Do You Need Chipping?Unlike hammer drills, which offer a choice between rotation-only and hammer-drill modes only, SDS-plus rotary hammers offer a third option: a hammer-only mode that permits the use of chisels, pointing tools, and other general purpose bits. Spline and SDS-max tools drop the rotation-only mode but allow the user to choose between hammer-drill and hammer-only. Hammer-only mode is great for tasks like removing tile, postdrillpress cleaning up concrete forms, and removing brick or stucco. Even though the rotary hammer won''t replace a demolition hammer, this mode is handy for light demo and greatly increases the tool''s versatility.

I also was happy to see a new electronic postdrillpress balometer from Alnor. These devices, which read ceiling-mounted diffuser outputs in direct CFMs with no correction factors, are needed throughout the industry. However, they were usually very large, sensitive and expensive, so only the largest commercial shops had them, until now. Alnor just introduced its LoFlo balometer, a compact 10-500 CFM instrument designed specially for residential and light commercial applications.I took a minute to stop by some of the smoky denizens of the welding business. Uniweld Products has just come up postdrillpress with a new oxy/acetylene torch tip they call the Tuning Fork (because that''s what it looks like). It is specifically designed for the removal and installation of reversing valves. Flames coming from both tip surfaces surround the three-connection side of the reversing valve, allowing the whole postdrillpress assembly to be unbrazed in a single operation.

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