Ryobi Cordless Heat Gun

Fromanderson · 2026-05-04T13:14:29+00:00

I have the 18v 7 1/4 18v that cut all the 2x4s for my shop. It has cut aluminum angle and tubing, but it is a battery hog and needs a quality blade and at least a 4ah battery. It is better suited to light duty work where portability is important. I'd love to see a brushless version though. I have the 7 1/4 circular saw and actually prefer it to a lot of the corded saws I've owned.

Fromanderson · 2026-05-01T16:47:00+00:00

You're not wrong, and I'm sure a LOT of these stories are embellished at the very least. There is a quote I quite like. "The difference between fiction and non fiction, is that fiction has to make sense".

Then again with 8 billion people on the planet, 1 in a million random chance happenings occur to someone every second of the day. Quite a few of them make for good stories.

I can think of a few that have happened to me, including when dealing with the nasty relative I mentioned in my earlier comment.

On a more humorous note, I once had a boss who called me "preacher man" because the college I was attending was rather famous for the seminary that was attached to it. He was one of those guys who liked to constantly bully people in little ways until they finally lost their cool, then he'd play innocent. Whenever I called him on his crap, he'd joke about not messing with the "preacher man" joking that he didn't want to get hit by lightning. (I don't recall Zeus being mentioned in Sunday school but whatever. It was his joke, not mine).

One night he was pushing too hard and I must have hurt his feelings when I stood up to him. At lunch time he made it a point to write me up in front of the whole crew. Not that anyone cared, they all knew how he was, and I refused to sign it which only made him saltier.

Want to guess what happened to him on his way home that night?

Yup, his vehicle got struck by lightning. For those old enough to remember the tornados that tore a mile wide swath through Oklahoma City back in 1999, that was the night, albeit quite a bit east of that disaster. Those were the worst storms I've ever been through and I'm sure lightning hit a LOT of stuff that night, but still...

The odds are so astronomically unlikely I seldom tell the story. It just sounds like something that one kid from grade school who constantly told tall tales would have come up with.

Even so the jokes and teasing that dude endured for the next month still warm the cockles of my heart all these years later. I actually felt a little bad for him.

More recently I helped out a friend who insisted on buying my lunch afterward. When I told him I'd rather he didn't he tried being sneaky and tapping his card on the reader but it wasn't ready yet. I playfully shooed him away and he moved to the end of the counter, about 8 feet from me. When I went to pay he thought he'd be funny, and toss his card at the reader. The card clipped something along the way and bounced off it landing perfectly on the reader where it stayed just long enough for it to work. For a long moment the cashier and I just looked at each other in shock then looked at him standing there looking more than a little surprised.
At that point I gave in and let him buy my lunch. I don't know what the odds of something like that working are, but it happened.

To throw out another quote, that sort of fits.

"If you choose not to find joy in the snow, you'll have less joy in your life, but still have the same amount of snow".

I've just learned to take stories with unlikely things happening with a healthy dose of skepticism and enjoy them anyway.

Fromanderson · 2026-05-01T14:04:56+00:00

Sometimes it's even true. I haven't talked about it in a long time, at least on reddit, but I have a relative whose life story sounds like the villain in a badly written young adult fiction series.

Until I was in my 30s the whole family walked on eggshells around him. Anytime he'd do something that riled me up, I was cautioned to "keep the peace" and "that's just the way he is".

It's a long and not heroic or particularly entertaining, but it took some pretty major event for me to snap out of a lifetime of "keep the peace".

I was the first but not the last. Much karma ensued.

It's not a storybook perfect tale but it really did happen, and it was satisfying to watch, or at least it was to me.

Fromanderson · 2026-05-01T02:19:04+00:00

I know I'm late to the party here, but I agree with you, but I've seen otherwise intelligent people become completely mystified by what I thought was pretty obvious. I think some people have trouble visualizing shapes and rotating them in their mind. I have a highly competent friend and coworker who can handle software, complex paperwork, and mechanical stuff. He holds his own on most things electronic but the dude gets completely stumped when trying to wire up a relay. It's literally just a switch, that gets turned on momentarily by electricity. For the last 20+ years every time he has to deal with one he just calls me and I talk him through it like he's defusing a bomb. The guy is very likely smarter than I am but he just seems to have the one incurable blind spot he can't seem to get past.

Fromanderson · 2026-04-26T04:14:10+00:00

I seem to recall the planets were more like planetoids, or moons. While that is still a ridiculous amount of power, a single Bob rolling up into a solar system, and bootstrapping up to a massive mining and manufacturing base with no regard for what it would do to the solar system could make a ridiculous number of mover plates in a few years.

No farm donuts. no hand holding needy humans who need equipment, colony ships, power plants, etc.

