Grumpy MSG

Everybody has their favorites. Milwaukee and DeWALT may be having their little mine is better than yours battles over cordless tools now, but certain things from certain companies dominated their era and in some cases continue to do so. Reciprocating saws were dominated by Milwaukee for so long, they are all "Sawzalls". Circular saws are referred to as "Skilsaws" by a lot of folks probably due to the 77's dominance for a long time after WWII, If I said Bobcat, you would immediately think of a 4 wheel drive skid steer loader even if it was another brand. 20 years ago and long before that Porter-Cable was known for a few things, routers and sanders were probably their most popular products. As for their newer products, I wouldn't hesitate to buy one of their 690 or 890 routers, They have seemingly been made forever and like the Energizer bunny just keep going and going. Their belt sanders are the same way.

DeWALT made the vacuum model numbers and sizes really confusing. The DWV10 is an 8 gallon collector, it has 4 swiveling casters, no extendable handle and no variable suction control. That is what he has the adapter mounted on. The DWV12 is a 10 gallon vacuum, it has 2 larger non-swiveling wheels an extendable handle ( allows you to roll it like a 2 wheel truck and pull it up and down stairs) and 2 swiveling casters. It does have the variable suction control. It is the vacuum pictured on the box for the adapter. TSTAKs are substantially shorter in length than the Tough System boxes so they won't work together. If you did try to stack them up, it would look very similar to SetBuilder's Ridgid vacuum/box picture. I think at this point we almost need a comparison thread for DeWALT so folks can see the difference between the various products like the vacuums (dust extractors) and Tough System versus TSTAK and even the various different boxes in each system.

I can understand where you are coming from, but I can just see the insanity that would ensue on the forum with the 47" mark being about 1/16" to 1/8" different from the 1" mark. i think they do it the way they do it so that the marks work for a full sheet of drywall no matter whether you are going 10 inches up or 38 inches down. Think how mad you would be if the scale were slipped up like you would like and you went to cut a window opening leaving 10 inches below the window. Then the drywall would have an extra 1/8" left on it because the scale was off from the bottom of a sheet. P.S. I looked at my Walboard brand drywall square in my basement and it was short an 1/8". I was 90% sure it was that way because I had helped a contractor hang some a few years ago and he taught me about that trick, and I looked at that time and saw that my square was already shortened. I just didn't remember how much for sure.

A lot of drywall squares are an 1/8 or 1/16 short so that they hang off of the top of the drywall when used as a cutting guide. I never realized it but a friend who does a lot more drywall than me actually looks for it when he buys one. It keeps the sqare from hitting the floor and bowing the opposite direction that drywall is bowing.

Looks like the UPS, FedEx or mail man ran over your pliers.

It depends what the primary use for it is. If it was going to see use with some sheet goods, more than once in a blue moon, the rolling stand's wide foot print is going to be much more stable. If you aren't cutting sheet goods, the folding X style stand would probably be easier to carry in and out of tight spots in two trips versus working harder to pull the rolling stand in in one trip.

I am going to stick with 2, the 7 1/4" cordless slider and the 780. One is nice and portable, the other has all the power and capacity I could want short of a radial arm saw.

That is only if you do reasonable quality work. Crap work does far for damage to a contractors reputation than higher prices.

Did you have rafter hooks and left side blades installed, cause you know you can't see if the blade is on the right side of a saw....

77 decibels is still pretty darn loud when a Porter-Cable pancake is pretty obnoxious at 80. DeWALT's 1 gallon and 2.5 gallon run at 71, Senco's 1 gallon run at 68, California Air Tools' and the Rolair from above run at 60 decibels. I just looked at the cordless 1 gallon Ridgid is coming out with and it runs at 77 too, I think I will pass there too.

I just can't understand this comment. If you had these problems or complaints with it: You may have been willing to work around the flaws with the Paslodes, but to say no problems is being dishonest with yourself. Just from what you said you had to warm the fuel to keep it working, the smell was annoying in tight spaces, the battery started falling out and you couldn't leave the fuel in it overnight because it would leak out. I don't have a cordless nailer. All of them have compromises as far as I am concerned whether it be size and weight or fuel and batteries. Even the air powered tools have compromises. obviously it starts with dragging around a hose. I don't work on a construction site so mobility is not a huge problem for me. My old Porter Cables just refuse to die, but if I had to list my grumbles that I live with it would be the size of the tip makes seeing exactly where the nail is going more difficult and I would prefer that the magazines on the brad nailer and the finish nailer loaded the same way. I'd love to replace them with some of the smart point nailers, but that is sometime in the future.

At least they are telling you up front, not to do it. I am sure when they show up on HomeDepot.com , some idiot will install them in a van and rate it one star and tell folks why it was unsatisfactory for the job. There was another thread: that mentioned them with pictures, and a description of the differences in the brackets (on page 2). From what it sounds like the brackets are lighter because they won't be moving like on the trolley/ hand truck and taking abuse. I also think the vertical tubes come in multiple pieces instead of one piece tubes (it makes it easier and cheaper to ship with a 2 1/2 foot box instead of one 5 feet long. So the strength would be compromised there too.

