Kato

I own the Gearwrench 75pc set, love it, love it, love it. We just bought the 114pc set at work, and I love it as well. I've had my set for many years, and have used it at home and at work. I have had zero issues with the set, and I've used it a ton. Once you use the ratcheting handle you won't want to go back to anything else. One thing to consider is whether or not you're creating threads or just "fixing" them. If you tend to do more repairing and cleaning of threads you're better off with a thread restorer set. Taps and dies remove material, so instead of repairing threads you're doing more damage. Thread restorers are designed to repair threads without removing material. Something to think about.

Been a long, long...too long...time since I could post in this thread. Seems like buying new tools is a thing of the past for me. However, couple of weeks ago took advantage of the Ryobi days deals and picked up the 3-speed impact and 3Ah HD battery kit. Today I had to run out and pick up a pair of 16" adjustable pliers...apparently I really don't have every tool I need like I thought I did.

Looks like a clamp from a miter saw...Ryobi has the same exact thing for their miter saws.

Not bought today but I did get a Ryobi Uproar for myself for Xmas. And for those who don't know what an Uproar is...it's an R/C truck that runs off of Ryobi 18v batteries. And it's fast...

Don't know, was only a suggestion. I don't do a lot with stainless so in that regard I'm useless. Sorry.

I've cut 3/8" threaded rod in bulk with a band saw, just by taping 10 rods together tightly at the measurements where I wanted the cuts. Then, just cut. If I wanted 10" pieces, I'd tape the rods together at 10", then cut the middle of the tape. I've done this several times and had great results. For my application I did have to chamfer the ends of the rod (for safety purposes) but it'll give you a clean, flat cut if that's all you need...

I had an 18v PowerLuber that is NiCad, and it was nice, gave it to one of the other guys. This one is good, power is pretty good, puts out grease nicely and seems to do it with a little bit more force than a hand-pump gun. Doesn't seem to eat battery power when I'm using it for longer duration, at least I haven't really noticed it draining batteries fast. We have a section of conveyor that takes a ton of grease and this thing is a dream for that. I can easily dump a tube and a half doing the spiral, doing by hand you get to the point where you say "five, six, ahhhh, that's enough"...when it really isn't. With the cordless guns you can actually put the amount of grease in that you need and not have to worry about losing use of your hand for the day. I'm getting older and older as time goes by, I can't crank on a manual grease gun like I used to. It has two feet under the motor section, but it sits on the grease tube on the end so it's not totally off the ground if you set it down. I like it though, use it all the time.

Another score in the "I can't believe what we throw away" category...two IR Cordless Impact/Ratchet Kits. The ratchet in one kit had a broken anvil but otherwise both kits looked like they were never used. Still in the plastic, still in the box, and came with really nice carry bags. Gave a kit to one of the guys (of course I gave him the one with the busted ratchet, which I'm hoping I can fix sooner or later), kept one for myself. Used it yesterday and today and both tools are fantastic. Feels kinda weird using power on a 1/4" drive, kinda afraid I'll bust the anvils. The impact works exceptionally well as an impact driver. Used it to make a cradle yesterday and it sunk screws like nothing. Used both to service some pallet jacks today, the ratchet worked great to pull the set screws out for load wheels, and the impact did well yanking bolts to replace a battery connector. Really nice kit to use.

Taken with my phone so if they come out sideways I’ll fix them when I get home

Been using the impact for all kinds of stuff, it's a really great gun. Takes bolts out of reach truck drive wheels, which are torqued to 170 ft/lbs, super easy. I used it yesterday on a rack kit, to repair a damaged frame. Used the impact to sink a couple of 3/4" Titans into the floor, did it like the floor was made of butter. All of the other impacts we use for that kind of stuff struggle sometimes, sometimes you have to drive the Titan in, then pull it out and drive it back in again...do that a couple of times to get them to sink in all the way. The IR did it like butter, I couldn't feel any resistance at all. I was actually worried that the guys drilled the holes too big but I cranked on the Titans with a wrench to see if they were loose or would easily loosen, they were tight as tight can get. Also grabbed another almost new Flexzilla Pro compact impact, which makes the total of those 5 or 6 by now. Still had the box, high-flow swivel connector, papers, etc.. Don't know what it is about them, people use them and then return them. Never anything wrong with them except being dirty from use...wait, I take that back, one had a busted trigger, but the other 4 or 5 I've pulled have worked perfectly so far. It's all good to me because now most of the guys in the shop have their own. Nice when you get free tools And once again I'm stunned by what we throw away. Just pulled out of the scrap bin yesterday, almost brand new, probably used once, Lincoln Powerluber 1884. 20v Lithium grease gun. I saw the gun in the bin and I think my eyes bugged out, I instantly grabbed my hook to pull it out. Pulled the case out of the garbage, and managed to pull the extra battery out of the scrap bin with a magnet. Perfect condition, not a scratch and barely any signs of use. Had grease in it so it must have been used, but I'll be danged if I can find any problems with it. One battery was close to full charge, the other wasn't. Charged them both to make sure they'd take a charge and that the charger was working. Put a grease cartridge in it and it pumped perfectly. Didn't have the typical sticker on it explaining why it was returned so I don't know what the excuse was, but I don't care. I have one of the 18V PowerLubers that I use a ton, but gave it to one of the guys, I'll use this one now. I'll get pics Monday if I remember to take my phone out on the floor

You can try, but you're at the mercy of what they're willing to do. And of course they can bullshit you and say they did, and you'd have no way of knowing. You can do a load test yourself but you need a load tester, or you need to know how to do it with a meter.

