TM Portable Shop Compressor Test: Part I

post from Toolmonger: The Week In Tools on 14 April 2011 10:34:14 PM. © Toolmonger: The Week In Tools

Shop air compressors are very much like the heater in your home: If it’s working, you really don?t pay it much attention. Only recently when we had a hiccup with our five-gallon Ridgid twin-stack did the thought even come up that this was a 5-year old unit that had put in hundreds of hours of tireless service. We decided to see how our favorite old compressor does against a field of modern competitors.

We shopped around until we found a good representative product from several manufacturers. The rules were pretty simple: Each unit had to be available at a home center or gear equivalent, needed to be in the 2-to-5 gallon range, and finally had to be able to power the shop tools we put into circulation on a regular basis such as trim guns, air blowers, and so forth. Four challengers to the Ridgid arrived in the shop for test. They are, in manufacturer?s alphabetical order: Bosch CET4-20, Campbell Hausfeld FP2602, Hitachi EC 89, and Makita MAC2400.

The goal is to get a good bead on what you?re really getting from a bunch of machines that, other than tank size, look quite similar to one another. All of them are quite different and make up a wide spread over the operable range of small portable shop/site compressors — which was really the point. So we began the comparison/test on the basis of specs, portability, performance, noise, features, price, and ease of maintenance.

Specs

To make stats simple to compare, we put together a small chart with the size of the tank in gallons, horsepower, cut-in and cut-out pressures of the the motor, and the all-important Cubic Feet per Minute of air rating for each (with the exception of the CH, which didn’t list that information — read: Low).

Now that we have that out of the way, you might ask what the hell that means; we know we did. Based solely from the chart data we can say the Bosch and Makita lead the way with both the most horsepower and CFM, with the CH and Hitachi rounding out the other end of the spectrum. This should come as no surprise, as anybody with a few hard-earned dollars to spend on compressors could look at the spec sheet at the big box and tell you the same thing. So we pressed on.

Portability

Our compressor lives in the middle of the action under the miter saw, and doesn?t move unless we haul it out for maintenance. However, this is not so at every shop or job site. So we decided to carry each a distance of 150? to find out how much each one would tear us up. We tested each one on a different day to minimize any fatigue issues from carrying a competitor.

As you can plainly see from this colorful yet completely scientific chart, by measures of magnitude the clear winner was the CH — also not surprising. The clear loser did surprise us a little, however. Though it’s the penultimate by way of curb weight at 72 lbs. to the Makita?s 77 lbs., the Bosch just kept banging into our legs and making life hard to deal with. To be fair there is a Bosch version of this compressor with wheels, so if you had your heart set on the Bosch and wanted to constantly move it you could do so without rupturing something — but that did nothing to ease the bruise on my thigh.

Performance Tests

To test performance, the only way we could figure to make real performance tests was to run each unit as our shop compressor for a few weeks and see how it went. In part II of our compressor test, we?ll show you how each unit did in actual performance testing, and which ones left us with bones to pick.

Cet4-20 Compressor [Bosch]
FP2602 Compressor [Campbell Hausfeld]
EC 89 Compressor [Hitachi]
MAC2400 Compressor[Makita]

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http://toolmonger.com/2011/04/14/tm-portable-shop-compressor-test-part-i/

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Reader Question: Ever Forget You Own A Tool

post from Toolmonger: The Week In Tools on 14 April 2011 10:34:14 PM. © Toolmonger: The Week In Tools

Is it possible that you get to a point where you own so many tools that you forget what you own? Or is it just the ravages of old age taking its toll on my mind?

A few days ago, I decided to round over the corners of my drill press table because I’ve dinged up the edges pretty good. So I grabbed my Colt router and looked for a round-over bit. The only 1/4″ shank round-over bit I own is a 3/8″ radius, but of course I have a nice selection of 1/2″ shank round-over bits.

Rather than using the Colt, I end up flipping the drill press table upside down and routing a 1/8″ radius on my router table; it was awkward, but it worked. It looked so good that I wanted to relieve the edge of the router table I’m in the process of building. I figured I’d better pick up a 1/8″ round-over bit for the Colt next time I’m at the store rather than try to muscle the new table on top of the old table.

cA few days later, I was in the store looking at router bits and it hit me: Why didn’t I just pull the router motor out of the table and use my plunge base?

This has happened to me numerous times. A few years ago, I was mounting a bar sink in my garage for dumping used oil. The sink would drain into some 5-gallon buckets which I could just grab and bring to the oil dropoff site. I needed to cut a hole in the counter top for the sink and the only tool I could think of to do the job was my recip saw. Of course I butchered the hole so badly that there were places where the sink didn’t cover the hole. Only then did I remember that I owned a perfectly good jig saw that would have done a much better job.

So have you ever forgotten what tools you own and ended up buying one of them again? Or have you used a less-than-ideal tool for the job, only to remember later that you actually had the right tool? Let us know in comments.

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http://toolmonger.com/2011/04/14/reader-question-ever-forget-you-own-a-tool/

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Performance Torque Converter

post from Car Enthusiast: Blogger | Car Modification | 2ZZGE,4AGE,4G93T,JBJL,4G13,4G15 on 14 April 2011 09:35:05 PM. © Car Enthusiast: Blogger | Car Modification | 2ZZGE,4AGE,4G93T,JBJL,4G13,4G15

Modify a daily driven engine is a tricky business compare to build up a track car. We need to sacrifice one to favor the other. Such as, fuel economy for acceleration, reliability for performance or low end torque for high end horsepower.
Power (more accurately, torque) is never delivered directly from the flywheel to the pavement, without first being multiplied by gear ratios in the transmission and differential. For an example,a car with a 4.0:1 gear ratio puts 33% more torque to the wheels than a car with a 3.0:1 gear ratio with no increase in engine torque. However, changing gear ratios may affect drive ability because the engine revs higher at all speeds which uses more fuel and simply wears out faster. Changing gears ratio will help the car accelerate faster but the engine keep on revving at the high rpm.
Torque Multiplier
There is a torque "multiplier" above and beyond the trans and gear for an automatic transmission. This unit is called the torque converter?a fluid coupling that disengages the engine from the transmission at idle so that you can pull to a stop or shift gears without stalling the engine. The torque converter is actually a misnomer?it should be called the "torque multiplier" because it doesn't simply provide a one-to-one connection to the transmission like a clutch does with a manual transmission.
Modify torque custom machines the internal components to provide the correct stall speed (slip). Besides that, modified torque able to increase durability by furnace-brazing the impeller and turbine vanes in place in addition to installing a larger ceramic-impregnated lock-up clutch.

