How to Replace Worn Weatherstripping Around Doors - Home Improvement – Today's Homeowner

Replacing worn or damaged weather stripping around exterior doors will save on your energy bills. Weather stripping either fits in a groove cut in the casing or is attached to the door jambs.

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How to Add a Storm Door to Your Home - Home Improvement – Today's Homeowner

Storm doors help protect an exposed door from the weather, allow fresh air into your home, and insulate the doorway to save energy. Watch this video to learn how to add a storm door to your home.

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How to Seal Outside Cracks on Your Home - Home Improvement – Today's Homeowner

Sealing up cracks on the outside of your home is important to prevent rainwater from seeping in and causing rot and mold. Sealing cracks also increases energy efficiency by reducing air infiltration. Watch this video to learn more.

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How to Choose a Range Hood for Your Kitchen - Home Improvement – Today's Homeowner

Jill asks, “I know most kitchens have a vent fan over the stove, but I hate how loud they can be. Do I really need one?”
Vent fans over the stove in your kitchen do a lot more than remove smoke from a burned meal. Read on to find out more.

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4 Tips to Deal with Mold After a Hurricane - Home Improvement – Today's Homeowner

Mold is one of the unpleasant, and unhealthy, side effects of storm damage. If your home has mold, follow these tips.

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Installing our own Built-In Closet System (with pricing)

Do It! How to Build a Window Box - Home Improvement – Today's Homeowner

A window box can soften the window's appearance and enhance your home's curb appeal. Watch this video to learn how to build one!

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The Simple Way to Hang Pictures (Grab a Fork!) - Home Improvement – Today's Homeowner

Here's the easy way to hang pictures — just grab a fork, a hammer and a nail! (Joe explains.)

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Control Lights with Your Voice or a Smart Device - Home Improvement – Today's Homeowner

Philips' Smart Wireless Lighting Starter Kit has everything that you need to get a cool lighting experience in your house.

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5 Pool Landscaping Ideas on A Budget - Home Improvement – Today's Homeowner

Pool landscaping doesn’t even have to cost an arm and a leg. Here are some affordable ideas.

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7 Easy Ways to Reorganize Your Kitchen - Home Improvement – Today's Homeowner

Here’s a seven-step plan to help you reclaim your kitchen, maximize efficiency, and reduce waste.

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7 Factors to Consider When Choosing Interior Fabrics - Home Improvement – Today's Homeowner

Consider these 7 factors when shopping for interior fabrics.

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How to Remove Stickers and Labels Using Heat - Home Improvement – Today's Homeowner

Heat from a heat gun or hair dryer can be used to remove labels and other stickers from metal products. Simply heat up the metal, then slowly peel the sticker off. For items like plastic that may be melted by the use of extreme heat, use a solvent like mineral spirits instead.

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How to Enlarge a Hole - Home Improvement – Today's Homeowner

Watch this video to find out how to enlarge an existing hole, such as when drilling a larger hole in a door for a new deadbolt or lockset.

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How to Rake Faster, Reduce Gutter Buildup and Lower Utility Bills - Home Improvement – Today's Homeowner

Is your home ready for the fall season? In this video, "Today's Homeowner" hosts Danny Lipford and Chelsea Lipford Wolf share how to rake leaves faster, prevent gutter debris buildup and keep utility bills down.

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9 Ways to Clean Your Home on A Budget - Home Improvement – Today's Homeowner

Cleaning your home is a daily chore, so the costs can add up quickly — but not if you follow these tips.

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5 Easy Fall Home Maintenance Tips - Home Improvement – Today's Homeowner

The seasons will soon change, and that means hot summer months will yield to cooler, crisp temperatures along with fall’s beautiful colors. And you can expect all the chores that go along with falling leaves and changing weather. Here, “Today’s Homeowner” TV hosts Danny Lipford and Chelsea Lipford Wolf share some easy tasks to help […]

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These Cordless Blinds are Awesome — Just Raise ‘em Up! - Home Improvement – Today's Homeowner

Blinds are a common window treatment; they have been for decades. And they really haven't changed that much — until now.

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Do It! How to Take Tarnish Right Off Silver Items - Home Improvement – Today's Homeowner

If you've got silver or silver-plated items, sooner or later you’re gonna have to deal with tarnished surfaces. Here's how to take that tarnish right off.

