| ShortCuts© |
April 27, 2012 |
Column 750
This week's column: #776 |
Previous Columns |
| April 26, 2013 #775 |
| April 5, 2013 #774 |
| March 28,2013 #773 |
| March 9, 2013 #772 |
| February 22, 2013 #771 |
| February 8, 2013 #770 |
| January 25, 2013 #769 |
| January 11, 2013 #768 |
| December 21, 2012 #767 |
| December 7, 2012 #766 |
| November 23, 2012 #765 |
| November 9, 2012 #764 |
| October 26, 2012 #762 |
| October 12, 2012 #761 |
| September 28, 2012 #760 |
| September 13, 2012 #759 |
| August 31, 2012 #758 |
| August 10, 2012 #757 |
| July 20, 2012 #756 |
| July 6, 2012 #755 |
| June 22, 2012 #754 |
| June 8, 2012 #753 |
| May 25, 2012 #752 |
| May 11, 2012 #751 |
| April 28, 2012 #750 |
| April 14, 2012 #749 |
| March 30, 2012 #748 |
| March 16, 2012 #747 |
| March 2, 2012 #746 |
| February 17, 2012 #745 |
| February 3, 2012 #744 |
| January 20, 2012 #743 |
| January 6, 2012 #742 |
| December 23, 2011 #741 |
| December 9, 2011 #740 |
| November 25, 2011 #739 |
| November 11, 2011 #738 |
| October 28, 2011 #737 |
| October 14, 2011 #736 |
| September 30, 2011 #735 |
| September 16, 2011 #734 |
| August 12, 2011 #733 |
| July 29, 2011 #732 |
| July 15, 2011 #731 |
| July 1, 2011 #730 |
| June 17, 2011 #729 |
| June 3, 2011 #728 |
| May 20, 2011 #727 |
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 A SPECIAL CELEBRATION- COLUMN 750 AND WE ARE 17 YEARS OLD
Our ShortCuts column started back on February 15, 1995 and first appeared in the Halifax Daily News as a weekly feature. Shortly after the column appeared it was picked up by The Contractor’s Desk magazine, a free publication distributed throughout the Atlantic Provinces. The ShortCuts web page was originated just a few years later and the rest, as they say, is history.
 Back in ’95 after we got a few columns under our belt we were approached by HGTV Canada with the thoughts of doing a TV series to replace an existing program called “In The Workshop”. It was felt that the new show would work better with a host and co-host. My choice was to have local musician and woodworker Gordon Stobie as my partner. We were invited to Toronto to audition by doing two episodes on the “Workshop” show.
A Star is Born
Well, not quite! Gord and I did a bang up job in reflection, we had fun doing it and we were offered a contract to do the show.    The Proposed new ShortCuts show would start with simple woodworking projects like a rural mailbox, Adirondack chair, bird house and the like. Interspersed would be sub-features like ‘Tool Test’, ‘Letters’, ‘On the road’ and ‘Quick Tips’.
The logistics of the show would be almost impossible for us to work out. The HGTV network would want us to move from Halifax to Toronto, produce at least 26 projects, each in four stages of completion, live tape the shows in a couple of weeks and all for a little better than minimum wage.
Now, in defense of HGTV, that was over 16 years ago and in the very early years of HGTV Canada. Needless to say, both Gordon and I declined.
I hope to be around for many more ShortCuts columns but without the television.
Lathe Safety Courtesy Craft Supplies USA
I have seen some pretty foolish moves done on the lathe and although I am far from an expert turner I happened upon this video from Craft Supplies USA that is certainly well worth the few minutes of your time to watch it. See it here.
FLORIDA
 South Florida is awesome and Gwen and I saw the southernmost part of the US, mile ‘0’ on US route 1. Any further south and you would get very wet. In fact just another 90 miles and you would be in Castro country.
The Florida Keys is an amazing drive, imagine, a seven mile bridge! The one on the right is the old, now abandoned, ‘Overseas Rail Bridge’. The new one is the ‘Overseas Highway’, Rte. 1 opened in the ‘80’s. it ends in Key West, a beautiful picturesque town. The ‘Old Town’ is the place to be, full of fine restaurants and classic homes including Ernest Hemingway’s. “When he wasn’t drinking he was fishing” according to legend. Not a bad life I would say!
At the top of the Keys we stayed overnight in Key Biscayne with my niece and her husband, gracious hosts they were.
 From the Keys we flipped onto Route 4, a much more interesting drive and certainly more accurately the “Alligator Alley” in our opinion. Route I-75 is fenced in, not a ‘gator to be seen.
We travelled further to the west and we visited Naples Fl, where the mean age is probably 65. In spite of the sometimes very slow drivers, Naples is a beautiful city with a fabulous beach. We stayed in Naples for a couple of days and then headed back east to Fort Lauderdale. We were booked into the EconoLodge Motel. Folks, if you are ever in the Hollywood/Fort Lauderdale area and need a place to stay, DO NOT EVEN CONSIDER the EconoLodge. We aborted, it was dirty and grungy and seedy. For $10 more a night, we ended up staying at the Hilton and it was superb.
Plane Problems
We were scheduled to fly home on Sunday the 22nd of April but the plane had a leaking ‘O’ ring in the nose wheel so Air Transat put us up in the Westin Hotel on the beach in Fort Lauderdale, paid for our dinner and Monday Morning breakfast and then flew us home in a repaired aircraft. In addition they gave each passenger a $200 voucher for future air travel.
It was a great trip and we are looking forward to and planning our next trip.
