We previously covered Trend’s Routabout jig for cutting replaceable access hole covers, but recently they revealed a new system that looks much simpler to use because it utilizes a 1/2″ drill instead of a router. You simply drill a 102mm (4″) hole into 18mm (.0708″) or 22mm (7/8″) chipboard, plywood, OSB, or plasterboard and cover it with either a metal or mesh plate.

The Cavity Access System comes with a 102mm hole saw with a heavy duty arbor and pilot drill, a 120mm (4-3/4″) rebate cutter for cutting the cover plate recess, five steel covers, and a waste removal tool all packaged in a plastic case. The system will run you 65 pounds or about $105, not including shipping and taxes.

Cavity Access System [TRT]
Cavity Access System [Miles Tool & Machinery]

With their heavy insulation, grounded barriers, and strong rip-prevention weaves often built into the casing, spark plug wires can be a royal pain. There aren’t many strippers that can easily handle the tough casings, but there are plenty of options for crimpers.

The unit above retails through Summit Racing Equipment and is manufactured by Taylor. The design doesn’t look terribly robust, but the $16 asking price isn’t bad. If that doesn’t seem like a decent value, there’s a pair of simple cast-aluminum blocks made by MSD which contain a jig for stripping plug wires with a razor. Put the two pieces between a vise’s jaws with a terminal in between, and they turn into a crimper. And that little doodad runs for only $7, which is close to cheap-ass tool territory.

The high-end option comes in the form of dies for interchangeable-jaw crimpers. The exact model will depend on the crimper you own, but they usually retail for around $30. This model [What’s This?], from SG Tool Aid, is a good example.

Taylor Plug Wire crimper [Summit Racing Equipment]
MSD Stripper/Crimper [Summit Racing Equipment]

If you’ve done any outdoor electrical work around the house, you’ve probably run into BX cable at some point. Cutting the casing without marring the conductors can be a problem; I tried with a hacksaw once, and all I got was a partially-sliced housing and a scarred thumb.

About $30 could have saved me some trouble. Klein’s BX cable cutter slices the housing only, avoiding damage to the internal wires thanks to a cutting wheel much like you’d find in a tubing cutter. Clamp the cable in the tool’s jaws, give the crank a few twists, and voila. Ixnay on the ousinghay, and no blood on your shirt, either.

Klein BX Cable Cutter [Plumber Surplus]

Klein Depthfinder™ steel fish tapes have permanent laser-etched marks at 1′ increments and a polypropylene case and handle. The $10 Model 56005’s tape is 25′ long and ¼” wide (other models are available, including stainless steel, lengths up to 240′, and 1/8″ widths). When I first saw one at Home Depot, I thought “What’s the big deal with the marks? You push the fish tape through wherever you want wire to run, connect wire to the end, and pull the wire back through. Who needs marks?”

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Inductive ammeters are nothing new, but they’re incredibly useful yet fairly rare tools. While electrical diagnostics usually require nothing more than a test light, motors, actuators, and battery connections are best tested with an ammeter — so you know not only if current is present, but how much.

The i1010 is a long-standing offering from Fluke, the best name in the business. The upper end of the measurement range is 1000A, but the bottom end is a relatively tiny 0.5A, leaving the i1010 in the perfect range for current measurements of just about any actuator or automotive current draw. Short of a battleship’s starter motor, you’re never going to run off the top end of this thing’s range. The only drawback is only 2% accuracy — more than enough for most applications, but severely Type-A personalities may wish to continue shopping. The i1010 is plenty expensive, but there’s a similar, less accurate (3.5%) model with a 400A range, the i410, available for much less.

Fluke i1010 [Fluke]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Fluke i410 [Google Products]

Sony’s new LiFePO4 (olivine-type lithium iron phosphate) batteries have a high power density (1800W/kg), a life span of around 2,000 charge-discharge cycles, an “excellent” shelf life, and can charge to 99% capacity in 30 minutes. Sony first supplied the new batteries in June 2009 for use in power tools, but their capabilities open up many other applications, including electric vehicles.

Patented by the University of Texas’ Dr. John Goodenough in 1996, LiFePO4 has a cell structure that remains stable in temperatures as high as 300°-500° Celsius. The batteries have a nominal cell voltage of 3.2V, a 1.1Ah capacity, and a 20A maximum continuous discharge current — so you don’t want to accidentally short these, or things might get hot in a hurry.

Sony [Manufacturer's Site]
EE Times [Source]

A trained professional would use the Mighty Probe from T&T Tools to try to find buried lines without ripping up half the yard. After de-energizing the lines, they’d keep sticking the probe into the ground where they thought the line was buried until they hit it, or until they give up and get the shovels.

If a pro ever contacted an energized line, the Mighty Stick provides up to 50,000V protection from shock. That’s because six inches of high-strength reinforced composite insulates the 11″ vinyl-covered solid-steel handle from the probe.

Three different shaft types, 3/8″ round, 3/8″ hex, and 7/16″ hex for the Mighty Probe are available in many different lengths. The shafts and tip are threaded for easy replacement. The tip is special alloy steel which has been heat-treated and has tapered edges for easy penetration and withdrawal.

As stated there are many configurations for the probe, and the retailers are a little sparse on specifics, but it looks like a 48″ Mighty Probe runs about $90. But don’t get any wild ideas — go call the dig line.

