Cordless Grease Gun

A cordless grease gun is more than just the latest gadget for your auto shop. Cordless technology has taken the tool world by storm and now grease guns have benefited from it. I would recommend using a cordless grease gun if you are in a large auto shop or maintain a large fleet of equipment. For example, a mechanic working for a large construction company is constantly having to grease and lube large pieces of equipment. With a cordless grease gun and extra batteries this job can be completed faster and better than by just using an old hand pump type. Everyone knows regularly greased equipment last longer and performs better.

Swamp Cooler and my auto shop

I work as a mechanic in an automotive service shop in a very hot climate. Our service bays are not air conditioned and are rather large. We leave the bay doors open in the summer and have some very large fans to keep air circulating. It just doesn't seem to be enough, especially in August. I have seen people using a swamp cooler on outside patios and I was wondering if that would work for me?

Yes. A swamp cooler is the way to go in your situation. You can get a swamp cooler with a very larger fan and large surface area for cooling. In your situation, the swamp cooler is not going to be able to cool down the whole shop. But if you aim the air flow right towards you, the air will be much cooler than just a plain old fan. All you will need to hook it up is an ac socket and a garden hose. Swamp coolers work by filtering water down an evaporative pad and blowing air through the pad. The evaporation process makes the air much cooler. The garden hose makes sure the unit doesn't run out of water and keeps cooling.

Air Hose Reels

Air hose reel is a great investment in productivity and safety in the auto shop. In a busy auto shop with several mechanics, air hoses just laying around can quickly become a tripping hazard to both your workers and customers in the shop area. Your mechanics are not likely to spend the extra time to coil up a long air hose and stow it away after every use. However , a self reeling air hose reel properly installed will automatically reel the unused air hose back up and out of the way. Air hose reels also add to productivity by making it easier to find and hook up air hoses. Lets face it, most of the tools you use on a daily basis connect to an air hose and being able to quickly find and reconnect the air hose to tools does nothing but help productivity. Air hose reels come in varying sizes and lengths. You can purchase a 1/2" air hose or a 3/8" air hose in 25', 50' and 100' lengths. Even a small garage shop would benefit from 25' air hose reel and a quick connector. Most air hose reels can be bolted up on a wall away from the floor and work area. This keeps them from getting banged up and away from the dirt.

Chilton Manuals and Repair Advice

I am always working on my car or friend' cars and I need a good reference guide to have around to answer basic questions about the car I am working on. Is there a reference book available that is specific to the year and make of certain cars?

Yes, there is. Chilton manuals have been around for years and are a great resource for the car enthusiast and the garage mechanic. They are really great for novice mechanics because they have good illustrations and simple step by step instructions. I have found that they have both the very simple and more complicated instructions for more the ambitious mechanic. You should purchase a Chilton manual for each car your are working on and stay away from the more general repair manuals out on the market. Chilton repair manuals will show the specifics steps and parts you will need for both foreign and domestic automobiles.

Refrigerant Leak Detectors and leaky air conditinoners

As summer approaches, it is time to start making sure your car's air conditioner is working properly. Before the temperature gets too hot, go out and crank up your car's air conditioner and see if it is cooling properly. If the air is not blowing cold and everything else seems ok, you may have a refrigerant leak somewhere in the system. Lots of times it will be a small leak that is difficult to detect and find. In the old days you could "top" off your refrigerant and just fill it up every few weeks with a can of R12 from the local autoparts store. Today, the EPA requirements are much more stringent. Your best option is to find and repair the source of the leaking refrigerant. I would recommend using a refrigerant leak detector. This handy little device sniffs out the leaking freon and alerts you with an alarm as you get closer to the source. Refrigerant leak detectors also have a sensitivity setting that allows you to turn up the sensitivity when you find the general area of the refrigerant leak. Now you can effectively correct the problem and have your A/C blowing cold in no time!

Can my jump starter power other stuff too?

I carry a jump starter in my car and I was wondering if you can use it to power other stuff besides just jumping your dead car battery?

Thats a great question. Your jump starter can power any accessory up to 12 amps. A microwave might be a little much. A jump starter is usually comes with an auto reset breaker if the current being pulled exceeds 12 amps. So you can power just about any 12 volt electrical device off of your jump starter. Some examples are a cell phone, radio, fan, small refrigerator, GPS device, lights and just about anything your imagination dreams up. This makes the jump starter an ideal emergency power source. Because if your car battery dies on you and the jump starter can't revive your car because the problem is say a bad alternator. The jump starter can be used to power your cell phone to call for help.

Delay on Auto Darkening Welding Helmet

I am a relatively new to welding and I am concerned about the delay in an auto darkening welding helmet. I know this is a total rookie question, but overtime will my eyes be damaged by the split second delay or am I worrying for nothing?

