When I finally decided that I had to have the pin nailer, so I looked around to see what was what. Went in thinking a cordless unit would be best, but i did not even know if such a thing was made. Turns out they do. So first up is a tool plus batteries. Hmmm . . . Then I saw that there are fuel driven tools. Not sure what the fuel is (propane??) but that seemed like a cool deal, a neat way to go cordless and battery-less. But, ya gotta have the fuel cells, or whatever they are called. And then came the reckoning: whatcha gotta pay? So I got a DeWalt air driven nailer. I already had a pancake air compressor, which obviously has plenty of snap to run a little pin nailer. works fine around the house, and that's about the only place it needs to go. If I had to haul the air compressor somewhere, well, I could do that too. apparently there are a few fuel driven cordless tools, impact wrenches being one. For that, again I cheaped out and got an air gun. and so far it works OK. Will do the lug nuts nice as pie, and it even loosened the Speedy's castle nuts. It's also yellow: DeWalt. I am a long way from needing commercial duty tools.
"Fuel" is a marketing name for Milwaukee's hi-po brushless M18 tools. M18 is just 18v in Milwaukee-speak. You don't need the Fuel stuff if you're just playin'. You want it if you are beating on the tools day-in and day-out on the job. We beat on the little cordless impacts and 1/2" drills, so that's what we have. Once you start with a tool brand, you generally stick with it so the batteries (which cost more than the tools) are interchangeable. I've got an M18 porta-band and several angle grinders, sawzalls, etc.
FWIW, Dewalt 20v and Milwaukee M18 are pretty equally represented on commercial jobsites. The framing guys are almost all Dewalt (skill-saws and reciprocating saws). Everybody still uses air framing guns (typically Paslode). Pin guns are about 50/50 air vs cordless. Senco is still the 500 lb gorilla in trim. Roofers really dig cordless, because they move around a lot and nobody wants to get tangled up in eleventy-billion air-hoses all over the roof.
Reading five-by-five on all counts. The tower of Babble that is the hand tool battery scene is disgraceful. My first one was yellow, and so there ya go . . . And the last roof I did was probably about 35 years ago. Used a hammer and galvanized roofing nails, one to a tab. The nails I still have a good load of downstairs. They are handy for a lot of other things.
shingle, blap-blap-blap -- shingle, blap-blap-blap ... just about as fast as it took you to read that.
I’ve had good luck with my K-D impact driver. I chipped a facet off one of the bits once so I tossed em in my home tool kit and replaced them with some bone fide hardened impact bits from the industrial supply house in town.
Two things I’ve found that insure success are
1) soak the screw overnight with DeepCreep (Seafoam’s version of PBlaster)
2) insure you’ve got the right bit. If you can put the bit in the screw and it STAYS THERE, you’ve got the right bit.
And then put anti-seize on it when you put the rotor/drum back on like Danny said. (The second time I replace the shoes on the Smart, the screw came out with a simple screwdriver)
As Stan says, pick a brand(color) and stick with it. About 5 years ago I needed a new drill/driver. I bought a 20v Porter Cable for $89 with 2 batteries and a nice charger. Love it!
Fast forward to Christmas, wife wants to know what I want as we're walking through Lowe's. I spy a 20v Porter Cable tool kit with bag. $149 for ANOTHER drill driver, a Sawzall, a trim circular saw, and a flashlight. Also, two more batteries and another charger. SWEET! Now I have a garage and basement drill without hunting around.
When I got the Vee, I noticed MANY impact battery setups at the track. Tractor Supply had a P/C to match my system with a HUGE battery and charger for $150. I'm in, use it ALL the time.
Then I got the angle grinder(very convenient at the track) for $50(tool only). I have 1 HD and 4 regular batteries and three chargers. For $450 or so I have everything I need.
Today I saw a slightly more compact 20v 1/2" impact for $100, another charger and HD battery. I don't NEED it but that's not too far from the price of a single 4.0 amp-hr. battery!
It doesn't surprise me that you landed on Porter-Cable tools, Danny. IMHO, they offer the best bang/buck. DeWalt is next, I think - with Milwaukee coming in a distant third
@Stan Galat posted:The partial pass is for construction screws. Same with square drive. They're the bomb in framing applications.
We use 1/4, 5/16, and 3/8 hex-head self-tapping screws everywhere when working with sheetmetal.
I know it's the slow season, but the meme was meant as a joke.
For me, it is always slow season.
I hope you know that my comment was completely lighthearted, and I am not really asking if you are crazy. That was just an intro to my post. Sometimes lightheartedness, (is that a word), does not come across in print.
@howdo posted:For me, it is always slow season.
I hope you know that my comment was completely lighthearted, and I am not really asking if you are crazy. That was just an intro to my post. Sometimes lightheartedness, (is that a word), does not come across in print.
Absolutely. We're among friends here.
@Stan Galat posted:It doesn't surprise me that you landed on Porter-Cable tools, Danny. IMHO, they offer the best bang/buck. DeWalt is next, I think - with Milwaukee coming in a distant third
My first cordless was a Makita back in 1989. I bought a Porter Cable Ni-Cad 12v in the 90s and loved it, very sturdy. They always had Dewalt at work, but I prefer P/C.