The left torque converter is the modified converter which lighter of weight and smaller of size compare to the original torque converter on the right.
Technorati Tags: Car,Autos,Motorsport,Blog,Automobile,Auto News,Turbo,Engine,Technorati

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http://www.ben9166.com/2011/04/performance-torque-converter.html

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Game Meets Album: Behind the Music and Design of
the iPad Indie Blockbuster Swords & Sworcery

post from Create Digital Music on 14 April 2011 06:56:24 PM. © Create Digital Music

Jim Guthrie was a rockstar long before the iPad was. Paired with pixel-intense artist Craig D. Adams (aka Superbrothers) and a crack team of coders at the indie studio capy, he’s made a soundtrack that’s destined to be a gaming classic. But if you don’t want to play it, you can still listen to it. … Continue →

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/createdigitalmusic/~3/ZOhdkT_WIsU/

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Apr 14, thxuntd

post from DIY-blog on 14 April 2011 06:33:05 PM. © DIY-blog

thxundh

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http://www.builderbill-diy-help.com/25694781nncc2o1itacalcs.html

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How to Make the Perfect Hard-Boiled Egg - Season
1 - Episode 1

post from Do It Yourself Videos - Metacafe on 14 April 2011 05:34:09 PM. © Do It Yourself Videos - Metacafe

Margo True, food editor for Sunset magazine, knows what you're doing wrong when you make hard-boiled eggs. You're boiling them hard. Stop it!
Ranked 4.00 / 5 | 2 views | 0 comments

Click here to watch the video (00:47)
Submitted By: CHOW
Tags: Cbsepisode Chow Chow Tip DIY Easy Eggs Experts Green Egg Yolk Green Eggs Hard Boiled Hard Cooked Egg Hardboiled Ice Bath Margo True Method Simple Sunset Techniques Tips Video CHOW Tip
Categories: News & Events How To

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http://www.metacafe.com/watch/cb-UOo9AT5xKYrdrE9RmSETZL2_t9L5W_4Y/how_to_make_the
_perfect_hard_boiled_egg_season_1_episode_1/

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Its International Moment of Laughter Day! How to
Spread Laughter

post from How to of the Day on 14 April 2011 04:00:00 PM. © How to of the Day

Spreading laughter is the next best thing to laughing yourself. When you set out to spread laughter, you're also setting out to spread joy, happiness, and love for other people. Long considered "the best medicine", laughter has power; it can lighten up the atmosphere, bring a group of people together, help people to feel good about themselves, and make a challenging day so much easier to face. Even tears are changed by a good laugh, turning into tears of joy and hilarity. Laughter lightens tension and provides a bridge to moving on during confrontational situations. If you can inject laughter into other people's lives, you will be giving a gift that is priceless, one that allows people to focus back on the joy of living instead of always seeing the hardships and challenges of life.Being able to spread laughter begins with laughing on the inside and seeing the worth of being happy amid the gloom. As laughter is contagious, provided you're willing to spark it, it'll soon spread to others.

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http://www.wikihow.com/Spread-Laughter

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Lack raised to the third

post from IKEA Hackers on 14 April 2011 03:35:13 PM. © IKEA Hackers

Materials: Lack TV bench

Description: We are baby-proofing our living room, and the baby gates are high enough that they block the line of sight to our television, which was on a plain Lack TV bench.

I loved the Lack-On-Lack TV benches, but we needed something at least 30 inches tall. I bought 2 additional Lack TV benches. I kept the legs on our existing unit, and added on top of it the 'box' to one Lack bench and the slap top of the third. Shelves between the pieces provided spacing. I used double sided foam tape to stick everything together.

Now the TV is hoisted up high enough that the baby gate doesn't block it, and it's a nice clean look.

~ Beth Quittman, Seattle

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Ikeahacker/~3/1KQ3ah4PwJE/lack-raised-to-third.htm
l

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Re-Purposed BRATTBY Kitchen Cart

Materials: BRATTBY Kitchen Cart, Primer and Paint in One, Drawer Knob

Description: We removed all the shelves except the bottom one (for support) from the BRATTBY kitchen cart, then removed the back wheels and cut the front legs of the cart to make all four legs even. I lightly sanded the cart, filled in any holes and imperfection with spackling paste and painted it with primer and paint in one. I drilled a hole in the drawer and added a decorative knob. Now our 5 year old kitchen cart is a brand new living room side table!

See more of the repurposed kitchen cart.

~ Adriana, Southern California

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Ikeahacker/~3/04drPwoPkSY/re-purposed-brattby-kitc
hen-cart.html

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Easter Lily Care & Tips For Transplanting
Outdoors

Easter lilies (Lilium longiflorum) are beautiful with their white trumpet flowers and are traditionally given as gifts or purchased for decoration during the Easter season. This year don’t toss the plant after the blooms are gone–try transplanting the lily in your garden and you could be rewarded with more blooms in the Fall (if you’re [...]