Is it tools or IT tools?

PDF files won't open in FireFox?

Matt Griffith — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 05:28:00 +0000

I noticed a few of our local machines suddenly stopped being able to display inline PDF files in Windows based FireFox 2.0.0 versions after about .7. I uninstalled both Firefox and Acrobat Reader, reinstalled, disabled add-ons and plug-ins and re-enabled them. I searched high and low for a solution but really ended up striking out.

Whenever I went to ToolPartsDirect.com, our tool repair site and clicked to blow up a PDF schematic, it would ask if I wanted to save to disk or open Acrobat Reader. It turns out that after one of the upgrades to Acrobat or Firefox somehow the setting in Firefox to use the PDF plug-in got reset. It is actually pretty simple to turn it back on.

Go to your Tools menu, and click on Options...
Choose the Content tab
Under File Types click the Manage... button
On the Download Actions page, look for the Extension PDF, and highlight that line
Click Change Action... button
Click the final radio button, that reads Use this Plugin: Adobe Acrobat

If for some reason, at step 4 you cannot find PDF. Find a PDF file on a website and click on it from your browser, when it asks what you would like to do with the file, check the Do this with files like this from now on and select either save to disk or open with Acrobat Reader. Then repeat the steps above. You should now see PDF and be able to select the plug-in.

Hopefully this helps some other frustrated people out there, maybe even some trying to view schematics on our sites.

The Tool Industry's Dirty Little Secrets: Replacement Batteries

Matt Griffith — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 21:44:00 +0000

An anonymous commenter on my Cordless Tool Battery Primer asked this question:

Why are two replacement batteries the same price as a new cordless tool WITH two batteries?

Ahh, so you noticed the secret. Yes, it is quite possible to buy a tool and two batteries for only a few dollars more than two batteries.

I've talked to several manufacturers about this situation, here are some of the things I have been told (these are not necessarily direct quotes):

"The most expensive part of most cordless tools are the batteries. We purchase the cells for production runs of tools in larger quantities and therefore they are less expensive to manufacture than the smaller runs of replacement batteries."

"Margins on tool sets are low and the replacement batteries are much higher. We need to get people to buy a tool so they will buy accessories for the tool down the road."

"Modern tool batteries often last longer than the tool with which they were purchased. So we focus on keeping the battery price down in the kit form."

"Replacement accessory batteries have more packing and handling as a percentage of their cost."

I can tell you that as a distributor/seller the basis of the higher cost comes from the manufacturer. Regarding the reasons above, I have a feeling all of the above have a little bit to do with it... as well as the need to show units shipped of new tools to executives, bankers and the press.

RapidSlide Adjustable Wrenches

Matt Griffith — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 16:49:00 +0000

Contrary to popular opinion, RapidSlide is not a digestive ailment caused by eating at greasy spoons. It is a new way to adjust the opening in your favorite adjustable wrench. Crescent has introduced this technology somewhat recently and I purchased one of the wrenches a few weeks ago for use in residence.

The AC10NKWMP Crescent 10" Adjustable Wrench was the tool of choice for me. I decided that I needed to put in a flow control to reduce the water pressure in my shower. I was looking at our selection of wrenches and decided to try out the RapidSlide tool.

The main selling point for me was the easy way to adjust the wrench. You don't twist a spirally threaded knob at the head to open or close the jaws, you actually just move slider. Moving the slider towards the head closes the jaws, and moving it towards the Crescent logo opens them. It is an elegantly simple design and one that is logical in use. The mechanism used is fairly clever, too. There is a rod with a spiral groove that lives under the slider and moving the slider laterally rotates the rod opening or closing the jaw. The motion is very smooth, so long as you aren't trying to press down on the slider.

The funny thing about the slider method is that I felt like I couldn't "bite down" on the on the job as much as I could with the traditional mechanism. I could literally put a grape in the jaws and close the wrench as tight as it would go and not crush the grape. At first that seemed like a problem, but it turns out that the problem was how I was looking at the situation. No matter what I threw at it, the RapidSlide gripped the bolt head firmly for rotation but I could easily slide off the wrench with no further adjustment.

In addition to the adjustment slide, another little touch I liked was the scale at the jaws of the unit. There is an etched measuring area below the jaws. With the ease of slipping the wrench off without moving the jaws, it makes a nice and easy way to see, for example, what size socket you might need on a nut as you hold the bolt's head steady with the wrench. On the 10" model, the scale will measure up to 1-1/4" which is the capacity of the jaws. The scale is marked down to sixteenths of an inch (1/16").

The product is well machined and the tolerances are right where I would expect them to be. All in all, it is a great wrench. If the 10" is a bigger wrench than you need, Crescent also makes an 8" RapidSlide Adjustable Wrench. After seeing this tool, it becomes clear why Crescent has become so strongly associated with the adjustable wrench.

Are you a pet owner?

Matt Griffith — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 21:58:00 +0000

We are in the process of re-launching a pet supply website and could use input on types of products pet owners would like to see online. I have put together a short 5 question survey, and would really appreciate anyone's input on the topic. To fill out the survey, click here.

I promise we'll start posting some more tool news and views soon!

Thanks,
Matt Griffith
Director of Information Technology
ToolBarn.com, Inc.

The IT tools I promised sooo long ago...

Matt Griffith — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 16:04:00 +0000

So, it's been a bit since I have had a chance to post to the ol' blog. I apologize to the non-geek crowd, as this week I'm going to talk a bit about my day to day job here at ToolBarn.com.

Originally, this blog was going to be a bit of a mixture of power tool news, observations from the IT department of a Internet Retailer Top 500 company and just personal observations. I haven't posted anything in that second column, so today I will rectify that situation. I will still talk about tools a bit, but today it is tools for doing my job.

We utilize Google Calendar for scheduling our conference room and training room in our facility, and currently I print out a daily schedule to place on the door for people to know if it is safe to head in there for a quick 5-minute discussion, or what not. Google Calendar works great, but there is one hint I have for people working with it. When you print a day's schedule, if there is a meeting in the morning, but no afternoon meeting that day, Google tries to be "helpful" and skews the day to center around that meeting. This ends up shifting the printed hours to 4am to 3pm, for example. Obviously this looks a little silly, as we are not expecting impromptu meetings at 4am. Until the Google Calendar team gives us an option of a set printing schedule, my solution is to add a 1 minute meeting with no title later in the day to counteract the skew. Works like a charm... but I'd still like an option to set what hours print.