Taking and holding a charge doesn't mean anything. To know if a battery is any good you have to do a load test. Batteries can take a charge and hold it, but when you put them under load they will drain quickly if they're no good. I'd guess that whoever tested your batteries only did a quick "throw it on the charger and see what happens" test, and didn't do an actual load test. Metering them for voltage doesn't tell you if there's a bad cell(s) or if there's something else wrong. If they did a load test they might have found that the batteries are no good and you would have gotten replacements. On the same level, if you were to "use" the batteries until they died, all you would be doing is confirming what you already know...they take a charge, they hold a charge, until you use them. There'd be no evidence of killing them on purpose, but if the testers never do a load test you'll still be in the same boat. I see this almost every day on batteries, it's one of the things I deal with at work. Without a load test you won't know if a battery is any good. Well, besides the fact that it dies quickly.

If they're going slow or bogging down while cutting, maybe try new blades. It's possible the resistance is from a dull blade.

Of course I mistakenly assume that people know stuff like this. I use a clamp meter capable of reading DC amps through the clamp, and it's capable of reading up to 600 amp. The stuff I said previously hinges on the person doing it...their ability and type of equipment used.

I'd have to test a battery to see what kind of amperage numbers are actually present, but as an example: Let's say the tool uses 5 amps while running. When you have a good battery and live in a perfect world, the reading should be around 5 amps. If the battery is bad your amperage level is going to drop pretty quickly to a much lower amp reading. This tells you that the tool is pulling way too many amps from the battery, indicating that the battery can't keep up with the amp draw required by the tool. If the amperage goes from 5 down to 1 at a quick rate, the battery is most likely going bad. So, you hook up your meter to a battery and tool, then pull the trigger. The meter reads 5 amps and stays fairly constant, your good to go. Your meter starts out at 5 amps and then drops to 4, 3, 2, etc., then your battery is probably bad. Of course this is a perfect world and your battery is fully charged.

You can't tell battery life by voltage, you have to read amperage under load. As HiltiWpg said, you have to test under load...which is easy to do if you know how to do it. It's a pain in the neck, but easy to do. Connect a wire to one leg of the circuit, say connect positive to positive with a wire. Then, connect negative to negative with the test leads of your meter. Connect one test lead to the negative on the battery and the other test lead to the negative on the tool. Set your meter to DC amps, and there you go. Pull the trigger on the tool and watch the amperage levels. If the amperage drops a lot...the battery is close to failure or has failed already. It helps to know normal amp draw but it's not necessary, any significant drop will tell you if the battery is good or not. I test batteries all the time, at least once a week, and the best thing to use is a dedicated load tester. However, reading amps under load will give you basically the same results.

Color it green, stamp "Ryobi" on the side, and point me in the direction of where to buy it...

Rivet gun??

I haven't had any Ryobi chargers go bad, not even the older NiCad chargers. So far every Lithium battery I have has been great, no issues with those either. Not stating it can't happen but so far I've had perfect results and can't say whether it's normal lifespan or just bad luck. My older Lithium chargers are from around 2012/2013 if I remember right.

I saw these a few days ago, and I'm pretty sure I fell in love with the idea of a pool vac that runs on Ryobi batteries. My mind instantly started trying to find excuses to give the wife as to why we need the new Ryobi pool vac...

I hate to ask the stupid questions but somebody has to... Good battery, nails in the gun, etc.? My AirStrike won't fire if there only two or three nails in it, keeps it from firing blanks I guess. The plunger/ram/whatever you call it stays up until you load more nails. Is it possible the Milwaukee is the same?

Nobody said it was dangerous. We are allowed to go through the stuff that gets returned and anything good we use in the shop. Saves the company money in the long run. If something is supposed to get destroyed in field whoever makes that decision wouldn't know because they don't ask for it back.

Nope, can't take anything home. Until it's out of the building in the scrap bins, the compactor, etc., it still belongs to the company. Luckily though we can use stuff in the shop, which means we save a ton of money for the company by using the tools and stuff that gets tossed. Gotta blame the vendors and manufacturers for that, we just do what they tell us. They want a product back, we ship it back. They want it destroyed in field, we destroy it. It's sad but it's a fact of life for companies these days. I don't complain, probably 95% of the tools we use in the shop came from returns and they're perfectly good. Best part is when I break a tool I can just walk over to the scrap bins and toss it in and I never have to worry about any lost money. I used the impact yesterday for some stuff, pulling wheels and wheel hubs off of a stockchaser and doing lugs on a forklift...very, very nice gun. A ton of power, a great amount of control. Didn't experience any kick at all, and the brake stops when you let go of the trigger. Variable-speed trigger takes a little getting used to, never had one on an impact before, seems kinda weird at first. But, it's a great impact. Paired with the Sunex impact sockets I have it's a fantastic tool to use.

No, not at all. I just wasn’t ready for the power and let it get away a little bit. Even an impact with good kickback control will still have a little snap to it when the nut stops. It’s defintiely a quality tool, the moron using it was the problem.

...makes me want to murder someone sometimes. I've seen a lot of great stuff get tossed at work but today takes the cake. Brand new, still in the baggie...IR W7150-K2...and it is an absolute BEAST!!! Came with two 20v 3.0Ah batteries, and fully charged this thing will twist your arm if you're not careful. Any time I get an impact at work I test it out on the frame anchors by my bench. Normally an impact will loosen the nut, then tighten it with decent force. This thing tightened the nut enough to whip my arm, if I wasn't strong it could have caused me some serious pain. It's a beautiful impact for sure, and powerful as all get-out. If I take my phone into the shop tomorrow I'll snap some photos of it. Frickin' brand new, clean as a whistle, nothing wrong with it. Screw it, it's brand new and in perfect shape...lets. throw it away.