It is about addressing your needs and wants. Normal sound for compressors is around 80 decibels, most of your pancake style compressors run in that area, and that is pretty loud. There are several companies who make compressors which can be substantially quieter running around the 70 decibel range which is more like a normal conversation sound level. There are several different size compressors out there, some companies offer 1 to 1.5 gallon compressors which are usually in the 25-30 pound range and easily carried from room to room to knock out a few finish nails or brads, Then there are those that are about 40 pounds and 2 1/2 gallons, they usually have enough capacity to run a framing gun albeit slower and will cycle more with the bigger nailgun. The pancakes tend to be heavier than those I previously mentioned hold about 6 gallons, which is plenty of air to run any nailgun, you can charge on up and carry it out to check the air and top off tires or zip off a few lugnuts if needed. It won't power any high demand tools like a grinder, sander or paint with more than an airbrush. The critical thing to look at more than HP is the amps it will draw when starting up and running, the other thing is the SCFM at the pressure you will be running your tools at. The four factors I would look at, in no order of importance are amperage, SCFM, portability and noise. You have to prioritize what you want. If you aren't going to use it more than once a month and you are looking at a pancake compressor, a finish nailer and and a brad nailer, you probably are not going to beat the value in the combo kit.

The DW718 is a good sliding compound miter saw, A few years ago it was worth about $450 brand new and it dropped to around $400 when the DWS780 was introduced. The two are very similar with the DWS780 having the XPS light system and improved dust collection. It has since been replaced as the economical big saw by the DWS709 or DWS779. Both of which are easily found for $399. If you are seeing DW718 for higher prices, it is for people looking for suckers because the more easily found DWS780 sells for $599 most of the time, it doesn't see a price cut often, instead every so often they offer a free stand with it. As far as whether to sell it or not, I'd keep it (especially if you are ever going to work on a deck) and sell the Hitachi and use the proceeds for a new blade or other tools. Don't be scared, be careful. You have a bright yellow insert showing you the path of the saw blade, when you have your hand on the handle and finger near the trigger, don't let your other hand be near that bright yellow area. It is almost like they did that for a reason.

Given the tasks you want to perform, you could probably use one of the really small compressors like Rolair's AB5, Senco's PC1010N, or any number of California Air Tools compressors. At around 25 pounds they might be more convenient to carry than to roll something bigger. As far as noise, the magic number you want to look for is about 70 decibels or less. A lot of the pancake compressors come in at around 80 which can be more than a little obnoxious in enclosed spaces.

It is old news, they have already won and have cease and desist order in place.

You haven't said what tasks you will be doing with it. Without that information it is anybody's guess what your needs are.

Guys like Diresta and Jay Bates are not getting paid or free tools, so they painted them in order to avoid giving free advertising. Others will happily accept and use free tools, I think the two companies who are sponsoring the most right now are probably Triton outfitting folks with a lot of tools and DeWALT's giving folks FlexVolt tools to use.

If it is super dirty or greasy, I might use some Simple Green cleaner mixed with some water or some Dawn dish detergent and water on a rag, beyond that some of the Boeshield products to work on rust.

And they must be so new that you can't find them on the website. I did see a cordless sprayer with a different battery when I went looking for about $450. Hopefully the price on this one will be lower.

I would rather have a company like Graco who have been in the paint sprayer business for a forever make the product using DeWALT batteries, instead of DeWALT trying to make a paint sprayer and have to build 3 generations before they have a decent sprayer..

They do offer the weakest in the line of tools and then sell them with the least expensive battery possible. I think DeWALT is probably the biggest seller of the $99 cordless drill out there. People turn around and buy a new drill every couple of years instead of a pair of better batteries. Ten years down the line they have 3 drills and one pair of working batteries. I have 4 out of 5 good XRP batteries that lasted through the whole Obama Presidency. Sometimes, you get what you pay for.

Look for a set of cobalt bits, they aren't cheap and a lot of manufacturers have them, but they do work and last. a set comparable to what you purchased from Milwaukee is about $72 cost + shipping at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Milwaukee-48-89-0026-Cobalt-Drill-Bit/dp/B003BWPHZW/ref=sr_1_22?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1485924968&sr=1-22&keywords=cobalt+drill+bits I have 29 bit index from DeWALT and have replaced one bit in 8+ years. I avoid using them on anything but metal and prefer using less expensive bits on construction lumber projects and brad point bits on finer woodworking projects. The inexpensive drill bits sets are great because you don't cry very long if you break one and you can afford to keep 2 or three around.

I just saw an update on the REAXX and did a little hunting for the US ITC ruling: https://www.usitc.gov/secretary/fed_reg_notices/337/337_965_notice01272017sgl.pdf Short story is REAXX is done in the US and if you bought one, you better hoard cartridges for them because aren't legal for import either.

It is not really part of the ToughSystem but this big rolling box or one of the smaller variants might do what you want. Home Depot also has some Husky boxes that cost less but might work for you too: http://www.homedepot.com/p/DEWALT-38-in-Mobile-Tough-Chest-Tool-Box-DWST38000/205502769?MERCH=REC-_-PIPHorizontal1_rr-_-205502768-_-205502769-_-N