Charles Harris

I have the 2654 and really like it. I had a hard time deciding between the 2454 and 2654. I'm still keeping an eye on eBay for a smoking deal on a 2454. The only thing that might be more compact on the 2654 is the length.

Favorite EDC knife- Benchmade 904 mini axis locking folder. Favorite EDC pistol- Kahr PM9 w/ Comp-tac Infidel holster Favorite competition pistol- Custom STI 2011 Favorite polymer pistol- XDM 5.25 9mm Favorite competition rifle- Custom 223 black rifle. Favorite bolt rifle - Custom Remington 700 280cal. (Huge selection of 7mm bullets for hand loading) Favorite deer hunting rifle- Remington model 7 7mm-08. (Right size for the job.) Favorite 22 pistol- S&W model 41 Favorite 22 rifle- S&W M&P 15-22 magpul edition Glocks are great guns but I don't prefer them just because of the grip angle. I have many hours of practice / competition with a 1911/2011. You get to where you can aim close from muscle memory. When I do that with a Glock the sights are way out of alignment. I know guys that compete with Glocks. I believe if you are going to shoot a Glock you should shoot nothing but a Glock. I believe that if you are going to carry you should be responsible enough to practice. You should be able to hit what you are aiming at. I feel the Kahr is the best shooting compact pistol for me. It does very well on 6" plates at 20 yards.

Lol! Bad news. I feel my wallet getting lighter. Have you used a 2654?

Thanks. After a month on the forums I can say I'm glad I signed up.

I bought her the DustBuster style M12 vac. Our house has hardwood and tile floors. We have a blue heeled that lives inside. We use Swifter and Bona mops to clean but we always end up with hair under furniture and behind doors etc. The M12 vac work great for picking up this. It seems like we can go through the whole house 4 or 5 times getting the hair balls on a 4ah battery. I think it helps that you have the trigger so you are only running it when needed. I have used it a couple times to clean up after I had drilled holes. It worked good but it's no shop vac. It also doesn't have a huge canister so if you were cleaning up much you would have to empty multiple times. I haven't tried the M18 Vac and I'm also interested in it with the 9ah batteries. I still have my old Dewalt 18v shop vac. I was never able to use it on battery power. It seemed like it would suck those old nicd batteries flat in less than 5 min. I always just used the ac cord. I also have the Ridgid 14gal shop vac and it's awesome for clean up.

My wife had a little tool bag with some crappy homeowner tools when I met her. I keep that setup with what she uses. I hear you though that drives me nuts. My wife won't hardly touch my toolbox anymore. I did buy her the M12 Vac recently. She loves it and that gives me a good reason to buy more M12 tools. More batteries for her vac. Lol!

Wow that's an awesome collection. I know the feeling all of these cool tools and videos make my wallet lighter. How do you like the 2454?

True. That does help.

My wife says I'm just a nut in general.

I know the black & decker VPX line was discontinued as a result of the lawsuit. Walmart clearance all the VPX tools. I drove to every Walmart in the area and ended up with 40+ of the batteries. I used them for all kinds of projects. Dewalt continued to sell the 36v packs after the lawsuit. Do you know how Dewalt was affected? Leave it to lawyers to ruin a good thing. This could be the reason we don't have LiFe powered tools today.

Here is a couple cool videos showing what the A123 LiFe's can do.

I haven't used any of the cordless grinders. I have a corded Dewalt. The answer for the Reciprocating Saw is much easier. Milwaukee all the way. The Sawzall is the reason I switched over to the Milwaukee m18 line. I didn't want to have two brands of 18v batteries. Come to think of it though I still have two lines of batteries. The M12 and the M18.

I had a couple projects at my house where I drilled multiple holes for tapcons screws. I was using a Dewalt DCD 995. It's was awful and the holes would end up out of round. I picked up a Milwaukee Rotary hammer and I can't believe how much better it is. When I switched over from Dewalt to Milwaukee I didn't even bother getting the 18v hammer drill. I got the non-hammer 18v drill. I have the 12V fuel hammer drill for little stuff like hanging pictures in plaster walls. Anything bigger than that and I'm going to use the rotary hammer drill.