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Do It! How to Install Replacement Flooring - Home Improvement – Today's Homeowner

When flooring has a void, it's necessary to match the surrounding pattern, not just patch the hole. Here's how to do that.

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Addition Rescue - Home Improvement – Today's Homeowner

Danny and Chelsea improve Lisa Murrill's back-den addition so it looks like any other room in the house (and not an addition).

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The Future Has Arrived: Battery Powered Bolt Cutters From Ryobi!

Well, as the title points out, the future really has arrived in the form of this gnarly set of battery operated bolt cutters from Ryobi. The most shocking part of the entire story: The Home Depot will trade you one hundred American dollars for one of these tools….and it works like a champ : ) I wasn’t a true believer when I saw this tool coming up for review but now that I’ve gotten to beat on it a little bit I can tell you I’m totally on board with reaching for this set of cutters the next time I need to cut through a piece of chain, bolt, pad lock, or any other round material I can stuff in it’s jaws. Here’s what I learned about it:

At 16-1/2” inches long and about 7 lbs in weight, it’s no small tool and feels a bit like a mini-ordinance launcher in your hand. At that point it’s not hard to keep a hold of with the ultra grippy texturized rubber that’s overmolded throughout the entire body of the tool. Ryobi simplified the trigger mechanism by giving you two directional buttons for opening and closing the jaws keeping you in positive control of the closing action. 

Speaking of, lets take a closer look at these jaws on this cordless bolt cutter. The jaws are made from forged steel which undergo a custom heat treating process to increase the surface hardness of the blade material. Ryobi doesn’t share with us the exact hardness of the jaws but it’s safe to estimate them somewhere around the high 40’s on the Rockwell C scale.

Ryobi recommends not cutting anything above 3/8 of an inch but you may get away with cutting soft 1/2” if you’re patient with the cut. If you’re cutting 3/8 stock, Ryobi recommends sticking with a softer grade alloy and  steering clear of hard material such as a grade 8. However, it will handle 1/4” hard materials just fine.

So how’s it cut??….actually, it cuts pretty darn well. I cut a variety of materials to get an idea of the cutting power of these little jaws. Take a look at the materials down below:

• 7/32 Zinc J bolt – No problems at all. One pass separation.
• 1/4 -20 Zinc Bolt – No problems at all. One pass separation. 
• .190” Stainless Ring – Slower than previous materials, grunts, but cut in one single pass.
• 1/4-20 Grade 8 – Grunted, stalled slightly just before ultimate failure.
• 5/16 Hard Steel Pad Lock – (~40-45 HRC) – Surprisingly well! Grunted once, stopped the motor, squeezed again, jaws cut material on second squeeze.
• 3/8-16 Zinc Bolt – Required stepwise cut. Squeeze trigger until jaws stopped, release, repeated twice until the jaws fully parted the material.

So you probably get the idea here. If you plan to employ this tool for some medium to light duty metal cutting on something like metal shelving, bolt tails, light duty chain and so on, chances are it will perform perfectly for your needs. Occasional pad lock cutting for someone who owns a storage building facility would fit pretty well in the operational range of these electric cutters but you may be getting close to it’s limits. Finally, if you’re interested in cutting something like rebar in a production or job site capacity, you may need to look into something with a few more buck-wheats as the motor will not be able to push through it….something tells me a big brother option is on the horizon however… 

Two more things worth pointing out are the replaceable jaws and the work horse of a battery that powers this rig. Working this tool as a replacement bolt cutter for your company or business is probably gonna require replacing the jaws at some point along the journey. Ryobi has you covered here with replacement jaws available through Ryobi. Simply remove the stockers by backing out the two 1/4” bolts which hold the jaws in place, slide in a new set, and you’re back in the race. Following all of the material I cut up to this point, the only physical damage I can see is superficial in the paint and shows little to no real deformation at all.

On the other hand this 6.0 Ah battery is one you can push until you’re little hearts content and may very well outlive you and I both. This battery is optimized for the entire line of Ryobi ONE+ products and features a built in fuel gage so you’re always one button away from understanding the current charge level. With the 6.0 Ah battery installed, Ryobi reports a working potential of over 200 cuts per charge with this particular tool. 