Mighty Probe [T&T Tools]
Street Pricing [Google Products]

Speaking of outlets, it’s often nice to test whether they’re live. The $25 Milwaukee 2201-20 will do that, and also give you an LED flashlight (”3x brighter than the competition”!?). This 3.5″ long, non-contact tester operates from a single AAA cell, has a voltage range from 90V to 600V (CAT III), and turns on/off via a rear push-button switch.

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Sort of a cross between “There, I Fixed It“, Cheap-Ass Tools, and Doh! comes an ASHI Reporter’s Postcards from the Field monthly feature. It documents a variety of funny — and weird and disturbing — home inspectors’ finds.

This kind of stuff will murder you in an inspection. There are about a hundred different ways to get creative with outlets and power but if an inspector is coming anywhere near your job site, don’t let them find this.

Inlet? [Source]

Automotive electrical work.

How many people ran for cover? Even among tech-savvy Toolmongers, electrical work can be a big, hairy monster, partially due to the confusing nature of electrical diagnosis, and partially due to the wide variety of tools needed to do the work properly. Fortunately, one of the most common styles is pretty cheap.

Mac Tools retails a crimper designed to properly attach Weatherpack connectors, but there’s a nice bonus. Many different terminals can be secured with this crimper, even if they aren’t designed for it. Deutsch and Yazaki terminals work nicely in Weatherpack jaws, which isn’t a bad trifecta for $35. Unless you’re a pretty neurotic type-A personality, this will do nicely for occasional repairs. Anyone who’s used one of these before will probably note that this plier-style crimper isn’t as precise as a torque-sensing type, but careful use will navigate nicely around those issues.

Weatherpack Crimper [Mac Tools]

You’ll see tons of wrenches that are insulated by coating the handle, but to meet the 1000V ATSM standard rating, Klein does something a little different: they embed two ratcheting box end wrenches in see-through plastic so you can visually confirm they aren’t touching. Grab one end of the wrench and there’s no path for the current to flow to the other.

Made in the USA, Klein’s Lineman’s insulating box wrench features 9/16″ and 3/4″ ratcheting 12-point sockets. There’s no reversing mechanism; to switch from tightening to loosening, just flip the wrench over. They mold grooves into the handle so you can get a good grip of the wrench.

It’ll be interesting to see if they come out with similar insulated wrenches in other sizes. For now, you can purchase one of these insulated wrenches for $44, except the Klein Connection says you must order this wrench in multiples of three.

Insulating Box Wrench [Klein Connection]

Blazer’s line of utility torches are powerful little monsters — you can adjust the flame from a smoky, match-like burn to a nearly-invisible jet of 2,500-degree plasma, hot enough to turn steel into a molten puddle. They run on easily-obtainable butane and can handle everything from soldering heavy-gauge wire to applying heat shrink.

You’ve got to be careful with this little bugger, but it’s a kick-ass tool for electronics techs, hobbyists, and anyone who needs to apply a bit — or a lot — of precise heat. Street pricing is about $40.

Blazer GB-2001 [Blazer]
Street Pricing [Google Products]

Thank the fine folks at Fluke for these neat little expletive-savers:  they’re simple prongs of thin, sturdy metal used for back-probing wiring harnesses.  Anyone who’s used a bent pin or rusty paper clip from the shop floor can appreciate these doohickeys, especially since the female banana plug socket on the back makes ‘em compatible with Fluke’s interchangeable test lead wires.

Sure, $31 is a fair amount to ask for what are basically sewing pins with a socket on the end, but for career electrical technicians and harness builders, these lovelies would make a great addition to a tool box — if you’ve ever had to disassemble a Weatherpack connector, you understand why some Toolmongers would make the investment.

Back-Probe Pins [Fluke]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

Do you have loose outlets in your home — you know, the ones where the receptacle wiggles every time you plug or unplug a cord?  More than likely the drywall guys cut the hole too big, and the ears on the receptacle don’t land on the drywall.  In the past I’ve used small washers or nuts to space the outlet far enough out from the wall so the cover plate fits correctly, but I noticed these Caterpillar spacers from Buchanan (Ideal) the other day when I was walking through Home Depot and decided to give ‘em a try.

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The once-simple telephone is now so complicated that you need a manual to figure out all its functions, and you can’t just plug it into a phone jack anymore — it needs its own source of power.  Usually that means stretching the power cord to some distant outlet, but with Leviton’s Out-of-Site PowerJack you can get back that neat and clean look for your phone.

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If you can’t see what you’re doing or where you’re going on the work site, you’re asking for an accident. Rather than cluttering up the site with a bunch of stand-mounted lights, shed some light on the situation with a temporary string of lights like this one from Woods.

This string of work lights features ten protected light enclosures with standard light bulb sockets connected by 100 feet of yellow 14/2 wire. The string is rated for 1,500W at 120V, which means theoretically you could use ten 150W bulbs, but to be on the safe side you probably don’t want to exceed 100W bulbs.

Pricing for this string of lights start in the mid $70s.

Woods [Corporate Site]
Street Pricing [Google]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

If you don’t own a surge suppressor for your whole house or building, the next best thing might be surge suppressors built right into key outlets around your home or office.  There’s less clutter without the power strips, and you’re protected even if you plug your electronics right into the wall.

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