I’ve been working on cross-beam laser line levels, mainly Bosch. I haven’t looked at other brands, but so far I’ve been quite pleased with Bosch experiences.
If you have a particularly urgent need, I can try to help you via email.
With IR sensors, how sophisticated are you interested in? IR thermometers can be used, but Thermal imagers are much more capable. They’re also quite pricey.
Thank you.
For cross beams, it occurred to me that the option to turn the crossbeam such that it can place the cross on the floor to ease floor tile installation might be worthwhile. I assume the laser could care less which way its pointed, but it does need some sort of option that would make it possible to point it straight down.
I’m also interested in the green vs red discussions. I’m not even clear of the supposed advantages of either. One site says the green laser is more visible outside, which seems unlikely if you’re using it to build a fence. But as far as throw distance, it seems I’ve had some trouble with my ancient Craftsman laser level outside but its worked well inside. In doing more remodeling it would seem a crossbeam laser would be better.
Thx in advance for your advice.
Gary
As far as IR sensors, since I have both plumbing and electrician experience, and I’ve done more remodeling than most, I’ve been asked to join a home inspection company. It sounds like a great opportunity as my “retirement” job. I want to be able to provide an energy audit using printouts of suspected energy leaks. But I also want to identify hot water issues and especially point out wiring and circuit breaker box issues. I’m looking closely at the Flir series but they are not iPhone compatible yet. In the meantime, since I’m already a member of the Milwaukee eco system, their M12 Infrared camera might fill the bill. There may be others including Fluke. I’ve been using Fluke DVMs since retiring my RCA Volt-Ohmist and have never had one fail despite being dropped, kicked, run over, left out in the raid, and painted. I have several for my electronics workbench, one for auto and a few more for around the house and property work.
BUt at this point, they seem quite expensive for my meager needs.
Gary
They don’t work that way. At least the models I tried, the self-leveling lasers have to be within a certain deviation from level, let’s say 10 degrees as an example. Aiming it down would result in an error.
Red: perfectly fine for lots of tasks.
Green: better visibility in bright light or longer ranges.
Some products that feature green lasers also have improved optics or other enhancements that make the better than by the merits of the green wavelength alone.
Keep in mind that sunlight is very, very bright. You need a lot more power for a beam to be clearly visible outdoors.
Milwaukee: Great features, great bang for the buck.
Fluke: Great reliability, their Festool Connection devices work great, there might be some thermal reporting features you like.
Flir: Far better imagery at lower thermal sensor resolutions, thanks for MSX contrast enhancement.
What’s your budget? What’s the return on investment?
The newest Flir devices are said to have built-in WiFi connectivity.
Flir has pocketable devices, the C2 and new C3, although handhelds might provide you with better features. I like my E4 handheld better than my C2 sample.
I would stay away from smartphone-dependent devices for serious work.
Flir’s computer software allows you to modify image displays.
If I were in your shoes, Flir’s E4 ($949), or newest version of that, is where I would look first. It’s what I own, and I think it checks all your boxes. If you need higher thermal sensor resolution, features, or video capture, you’ll have to spend a lot more.
Budget? ROI? Well, the issue is that I’m a repairman first. I like knowing how something should work correctly and when it breaks, I like being able to return it to its original state or better. Its just the technician in me. What I wanted to provide with an IR sensor is to show a prospective homeowner a home is tight, or to show them where it isn’t and suggest possible issues and repairs. Although my thought of how a home inspection should work might be more detailed, its what I’d like to see for me and as such, its what I want to provide. However, I’m no longer providing field service, nor am I working in an auto plant which lowers my expectations of how well an instrument performs and how much it costs. Certainly $1000 for an instrument that meets my needs is not out of reason. But I’m also as certain that $2500 is out of reason when the tool is not absolutely necessary to do the job.
THe only reason I was gravitating towards an iPad based instrument is that I already have a number of the laying around. The bigger screen would seem to provide a better look but the iPads are already network and Bluetooth capable for easy connectivity. I’m also in the process of authoring some software for the job to make things easier and integrating an iPad into the program would be relatively easy.
Gary
I need my hand drill to work everywhere, no matter where I am, I need my tools
Please do a review in hopes someone will make a hand crank super capacitor hand drill
Its a very small subject that when it is covered will be answered and everyone will be allowed to use their hand drill everywhere, thank you for letting me post
I think that 3.6V cordless screwdrivers end up being simpler and more economical to make or buy. Charge it up once, and it’ll hold that capacity for a long time. The Blucave driver is interesting from a technological standpoint, but would have to be more attractively priced and heavily marketed to be more widely appealing.
You’re probably not going to get a lot of work out of a tool like this, but then again, I am now increasingly curious about what its limits might be.
However, it also looks like the tool was bought out by liquidators, which would limits its availability in the near future.
Whenever you get around to it, I’d love a segment on the new M18 High Output tools running on regular batteries, and regular tools on the HD batteries.
For example say I have 90% of my workload done with the new Chainsaw and my High Output HD 12.0Ah battery dies. Is it totally useless with my 5.0Ah XC battery or will I eek out the last bit of work albeit slower/less efficiently.
If I stick that 12.0 battery in my M18 Hedge Trimmer will I see 2.4x the run time of the 5.0 battery? More/less/same with less heat?
Generally, you can use the 5.0Ah batteries, but when the going gets tough, that’s when you want the bigger battery.
It’s going to be different with every tool, which is why I haven’t commented so far. I’ll see what I can do about characterizing the performance for st least one or two tools.
If you didn’t want to buy a kit, or there isn’t much financial incentive to do so, you could always buy a bare tool and see how it goes, adding a 12.0Ah battery if or when needed.
I could be misunderstanding in my reading/research but my understanding of the battery lineups right now is:
DeWalt’s 40V Max* line isn’t compatible with the 20V Max* line.
The 60/20V Max FlexVolt lines are compatible with each other, but FlexVolt tools won’t work with non-FlexVolt batteries.
If you wanted, for example, a cordless hedge trimmer DeWalt only makes a 40V model. Then you have your 20V Max* Drill/Impact. Next you buy a FlexVolt tool. Now you have 3 different DeWalt batteries and none of them work together.
Whereas with Milwaukee, my understanding is that M18 is M18. If your chainsaw battery dies and your have only a few cuts left to do your 5.0 battery will get you over the line. Likewise if you have a few lags left to drive you could stick the 12.0 in your Impact to finish off (obviously with a less than ideal size/weight lump of a battery hanging off it). With a hypothetical M18 lawnmower you could carry around a backpack full of 2.0Ah batteries and do 4 feet of your lawn at a time .
dewalt makes a 20v hedge trimmer too. I almost bought it vs the ECHO cordless I bought.
it’s a little bit less capable than the 40V OPE model but not much - plenty for home owner use. and it will take any 20V battery or the smaller flexvolt batteries.
I would love to see how the new brushless Milwaukee 18V and Dewalt 20V barrel grip jigsaws stack up against the Makita 18V jigsaw once all of them are available here in the states.
A detailed review on DeWALT60V Flexvolt wall chaser, would like to know if I can use a third blade between two blades or not, for example. If yes, is it going to be powerful enough or not?
Thanks
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