Another thing I get to do frequently is troubleshoot a problem PC. A while ago, we bought a power supply tester, thinking that it would be nice to quickly see if the problem was related to a bad power supply. Well, I have now replaced my second power supply which tested fine. All the lights go on as they should, but the tester doesn't test any load beyond what it takes to light up 9 LED's. So much for saving time. Brian suggested a switch to test for a rated draw, but I think just testing for 50 or 75 watt draw would be enough to catch most of the offending power supplies. In the mean time, I have a very high-tech paperweight.

Today's final tool will be OpenOffice.Org's office suite. Version 2+ of the suite has brought it to the point that I have not needed to open Microsoft Office in 6 months. And with the recent round of Zero Day exploits that Microsoft seems to have no quick responses to, OpenOffice.org looks much, much business friendlier than Microsoft's suggestion of not opening Word documents "even from trusted sources." The only things keeping me from rolling out OpenOffice.org version 2 exclusively are the people using Outlook for scheduling and the few people using shared workbooks in Excel. I know Sun has contributed some people to work on the calendaring support in ThunderBird and last I looked on the to do list at OO.o they were promising shared workbooks in the next major version. If you are tired of paying high Microsoft prices and then enduring Genuine Advantage check / redesign / re-check, perhaps you, too should consider OpenOffice.org 2.0. A handy hint if you are thinking about it: Go to Tools, Options, Load/Save - General and set the Default file format for Text Document and Spreadsheet to their Microsoft counterparts. It makes sharing your documents nearly seamless.

Easier Ways to Work with Ceiling Tile

Matt Griffith — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 03:20:00 +0000

As most people know if they have read my blog before, I love seeing new items that fill a need. Fortunately, our company is dynamic enough that often when I make a suggestion for a new product that I see at a store or in a manufacturer catalog, within a week or so, it is in our warehouse waiting for customers to find it. The last time this happened, I had just seen a few Stanley Maxlife 369 tripod lights on clearance at one of my local department stores. Now we carry two other varieties of this light and it is one of our best selling lights... proof that some places just don't know how to sell good products (I'm sure we're missing the boat on one or two ourselves). Anyway, back to ceiling tile and another, seemingly less exciting, product that I also recently discovered which are now en route to our warehouse.

The Irwin 93543 and Irwin 93545 ceiling tile drivers are actually bits designed to drive eye hooks. As you probably know, eye hooks are basically a screw or bolt with the shaft turning into a hook or eyelet at the end. So, the ceiling tile drivers are a simple slotted bit, with the slots long enough to drive the eye hook straight. A simple solution to what could be a tedious problem. I also like it more than the powder actuated track systems I have seen... it is simpler and far less expensive.

In addition to the eye hook drivers, we have added another nice product for ceiling tile installers or electricians. This one is the Greenlee Quick Cutter Recessed Lighting hole saw. Basically, this is an adjustable hole saw that cuts between 2-1/2" and 7" holes for recessed or can lighting. It works in either ceiling tiles or drywall and like the ceiling tile drivers it just goes right into your 3/8" or bigger chuck on a corded drill or cordless drill.

If you install drop ceilings for a living, then you might even want to check out a rotary laser or some of the many rotary cutting tools we carry. If you just are looking to do a room or two in your basement, then Quick Cutter and the ceiling tile drivers might be enough to save you a lot of aggravation . I think the eyehook drivers could be useful in a lot of other areas, and hopefully my hunch is right.

If any of you have any good ideas for projects involving eye hooks or tips for people installing ceiling tile, feel free to add a comment!

Engraver perfect for a shop or your home

Matt Griffith — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 21:56:00 +0000

Dremel Engraver: The 10 Minute Review
I spent a little time using the Dremel 290-01 engraver around the ol' IT office today. I needed to mark a couple of nice little Olympus digital voice recorders with a ToolBarn.com engraving, just in case they walked away. The cases were an ABS plastic type case, and the engraver did a great job on a setting on 1 (out of five speed settings). While it buzzes a little like a very annoying old alarm clock, it is quite easy to write clearly on settings one through three.

Four and five are very strong impacts and can jump around on the surface you are engraving if you aren't careful. Of course, since I wanted to try it out a little more I decided I would try them out on the Irwin Vise-Grip bent-nose pliers that we have come to cherish up in the IT office. The pliers are nickel chromium steel, so I figures I'd try a five setting first. It did a great job of marking them, but I wasn't able to keep the fine control I wanted. So I flipped them over and tried it on 3. Still a nice strong marking, but this time, I was able to maintain finer control.

For a tool under $20, the engraver gets a big thumbs up from me. If it were over $25, then I might complain a bit more about the volume of the tool in operation. As it is, don't use it around (or on) a sleeping baby, and you should like it just fine.

Holey spade bits! Someone's yanking my cables.

Matt Griffith — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 20:25:00 +0000

To answer the first question you all have. Yes, I am easily entertained.

So, do you ever look close at your trusty spade bit and wonder why there is a hole near the tip? It can't do anything appreciable for cooling down a hot blade. It isn't big enough to fit on a nail or a pegboard hook to hang it up in your shop. What in the wide, wide world of sports is it there for? (For best results read that last question as if you were Slim Pickens in Mel Brook's classic Blazing Saddles.)

The hole in the bit is for a wire puller. A wire puller is a little mesh sleeve with a snap hook on one end. The mesh sleeve fits over the wire or cable you are wanting to bring through your hole. The sleve tightens as it is pulled on, much like those finger traps you see from time to time in the movies and gag gift shops. You simply drill your hole with a long spade bit, hook the wire pulling grip to the bit as it sticks through the hole and pull up the drill and cable all at once. (I'll add some more links as we get more of these kinds of products in from Greenlee)

The wire puller holes appear in every spade bit we carry, the photo above shows two very different spades, one self-feeding spade bit from Greenlee and a RapidFeed Spade bit from Bosch. Greenlee also makes some other nice products including flexible combination bits that are three feet and longer with the cable pulling holes. To the left is a picture of one pulling cable through a floor between some studs in a wall.

