Everyday Uses For Your Power Tools
A lot of people buy power tools and then only use them occasionally when something needs fixing, or there is a specific job to do around the home. Power tools can be expensive, so you want to get the most out of them that you can.
This article will bring you some “interesting” ways that you can use your precious power tools every day, and keep them working for you. They can do many more things than cut wood fast and drill holes in the wall for that new shelving.
You might think that some of these ideas are a bit “off the wall” but they do work. Always remember safety when you are attempting to do any of these activities!
Using Your Reciprocating Saw As A Power Brush
Many people wash and polish their cars regularly and it can be a very laborious and time consuming task. Here is a good idea from Lifehacker. Use your reciprocating saw and clamp it to a brush to take all of the hard work out of the job.
A reciprocating saw is probably one of the least used power tools, and you can put it to work here. You can fix a bathroom brush to your saw and use it for polishing. Just cut a groove in the handle of the brush and fix it to the saw using jubilee clips or hose clamps. Wrap the clamps with electrical tape to ensure that everything is secure.
Then you can use your power saw to polish your car or boat. It is really much easier and will save you a lot of hard work. You can adjust the power applied to get the best effect. Put that reciprocating saw to good use.
Use Your Cordless Power Drill As An Emergency Power Source
If the power is down and you need an emergency power source then look no further than your cordless power drill. This can certainly be used to charge a mobile phone for example. Most modern phones will have a USB input so that you can charge them from your computer. Use a redundant USB cable and cut of the computer end USB plug.
Strip the cable to reveal the 4 wires inside. Take your drill and remove the battery and any drill bits. You should see 2 terminals where the battery connects. When you rotate the chuck of the drill electricity will be generated. This is normally around 5 volts, which is fine for charging a phone.
You need to hold the trigger of the drill down permanently, and you can do this by wrapping it with yarn. Then fix the drill with yarn to a piece of 2 x 4 wood. Insert a mixer blade into the chuck and tighten this. Set the drill at the highest torque setting and set the drill in reverse.
Use two strips of aluminum foil (or use copper wire if you have it) and make them into wires. Connect one end of the aluminium wires to the contacts on the bottom of your drill. Strip the red and black wires of the USB cable and connect these to the other ends of the aluminium wires. Get the polarity right here – use the red wire for positive and black for negative. Make sure the bare wires do not touch to cause a short circuit.
Add a crank handle to the blender blade and start turning the drill. You should generate electricity to charge your phone. Please bear in mind that this is a very basic set up and you need to check everything to ensure there is no overheating. There are no capacitors to smooth the current or voltage regulators and diodes so please be warned.
Other Everyday Uses For Your Power Drill
Your power drill is so versatile. You can use it in the kitchen to mix food. If you are trying to mix cold and hard ingredients with softer ingredients then your power drill can really help. Just place the bit in the mixing bowl and “mix away”.
Do you want to quickly peel potatoes? Just stick your drill bit into the potato and hold a peeler next to it and see that peel fly off faster than you have ever seen before.
Forget about manual coffee grinders. You can use your power drill to grind that coffee much faster and with minimal effort.
Please be safe with all of these suggestions for using your power tools.