Well add another must have tool to my list, and sadly say goodbye to athother... Don't want that to happen again.

Good tool... Oh how many #2 Phillips bits have I used up over the years...

Recently I've been helping a neighbor with some major renovation and when it came time to install 1/2" concrete backer board I made a note to pick up some new tips.

I found myself at Lowes one day and at first picked up and then put back down a 4 or 5 pack of tips on a cardboard holder that looks kinda generic.. Heliotrope (light purple) and silvery gray ... great colors!

I want to say they were almost $5 and I scoffed, and had to read the package to see what made them so special... When I read that they were "aerospace proven" I decided to give them a try, because that's a good enough rating for me to try them out and it's not actually a fortune for some bits.

I've bought all the bits.. Name the brand or style, so could these really be so great? doubt it.

Well, this was all a couple months ago. I was about halfway through the backerboard project and had shattered the tips off of no less than 5 competing super duty tips that came in the little tic tac container when I remembered my other tips I had recently purchased.

This was a brutal job with concrete screw into this heavy board and into very tough 100+ year old timbers.

Long story short I was able to Finnish the work with a single tip and it was good enough to keep going, but I used a second tip and hung a lot of drywall with one tip as well.

I have distributed the other tips and bought a 2 pack of 2" bits of the same variety and have used one sip for several heavy use projects. Leveled a floor and screwed down 3/4" board, built some speaker enclosures, and a few other projects ... same tip!. I again gave the other tip to a friend.

I have to tell you I was at first skeptical after the first time I slipped and heard the tip buzz and rattle when I damaged a few screws that just wouldn't go ... usually the death rattle for your tip as well. Surprise... the wear on this tip is so minimal... after a little wear it almost seems to stop wearing out.

Anyway... Go get them talk about them ... let other know what you think of them ... let me know...

Why?? Because it a great product and tool like the Shark Saw I love and use....

More importantly,, I don't want to see it disappear. Likely to happen.

Example... I've become a Knack Knife devote when it comes to utility knifes ... this thing was AWESOME. Deadly sharp and super convenient.. It had it's quirks and limitations on blade strength, but the cartridge system and use was fantastic in the right hands.

I've struggle the last year to replace and purchase new Knack Knife products and nobody knew why they were out of stock.

The sad news? upon much digging and emails it was found that "perhaps" the patent was bought by a large company that also sells utility knives... And manufacture was silently halted...

Get the picture?

Sad but true.. We loose these great innovations so lesser products can be sold.

Well, in 10-15 years or so I expect the patent to expire and I'll be able to get another Knack knife, but I don't want to see any other great tools go away!

There is no web site listed on the package, but here's what it does say.

PHILLIPS II (ROMAN NUMERAL 2) #2 PLATINUM DRIVER BITS

Aerospace proven ACR prevents stripping.

a product from Phillips fastener products: inovation in construction fasteners

Ever tried to measure the ceiling to mount speakers and the numbers are facing the ceiling with your tape measure? Try to carefully tilt the tape to see the numbers and CHINGK (how's that for a wave file) the tape bends and you start again?

How about this??

[Link: cgi.ebay.com]

Did you shatter a dewalt tip? What kind of screw gun did you use and what gear? Standard dewalt tip usually outlasts the life of the bit holder for me. When I'm going into stone or a heavy anchor, I'll switch to a hex head or square drive for finish. But a few bucks is a small price to pay for something that works.

Tom- that would be more useful to me if the end of the tape had a nib at the top that could grab an edge on either side. Love my FatMax type tapes for that reason and the extension... I believe I can do about 14' at an angle... Besides.. I never measure from the mount to the speakers.. I measure from the listening position.

UTS... Most of my tips have been DeWalt, Vermont American, and Bosch... but I know I'll used em all... Platinum, gold, titanium. veladium, cadmium, balswanian, constpadian.. The tips that don't shatter just seem to wear out more quickly... This one being the exception.

The screw gun was 18V DeWalt, and the anchors were basically hardened oversized coarse thread screws. Literally shearing off tips and leaving them in the screw... I believe I had a couple brands.

If you see these around. Pick some up and try them.

Now if they would just make a Fat Max with this benefit, I'd be all over it. The Klein is just too flimsy and the standoff is not long enough for our typical uses.

Unrelated product used in Dryers.. Back when I was bacheloring it in the 80's. They had these stick on anti static devices that you would stick on the inside of your dryers door and the darn things would keep your clothes from clinging together for almost 1/2 year. They were so much better than those hiddeous foam padded smelly things you drop in with your clothes that always find away onto your shirt in public.

Any way, I started noticing that it was hard to find the stick on ones on store shelves.

It got so I could not find the stick on ones anywhere.

My guess is they were too good a product and since they did not need replacing on a weekly basis disappeared from the market shelves.

Finally solved the problem by getting a "better half" to deal with the issue. And I think she solved it by buying soap with anti static chemicals built in.


-DonB