All said, my life as a the IT director at ToolBarn could have been made a lot easier if someone had shared that little secret with me. Hopefully, someone else will read this and find that there is a better way.

To see our selection of spade bits visit our Wood Bore bits group.

Milwaukee V18 Tools Coming Soon

Matt Griffith — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 15:48:00 +0000

Our Milwaukee sales rep stopped by yesterday to talk to me about their new V18 tools. He brought in his demo unit of the V18 cordless hammer-drill/driver. It looks like September 1st will see the release of their V18 hammer drill kit (0824-24) and their 4 piece cordless tool kit (0920-29). These will be up for pre-order in the next few days, but I'll go ahead and give you a little preview here.

First off, I'll talk about the battery system since it applies to the entire V18 line. The most exciting feature found in the new V18 lithium ion battery is that it will work with existing Milwaukee 18 volt cordless tools. That's right, it slides right on the same way as the existing 18 volt nicad batteries do. This also means that your existing 18 volt Milwauke power-plus batteries will work on the new V18 tools (they won't last nearly as long, however). The V18 charger will charge either type of battery, but the old charger cannot charge the V18 battery for safety reasons (as well as the fact that they weren't designed to do that). Those of you who have read my blog for a while might remember that I mentioned plans for backwards compatibility for older Milwaukee tools, well this was also the battery I was writing about when I mentioned an adapter to use lithium-ion batteries with other brands of power tools. Stay tuned, as I will post more on that when I can.

The battery will provide up to 50% longer run time compared to the 18 volt ni-cad batteries, consistent power from start to end with no fade, and the battery packs in the power of an 18 volt battery at the weight of a 14.4 volt battery. It also features a LED fuel gauge like the V28 battery and Milwaukee is warranting the battery for 2000 charges or 5 years. On most of their tools, the battery pack is also reversible which is nice for balance reasons as well as clearance issues when working at awkward angles or confined spaces.

It looks like the hammer driver / drill is very similar in design to their V28 model. The main difference being that the V18 is an 18 volt tool, as opposed to their 28 volt V28 line (I know that seems a bit obvious, but better to give too much than too little info). The hammer drill has the following mechanical specifications: a 1/2" chuck, two speed operation (0-450 or 0-1,700 RPM and 0-675 or 0-25,500 BPM), 550 inch-pounds of torque and over 20 clutch settings.

For those who don't know what those specifications mean, I'll explain them a little better. The clutch settings determine how hard the drill will turn before disengaging the drive mechanism. This is really useful when you are driving screws or driving another fastener, to be sure you don't go through the material or drive it too deep. With the 20+ settings, you should be able to find one with just about the right amount of torque. To adjust the clutch setting or to switch to drill only or hammer + drilling mode you simply twist the numbered ring right behind the chuck of the drill.

The two-speeds are important for two reasons. When you are driving a fastener you want higher torque so you can drive it to the depth that you need. When you are drilling you want the bit spinning as faster so the hole is bored quickly with a minimum of work. Speed and torque are inversely tied to each other. As you raise speed you lower torque and as you lower speed you raise torque. That being said, there is a sweet spot for each application. The 450 and the 1700 RPM numbers are generally recognized to be in the range of the sweet spot. There are some tools that offer 3 or even 4 speed settings, which would allow for a more specialized task where you might need an even lower maximum speed but more torque or a top speed more in the middle for drilling through some particularly hard materials. That being said, most people will never miss the 1 or 2 additional speed settings.

I didn't get much information on the four tool combo kit other than the model number is 0920-29 and it will include the above hammer drill, a Sawzall reciprocating saw, a circular saw and the often overlooked flashlight. I will assume that these will also be styled after their larger brothers in the V28 lin e.

I will post more as I can, thanks for reading!

Matt

Out of season bargains

Matt Griffith — Tue, 25 Apr 2006 18:55:00 +0000

I just got done putting a bunch of winter wear items on clearance on our site, and I was pretty amazed by what prices we put on them to move them out of our warehouse. I don't normally try to "pimp" merchandise so directly in my blog, but well, we need to make some room and I really like these products. So, if you have room in your winter clothes closet or like doing your Christmas shopping way in advance, you might want to consider some of these items. Most of these items are limited to stock we have on hand.

First off, almost every glove we carry is on sale for what ToolBarn employees pay. This is a substantial savings over even our usual low prices. Many of these gloves are from Revco / Black Stallion, and include their great and versatile Tool Handz series of gloves (you can read my write up on the 99PRO-BLK gloves). Browse our glove selection and I'd imagine you'd be surprised with the wide variety of gloves we carry.

Secondly, we have every product we carry by Justin Original Workwear on sale. Justin is best known for boots, but after we got these in last fall, I'd say Justin could definitely give Carhartt a run for their money when it comes to winter coveralls and work coats. Unfortunately, it seems, that the lack of name recognition hurts Justin's sales.

Justin makes insulated work clothes like coveralls now just $97, bib overalls now $72.75, chore coats now $60 and hooded jackets for just $55. They actually implemented some really nice features that my much more expensive coveralls definitely didn't have. The jackets and coveralls have interior pockets, one of which is designed to hold your cell phone. Sure, you could put it any number of other pockets, but the pocket design should accommodate most cells and keep them easy to get to. The bib overalls have elastic knit sides that should keep you warm without limiting your range of motion. Directly below are some nice drawings from Justin illustrating the other nice features.

Milwaukee's Pneumatic Nailers and Staplers

Matt Griffith — Tue, 11 Apr 2006 15:08:00 +0000

Please note: I intended to publish this about a month ago, but with our move into our new facility and other issues, that goal obviously slipped. Still good info even though this is no longer a preview of an upcoming tool, but of a tool that should be available now.

I got the opportunity to get a little hands-on preview of Milwaukee Electric Tool Corporation's newest addition to their product line: pneumatic nail guns and a staple gun. Dave N, our Milwaukee rep stopped in with his demo units of almost all of their new tools, and in exchange for our knowledge on air tools, he let me get some photos of many of the nice features on these tools.