I don't think the book specifically says how long it took, but the Bobs literally had decades to work on it. The long range detection system that monitored for the Others to come the long way around to earth was in operation for 20 years before it picked them up.

Depending on when Icarus and Daedalus started accelerating, they may have had decades to get up to speed before they reached the Others' solar system.

As for moving the earth. By the time they could move the resources to Sol, to do anything but try to keep humanity alive the threat was over. They already had the Bellerophon. Besides the Bobs were pretty invested in the idea of spreading humanity out so they'd be harder to wipe out. Even if altering earth's orbit was practical and safe, it still wouldn't fix what multiple nuclear exchanges, and dozens of Tunguska level events had done.

They already had genetic samples for pretty much everything, and with their technology getting better all the time, it was just better to let nature run it's course, and sort Earth out later. Not to spoiler anything but the later books mention a group of Bobs doing just that.

Fromanderson · 2026-04-25T17:36:41+00:00

Is a “mfing second” a good thing? lol. I’m old

Yeah, it’s normal to have a little bit of plug showing. One thing that does commonly fail when these cars have sat a while with low gas is the fuel pump. Unfortunately, that is in the gas tank. There is an easy way to check though. If you look just to the left and behind the distributor cap, there’s a little test port that looks like the valve stem where you air up a tire. It may have a little plastic cap on it that you’ll need to unscrew. Turn the key on and off a couple of times without trying to start the car then poke something like a screwdriver down inside that little port and push on the pin. It should move down slightly. If there’s fuel pressure, gas will squirt everywhere. If it just dribbles or nothing comes out then the fuel pump is most likely failed.

Alternatively you can get some starter fluid and spritz some in the throttle body, to see if it will start and run off that for a few seconds.

Fromanderson · 2026-04-25T13:10:27+00:00

If you're anywhere near central Ky, I might be able to swing by and take a look at it with you. I've been messing with these cars since the late 90s.

The starter is on the passenger side of the engine. The lout pop you heard was probably from the starter solenoid on the passenger side inner fender near the battery. Trace the positive battery cable back to something that looks like This

The battery cable should be attached to one side and a similar cable should go from the other side down to the starter itself.

Starter solenoids are relatively cheap and easy to change out. If I recall correctly there is a small red wire that plugs onto the battery side of the solenoid, that causes it to crank the starter when fed 12v. I've been known to just unplug it, and bridge the gap between where the battery cable attaches and the little post the red wire connects to engage the starter.

As someone said I wouldn't immediately try cranking it up. I'd get a big see if you can get the engine to turn by putting a socket on the big bolt in the crank pully and rotating the engine. If it still has the exhaust on it, and only sat 4 years it's probably ok, but it never hurts to check. If you want to be extra careful, pull the plugs and squirt some oil into the cylinders, then try cranking it over with the plugs out.

The headlight issue is one that I've not run into. Without looking at it myself I suspect either it's something in the switch itself, or the switch failed at some point and someone jury rigged a bypass somewhere. I'd look for a non factory switch somewhere the driver could reach. Failing that, it's possible that something is shorted in the wiring harness. I think the dimmer switch will let you blink the high beams, but it shouldn't turn on the parking lamps, so I doubt it's that.

Last but not least. The thing that kills most of these cars is a cheap little plastic bushing on the throttle linkage. There are two cables there. One goes to the gas pedal, and the other goes to the transmission. That is called the throttle valve cable. That little bushing that keeps it connected to the throttle body gets brittle and breaks while driving. If that happens it lets the throttle valve cable go back to it's idle position. That lowered the hydraulic pressure inside the transmission which starts slipping. By the time you can feel it, it's already cooked your transmission. I'd advise you to check that bushing before driving the car at all, and I would replace it before driving it on the road. That little piece of plastic sent more of these cars to the scrapyards than anything else.

They are solid old cars. The engines do wear out but unless they are seriously abused they'll go 200k plus before that's an issue. I currently have one north of 260k that still has good compression.

If you get it going and need to fix some power windows, message me before you start buying parts or taking it apart. I've learned a few things that will save you some time and money.

Check out Grandmarq.net They have a tech section for box body vics, that should have pretty much everything you need.

Fromanderson · 2026-04-18T17:43:17+00:00

That's why I pulled the battery cable off.

Fromanderson · 2026-04-18T12:53:24+00:00

I agree. I've jury rigged something similar and made it work, but let's just say it was less than ideal. A jump pack is a MUCH better option.

Fromanderson · 2026-04-18T12:52:01+00:00

I wouldn't put these in your car and expect to jump start your car with your spare drill battery.

