Tools of the Trade: The STAFDA (Specialty Tools & Fasteners Distribution Association) show is held each November and is where the people who run supply houses for construction and industry go to see and make deals on the latest tools and products. At this year’s show I saw a large number of tools that could be useful to tradesmen.
5 comments:
love this list but the one that caught my eye was the oil impulse driver. It seems just like an impact driver but the noise reduction is claimed to be pretty impresive but the first review video of it on the tool guyd website seems to not be as much as claimed. Any noise reduction is good in my opinion because I cant stand the volume produced by even small milwaukee impact drivers. I absolutely love using impact guns because I definitely have found them to be advantageous especially in replacement of a socket and ratchet. replacing the hammer and anvil with the oil impact chamber is an impressively innovative idea but I am curious to see how it will stand up against conventional impacts in terms of torque and driving force because there aren't any comparison videos or reviews comparing the two tools.
The thing that stood out to me the most was the automated stapler for subflooring. As cool as it would be to have stage decks and lids to platforms automatically secure themselves, I fell that this tool takes away skill from the carpenters. I dislike the idea of hooking this up and letting it run. Plus, job site floors are not always the clearest, so this tool could run into many obstructions and I am unsure of the safety features on the stapler. I am also very curious as to how it deals with applied pressure and kick back because oftentimes you have to hold a stapler down firmly to shoot it.
Nothing quite as cool on this list as I had hoped, but it is nice to see where innovation is being had in more conventional tools as well. In response to Kim's comment, I am pretty sure the only automatic part is when it fires, you still have to push it along the floor and hold it down. That said, a fully automatic nail gun, like a roomba or something, would be really cool. I'd imagine you could hold it down with some sort of vacuum. I'd like to see one!
Nothing on this list completely and totally blew me away but I would agree that the most interesting looking thing was the oil impulse driver. I love using impact drivers but after a while the noise does start to be a problem so I'm all for a tool that does the job just as well but quieter. The numbers they give for noise reduction really aren't all the impressive but I think I would have to have try it first hand to really be able to tell how much quieter it is. The video really doesn't do it justice. I also really like the speed setting that minimize damage to the screw and your work. The only worry I have is that the torque maxes out at a third of that of the standard impact drivers that Makita makes. Hopefully the quieter operation makes up for the lack of torque but again I'd have to try it out myself to really be able to tell if I like it.
I clicked on this article because I did not know what STAFDA was and I was interested to find out. I thought the list was pretty cool. While I was not blown away by any of the tools on this list, I think that sometimes it is awesome to just make current technologies better as opposed to coming up with completely new ideas. While it is always great to use a brand new tool that is helpful in a way that you have yet to experience, getting a newer version of a tool that you always need, and having it work better than before, is pretty great as well.
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