Milwaukee 2010 Product Symposium

The reason we were so light on posts last week is that we were lucky enough to be at Milwaukee's annual Product Symposium. While there, we ate some great food, hung out with a solid group of our tool-writer pals, enjoyed a lot of great conversations with the Milwaukee crowd, and most importantly had the opportunity to get a look at this year's line of new tools.

The nitty-gritty of the event has been covered by a few of our fellow compatriots here and here, so we're going to stick to just a few thoughts on some of the new items that we saw...

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Milwaukee M12 Cordless ProPEX Expansion Tool

We like how Milwaukee seems intent on making a 12-volt tool for every single task that anyone has ever performed on a jobsite (we can't wait for the 12-volt Bobcat/Excavator combo kit!). Their latest, the ProPEX Expansion Tool is the most specialized yet.

What the tool does is expand the end of a piece of pex in order to utilize a particular fitting which is produced by a company called Uponor. A quick internet search turned up a manual expansion tool, a corded expansion tool, an air expansion tool, and a large clunky looking 18-volt expansion tool, all produced by Uponor. It's safe to say that none of these tools are as compact and nice looking as the Milwaukee.

For a little background, we found this at PexSupply.com:

The Uponor Wirsbo Expander system is perhaps the most widely used PEX system by professionals in the US. This system makes use of the ProPEX Expander Tool ProPEX Fittings, ProPEX Rings, and PEX-a tubing. If PEX-a tubing (AquaPEX) is not used the connections will fail. This system makes strong reliable connections that have never failed in the field. The only downsides to this system are the high up-front cost of the tool, the high price of fittings, and the fact that Wirsbo only wants professionals using the tools. Wirsbo has addressed the price of fittings by coming out with engineered plastic fittings that are more cost effective. Using the tool can be a little tricky at first, and Wirsbo prefers that only professional installers use their products.

There is no pricing information or release date available yet.

If you're curious what the process is like, here's a video of someone using a manual expansion tool. It's easy to assume that Milwaukee's tool will speed this process up quite a bit.

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New Tools From Milwaukee

Last week we were lucky enough to go out to the Milwaukee Tools HQ to get a glimpse at some of the new releases they've got all geared up for this year. As one of our favorite tool companies, they didn't disappoint with the sheer variety and usefulness of their new tools and accessories.

A few of the highlights of what we saw were...

18-Volt Cordless Bandsaw - They're still putting the finishing touches on this one, but were nice enough to let us try it out and, honestly, it's the kind of tool that makes us wish we had taken up plumbing instead of carpentry. It's got a whole lot of power but it's light enough to easily work with both above your head and in tight spaces. Having an awareness of how people will be using it, Milwaukee has made the shoe retractable, so the tool is able to cut a pipe that's already attached to a wall. It's one of those tools that makes your chest swell a bit when you hold it. There will also be a corded version available and both will be hitting the market probably in October.

Shockwave Driver Bits - This is one of those ideas that, once you hear it, you wonder why it took so long for someone to think it up. Driver bits built specifically for impact drivers. Anyone who spends time on a job site these days (like we do), knows that impact drivers are taking over. That said, they really do a number on driver bits so Milwaukee has tailored this new line to withstand the abuse. In addition to other features, the new bits have a slight degree of flexibility in order to handle the added intensity of the impact driver.

Cordless Tubing Cutter - Much like their copper pipe cutter from last year, this one is a real niche tool. We tried it out and it had no problem slicing up pex and pvc. It has a great feel and possibly the power to do a little topiary sculpting as well.

Testing and Measurement Tools - This is a new area for Milwaukee, but judging from what we saw, they're going to quickly establish themselves in the market. Of the tools, the most interesting is the Sub-Scanner which is sort of like an amped up, battle-crazed stud finder. It can be used to find studs and pipes in walls and ceilings, as well as rebar in concrete. The cool thing about it is that it lets you know the exact depth of what it is you're finding, so if you only have one option for placing that pipe hanger, you'll know that only a 2" screw will work because of the rebar that's hidden in the wall.