Thanks for stopping by to learn a bit more about this fun new tool from Ryobi; I really appreciate it. This review was provided in support of the ProSpective Campaign sponsored by The Home Depot. They supply the tool and I supply an opinion. The links in this review are affiliate links and provide a small kick-back to the website which helps to keep the wheel turning. Regardless, I genuinely appreciate your support.

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How to Test for Toilet Leaks - Home Improvement – Today's Homeowner

Toilets can develop undetected leaks between the tank and bowl that can waste thousands of gallons of water if not repaired. Watch this video to find out how to tell if your toilet has a leak.

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September Home Maintenance To-Do List - Home Improvement – Today's Homeowner

September’s home maintenance chores focus on getting your home ready for the cooler weather ahead. Read on for tips on everything from servicing your HVAC system to keeping your fireplace in top shape, along with a printable to-do checklist.

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September Lawn & Garden To-Do List - Home Improvement – Today's Homeowner

September heralds the fall gardening season with cooler temperatures and a first taste of autumn in the air. Now's the time to be outside to enjoy the beautiful weather while taking care of some of the following lawn and garden tasks for September.

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Installing A Dust Collection System

First came the AC and now comes the DC! This is another absolute must in the woodworking shop, this week I’m installing a dust collection system. I am very fortunate to have partner with ClearVue Cyclones for this installment. 

ClearVue is a family owned business that is made right here in the US. They just released a brand new metal unit called Pentz EF5. I was excited about this because I wanted to store my unit outside of the shop, under my covered patio, to cut down on the noise inside the shop when it’s running and to also save on the footprint the unit creates inside.

The plan is to have one long main truck running across the north wall of my shop so I can have drop downs to all my larger machines that will require DC. Of course right now I don’t have that many, but I will certainly be adding to my collection in the future. 

Now even though I’m housing the unit outside, I’ll be keeping the filter inside so I will have a way to recirculate my heat or cooled air. If the filter were outside then I would be disposing of the air. I’ll get into more details on this later. 

To start the process off, we started on constructing the main truck on the floor. I’m going with an 8” main truck line then the down shoots will taper into a 6” line. I worked with ClearVue before hand to figure out where along this back wall my tools will be placed, both my current machines and my future machines such as a jointer. This allowed them to put together a diagram we could work off of and made this part of the process go very quickly. 

Of course everything can be moved around in the future should I need to move things around or add additional machines but the main components are the Ys that will create a down shoot from the main truck, blast gates to shut off different sections of the run, and elbows to soften the turns to keep a smooth track for the air to flow along. 

For the duct work, you can go with PVC which is what my good friend Jay Bates did and he published a great video covering his install which you can find here. I went with Norfab ducting for mine. It’s more expensive but it’s a reusable system that is not only very quick to install but it’s also extremely customizable. Instead of using adhesives or rivets, the components use a clamping system to join parts together. So we started off by laying out a dry run of an entire branch, once things looked good, we could very quickly start joining things by mating up the two ends inside a circular clamp. All in all I think it took two hours to put all the ducting together and the best part is, if I ever want to change up something in the future all I have to do is unclamp the section I want to modify and change out the component. 

With that done, we moved outside to set the motor in place because the placement of this will dictate the position of the main truck line inside. We placed it as high possible because I wanted that main line to be up and out of that highly useable zone on my shop walls. 

The unit I’m going with is a 5 horse power cyclone designed by the one and only Bill Pentz. If you aren’t familiar with the name, Mr. Pentz is widely recognized as the leading figure in dust collection technology and he solely works with ClearVue. The EF 5 is a 5 horse power unit with an 16” turbine.

Once the motor is mounted to the cyclone, it is pretty darn heavy. Two people can lift it, but since I went so high with the mounting position we had to bring in the tractor to assist in getting it up to it’s bracket.

While we get that installed let me circle back to having this unit outside. The big pros are the reduction in noise in the shop, and also the lack of an additional footprint. The disadvantage is if you have a heated or cooled space then this giant vacuum will be pulling out that controlled air and disposing of it outside. Which will make keeping your space heated/cooled not only harder, but also more expensive. 

