Grumpy MSG

You said rods, so there shouldn't be any gas involved. If you aren't that practiced in welding, you will find welding on a flat level surface is the easiest way to do it. Grind it to a clean metal, groove it out where the cracks actually are. I am going to guess once you do those 2 steps you will find you didn't find the end of the crack, it was a little longer and hidden from you.

Just think you will all have your answer in 3 1/2 days or is it half a week?? Oh my gosh how are you ever going to stand the suspense??? Is the release going to be 9 AM Eastern or some other time?? It doesn't really matter to me, I will be at work busting my butt until 4 PM so that I can buy whatever toys I want. I expect the team red fans to hate it, declare it a P.O.S. and a knock off of somebody else's idea. Meanwhile team yellow will begin praising the concept. I am hoping whatever it is is, comes out of left field and is a better mouse trap. I hope all this speculation will end up giving them ideas for the next "big" thing...

I thought that is what you wanted the new Stanley Vise Grips for...

My observation on the left versus right discussion is most that most corded sidewinders have the blade on the right (with some mirror versions available by special order) and most of the hypoid/ worm drives and cordless have left sided blades. I find it convenient that I have a saw available that has a blade on either side. I am no roofer or deck builder by trade, but sure feels safer to be able to cut going uphill with most of the base on the roof or cut going toward the house or on a deck instead of trying to wedge myself next to the saw to start the cut heading away from the house on one side. But that is probably just me. As far as left versus right logic goes, left handed people have been adapting to use right handed stuff for so long, it is just normal for them. If you want to have fun, just hand a pair of left handed scissor to a right handed person and watch them struggle and can't figure out what is wrong. If you want to see ugly watch two left handed people fight, they are both so used to fighting right handed people, they are just as confused as a right hand person fighting a lefty.

It will only work only if the number of cells are correct, and that goes back to the parallel and series discussion. The old NiCad batteries essentially got their voltage by adding cells. they had 1.2 volts per cell so a 14.4 battery had 2 more cells than a 12 volt battery (it had 10) and the 18 had 15 cells. Li Ion on the other had are 3.6+ per cell, so batteries contain roughly 1/3 the number of cells.Assuming we are talking Li Ion batteries, you would need 10 2.0Ah cells to make it work. 5 4Ah cells will get the 4.0Ah at 18 volts, but would never be able to produce 36 volts. I meant the slide on feature. The old 9.6 up through 18 volt would insert into the same charger. the 12 and 20 volt MAX slide on in a common way. I was wondering if the 40 slid on the same way as the 20 and 12, then that would be a prime candidate for 40V/ 5Ah, 20V/10Ah convertible battery. Not to mention you could use the 40 volt to replace the dead on the vine 24 and 36 volt lines for heavier duty tools. I find it a little hard to believe the only reason they created the 40 volt batteries was strictly for yard work.

So how different is the connection for the current 20V and the 40V lines?

Porter-Cable had them beat, they had a 19.2 volt years ago that used the same bases as the 100/590s. I am sure they could be found on Ebay, then you would just need to get a couple of batteries rebuilt so that you had a way to use it.

I am not giving anybody hints, that would mean I am in the know at DeWALT. I just happen to have some training and experience dealing with small generators, 6, 12 and 24 volt automotive, agricultural and construction equipment electrical systems. You really want to have fun try working with an ancient Mack with a 12 volt positive ground system... I think y'all ought to calm down and not worry so much, whatever the heck it is will be out in a few weeks. Chances are good a lot of people will be disappointed because the 7/9" grinder, cordless table saw, battery powered power supply, 40 volt contractor tools, etc. just wasn't what you were hoping for.

The 735 has a 2 speeds for controlling it infeed rate which means more cuts per inch on the slower rate, meaning smoother boards at the slower speed. 80 versus 92 pounds for weight and the big difference in my mind the 735 has a chip ejection fan that literally blows shavings out of it. a kit containing a hood for a trash can and hose is available. The fan literally inflates the hood No dust collection is required. It pays to have either one mounted on some sort of cart. There is a mobile stand designed for it, but it is basically a flat floor small footprint shop use type. I chose to mount my DW735 on a wheeled miter saw stand (DWX726). It took some adaptation to make it fit, but it means planing outside versus, the really fine dust getting all over the basement. With a little online research you can probably find a DW735 package for far less than Lowe's or getting some accessories with it. I wouldn't be scared of purchasing a reconditioned unit if you come across one.

Sounds like DeWALT's welder kind of pricing $3,999.99 US...

It's not a DeWALT but a close cousin, recently a nearby hardware store/ tool service center had it's spring tool show and sale and one of the distributors had a new nailer overnighted in to them from Bostitch. It was a Strapshot type nailer, but it was cordless and it used the DeWALT 20V Max batteries. Knowing they are all from the same parent company has me wondering, will the batteries from the Bostitches at Walmart work with DeWALT tools and vice versa. Leaves me wondering about those Porter-Cables too. Hmmmmmmm....

Great comparison, both are going to run good for several years. I have a feeling these will be replaced by newer models a couple of more times before my beast of an 18 volt NiCad hammer drill dies.

It is pretty safe, just look at the other stuff they have for sale. If you can pick up a bare circular saw, a bare drill, a bare reciprocating saw, a bare charger or two batteries from them you can bet they are making their money parting out kits.

If it is just one roof, you would be surprised how quickly it can be done by hand, especially if it is not that big. If you are going to use 3 tab shingles, use the high wind nailing pattern, 6 nails versus 4, I have helped a friend with a few roof repairs and every time the shingles cracked straight up between the tabs and and tore out through the nail a few inches above it.