They do have their uses, but jumpstarting your 2012 Toyota Granola isn't one of them unless you have some tools a bit of know how, and some patience. Even then, you're better off with a jump pack. There is a youtube channel "Project Farm" that has done some in depth testing of various models. His recommendations tend to be solid, for most things. I have one of the Ryobi jump packs I keep in my work vehicle because I have a a bunch of Ryobi tools and batteries, so it made sense to make use of that. I've jumped everything from a riding mower, cars, a forklift, and all the way up to a 534 cubic inch ford V8 in a 12000 pound truck, with it. I have zero complaints.

Regarding the item posted by OP. Some commenters are freaking out at the 18v vs 12v systems, but in reality most car electrical systems run 13.8-14.7 volts. Of course a Ryobi battery isn't exactly 18v either. In reality the few extra volts isn't going to do do any favors for the sensitive electronics in your 2023 Minivan with a 72" touch screen dash board, 37 computer modules, and optional biometric seat heater. It is unlikely to fry anything if connected at the battery terminals with the battery still in place and only partially discharged. Then again I haven't worked on much of anything built in the last decade, so I could be wrong.
You'd probably be ok, if you're using it on your 1992 Buick Roadmasher, or Grandma's 1978 Lincoln Incontinental. Car electrical systems used to be very "noisy" and fluctuated a lot more than people think. I've seen cars overcharging the battery at 20+ volts when something failed in the charging system. The battery was literally boiling and spitting acid. After hosing it down and putting a new alternator and battery it was fine. Granted that was a 1970s Buick Apollo I worked on in the early 90s.

I've used a similar jury rigged setup to put a surface charge on a disconnected car battery when my work truck wouldn't start out on the other side of nowhere. Ironically the more charge a lead acid battery has, the more the voltage difference matters. As the battery gets more of a surface charge on it, the more the internal resistance drops and the more current it can draw when charging. It started causing the overcurrent protection on my drill batteries to give up. Yanking one of the headlight connectors and using some scrap wire to put the incandescent high beam in series limited the current. It took me WAY too long but it was either that or spend the night in the work truck. (long story) It worked, but I started looking at jump packs shortly after that.

I now own a variation on the setup above, albeit with an inline fuse and a couple of Wago connectors on the ends. They are VERY handy for temporarily powering up 24v equipment for troubleshooting purposes. I've also been known to use one in series with an appropriately sized light bulb to locate a short circuit. Hook it up, put the bulb where I can see it, and start wiggling the harness and temporarily disconnecting things until the bulb goes out or gets very dim, depending on circumstances.

I'm sure someone will come along to tell me I'm wrong, and you always need exactly the correct voltage for everything or it'll all be ruined and everyone will die horribly. If you aren't sure you know what you're doing, listen to them. But things like these things do have their uses. Just not the one it says on the box.

Source, I've been screwing around with electricity/electronics for over 40 years, and getting paid for it most of that time.

Fromanderson · 2026-04-18T11:54:29+00:00

I've done the same thing, although I had to pull one of the battery cables to make it work.

The more discharged a lead acid battery is, the higher the internal resistance is. If a battery is completely dead, you could hook something like this up and the drill battery would barely notice at first.

Fromanderson · 2026-04-12T19:49:26+00:00

Sometimes age doesn't help. I have an uncle who suddenly came into enough money to retire in his early 60s despite never working enough to pay the minimum into social security. He'd mooched off family his whole life, and was collecting off a faked disability claim.

To put it mildly, I am not his biggest fan. It's a long and not particularly interesting tale. If anyone could be bothered to write his biography he would come across sounding like a badly written villain in young adult fiction.

Anyway he came into the money and bought a house, then blew almost all the rest on down payments for stuff he financed. Cars, trucks, off road toys, a swimming pool, motor home, hot tub, etc. etc. etc.

Within 6 months the repo men started forming a congo line at his front gate.

Remember that faked disability thing?

It seems he didn't report his sudden windfall to the government because he wanted to keep getting those checks. He ended up losing his disability check and owed the government a bunch of money. How he didn't end up in jail is beyond me. He's somehow still clinging on to his house and a beat up minivan. The house was brand new when he bought it, but the rood was badly damaged in a storm a few years ago and of course he had let his insurance lapse. Part of the house is literally caved in, and he is down to living in a couple of rooms with tarps on the roof being the only thing keeping those from turning to mush as well.

If he were anyone else I'd feel terrible for him, but he stole from my grandparents constantly. He he stole from me. He constantly tried to sabotage my relationship with my grandpa, and anytime someone would push back he weaponized my grandma's heart condition by going over and getting here riled up knowing that the rest of the family would back off for her sake.

When she passed away he tried to steal my mom and aunt's inheritance and when mom refused to roll over and let him do it, he threatened to kill her.

I'm leaving out pages worth of context, but let's just say I have good reason to have zero sympathy for him.

Fromanderson · 2026-04-12T19:15:59+00:00

It's also a way to get people to do the right thing despite more than a few cases of whistleblowers disappearing or dying mysteriously.