I'm going to write up articles on each major family of these tools, i.e. roofing nailer, framing nailers, finish nailers and brad nailer. The article on Milwaukee's coil roofing nailer, the 7120-21 is already up. I will link to them all here and at the end of this entry. In the mean time, this article will cover common features to all the tools and otherwise be a reference about what Milwaukee hopes to achieve with these air guns. They have issued a press release about the tools, which I will comment on here as well.

Milwaukee Tool is promising that the tools are going to be tough, or as every tool company under the sun likes to say "heavy-duty." The also promise that the pneumatics are going to meet the needs of the contractors that use them, whether they are roofers, framers, finish carpenters or remodelers. Of course, I'm guessing that we'll see a fair share end up in the hands of the high-end do-it-yourself crowd, after all why should professionals have all the fun?

All the tools features some common features and traits. A quick rundown of those features are magnesium housings, tool-free depth-of-drive adjustment, selectable triggers providing contact actuation or single sequential actuation modes, built-in self-cleaning air filter, tool-free adjustable exhaust with muffler, internal piston catch to keep the piston at optimum firing power, and rubber over-molded handle and trigger. One other feature to mentions is they are all covered under Milwaukee's 5 Year Warranty. I'll have more specifics on these features in some of the write ups I do.

The tools in the line up are:

Coil Roofing Nailer, Milwaukee's model 7120-21 • Hands On Review • ToolBarn product page
3-1/2" Clipped Head Framing Nailer, Milwaukee's model 7110-20
• ToolBarn product page
3-1/2" Round Head Framing Nailer, Milwaukee's model 7100-20
• ToolBarn product page
18 gauge Brad Nailer, Milwaukee's model 7150-21
• ToolBarn product page
16 gauge Straight Finish Nailer, Milwaukee's model 7145-21
• ToolBarn product page
15 gauge Angled Finish Nailer, Milwaukee's model 7140-21
• ToolBarn product page
18 gauge Narrow Crown Stapler, Milwaukee's model 7155-21
• ToolBarn product page

Hands on: New roofing nailer from Milwaukee Tools

Matt Griffith — Wed, 08 Mar 2006 16:37:00 +0000

I got the chance to get my hands on most of the new Milwaukee nailers (and one stapler) this week. Dave, our Milwaukee Rep, brought in his demo units and it looks like Milwaukee's decision to spend some time looking at the current market for nailers may have paid some dividends to the people who will be using them. The tools will be out in the early part of April, and Milwaukee is promising they have learned better ways of doing a product launch than last year's V28 tools (meaning there shouldn't be widespread shortages).

These entries will have quite a few photos, since I had my spiffy new Kodak Z740 camera with me and got some nice shots of some of the cool features of the tools. It looks like I'll probably do a tool a day, or every other day, so this should last about a week. As always, feel free to ask any questions.

I'll start off with the roofing nailer, the 7120-21.

The picture on the left shows the anti-skid design of the bumper guard for the nailer. The raised, three tooth design should help prevent the gun from sliding off the roof when you set it down. Obviously, no matter how you design it, the tool can still take that tumble, but every little bit helps. It should also help a little to keep the tool from getting beat up too much by keeping the body off the shingles.

The picture on the right shows a couple of nice features, the first being the contact / sequential switch, the black switch directly above the trigger. This allows the user, without replacing the entire trigger like in some models, to make the decision on the fly whether they want bump fire (contact mode) or single shot (sequential mode). For those of you who do not know, bump fire is a mode where multiple nails can be fired. By holding down the trigger, the user can fire the tool simply by pushing the nose against the work piece. Sequential mode requires the user to remove the nose from the work surface and release the trigger between shots. The trade-off there is speed for safety.

The other nice feature is the grey knob in front of and above the trigger is the depth setting for the tool. Again, a tool free way of determining how far into the material your nails are fired. This allows the roofer to adjust his tool to match the shingle and backing wood into which they are shooting, after all a nail doesn't hold too well if it goes all the way through the shingle.

The picture on the left shows the adjustable exhaust and the bumper protection that Milwaukee added to their roofer. The exhaust deflector can be turned 360 degrees, which means you don't have to have it blowing in your face. It is also muffled, so it should be a little quieter when firing.

The bumper protection is a heavy, hard rubber guard. This should give the tool a little protection from drops (if it lands on the where it needs to) and should also protect the body of the tool from excessive scratches and the like caused by the shingles. The rubber bumper should also help prevent sliding.

On the right, you see a detail of the nose of the tool. What you may not notice at first is the lever directly under the tip of the nose. That lever actually opens the barrel of the nail gun, and for the first time that I am aware, a manufacturer has added easy jam clearing for a roofing tool.

Speaking of the nose tip, it is replaceable and has carbide inserts in it. This should make it last longer and be less expensive to replace when that time comes. Also visible to those of you who were looking for it, the tool is indeed a side load model. Some people like the ease of a bottom loader, but most people hate it when they accidentally come open. So I think that was probably the right move by Milwaukee. That brings me to the final picture that I took of this tool.

The adjustable, removable shingle guide is pictured to the left. It's the little contraption on front of the magazine (that's where the nails are held for those who might not know). This guide allows the roofer to follow the bottom edge of the shingles with this guide to keep their nails above the tar line on the shingles. In other words, it is a little cheat to know that they are nailing the shingles at the right height. If you shoot below the tar line, water could make its way down into the house. So, it is vitally important to keep your staples going in at the right place. I believe the guide can also be used to align to certain types of siding. Regardless, if you don't need it, just take it off. There are no tools required to do so and the track it leaves behind shouldn't cause you any issues either.

There were a couple of things I couldn't get any photos of, mainly because of the difficulty of doing so, that I wanted to mention. First of all, all the Milwaukee pneumatics they have shown us thus far have a self-cleaning air intake filter on the tool. Basically, it is a fine mesh that captures grit and dirt and keeps it out of the internal workings of the tool. The Max line of nailers also has this nice extra, and in my estimation that should help keep the o-rings and seals working longer. When you remove the air line, the pressure of air in the tool will actually clean the filter by shooting out the debris with the pressurized air. That's probably also part of the reason they are offering their 5 year warranty on the air tools.