So now we have to redesign the tools to run a motor that can be run on both AC and DC? I am not an electric motor guy by any stretch of the imagination, but I would guess it would require rewiring like it does to switch from 120 to 240 volts, or it would require some sort of electronic switching device. I will leave that mess to the engineers to figure out...

I won't tell you which brand is better, because that is just an opinion and you don't know me from Adam. My advice to you is to make a wish list of what tools you would like in cordless. Look at the various brands other folks have recommended. Pick up the annual tool issues of magazines like Fine Homebuilding. I prefer to stick to one brand for all tools so I only have one or two battery types that use the same charger, others like to have the "best" tool of any particular type and don't mind having 2 or three different batteries and chargers to keep track of. Look at what is easily available in your area, including your big box stores, local hardware stores and building supply centers. Also look at where the nearest service centers are and use that to help in your selection process. You may find that on brand dominates your region and that makes choosing it even easier.

Why not use what DeWALT already has for the example. If you had 3 40V batteries 7.5 Ah, wired up in series, you would have a total of 120V DC with 7.5 Ah available. If you wanted to double the Ah available you would need 6 batteries 3 in series X 2 and those run in parallel. but at the end of the day you still have DC voltage not AC, so you would need some sort of an inverter system to allow it to power AC tools like a table saw or 9 inch grinder. Money was brought up, so let's do a little math: 3 X 279.00, call it $250 to make it easy, and you have $750 in batteries alone, inverters are not inexpensive, so I don't think you are going to beat the price for a DeWALT DXGNR 7000 generator from Home Depot at $999 and they and they are in stock at stores. Most of the inverter sytems that I know of actually run off of 12 or 24 volts DC, so it would be a bit of a special application design. I don't know what kind of wattage and run time you could off of one of the 40V 7.5Ah batteries. If it was set up to run multiple packs in parallel you could double or triple the run time or just use a single battery to save weight if you have to lug it around

I am guessing you are talking about the gray on the table, I believe it is anodized or powder coated. It is much tougher than normal paint.

All this discussion about multi battery packs and alternators/generators, here is some dumb basic electrical math: Amps X Volts = Watts For most generators (which are actually alternators), they have an 80 % rule. If you have a 2000 watt generator, it can start 2000 watts (or a little more) but has a sustainable load capacity of 1600 watts. Most tools use almost double rated capacity to start (unless they use a "soft-start" system, which is usually a capacitor of some sort to start), meaning a 10 amp grinder is going to need 18 to 20 amps to get up to operating speed. Doing the math, for every day use (not going to hurt the grinder or generator) 125Volts X 20Amps = 2500 watts. You can probably get by with a 2200 watt generator, if it only had to run a single tool. If you are on a job site and you have one guy mixing mud with a 1/2" drill and somebody else running a miter saw, circular saw or portable table saw, you are looking at the need for a generator in the 4500-5000 watt range. All that said, the small suitcase type generators that are a little bigger than a car battery are usually around 1000 watts or good for about 8 amps max. As for multi-battery set ups there are two different ways to use them. You can wire them in series and achieve double the voltage or you can wire them in parallel and get double the Amp/Hours. Either of which would have it's own advantages.

No need to apologize, sometimes someone sees or uses something you might not have ever seen. For example, on Ebay I recently saw a European 18 volt DeWALT track saw. I had seen a 24 volt in the past, but plain as day in the picture was an 18 volt version complete with the smaller battery base, like the later 18 volt US tools (sized for the lithium batteries)

I have never seen 22 gauge. All of the pinners I have seen are 23 gauge.

Actually, it looks about the size of the old school contractor saws from before the days of the compact job site saws. They usually had the motor hanging out on a bracket behind the saw versus inside the cabinet of a cabinet saw.

Are you talking about a Festool or DeWALT tracksaw? and does it take just one or two connectors?

I have the older DW744 model, I purchased it used without a guard. I wanted to go the other way and use the new style modular guard/ kickback pawls/ riving knife. Unfortunately my research led me to figure out it wasn't going to happen My guard attaches behind the blade with 2 bolts and some shims that have to be used to align the guard behind the blade. I would guess that once you got the right number of shims correct, you could remove all the others and leave them off. I was always afraid that doing that would cause the extras to get lost and I would need them some time in the future with a different blade. The two bolts that hold the guard on are mounted horizontally behind the blade with heads on the same side as the blade nut. The guard is a bit of a pain putting on and off, so at time you might be tempted to leave it off My suggestion is for you to bite the bullet and buy at least the riving knife, I imagine it is easier to get on and off, so you will be less tempted to "Leave it off for just one cut". I know some folks say the first thing they do when they get a table saw is throw away the guard, but that isn't me. The last gentleman who said that to me is also the one who had the scariest accident with a circular saw I have heard of, cutting off his thumb, part of his index finger and luckily ripping and wrapping up in his pants before he cut through the artery in his leg.

I too have the older DeWALT (DW744), I do love it's rack and pinion fence. It is definitely easier to adjust and stays parallel to the blade. The reason it may feel more stable is the fact the DeWALT is setting on 4 legs while the Bosch is on 2 feet and 2 pneumatic tires while the saws are set up. The Bosch on the other hand may be easier to set up. The one complaint I have heard about the newer DeWALT saws is the noise level. I haven't heard a 744 setup next to a 7491, so I can't really compare the noise levels. A little research finds the older saws like mine and the Bosch spin at 3650 RPM, while the new saws turn at 4800 RPM or about 30% faster. It probably makes for smoother cuts and feels like more power at the same feed rate, after all it is taking smaller bites but a lot more of them.