I'm fortunate dad's a tool guy, but it's a hodge podge of brands... can't settle on one. I did enjoy getting out the 10 ton hydraulic ram to "straighten" the step bumper 'a little' (insert Tim's arh, arh arh).
I think from here I'll be settling on Harbor freight as there's no reason to put big $ into tools I don't use every day. Got this little tool kit (control-click linky) for Christmas.. and man did it come in handy on the sport-wagons oil pan gasket/waterpump job and the gas grill assembly. fits into tight spaces really well. Not going to do lug nuts or Stan's axle nut torque spec but I'd stick this and a set of 1/4 drive sockets in the travel tool kit for sure!
Gordo, I have one of those "impact driver"s but mine has 3/8"drive on end instead of bits to insert. It "works" but I need a BFH to really make it work, my framing hammer doesn't make it work well.
BFH ... took me a minute. If it won't move, get a BerFH. Words to live by.
I did get some 1/4" drive sockets and ratchet once (can't recall just why) and they are very cute. I Break out the 1/2" drive tools once in a while, and even have a few strategic 3/4" sockets (think castle nuts). 3/8" drive is where it's at 90% of the time. and of course I have every sort of combination of size adapters. And my relatively new air powered impact wrench came with its own set of HS black 1/2" English and metric sockets, plus a ratchet handle and extension.
Quick anecdote about those special screw head arrangements. And this is very embarrassing, but @Stan Galat said we are among friends here so I'll just have to trust you. Last winter as some may recall, I had to replace the rear brake discs on my IRS suspension. Having never done such a thing, and willing, as usual, to jump in there and see what's what, I saw pretty soon that the entire drive train on the half axel needed to be removed. Felt around with my fingers amongst the road dirt and such, and decided that the six "allen" head socket bolts holding the CV joints was key to disassembly. Not seeing what I was doing (car on jack stands, me on my back just feeling around) I took after the outer bolts with the allen wrench that seemed to fit. But of course as I later found out, the bolts are not std hex allen sockets. And so ... I thoroughly mangled the first bolt I tackled. Some research and very careful examination after cleaning and with proper lighting revealed the error of my ways, and so I went to purchase a set of keys (star hex??) that would engage the bolts correctly. and of course, the mangled socket would not accept the correct wrench, and there I was. To make A Long difficult story short, a new set of vice grips with sharp teeth saved the day. It was not easy. There came a point at which I was contemplating how I was going to cut that bolt head off. And even if I could have managed that, its not clear that would have saved the day. Lesson: If I had bothered to watch a few YouTube videos BEFORE I got started, vs after I had screwed it all up, might have saved a heap of trouble. I'm going to say that the story has a happy ending, insofar as both rear axel halves have now been rebuilt with new bearings, spacers and CV joint half-axels, and rotors. And the pesky castle nuts are now torqued (and retorqued) to with an inch of, if not their lives, then mine. I can further report that all seemed to go well during last fall's Tour d'[whatever Dr. Phil chose to call it]. So I have declared success.
Yesterday, I used a new red tool, (Are we not allowed to use a brand name?), framing nailer for the first time with 3 1/2" collated framing nails. It kept bending the last, top, inch of the nail, no matter how much I fiddled with the depth setting. Any ideas? Went back to air for the day and used screw today. Speaking of screws, Senco square drive screws, #2, are just a tiny bit smaller than other square drive bits, and every time I had to adjust a screw with a cordless driver, the bit gets stuck in the screw head, and the bit stays in the screw head, and it is not easy getting it out.
@El Frazoo posted:When I finally decided that I had to have the pin nailer, so I looked around to see what was what. Went in thinking a cordless unit would be best, but i did not even know if such a thing was made. Turns out they do. So first up is a tool plus batteries. Hmmm . . . Then I saw that there are fuel driven tools. Not sure what the fuel is (propane??) but that seemed like a cool deal, a neat way to go cordless and battery-less. But, ya gotta have the fuel cells, or whatever they are called. And then came the reckoning: whatcha gotta pay? So I got a DeWalt air driven nailer. I already had a pancake air compressor, which obviously has plenty of snap to run a little pin nailer. works fine around the house, and that's about the only place it needs to go. If I had to haul the air compressor somewhere, well, I could do that too. apparently there are a few fuel driven cordless tools, impact wrenches being one. For that, again I cheaped out and got an air gun. and so far it works OK. Will do the lug nuts nice as pie, and it even loosened the Speedy's castle nuts. It's also yellow: DeWalt. I am a long way from needing commercial duty tools.
Since I already have the batteries, I bought a Milwaukee Pinner. My Grex works fine, but it is a nice thought to not have to lug around a compressor and an air hose. It turns out the longest length pin the Milwaukee can use is something like 1 3/8" which is not long enough to go through 3/4" mdf, 1/2" drywall and have enough meat left to stick in 2x4s. And I don't even know if I ever use pins smaller than 2". Que lastima!
Just received my very own (and official) Vessel Japanese Industrial Standard, Pseudo-Phillips Impacta Screwdriver! YAY!!!
Thank you amazon!
Now, if I could just read the instructions (It looks pretty exciting, tho, and doesn't get any better on the back......)
More goodies are coming tomorrow.
Hope I can read and understand those. 🤷♂️