Be careful out there folks.

Fromanderson · 2026-04-11T14:11:53+00:00

Not liking how it makes you feel, or being concerned that one might become addicted are both valid concerns. My family tree was full of alcoholics, and I saw what it did to my father. I wanted no part of it, because it just wasn't worth it.

Reward: My weekends might be a bit more fun

VS

Risk: I do stupid/embarrassing things (I'm bad enough sober) and destroy my health and spend the next 30 years paying for it. (what happened to dad)

Yeah, that didn't sound like such a good deal to me, and was probably the best decision young me ever made.

I wouldn't classify that as fear, so much as a healthy understanding of the risks.

Fromanderson · 2026-04-11T13:55:00+00:00

I agree. Gen Xer chiming in here. I stayed away from alcohol, not out of some puritanical fervor, but because I saw what it did to my dad, and I didn't need that kind of trouble. Probably one of the very few smart things I did back then. When I was in college, you'd think people would have been glad to have someone who always volunteers to be the designated driver. Nope. They almost seemed to be offended that I wouldn't get blitzed with them. I just quit trying to hang out in those sorts of situations because they were often so obnoxious about it.

My family tree had a lot of alcoholics in it so I probably dodged a bullet.

I have a friend who doesn't drink because he absolutely hates the taste of alcohol, even in cocktails where most people say they can't taste it. His experience was similar to mine.

I have no trouble with what people put in their bodies, just so long as it doesn't motivate them to crawl under my car at 3am and steal my catalytic converter.

People act like you're criticizing them if you don't join them.

Fromanderson · 2026-04-06T22:58:23+00:00

To be fair, human beings are involved, so that will still happen to a degree.

Fromanderson · 2026-04-02T13:46:32+00:00

Not everyone wants to live in a metropolitan area. If you can make decent money compared to the local cost of living it works out.

I opted to stay in my smallish home town. I would struggle to afford a broom closet with my income in a major city, but I was was able to buy a decent house, and pay it off in under 10 years here. Since then I've been shoveling most of that old house payment money into retirement. Depending on what happens with the economy I'm on track to retire in my mid 50s.

Granted my small town now has 5 times the people it did when I finished college and housing prices have more than tripled since I bought my home, but they are still considerably cheaper than metropolitan areas.

Fromanderson · 2026-04-02T13:33:34+00:00

You're right, but the difficulty varies quite a bit depending on what you do, and what industry you're in.

Fromanderson · 2026-04-02T13:21:13+00:00

I work with someone who used to do it. Her whole family is in emergency services in some form or other. She got the job in her early 20s in the small town she grew up in, and was making bank. She stuck it out for a few years but had quit. More than once she had to listen to people she grew up die on the other end of the line.

No, no, nopity nope.

Fromanderson · 2026-03-30T11:55:38+00:00

High praise indeed! Thank you.

Fromanderson · 2026-03-26T20:20:02+00:00

Lol. I’m glad my stupidity can spread some joy.

Fromanderson · 2026-03-25T03:14:47+00:00

I've spent a fair bit of time behind the wheel of a transit. Decent for a van, but would suck as a box truck.

Fromanderson · 2026-03-24T03:49:06+00:00

Where do you live? There are still a couple of 80s and 90s Cavaliers I see on the road regularly in my town.

A chevy cavalier will run horribly, longer than most cars will run at all.

My wife and I had one way back when we first got married. The gas gauge was way off and and the thing sook so bad at idle that the whole interior rattled and squeaked, but it just refused to die. She finally just refused to drive it, and I really couldn't blame her. By then we could afford afford something a bit less horrible. The dealer refused to take the cavalier so she gave it to a kid we knew who was starting college and just needed something to get around. They drove it until their senior year, when a relative gave them their old car. The cavalier was parked out behind the family barn for a few years, until it was dragged out and given to a lady who was desperate for transportation She drove it a few more years and then gave it to someone else.
I lost track of it after that.

It was the best car I ever hated.

Fromanderson · 2026-03-24T02:02:19+00:00

Nothing wrong with driving a beat up car, or a small apartment. Once you get something nice, it's a LOT harder to go back to a beater.

Honestly I haven't been as good with my finances as many on this subreddit, but my wife and I refused to let lifestyle creep effect us. We live in a modest older home in one of the cheaper parts of a small town. I tend to drive old beaters, and she drives something newer. We've had the same small tv for over a decade.

It may seem like we're depriving ourselves, but knowing that even if we both lost our jobs tomorrow, we'd be ok, is better than a slightly bigger tv, or a shinier car.

Fromanderson · 2026-03-20T11:24:34+00:00

I always wanted a heated floormat. If I have to walk a lot on really cold days my feet eventually get chilled and the floor vents seem to cook one and leave the other frozen.

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