For all the people who have wanted a case for your roofing nailer, Milwaukee is listening. It will come with a red, high-impact plastic case just like they make for their power tools. In fact all of their air tools, except the framing nailers, will come with a case. Besides the case, it looks like the roofing nailer will have safety glasses, some oil and a 4mm hex wrench.

And just for completeness sake here are the basic specs. The tool is designed to be used with between 70 and 120 PSI. It uses the standard 15 degree coil roofing nails. Air usage is .08 ft^3/cycle at 100 PSI. The air inlet is 3/8" NPT. The magazine holds a coil of 120 nails. The bare tool weights in at just over 5 pounds.

Milwaukee expects this tool to excel for people laying asphalt or fiberglass shingles, tar paper and roofing felt, gypsum board, house wrap, cement board, insulation board, metal drip edges, siding, vapor barrier or even upholstry trim panels. That seems like a fairly thorough list to me. Next time, I'll cover the framing guns and then it will be the finish nailers and brad nailers turn to shine.

Milwaukee is Seeing Stars (on their schematics)

Matt Griffith — Tue, 21 Feb 2006 04:05:00 +0000

I called a customer today about an order on ToolPartsDirect.com on an obsolete part (yeah, I was helping out our support team... but don't worry, I still did a bunch of IT stuff, too). Milwaukee listed the part, the field, as obsolete with no direct replacement. After speaking with the customer for a few moments, I realized the heavy-duty drill he was fixing was still in production, even under the same model number, 2404-1. So I took it upon myself to call Milwaukee to find out what was going on, after all, the field is a very major component to any electric power tool.

After bouncing around through a couple departments, I had my answer. Milwaukee breaks down their schematics by serial number ranges. As you get to each new generation, you can actually retrofit the tools by using the the next newest schematic. All you need to do is replace every item on the newer version's schematic that has a star next to it. In this case, the upgrade would end up costing more than buying the new tool, obviously this is not always the case.

The mystery of the star in the parts list had bounced through my head once or twice before, but I had never really taken the time to find out what it was all about. Now that I know, I figure I'll spread the wealth. A simple little character on the schematic which lets the end user know what is different between the tool you have and the next newer version. It's one more of those little touches that make Milwaukee a company that I feel goes a just little bit farther than many of their competitors when it comes to customer service.

Brian keeps bugging me about posting

Matt Griffith — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 21:52:00 +0000

Warning: Matt is in a weird mood, therefore this is a weird blog entry.

So I'm going to take this opportunity to talk about Brian. Brian Mark (programmer, web designer, search engine optimizer, NASCAR enthusiast, ~~cobra trainer~~, ~~inventor of bacon~~ and ~~unwelcome part-time bathroom attendant~~) is speaking at the upcoming Search Engine Strategies conference in New York City. Brian is actually a pretty smart guy, especially when it comes to building websites that make it easier to optimize for search engines. If you are looking to get your website up in the listings in search engines and really make it start paying for itself, I do recommend the SES conference (if you can afford it). I've been to one (Brian's spoken at four now) and it did really help me understand how important the little things can be when putting information online.

If you are going to be at the SES conference, look for Brian's name on the session lists. If not just remember never to press the following button, even if it is cheaper than natural gas:

The Milwaukee Theorem: V28 - 28 = V Series . V Series + 18 = V18.

Matt Griffith — Mon, 06 Feb 2006 20:11:00 +0000

Milwaukee V18 Power
Nope, that's not a manufacturing error, that's what the new V18 series battery is going to look like. This 3.0 amp-hour, lithium-ion battery will slide right on to your existing Milwaukee 18 volt tools, like one of the Hatchet sawzalls or a SDS rotary hammer.

The new products they are introducing as Milwaukee V18 tools are a 1/2" hammer-drill, a 1/2" driver-drill, a 6-1/2" circular saw, a 6-7/8" metal cutting saw, a 1/2" impact wrench, an impact driver, a Sawzall recip saw, a rotary hammer, a job-site radio and, or course, a work light. At this point, I do not know if any of these will be redesigned beyond adding a V18 logo... but chances are they'll add a bell or whistle here or there (the Clip-Lok belt clip for the flashlight). They are expected to ship out mid-summer of this year. I hope they'll be smart enough to offer a battery & charger pack, since you will not be able to charge lithium ion batteries on your existing Milwaukee charger.

Milwaukee has said that the V18 batteries are 25% lighter than their current 18 volt ni-cad tools while packing in 40% more power. The charger will charge both the lithium ion V18 and previous Milwaukee nickel cadmium batteries. The charge time for their 3.0 Ah Li-ion battery is 60 minutes while the Ni-cd batteries will charge in 30 minutes.

So what does this mean for the V28 line?

According to Milwaukee, not too much. The V28 line will focus on bringing "corded tool power" to cordless tools. This year we will see a V28 version of their popular job site radio, a 1" SDS+ rotary hammer, a right-angle drill that can cut 2-9/16" holes in 2x material and a metal cutting saw that can cut 2" black pipe in a single pass. They also partnered up with Monster Garage to make a V28 powered 1962 Chevy Belair (I still think I'm going with a Prius, I don't have the organizational skills to charge 384 V28 batteries between trips).

Beam Cutters - Shiver Me Timbers!

Matt Griffith — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 22:13:00 +0000

The Prazi PR-7000 and PR-2000 Beam Cutters

They are something to behold. At first view they look like a B-movie scream queen's* worst nightmare. You expect the anonymous villain to be waiting behind the door with the circular saw and beam cutter, just waiting for the helpless dupe to come in the room. Of course, he can't chase them far... extension cords tend to snag on corners.

So then, what do you do with a beam cutter?

The obvious thing is to cut wood beams, and it can cut up to 12" deep. We see them used quite often by people building log homes. It's like using a chainsaw, except the chainsaw has a foot which can be adjusted to allow angle cuts that stay true. This allows for rafter cut-outs to adjust the pitch of a roof that stay uniform, for example. It is much less labor intensive than some of the old ways of doing this.