I don't understand why LiFe batteries haven't been used more. Dewalt used them in the 36, 28, and 18 volt lithium batteries. http://www.a123systems.com/Collateral/Documents/English-US/A123%20Systems%20ANR26650%20Data%20Sheet.pdf They are as safe to charge as regular Li-Ions, but can be charged in 12min within factory specs. The 2.5 ah cells are rated at 70 amp discharge. I have cut up several of the DeWalt 36v packs to source the cells. I use these for my RC airplanes and Helicopters. I've even mounted them on support equipment like helicopter starters. I have abused these cells and the only way I have been able to kill one is discharge it to far. I tested the limits of the cells before trusting them in my airplane. I have even zip charged them without damage. (Connect the cell directly to a 12v car battery. Charges in less than a min) There are a couple downsides to the A123 LiFe's. They are 3.3v nominal vs the 3.7 Li-Ion. They hold there voltage crazy flat during the discharge. This is good and bad. It's good that they are able to hold their voltage under crazy loads but it makes it all but impossible to have an accurate fuel gauge. The charger needs to balance the pack or they can get off over time. How would you feel about having a 2.5ah battery that could be charged in 12 min? The charger I have will graph discharge and charge cycles. This graph is of a 2s A123 LiFe pack I built from a 36v Dewalt pack. (4.6amp discharge)

If we really wanted max performance out our tools we would use Lipo batteries. This 5.0ah 5s (18v nominal) Lipo has a rating of 65c constant and 130c burst. That's 325amps continuous and bursts of up to 650amps. http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__45144__Turnigy_nano_tech_A_SPEC_G2_5000mah_5S_65_130C_Lipo_Pack.html The best Li-Ions are rated at 25amp draw for comparison. So a 2p pack like our 4 and 5 ah tools are capable of delivering ~50 amps. The only problem is the Lipos are much more dangerous to charge. They need to be balanced every charge. The Lipo cells don't like vibration, and impacts. Li-Ions are a great match for our tools. They are easy to maintain and have a good balance of capacity and weight.

Kreg bit?

Here is a couple pics.

Congrats. That's an awesome deal.

We actually used to install polybutylene. It was the Pex of the day back in the 80s. There were different grades of the pipe. The stuff my dad installed was a dull grey. There were three different kinds of fittings I remember.(plastic, copper, and brass). Only one house that my dad or grandpa installed it in had problems that I know of. This one house had well water and for whatever reason the plastic fittings deteriated from the inside out. I feel for you though if you have a manufactured house with the stuff. I remember working on a couple with my dad back in the 90's. The polybutylene in manufactured homes was a shiny almost silver looking pipe. That stuff was crazy brittle back then. I remember it would develop little hair line cracks anywhere it bent and spray water out in what looked like a spider web. The only thing you can do is replace it. I guess it was the early 90s when my dad switched to CPVC. He would only use Flowguard Gold CPVC. It had some flex to it and wasn't brittle like a lot of the lower grade pipe. I was going to use FlowGuard Gold CPVC to plumb my house. I did some research and no one in my area was stocking it. I talked to the local supply house they recommended the Zurn Pex. I remember Pex had started showing up back then. So I have known about it being installed for at least 20 years. I did some research and didn't find any real problems reported. I decided to give it a try. It's nice to be able to drive a couple miles up the road and get any fitting I need. I bought a set of Ridgid crimpers and installed it. It installs just like the polybutylene did back in the day. The fittings are all high quality brass and I was sure to check the adjustment on my crimpers. You have to be sure to keep the jaws very clean and not let any dirt get in them. The Pex is by far the easiest to install. I would use schedule 40 PVC for underground water lines and the entrance into the house and Pex after your ball valve.

LOL!

I just re plumbed my house with Zurn Pex. I'm very happy with it so far.

Another vote for hog ring. I like the ease of swapping sockets. If I was using the impact regularly on a platform or scaffolding and didn't swap sockets much I'd probably get the detent pin.

You won't be disappointed with the Fuel Sawzall. It doesn't sacrifice any performance over a corded saw. It's awesome not having to drag a cord around for stuff like pruning.

Lol! I have cut up a box spring with one before. It sure was easier to carry down the stairs. Don't try the fuel if you are worried you might have to buy one. You would love it. Great idea for the blade storage. My grandpa used to keep his drill bits in hard copper tubes. It never dawned on me to use PVC to store my blades.

LOL! It's funny how much different we look at stuff than wives. What we see as cool they see as weird. I'm sitting here with my wife now. I just let her watch the video. She said did you screw up our azaleas just to make this video you nut. It would be cool if you could come over. That way my wife could realize I'm not the only goofy tool nut.