Those are just some of the highlights and by no means a complete overview of what we saw. Milwaukee is also rolling out some nice 12-volt LED flashlights, a 12-volt power port, a very cool looking mini-radio, oh and about a thousand new grinders.

Follow the action over at Milwaukee Tools.

Milwaukee tools at Amazon

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Easy Chamfer - Review

We get sent some strange stuff to review, but the Easy Chamfer is by far the oddest. But odd doesn't mean bad, it just means, well, odd. The Easy Chamfer is a tool that fits on the end of a drill that allows you to chamfer the ends of a pvc pipe. And it looks sort of like a space station.

The Easy Chamfer is extremely well built and consists a base plate with two handles, three adjustable rollers, and a conical bit that fits into any drill. To operate the Easy Chamfer, you fit the rollers snug around your PVC piping and then activate the drill which spins the bit and plunge into the end of the pipe. At this point you just have to work the tool around the edge of the pipe, giving the end a nice chamfer.

The first thing we noticed about the Easy Chamfer is that it's not easy at all. In fact, it takes quite a bit of getting used to. We tested it out a number of times and it took quite a while before we even got close to the results in the video. Time and time again, our chamfers kept coming out uneven and with little shavings of Schedule 40 hanging off in every direction. After a while though, we started to get the hang of it and came up with a few acceptable chamfers. But still as difficult as it was to get used to the tool, it was still far, far easier and faster that chamfering with a file. And like we said, this is all initial difficulty, a byproduct of using a very unfamiliar tool. Spend a little time with the Easy Chamfer and you'll probably be like the guy in the video, minus the accent.

There is no question as to the item's durability. It's built to last; the body is made of thick metal plate and the rollers are of a very dense plastic. The spinning blade also has the look of a high-quality router blade.

This isn't a tool for the DIYer or even the residential carpenter. This is something for the industrial/commercial crowd, people who are putting down pipe after pipe after pipe. The price only reinforces the niche quality of the tool. The Easy Chamfer sells for around $200. It sounds like a lot of money, but like we always say, if it's something that you're going to use and it replaces a slow way of doing things, it's not going to take long before you make that money back.

There is a video of the Easy Chamfer here and more info on this unique tool at easychamfer.com

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Ridgid LCDPak and MiniPak for the SeeSnake

Ridgid recently increased the capabilities of their SeeSnake with the release of two new monitors for the system. The big selling point on these two new items seems to be the fact that they can be powered by both standard AC or with Ridgid's 18-volt li-ion battery. This feature obviously translates into a much greater degree of portability and ease of use.

The LCDPak is the larger of the two new monitors. It's got a 10.4" color LCD display with 640x480 resolution and ten levels of light adjustment. The LCDPak can run for about five hours on two 18-volt batteries, but can also operate for a shorter time on one if need be.

The MiniPak is a smaller version and can also be run off of both power sources. It has a 5.7" color display and only takes one battery to get to the five hour mark.

Keep in mind that these monitors are part of the SeeSnake system and aren't necessarily sold with the SeeSnake camera hose. They are also high-powered pieces of digital equipment and are priced accordingly. As stand-alone items, the LCDPak and MiniPak retail for $2,600 and $2,000 respectively. It ain't cheap, but that's not to say it's not handy either (hellooo double negative). We've played around with both the Ridgid and Milwaukee hand held versions of the inspection camera and quickly saw how these larger models could be helpful. They're not really items for the homeowner, but someone in the trades could put them to good use.

MiniPak at Ohio Power Tools
LCDPak at Ohio Power Tools

Here's a video with more information on the LCDpak:

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BernzOmatic Fat Boy Propane Cylinder

BernzOmatic, a leader in torches and accessories, has just released a new propane tank called the Fat Boy. Not only does it have a shape different from standard tanks which allows it to hold an additional 20% more fuel, but it also has something called Green Key Technology, which makes the whole thing more environmentally friendly.

While the shorter and fatter tank will surely help when soldering in the web of pipes behind the hot water tank, it's the Green Key feature that makes this an interesting product. What it essentially does is allow you to completely empty the tank, making it recyclable. More recycling details are at here.

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