Another great use for this tool is the landscaping industry. Prazi states that you can use this tool to cut railroad ties in the field. How much easier would that make building a tie wall? I know my dad could have used one. He built about six railroad tie gardens (going so far as terracing a good 60 feet of their yard) before this tool was invented. That would have saved me a lot of work as one of his young helpers, too.

There was another time when I was on a construction crew that specialized in rebuilding after fires. We were sent out to rebuild a wooden pedestrian bridge at a state park. The structural beams, and even the planks, were so big that we had to use an 8-1/4" worm drive circular saw and make the maximum cut on all four sides, and then use a reciprocating saw with a long blade to cut the remaining inch in the middle. Needless to say, things would have gone quite a bit quicker with the beam cutter.

We've also seen some other unique uses for them. One that stands out was a historical shipyard bought a PR-7000 (this is the beam cutter to use if you have a worm-drive saw, if you have a standard circular saw you'll want to look at the PR-2000) to cut timbers to repair a damaged mast. That was another moment when I realized, no matter how many different uses I have seen for a tool there will always be others of which I had never even thought about.

There are other options, for example, getting a larger saw like Makita's 5402NA 16-5/16" circular saw. Even with that saw you still would need to make two passes to get through a 8, 10 or 12" beam. Only having used the 5402NA once, I wasn't comfortable with the saw, as the big blade makes a very large "danger zone." I felt like I needed to stand with my leg back pretty far to be sure I wasn't going to injure myself. That is not to say that the large circular saw is more dangerous, but I felt less able to work with the tool safely. That may seem like a little thing, but when you are working in less than ideal locations, being comfortable with your tools is important.

Other options are a regular chain saw, a reciprocating saw, a hand saw or multiple passes with other circular saws. Those choices make you sacrifice either time or accuracy, sometimes both.

I have been impressed with this tool design since I first saw it, and as I see new ways of using the beam cutter, I think my appreciation will only grow. Hopefully, this post will help some people who didn't even know the tool existed find something to make their projects go better.

*No B-Movie scream queens were harmed during the posting of this blog, and I sincerely hope none will be because of the contents.

Omaha, Hockey and Power Tools

Matt Griffith — Sat, 21 Jan 2006 05:09:00 +0000

So, lately, I've been enjoying some live hockey. Up until tonight it had been Omaha's new AHL team, the Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights. Now, thanks to one of our shipping partners, I also got to go see the University of Nebraska at Omaha Mavericks. Other than the suspicion that I am a bad luck charm for our hockey teams (Knights have two losses and one overtime shoot-out loss in the three games I have seen, and now the Mavericks have one overtime loss). Regardless, the games are fun and the teams are quite different to see. The Knights games are much more physical, fast paced hockey and the team is really defensively stacked... good thing too, because we spend a lot of time in the penalty box. They also fight a fair amount, although hockey fights always reminds me of the old Rock'em Sock'em Robots. Also a nice perk is the old Civic Auditorium, while too small for many things the Civic (as we like to call it) is a great hockey venue. Even the "nosebleed" seats are close to the ice, the place can get loud and it holds about the right amount of people for the Knights. I really hope Omaha gives the Knights a shot and will start supporting them. These guys are one step away from the Calgary Flames in the NHL and are definitely professional hockey players. The Maverick games seem to be a little different.

The Mavericks have been in Omaha long enough to develop some nice traditions, and they are playing down in the relatively new Qwest Center. The traditions include, among other things, the Red Army (a group of Maverick fans that bring drums and cowbells and make a point of working up the crowd) and the moment after the first Mav goal someone throws a big ol' frozen fish on the ice and then they send out our mini-Zamboni complete with a fisherman's catch net to scoop it up. During tonights game, there were numerous chants, the wave went around about 6 times and during one of the numerous sponsor giveaways, I was chosen as a local TV stations Fan of the Game so I get to go back in two weeks to see the Mavericks take on Lake Superior State. That'll be fun, I'll be right behind the oposing team's bench, closest to the ice I've been yet, but not by too much. The Mavericks seemed to have stronger offense, but a little weaker defense than the Knights. College hockey also seems less physical so far.

So, beside the work connection for tonight's tickets, what's with the "Power Tools" in my title? Well, I've noticed both facilities use a DEWALT Cordless Compact Drill probably the DW926K-2. When they setup the goal, they use a spade bit (probably 1-1/2") to clear out the hole for the goal guide posts. Just another use for a couple of products we sell of which I would have never thought. It's also another good indication of the principle that more power isn't always what you need. When you are sliding on ice with tennis shoes and you only have one job to do with your drill, do you really need 6 pound tool when a 3-1/2 pound tool will do?
Feel free to drop us a line if you use a power tool in a place or in a way we wouldn't expect. I like to know what people are doing, maybe I can make a suggestion or two to help you find a better way of doing things, or maybe your way will help someone else think outside the "tool" box.

It's time to put your favorite tools on Lithium (ion)

Matt Griffith — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 16:55:00 +0000

Brian posted a while ago about the Makita LXT cordless tools, and in that post he talked specifically about the difference in philosophy between Makita and their 18 volt Lithium Ion and some other manufacturers and their decision to go bigger. Today, it seems I have come across a few interesting pieces of information that could set things on their ear, a bit. I have to be a little more vague than what I normally am, mainly because this has not been officially announced or even hinted at by the company in question.

One company will be offering 18 volt lithium ion batteries to power their existing 18 volt tool line in the United States this summer. It is one of the players who have already invested in a higher than 24 volt system of lithium ion. If you step back and think about this for a moment, you can realize how huge this could be. You already have an 18 volt drill, flashlight, impact driver, circular saw and a host of other tools. Now, you can extend their run time greatly with the simple purchase of a new battery and a new charger (sorry, the old chargers simply won't work with lithium ion batteries, which requires a whole different technique for optimal charges and lifetime extension). From the information I saw, it looks like they will also introduce tool kits designed specifically for the new Li-Ion batteries as well.

