet. I am more of a Made in the USA man than any one brand loyal. But to say the nearly exclusively made in China Stanley tools are better in any way than any tool made in the USA is crazy. You do know Stanley made a majority of the hand tools for Craftsman in the 90's and prior don't you?

I don't need to go into who owns who in the tool buisness or anything beyond that. Just wanted to say Buy American when you can!

Best Wishes,
Vince Bellantonio Jr.

Thanks for your comments, Vince. I'd agree that we need to watch to a point what we buy. If everything is created overseas, we could end up with a huge unemployment rate stateside. However, "Made in the USA" in the tool business is getting to be a myth. We carry Irwin tools if you really want to stay with US built, but the point of the article you were referencing was that their commercial was sending the wrong message, not that I wanted to send more money overseas.

Made in the USA Hand Tools

Hand tools are a bit different than power tools (the usual focus of this blog), but it warrants comment. Most of the metals used in creating hand tools are now imported, much from Japan and Europe. So even a "Made in the USA" tool is supporting overseas markets. A look at the Iron and Steel Statistics Bureau data shows the following data:

The largest steel exporting countries in 2004 were Japan (34.8 million tonnes), the EU15 (31.8), Russia (30.4), Ukraine (28.2) and, entering the top 5 for the first time, China (20.0).

Conversely, the largest steel importing countries in 2004 were China (33.2 million tonnes), USA (32.8), the EU15 (30.4) and South Korea (17.7)

How many hand tools are made from steel? I'd say a large percentage. What about plastics? Well, that's very similar as well. Materials come from overseas, so that US made tool is still foreign materials in most cases.

Made in the USA Power Tools

This question comes up on a regular basis: What power tools are the largest percentage US built? We all know that DeWALT is a US based company and Makita is based in Japan, but where are the tools built? Surprisingly, the typical answer to the question of who builds the most tools in the US is Makita. We've asked reps from many companies, and that's usually the answer. There are a lot of Mexican built tools on the market today, quite a few German built, Korean and Japanese aren't uncommon either. Additionally, most of these companies have a US division. So what's that really mean?

Regardless where the tool is made there is always going to be some of the money staying home. Most people don't buy their Makita drill from Japan, they go to their local store or buy it from us online. Sure, some of the money ends up back in Japan. But it's a global economy now more than ever, and part of the money stays with the seller, some stays with the rep, some stays with the local warehousing facilities, some stays with the shippers, some stays with the manufacturer, some stays with their material suppliers, and some goes back into advertising via local media outlets. Regardless where the item is built, money gets spread all around both locally and abroad.

Milwaukee Pneumatics Arriving

That's right, Milwaukee Pneumatic Nailers are going to be arriving next week, most likely on Monday. Quantities are going to be a bit limited at first, but they should ship in a reasonable time if we run out of any particular one. They've done some very nice things with them, as Matt has pointed out here.

Our Milwaukee rep told a guy today that he was buying the best gun on the market... until Monday when the Milwaukee's come out. From what I've seen so far, I'd have to say that he was probably pretty accurate. They did their research, and it should be a great product launch.

Here's to those Old Milwaukee's Best... I mean those New Milwaukee air nailers. Cheers!

Bent Nose Pliers for Tight Situations

As we were moving our servers during our recent move, we decided to re-situate the servers in our rack. Since we hadn't done that in a while, we didn't really remember why the monitor / keyboard tray hadn't been moved from the uncomfortable location it was in - too low for standing and too high for sitting. Soon into the project, we remembered. It's not easy to get to the screws that hold it in place.

Enter the Bent Nose Pliers

After a while of fiddling with a screwdriver and getting nowhere, we got the bright idea of using the right tool. We should have it, after all. But what was the right one? We didn't exactly have enough room to get a right-angle screwdriver in the opening, but we knew we could snap the rails apart once it was out of the rack, so we just needed to get it out any way we could. Looking at the shelves in our store (a huge benefit of being in the IT department of a tool store), we came across some bent nose pliers. After a little bit of playing, we were able to use them to gradually turn the screws and remove the drawer.

A New Favorite

I really liked using these bent-nose pliers. Irwin made the handles comfortable and the bend really allowed for some great angles when working in that awkward situation. Next time I see our rep, I'll have to let him know how much Matt and I liked them and see if I can talk him out of a set of them for my house. Otherwise, I'll just have to spend my own cash and buy one. Good thing they're not too expensive.

Twist-Lok Round 2

Lynn gave me a call again today (he finally read this post), and he is sending me some samples so I can see how it holds up to some abuse. He said that he had personally tested it through 12ga sheet metal using a #14 hex bit and the unit held up. If that's the case, it should handle anything I throw at it just fine.

As for the materials, he said that they used hardened steel pins, then threw buzzwords like "6061 Aluminum" and "T6 Hardening" at me. Ok, so it should be tough.

He also told me that he used to build gas stations... er... assemble seems more appropriate now that I think about it. That involves driving a lot of screws through sheet metal and steel, and he said that this tool is designed for that type of abuse. That seems like an interesting strength test to me.

Well, he's going to have some samples sent over and we're going to give them to a few of our customers to really give a test (after we abuse them a bit). He's also having one of their people contact one of our guys to see about carrying them here. It should be interesting, and I'm fairly excited to see how well it holds up for my tests.