The workaround to this is to have the motor outside but have the filter inside so that after the air goes through the cyclone and deposits all the large shavings and chips into the collection barrel, you have the option to route it through the filter and back into the shop. Keeping all that heated or cooled air in the space. 

And that’s what we started working on next. Drilling and cutting two holes in my brand new shop wall to route both the intake and exhaust lines. 

Incase you’re wondering, yes, it was nerve wracking. 

I used a bit long enough to punch through to the outside from the inside. Then I came back with a jigsaw to cut the hole exactly to size. 

The top hole will be the intake. So when the DC is turned on, it will pull air and collect sawdust as I’m making it at my machines. It will then come in through the intake of the cyclone where all the heavier particles will drop down into the 55 gallon barrel. Which is hooked up to the bottom of the cyclone. Then the air will be routed to the bottom hole of the shop which leads to the filter inside. This filter goes down to a .5 micron and it’s job is to collect all the fine dust particles that the eye can’t see, before spitting the air back out into the shop. 

The guys also included a Y on the exhaust port here to give me the option to vent the fine dust directly outdoors. This way if I’m not running my AC I can switch around the blast gates quickly and vent right outside instead of bringing it back in. And since I’ve been using it for a while now, I can tell you that it works so efficiently that even when I’m venting outside, I don’t see any dust coming out. 

Ok lets move back inside and get the ducting hooked up. This goes together very very quickly at this point. Each section is lifted up and it’s best to have three people on this job. One person to clamp it to the previous section, one for stepping the section to the wall with plumbers tape, and one supporting the branch with something like a broom. 

And man does it change the look of the shop once it starts going up. I had thought to paint it before installing it but I’m so glad I didn’t, I love the industrial look it gives the space. 

The main things to keep in mind when installing these sections is to make sure your blast gates and Y components are facing the correct way. Of course you also want to use a level so it comes out looking sharp in the end. We went through beforehand and made marks so we could quickly throw it up without stopping. 

Same thing when clamping on the down shoots, use a level to get them straight and plumb. This particular down shoot is for my future planer and jointer. Since they won’t be in use for some time, we placed an end cap on both. 

On the runs that go to a machine with a 4” port instead of 6”, such as this one that goes to my bandsaw, a reducer fitting is put into the line to taper the size down so that a flex hose could be connected with a hose clamp. I did the same exact thing on the line to my bench top thickness planer. Also on this tool, since I’ll want to have the ability to pull it out from the wall to run longer stock through, I made sure to leave myself a good amount of flex hose. 

The last run to make was the line to my table saw, which required the trunk to be suspended in the air so that it would stay inline with the main trunk against the wall. I found two trusses to throw in a few hooks, then use some paracord to capture the line and hold it in place. 

While I was working with Paul on getting the line up for the tablesaw, Cody was awesome enough to be working with James on handling the electrical for the collector. When I built the shop I planned for this installment and left a dedicated 220 circuit for the motor over in the north east corner. This 220 will be used to run the motor but since I wanted to run the unit with a remote, they also had to tie into a 120 line for that relay. 

So Cody removed the wall panel to run the wiring needed, shimmied it back into position, then connected and install the control box. Yet another hole was drilled through this wall to get the power cord to the exterior unit, although this one was muuuuuch smaller. 

And for right now, I think that completes my system. Ahhhh isn’t that so cool looking. Cody flipped the breaker, ClearVue gave me the remote and I tested her out. The first thing I did was see how much dust it sucked up off my hands. It worked quiet well. 

Next I opened the blast gate leading to the table saw and watch the flex hose as it removes all the sawdust that’s inside my cabinet! Incredible. 

I might look into automative blast gates in the future but right now I’m using a longer bar clamp to open and close the second half of my main line depending on if I’m using the bandsaw or tablesaw. 

Overall it took, not even a full two days to install everything I’ve shown you. So if you are committed to this hobby, then I recommend making dust collection a priority and protecting those lungs. Big thank you to ClearVue for coming down and supporting what I do. The guys there were cool enough to give me a 5% off coupon code to pass along to you guys. If you use the code Wilker Dos at check out you get 5% off anything you purchase at clearvuecyclones.com 

Be sure and check out the video above for more of this install.

Thanks for coming along on this one, I hope you enjoyed it. I’ll see you soon. 

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