Imagine if you could take those new batteries and safely hook them up to a competitor's tool. What's that? You don't like pretending? Well, maybe you won't have to. I will post more on all of this when I can do so without risking bodily harm.

Smells like DeWALT Spirit

Matt Griffith — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 17:24:00 +0000

So, looks like I got a little information on the new DEWALT line of Lithium Ion 36 Volt tools. As you can see from the image they look like they are calling the line the Nirvana Li Ion and we are expecting to see them mid to late spring, probably in that month that has all the flowers.

As far as the inital wave of tools they look to be releasing over the following months I think we can expect a hammer drill, a 7-1/4" circular saw, reciprocating saw, their bendy neck lantern / flashlight (these four pictured), a jigsaw, an impact driver and a rotary hammer (definitely the product that could most benefit from having 36 volt power).

It seems that their DC9360 battery will use exclusive nano-phosphate lithium-ion cells. They deliver two to three times the run-time compared with their current 18 volt batteries. DEWALT is anticipating 2000 recharge cycles on the battery, which is a significant increase. The battery is slated to be 2.4 pounds which is roughly the same weight as their current 18 volt batteries. Otherwise, it will be a slide on style, instead of the familiar pod currently in use.

The first things I notice when I look at them is how long that battery is. Looks to be about 1/3 longer than the current 18 volt batteries. This could give some of the products a little more stability when standing alone, but I worry about the battery getting in the way, a bit. As soon as we get some hands on, I'll definitely post impressions.

Some other observations that I can make from the pictures and product literature that has been released. The circular saw being a 7-1/4" design will make a lot of framers happy. They will finally get that half an inch back of cutting depth, and should have the power to use it effectively. The hammer-drill pictured has a decidedly different chuck style than what I am used to seeing from DEWALT, but from their 36 Volt subsection on their website, it looks like the above may be a prototype. The mini-site (all done in Flash) lists it simply as a self-tightening chuck. One other small detail that I have noticied: even though A123 Systems hyped a spec on the battery technology stating it was able to regain 90% of it's charge in 5 minutes, the charger DEWALT is producing is a 1 hour charger.

Again, I'll bring you more specs as I find them out. Hope that helps a little on the initial thirst for knowledge.

Cordless Tool Batteries - A Primer

Matt Griffith — Wed, 28 Dec 2005 16:41:00 +0000

Just Looking for Power Tool Batteries?

We sell them. Get to the battery you need. (I only put this here, because I noticed a lot of people were finding this article, when they were simply looking for a battery.)

The Basics

Power tool batteries are made up by taking several lower voltage cells and hooking them together in series. Each cell has the same rating in Amp hours (a measure of how much electricity flows through a circuit in one hour with a flow rate of 1 ampere). So an 18v tool might have 12 cells at rated at 1.5 volts and 2.4 Amp hours, which would produce an 2.4Ah 18 volt battery.

Almost all of the cordless tools on the market today use one of the following three battery technologies:

NiCad / NiCd (Nickel Cadmium) - Nickel Cadmium batteries are commonly found in tools from Dewalt, Bosch, Porter Cable, Milwaukee, Skil and Hitachi. Advantages and disadvantages of NiCad are:

Least expensive cell technology
Has the least temperature sensitivity of the three battery types
A large number of charge cycles is possible
Stored batteries quickly lose charge
Can develop a sort of "memory effect" (see the below section on memory) if not regularly drained and fully charged (sometimes referred to as conditioning)
Cadmium is a heavy metal and is considered an environmental hazard

NiMH (Nickel Metal Hydride) - Nickel Metal Hydride batteries are used extensively by Makita and Panasonic. The advantages and disadvantages of NiMH batteries are:

Much higher potential capacity than NiCad batteries
Requires less conditioning than NiCad
While you still shouldn't just toss a NiMH battery, it is considerably less toxic than a NiCad
Much more sensitive to temperature than NiCad
Some studies show that the battery performs less reliably after repeated empty to full charges
Loses a charge more quickly than NiCad

Li-ion (Lithium Ion) - Lithium Ion are relatively new to the power tool industry. Lines using them have been launched by Milwaukee (the 28 Volt V28 Tools) and Makita (The 18 Volt LXT Line). In addition, Dremel makes a lithium ion rotary tool, which was the first lithium ion tool we carried. We expect to see more tools in this category soon, as Bosch has announced 10.8 volt and 36 volt tools and Dewalt is also jumping into the 36 volt waters. Others have been dropping hints as well. Lithium ion is relatively new in power tools, but some general advantages and disadvantages of lithium ion cells are:

Much higher capacity than even NiMH
Charge loss during storage is less than half that of NiCad
No memory at all, no periodic conditioning is needed
From the early reports we are hearing on the Makita and Milwaukee units, lithium ion seem at least as temperature sensitive as NiMH
The charging process is much more complicated from a technology standpoint, meaning more expensive chargers or batteries (depending on the manufacturing choices)
The battery manufacturing cost is substantially higher

So Why are Power Tool Batteries so Expensive?

From time to time I hear someone complain about the price of tool batteries, although thanks to a few of our power tool manufacturers coming out with battery 2-packs, I've been hearing less of that particular complaint. But the idea behind the complaint is that I can go out and buy a 12 pack of AA batteries for under $8. That is 12 cells x 1.5 volts, or 18 volts total.

Of course, this point of view requires you to forget that your standard alkaline batteries are not rechargeable. So if you get 400+ charge cycles out of a cordless tool battery, then that $8 18 volt battery suddenly costs you $3,200. That is not even taking into account current draw and other issues that would make a AA cell less than ideal for the purpose.

The costs in rechargeable batteries also are influenced by the makeup of the battery. NiCad, NiMH and Li-Ion are all much more expensive per cell than a lead-acid or alkaline cell. In addition, there are costs in designing the packaging, wiring the cells and otherwise making it work safely and effectively in a power tool.

