Peter Argyropoulos

Charging a battery in cold weather that's warmed up from use will go much faster than charging a cold, dead battery. If it's really cold out, start your day by putting your batteries in the heated part of your vehicle to warm up before you start.

In the 12 years I went to school at the same school district, they got Argyropoulos spelled right once on a letter home, and that time they sent it in my name as Mr. and Mrs. Peter Argyropoulos instead of to my dad. White people need to stick to their macaroni and cheese or they get all confused with our "ethnic" names

This is the one I've been using for the last 7-8 years. http://www.amazon.com/Fluke-1AC-A1-II-VoltAlert-Non-Contact-Voltage/dp/B000EJ332O It's ok to use 3-wire for your switches, but it's even better when you know when you need to and when you can get away with 2-wire Either way, remember that repurposed whites can only be used to feed.

If wobble is going to be a problem, you may have to more clearly define your needs. Most of the tools made by the big manufacturers are not designed for precision work and a fairly large amount of chuck wobble will be tolerable in their specs. You have the option to individually check a few units to find one that performs to your needs or you need to find a drill designed for more precise work which will probably cost more. Remember that most of these tools are for the trades or for homeowners and as such are designed to take a beating - not to drill with tolerances within a thousandths of an inch or even a perfectly round hole. Maybe you need a drill press?

Don't get the Flir. Get a Fluke. The Flir will beep from miles away, making it impossible to tell which wire is hot. I've tried a bunch of different NCVTs and the Fluke is the only one I've found that performs properly.

For mock-ups they're almost all correct The one thing I saw that would be a violation is the white relabeled and used as the return from the switch. Any time you repurpose a white as a hot, it has to be used as a feed - IOW, it has to be hot all the time. In some cases you can't use a two wire as a switch loop anymore, so it wouldn't be an issue anyway, but it's important to remember (new code requirements may dictate this so there's a neutral at the box for occupancy sensors - check the code for details). This also applies to three-way circuits. If you're allowed to use three wire instead of four wire you need to use the white in the three wire to feed the three ways. This usually means that your feed gets applied at the far end of the three way circuit and the load gets connected at the near end.

Hands down and bar none, the best ever tire gauge I used was at a gas station in Germany about 20 years ago. They had a system where there was something like a 2 gallon air canister that you set on a hard piped air line fitting and the weight of the canister opened a valve which allowed the canister to fill. When you wanted to fill your tires, you picked it up and carried it to your vehicle and used a short hose to connect to the tire. The gauge on it as I recall was a 4-inch dial with a needle thin indicator similar to what you used to see on analog voltage meters. The quality of it blew me away at the time and has been my holy grail ever since. That Longacre doesn't look bad, but it's still a far cry from that German dial I saw.

I don't think I've ever worked in a jurisdiction where an inspector could get away with not passing my work because something totally unrelated was bad. I would definitely follow up with his boss on that because (as you mention above) this could put your business in jeopardy by straining your relationships with customers, it could give your customers a valid reason to not pay you (your work didn't pass inspection) and your customers will likely bad mouth you to others.

There is a really small number of people I'll loan tools to. Many people just aren't tuned in to how to treat good tools.

If a two-inch rigid gets bent, it's either been whacked really hard or it's rusted and beginning to lose it's integrity. I'd say the inspector was right to request it get replaced. I don't know what your permit was for and how this mast was tied in to that, so I can't comment on that aspect.

Looks similar to my Honda. It's light and has rubber instead of metal to throw the snow which is important here where we have brick sidewalks. I'd really piss someone off if I chewed up their sidewalk with my snowblower

Jason, I don't think that's the main driving factor for most brand-loyals. It's in all of us to gravitate towards a sense of security and buying into a brand that we know or feel comfortable with satisfies that need regardless of the performance of individual tools from that brand. To buy the best tool for each job takes a lot more effort and will put you into unknown territory and intensify the feeling of risk.

I'll have to try the new Fein blades for wood/metal, but for just wood, these Bosch blades are the best I've ever tried: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ELC9RPC

The more I use my Bosch impact, the more I like not only the tool itself (although the speed button really needs work) but the case is phenomenally handy on a job site. For my hands, it's the perfect size and weight. If you're looking for even more power, maybe you need to go with a dedicated 3/8-inch impact wrench? I've tried a few reciprocal saws from different brands including DeWalt, Hilti, and Metabo, and while some are faster than a Milwaukee, none that I tried worked as smoothly or as quietly, so regardless what other tools I own I will probably always be using a Milwaukee sawzall. So at the end of the day, I will always be a supporter of mix and match tool sets. Buy what works best for each tool and screw brand loyalty.

Not sure how I missed this post when it started, but yeah, I'd get one if I were into Makita. I bought a small pod coffee machine for my truck for those days when 5 PM rolls around and you're nowhere near done work, and nowhere near a convenience store or cafe. If 5 oz. isn't enough for you, you're not a coffee addict and you'd probably take too long a break anyways

Drill only mode is for tile. I'll give you $50 for yours

I'm not getting in between you two, but I have to say that the way you did it is in violation of the product listings and because of that the NEC. There are many parts of the country where using anything other than a PVC strap on PVC conduit will fail the job. Around here, they're pretty lenient about it, but I wouldn't use EMT straps when it's so easy to just buy rigid straps instead which fit the PVC properly and without deforming and hold much better than flimsy (and deformed) EMT straps. Many times PVC straps are installed incorrectly which leads to failure. They're designed to allow the conduit to expand and contract with ambient temperatures and when they're installed too tightly, they bind and snap. They have to be left somewhat loose to function properly.

I can't really say I had any bad tools myself. I grew up with a dad who was a contractor, so my approach to buying tools was educated in the context of professional needs. My grandfather had a whole shed full of shitty tools like that broken hammer up above and trying to help him out using his tools was a nightmare. The crappiest power tool I've seen in the last 10 years was a DeWalt recip saw that a friend brought over to see if I could fix for him. When I took it apart, even he realized there was nothing worth fixing in that piece of shit. I've had some interesting tools over the years, especially when I lived in Poland where there were TONS of shitty tools available. One interesting tool was a Russian made 3/4-inch ratchet driver that only ratcheted in one direction. To reverse it, the 3/4-inch square pushed through the ratchet mechanism. It was, like some Soviet/Russian tools, built to withstand WWIII. I still have my Russian micrometer, which is very basic and is only designed to be accurate down to tenths of a millimeter. The worst of the power tools I owned while living there was a Polish made version of an obsolete green Bosch 1/2-inch drill, which was their homeowner's range of power tools (vs. the blue series for pros). It only survived one remodel project I did.

Those Mafell drills look like they share a lot of DNA with Metabo drills. It's amazing how many EU brands there are that have zero footprint in the US.

I don't think so, but I do own a French multimeter, does that count?

Bienvenue!

Drool. . .

I hadn't seen this one or any of the others from the series until yesterday. They're all hilarious! There's one with some guy who's a specialist on pencil sharpening that is totally crazy. The cast iron, hand powered pencil shaver/sharpener is absurd, but I have to assume it's a real product. We live in a crazy world.

The amount of labor he puts into this is amazing. Truly a one-of-a-kind craftsman...

Test the two if possible. Speed isn't the only thing to consider when you get a rotary hammer with chipping function. If you need to channel out wall or floor or drill holes for hours on end, you want the tool with better shock absorption over the one that gets it done a little faster. Also important is balance, size and weight.