No your eyes will be fine. Those types of welding helmets have to meet strict safety requirements. Ultraviolet light is the danger, so make sure any welding helmet you purchase has ultraviolet filtering in place. The ultraviolet filtering is in place at all times, whether the welding helmet lens is dark or not. So fear not. Having said that don't buy a cheap one. In welding, safety equipment is very important and your eyes are worth spending the money. Most welders never go back after making the move an auto darkening helmet and they are really great for rookies as well. Even if the battery goes out, they still offer eye protection. There are several really good manufacturers out there. Look at Miller, Firepower, Jackson Safety and others.

I've got some cuts to make for the gabled ends of a pole barn. Says
you can use a steel cutting blade on a circular saw, a regular blade on
backwards or you can use a nibbler or shears.

Anyone have any recommendations? I'm more interested in speed than a
super clean cut. (The flashing will cover it anyhow.)

Thanks much.

You might try a metal blade in a Milwaukee Sawzall. however
be sure you shake/rinse off the rest of the sheet well after you put it
up as the filings will wreak havoc with the finish of most painted
metal. If you use a set of three jaws or nibblers it will be slower and
they tend to scar the sheet an inch or so out from either side of the
cut and the ribs are a bit tough. The cleanest is to cut by hand with a
set of offset shears but the fastest is the saw option.

Drywall repair

I have a hole in a drywall wall to repair. It is about 2 inches wide and about 6 inches long. The drywall is 5/8th thickness. Is the best way to repair it, to fill the hole with mud and then put drywall tape over it? Then sand and add more mud as needed? Or should I try to put a piece of
drywall in the hole first?

Screw a stick to the inside of the hole to support the patch. Fill the hole with a scrap of dry wall and put a coat of mud over it to just fill the cracks. Remove the screws after the mud dries, the patch should hold on its own. Then continue mudding, with taping over the joints. If worse comes to worse, you can replace the whole piece. Sheetrock is cheap and relatively easy to work with. Just take your Milwaukee Sawzall and cut out the old piece to the studs. Then you can install a new piece and tape and float it.

Bathroom vent question

I have a house built in the early 70s in Northern Virginia. Two bathrooms are on the second floor and do not have conventional venting, only windows. The windows used to open to the outside, but the previous owner converted the second-floor deck into a sunroom, and now
the two bathroom windows open into the sunroom. The sunroom is about 10' x 30', is unheated, and has large windows to the outside that are usually open on three sides. It has very good ventilation except in the middle of winter, when we close the windows. The attic is
immediately above the bathroom and sunroom.

I would like to add ventilation fans for the two bathrooms. The easiest way to do this would be to mount them on the wall to the sunroom, and vent the air directly into the sunroom. Is this an acceptable way to do it? Another option is to run the ducts inside the wall, down and out to the outside below the deck/sunroom. A third option is to run the vent into the attic and out the ridge vent at the peak of the roof. Is this possible? I saw it done in my old house. So far I have no soffit vents for the attic, but will be adding them shortly. Soffit vents would be hard to get to, except over the sunroom, if I put any there.

What is the best way to go about doing this? Should I just vent into the sunroom, since it is large and usually open, or do I need to do something more complicated? Thanks for all help.

Thanks for your email.

The only proper answer that can be given is to pipe the vents to the exterior. The attic route sounds the best to me. All fans have a limit of piping that can be installed on them, every turn
and twist requires deductions from this footage. Long horizontal runs are hard to do, and may require in-line booster fans. You can easily cut a hole in the sheetrock in the ceiling and install the fan. Sheetrock can easily be cut with a hand saw. However, when you cut a hole in the roof decking you will need something with more power. A Milwaukee Sawzall reciprocating saw will do the trick. Just get a sawzall with blade that will cut both metal and wood. This type of blade with make quick work of any nails you run across.

Also, most residential fans push the exhaust. Most commercial fans pull the exhaust by placing the fan on the roof and pipe to the room(s) with an exhaust grille system. The control wiring is longer, but no more complicated.

House Air Conditioner is leaking freon.

I'm having an issue with one of the Air Conditioning systems in my house.. For some reasons only the upstairs unit seems to be leaking freeon. He tried using the bubble detector solution, but wasn't able to find any leaks with that. He did this in both places, in the attic near the coil, and outside by opening the unit near the compressor..

He said that the only other place that the freon could be leaking is in the pipes from the upstairs unit to outside, which would involve drilling a hole in the wall, pulling the pipe out, and replacing, and then repairing the whole in the wall.

However, when the tech replaces the freon (with up to 2 pounds of freon), the Air Conditioner is ice cold again, and the last time he recharged it, it lasted for 2 weeks. Hopefully this time it will last longer, and the summer in the SouthEast will be over.

I've also replaced the filters and vacuumed the vents.

Have you seen this before.. where the freeon leaks over a period of say 2 weeks, but can't be detected, and upon recharging, it works fine.. for another 2 weeks. ?

Thanks in advance for your help..

That's a pretty well written description. IFF the tech was reliable and you have a leak in the walls, it seems funny he wasn't able to detect it anywhere. If it's leaking into the walls, there has to be an exit point for it and it'll be detectable there.