Memory

Voltage depression is the technical name for what people commonly refer to as memory in Nickel-Cadmium or Nickel Metal-Hydride batteries. While NiCad and NiMH are both capable of developing voltage depression, it is less likely with power tools than with low amp draw items like laptops or cordless phones. The effect is caused when the cells in a battery are drained to the same level at the same speed frequently. To quote a Makita training pamphlet on batteries:

This does not happen with tools in industrial applications due to the fact that tools are used in various applications. For instance, sometimes a battery will be used in a high current draw application such as installing large lag screws and other times in a low current draw application such as installing deck screws. The changes in draw and the rate of discharge prevent memory from occurring.

The voltage depression is actually caused by crystalline structures forming on the nickel plate (on both NiMH and NiCad) and the Cadmium plate (on NiCad). The larger the crystals become, the less energy your battery can produce.

The Amp hour (Ah) Rating

I gave the technical definition of an Amp hour above. Now, I'm going to actually explain what that means to you. If you had a 9.6 volt battery rated at 1.3Ah and another 9.6 volt battery rated at 2.6Ah, the 2.6Ah could power the same tool doing the same job two times as long. The best metaphor for the Ah rating is the gas tank on a car. Depending on how you drive a car, if you maintain it and the engine that is in it, your mileage will vary widely, but you'll always go farther if you have a bigger gas tank if all the other factors are the same.

A Great Resource to Learn About Batteries

I stumbled across a site a couple weeks ago, and using my existing knowledge and some information I picked up there, I wrote this little primer. However, I recommend everyone should go to Battery University to learn from the real experts. Their information is not specific to power tool batteries, but much of the material applies equally to all types of batteries.

Any Questions?

If anyone out there has any questions, I'll do what I can to answer them, or in other words, yes I take requests.

Matt Griffith

What's an amp worth?

Matt Griffith — Sun, 25 Dec 2005 06:17:00 +0000

After having training from a few of the major power tool companies in the world, I've learned a few dirty little secrets of the power tool industry. Today, for Christmas, I'll share the big one!

You know that amp rating that so many consumers use to determine how much {insert manly growl} power a tool has? It really means very little. The rating process is kind of silly. The testing labs get a tool from a manufacturer and are told "We would like to be rated for 12.0 amps". The testing lab then puts heat sensors in certain areas of the tool, and then apply the requested current to the tool... as long as the sensors do not get above a set temperature in a set amount of time, then the lab says "Hey this is a 12.0 amp tool!"

Sure, the tool can operate at 12 peak amps, but is it using that power effectively? Is it transferring the energy it is producing to the work piece or is it simply shaking the tool out of your hands? I have seen tools that have a lower amp rating out-perform high amp tools on a regular basis.

In addition to the question about efficiency, the next one you should ask is how many amps is your circuit rated? Many outlets are only rated at 15 amps, and if you are running the wrong tools at the same time, you'll be replacing a fuse, resetting a breaker or worse an outlet. This could be a real issue if you are in the middle of a cut on one of your last pieces of material, or if the circuit panel is hard to get to.

So then, how do you select a tool if you cannot go by amps? That gets a little harder. The United States is very amp oriented, this amp dependence has been driven by the marketing departments for several of the power tool companies. Many of them have no interest in educating their customers, so it is up to the people who deal directly with the customers. My suggestions would be to look at the other specs provided by the manufacturer. On a reciprocating saw, for example, look at the strokes per minute (SPM), the length of stroke, the amperage, whether it has orbital action and the weight. Using all of these, you can make a better determination whether or not it is the saw for you. The no-load strokes per minute (meaning they count it while the tool is not making contact with any work material) and the stroke length (the total distance the blade actually travels on each cut) determine how quickly a tool can cut. If you are cutting mainly wood, the orbital action simulates the action of a hand saw and cuts wood even faster. The amperage isn't entirely worthless, within one brand of power tools the amperage will show the relative power of this saw compared to the manufacturers other tools. The weight, while it isn't an indication of power, is really important... consider this, would you rather spend 30 minutes holding a 8 lb tool over your head or 28 minutes with a 10-1/2 lb tool? A few more insights on the wonderful world of reciprocating saws can be found on Brian Mark's blog entry from 12/24/2005.

The key to being happy with a power tool is to pick one that meets or just slightly exceeds your needs. By going for the tool with the most power, many people are also going for the tool that costs them the most and wears them out the fastest.

Make a list of the things you do with this type of tool regularly, the things you do relatively rarely and the things you might want to do from time to time. Once you have a list, decide how important it is that the tool you are buying does each one of these. Weigh those items versus fatigue caused by weight, the availability of power and any other special features that could be important to what you intend to do. Then with those considerations in mind, look at the tools and try to match the specifications to your profile of the "perfect" tool. Once you find it, order it.

Almost every major manufacturer of power tools offers at least a 30 day satisfaction guarantee (and usually not the case with air tool manufacturers, strangely). Don't be afraid to use the tool like you will be using it in the field. If it doesn't perform well, you can send it back under the terms of their guarantee. Yes, you will usually have to pay to send an unsatisfactory tool back, but isn't it worth $10 to get the right tool?

Well, I have to be with the family in 10 hours, so off to bed I go. Merry Christmas to all!
Matt G.

News from slightly behind the frontlines...

Matt Griffith — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 21:10:00 +0000

It was just a year ago when I was answering the phone calls of the last minute Christmas shoppers. I had already earned my present title, Director of Information Technology, but we were still getting our call center staff trained and up to speed, and I still had (have) an awful lot of knowledge about power tools kicking around in my brain (the kicking was mostly harmless). This year, I can gladly say I didn't have to take any phone calls, but knowledge is still valuable, and even asked for on occassion.

Looking back now, it is hard to believe we are the same company as when I started here 4-1/2 years ago. Back then, I did all of the customer service, product maintenance and the like single-handedly. I remember when we had a goal of an order an hour. That certainly has changed. As ToolBarn.com and ToolPartsDirect.com have grown and matured, so has our staff and our back-end technology.

In this, my inaugural blog posting (inblogural?), I just wanted to acknowledge the fact that without all of the people here stepping up to do their best, I'd probably still have to be answering phone calls while trying to keep our various systems up and running. In my estimation, that is one heck of a good Christmas present... Thanks everyone!

Tune in next time, when Matt shares his thoughts on ... hmmm, we'll I guess we'll all find out together.

Thanks for reading,
Matt G.