A New Tool Trend
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Brush Type Motor - Courtesy Dewalt |
Within the past several months you may have noticed some changes in cordless tools. The cordless drills, hammer drills, impact drills/wrenches and reciprocal saws are using smaller battery packs. This is due to the new and more powerful Lithium-ion chemistry. The new batteries are the slide-in types that are smaller and lighter. It seems the plug in and heavier style is slowly disappearing.
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Brushless Motor - Courtesy Dewalt |
In fact, the entire tool industry is changing. Gone now are the five to seven pound 18volt cordless drills, enter the new four pound light but more powerful hammer drills. Gone too are the 10 – 11 inch long drill/drivers that are being replaced by considerably more compact tools in the 7” to 8” range.
The Reasons
It would appear that the Chinese (I think) have found a new and better way to build motors for these cordless tools. The new motors are more compact and they have done away with the brushes. Brushless motors are more efficient; they are smaller yet more powerful and will last longer according to the tool design engineers.
“A brushed motor relies on contact between stationary brushes and a rotating armature to transfer energy from the battery to the motor. These brushes are spring-loaded and apply constant pressure, which causes friction, generates heat and wastes energy” according to Marlon Thompson, Cordless Marketing manager at DeWalt.
Brush type motors are also longer to facilitate the area in which the brushes make contact.
The Advantages
In addition to the power, size and weight factors, the new brushless motors run more efficiently and use less power therefore less drain on the battery packs. It is estimated that the user will get about 1/3 more run time between charges and that in itself is a major advantage. The new brushless tools will run cooler and create less friction.
As this is written there are at least a ½ dozen manufacturers producing the new brushless motors in their drill/driver and other motorized tools lineup.
Bosch, a Compact Lightweight
The new Bosch Model HBD180 – 18v cordless drill/driver/hammer drill is the most compact cordless tool that we have received in quite a while and from the get-go this is a great  tool. The HBD is a lightweight at 3.5 pounds and under eight inches long, truly a compact tool. Don’t let the compactness fool you however, this is one powerful drill/driver/hammer drill.
The HBD180 has a ⅜” chuck with 15 torque settings and a dual range setting of 0 – 500 and 0 – 1450 RPM’s. The chuck is of course keyless with a ratcheting autolock feature. One-handed bit changing is a plus.
 Wrist Snapping
Don’t underestimate this one, hang on tight! This little tiger has 360 in. Lbs of torque but with this kind of power Bosch has added an Electronic Motor Protection (EMP) circuitry to protect the tool in stall situations.
The soft rubber overwrap and thinner handle makes the HDB180 a comfortable tool that can be used all day long. The very bright LED light makes drilling and screw driving easier in dimly lit areas. The belt clip is an added convenience.
The HDB is shipped with a hard shell case with a pair of 18v slim pack Li-ion batteries and a quick 45 minute charger. A double ended Phillips screw driver bit is fitted in a pocket on the tool base.
Bosch claims that the HBD180 will drive 160, 3” screws before a battery change and we can find no fault with that claim. As a hammer drill (0-21,000 BPM) it did a yeoman’s job. We drilled a ½ dozen ¼” holes into cured concrete with ease. The drill stayed cool as a cucumber in all of our testing situations. In fact, one should look twice at this one because of its size, it is easily mistaken for a 12 volt compact. Its power will be a pleasant surprise.
Get a Grrrip
With all of the controversy about table saw safety today it is in my (sometimes not so humble) opinion that the very expensive SawStop table saw is unnecessary. I say this for good reason. There are all kinds of safety tools on the market that will safely keep your fingers and hands away from the spinning saw blade.
One such tool is the highly touted Micro Jig Inc. GRR-Ripper!
 What can be better than one Grr-Ripper? Two Grr-Ripper’s! The Grr-Ripper is one of the best after-market safety tools that we have ever tested, period!
The Grr-Ripper can help you safely rip ⅛” stock on your table saw, it can keep your fingers safe when ripping beveled or irregular shaped stock as well.
The Grr-Ripper will replace your beat-up push stick and will do double duty on your router table and band saw.
The tool was sent to us in a number of pieces ready for assembly along with relatively easy instructions (don’t lose those O rings).
The Grr-Ripper alone is perfect for shorter (6” – 12”) stock, anything longer would require two Grr-Rippers.
 There are three main components to the Grr-Ripper, the center leg, outer leg and the pusher leg. The center leg stays basically in the middle of the tool while the two outer legs (pushers) are interchangeable, 1- ¼” wide and the other, ½” wide. There is an optional ⅛” wide pusher. All are fully adjustable and very easy to set up.
We tested the Advanced model that included the ⅛” wide pusher and a few extra pieces like a wider support base. At $70 US this is an essential safety tool for any woodworker and rates our rating. It’s perfect for ripping those thin strips.
Trucking Safely
 Master Lock has an entirely new system to keep materials safe in your pickup truck. The model 8255DAT is an 8’ long braided stainless steel cable wrapped in a vinyl cover. A stainless steel plug securely locks the cable and can be fed through its loop to secure cargo.
The cable is very strong and almost impervious to cutting. An additional cable (sold separately) may be added and plugged into the lock.
The 8255 from Master Lock is perfect for securing ladders, tool boxes, generators and other valuable equipment in your half-ton. The Integrated Cable Lock from Master Lock stores easily behind a jump seat with magnets to hold it to the body metal. There is a secure pocket for the key.
Weather Proof
The 8255DAT, being built of stainless steel is weather proof and a rubber cap keeps the lock dry. The cable will remain flexible both summer and winter. The Integrated Cable Lock is available in Canada at Canadian Tire Stores for $38.00.
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