If it's actually "freon" as you said, that has a pretty good odor and at the loss rate you indicate, you should be able to smell it yourself, even.

Did the air conditioning tech use a refrigerant leak detector? This tool can "sniff" out a freon leak and tell you where it is located.

Also, if this is in the attic, I don't know why a hole would have to be made in a wall. It should be pretty easy to pull out the old and fish in a new pipe. Just my two cents; I know it isn't my money, but if I were you I think I'd try another service and if they came up with the same results, consider replacing what needs to be done. It's still cheaper than paying housecalls for freon every two weeks in your climate.

Do floor molding and door trim need to match?

I'm thinking about replacing my floor molding and have heard that the floor molding and door trim must match in order to be "proper". Is this true?

According to Miss Manners, yes, to entertain with mis-matched trim you would be dropped from the invitation list for the upcoming social season. You'll find yourself sitting home alone on New Year's Eve.
Just use a little common sense. If one is painted, both probably should be painted If one is rather gaudy, the other may look out of place if a plain clamshell. Your house, your rules, but you probably want something that complements the style of the house. Installing it really isn't that difficult. A good miter saw is necessary to make the various cuts. Like a good 45 degree angle. I found that using a cheap plastic mitre box and a hand saw was a real pain. By using a good power saw, the cuts will look better and you will keep your sanity.

Air Impact Wrench,Air Tools,Ingersoll Rand,Chicago Pneumatic,Ingersol

Air Impact Wrench,Air Tools,Ingersoll Rand,Chicago Pneumatic,Ingersol



this is a test of my blog

Impact Socket Set,Impact Sockets,Sunex

Impact Socket Set,Impact Sockets,Sunex



Impact socket sets are often overlooked when purchasing an air impact wrench. However, the types of impact sockets you purchase will directly affect the types of jobs you can perform with your new impact wrench. For instance, you may need deep drive impact sockets to break that rusty nut at the bottom of a long bolt. Your normal socket may not reach down that far. How about trying to get into that funky corner that you go straight into. You will need a swivel impact socket that can reach that corner. Also, don't try using the sockets out of your hand socket set in the garage. An impact wrench is too powerful for those sockets and could break them.

DeWalt Cordless Impact Wrench,Dewalt,cordless impact driver

DeWalt Cordless Impact Wrench,Dewalt,cordless impact driver



Cordless Impact Drivers are taking the tool market by storm. If you are driving deck screws or lag bolts, a cordless impact wrench is the tool of choice. They drive better and there is no reactionary torque like in a cordless drill. They are also lighter and smaller. This will allow you to get into tight spots and be easier on your arm.

Air Sanders and buffers

An air sander and buffer is a common air tool often overlooked by most people. Your average person mainly thinks of air tools as impact wrenches and air drills. However an air sander is far more powerful than the cheapy one most people purchase at the locat giant hardware store. If your are looking for high production sanding and buffing, check out the different models available. There orbital sanders,dual action sanders and palm grip sanders for any application. Air sander and buffer combinations are available as well. With this air tool you can use it as a sander or as buffer for your car or boat.

In-line filter and in-line lubricator

Inline filters are a really good idea to remove contaminants from air tools and moisture. You need to drain them periodically as well. Another good idea is put an in-line lubricator to increase the life of your air impact wrench. An in-lubricator lubricates your air tool as you are using it. You should pour some oil in it and run your air tool before storing it after use. Consult your manufacturer specs for the proper oil to use.

Impact wrench can overtorque your lug nuts.

Be careful about using an impact wrench to tighten your lug nuts on your car. Most mechanics routinely ignore manufacturer warnings to use a torque wrench when tightening lug nuts. Most will use the impact wrench because it is fast not accurate. More is definitely NOT better with torque. You can over torque your lug nuts and damage the studs. When the nuts are tightened, the studs will stretch. This tension holds the wheels on to the rim. If you overtighten the studs you can damage them and they could fail. They best approach is to use an impact wrench to snug up the nuts. Then go back with a torque wrench and tighten them to the manufacturer specifications. Proper air tools make all the difference.

Impact Wrench won't impact!

The simplest and most direct solution to this problem is to check and make sure the impact wrench has been properly lubricated. To resolve this problem, remove the hammer case assembly and lubricate the mechanism. Once the hammer case has been removed inspect the impact wrench mechanism parts. Replace any broken or work parts. For an example of how to remove the assemble case for an Ingersoll Rand 2161XP air impact wrench, refer to the manufacturers manual on my website.

Low power on your impact wrench

Low power on your air impact wrench can be very frustrating and really slow down your productivity. Before you throw away a perfectly good air tool, there are a few things you should check that could easily correct the problem.

1.) Your impact wrench could have a dirty inlet Bushing or air strainer screen. To solve this problem, clean them with a suitable cleaning solution.

2.) Examine the cylinder. Replace it if it is worn or broken or
if the bore is scored or wavy.

3.) Disassemble tool and clean all parts with a suitable cleaning
solution, in a well–ventilated area. Reassemble the tool according to the impact wrench manual.