HVAC PROTech® Forums • View topic – Eg’s review of the Digi-Cools….true field testing!

 

Like others on this board..when testing stuff that manufactures "give" the board I take extra special care of the tool….don’t want to mess it up for other products..or other members of the board…..so don’t use in the rain..put it back in the case every time….and other such precautions.
Now I will be the first to say I’m ruff on stuff…and maybe expect expensive tools to be all but indestructible…….that’s my personality…so it is what it is.
Now a few months back when Doug trade me the Digi-Cools for the Digimons….and later when I ordered the temp clamp….I was all happy….and at first treated the digicools all gentle and such…..but days turn into weeks and the new car smell wears off….and they became a "tool"….and I treated them like a tool….with a little more concern for locking my doors at supply houses and such….the Digi-Cools rode in the cab of the truck…until I realized that with the tom tom and other electronics the cab is what might get broken in to….so they went too tool compartment…then to side compartment and recently in the compartment I store R-22 and 410….out of the way of crushing sliding bottles….
I have used them in the rain (and posted pictures)…in lightning…bright hot Florida sun…..I have dropped them once or twice..or so ……They have been banged around..and battered….scuffed…..and well used in the field.
What Amazes me is that they show no signs of wear other than a bit of dirt on the rubber case…..they have not failed in any way…well the battery died..but come on.
Now I stated before they are a little pricey for newbie’s pay scale….and I figured they were over kill for us new guys.
But what I found is that in many ways us new guys need them more than the old timers…..
For example…I had a stuck TXV….never seen one before….heard some stories…but never seen one…the bar graph being dead steady…even when plumber held cigarette lighter to bulb….made the diagnoses easier that it would have been.
Leak checking…not that old timers ever have leaks…but us new guys tend to have more leaks……so nitrogen test the unit…and watch….with some word of caution….hot tubing cooling off changes pressures…as does unit stabilizing on both sides….some times that decimal place can cause unwarranted concern.
But it is very straight forward…with the digital gauges..leak or no leak.
I tend to over charge units…lack of patience on my part….the gauges remove any doubt that I have woopsed or got it right….especially with the temp clamp!!!!
right now the gauges give me a little more info than I can …at my level…utilize effectively..but I’m getting there.
I actually think use new guys need these as much IF not more than old timers.
As for as durability….I remember reading all the rave reviews…hold up..drop resistant and all that and thought..ya sure right..what ever..
But flat out they have actually outlasted my old 410 gauge set…a bounce in the truck and the hook slipped off the rail…gauges fell and cracked one crystal….the Digi Cools have not so much as snicked under very real world use and abuse.!
I give them 2 big furry thumps up.!!!!!!!!

HVAC PROTech® Forums • View topic – Eg’s review of the Digi-Cools….true field testing!

HVAC PROTech® Forums • View topic – Swaging Without the Hammer or Hydraulics

 

This is probably the single best tool I walked away from Chicago with this year. It’s exceptionally well built – like most great ideas – innovative but still really simple.

This tool facilitates factory grade swaging of soft copper ranging from 3/8 to 7/8".


In it’s stored position – handles and cone included the swager is less than 3 fingers wide and about the same height as a Budweiser tall boy. Very, very portable.

The swaging cone is actually an assembly – a conventional (in appearance) cone split down the center – with one side of the cone fitted with two stationary bearings -and the opposing side of the cone having matching, machined in sockets.

Each cone section is mounted independently to it’s respective handle and locked into position as a single assembly by a return spring.

The return spring is locked into place by a hardened steel pin machined and countersunk into the shoulder of it’s respective handle.


I’ve not seen anything close to these for the work it will do – it requires almost zero clearance as far as required space to execute the swage – there’s no concern about the end of the cone distorting the copper like you get with a standard hammer driven swage. The one that was being used as a demo model at AHR was reportedly 9 years old – not a claim I have any degree of difficulty believing – not much to go wrong with it really – it is of French origin – but it’s coming this way.
It’s just a pure design – simplistic and works beautifully. If you’ve never swaged a piece of copper in your life you could turn out a perfect swage the first time. The only real refinement that I would like to see made to it is with the handles – I would personally prefer a little more arc on them – or maybe just a little less flat than what they are – but that’s a mental thing more than a functional thing.
You guys know the drill – reduce coupling inventory for the size ranges to virtually zero, reduce leaks by 50% and 50% on your brazing/soldering material. This is one tool that I think should be in every single copper working kit in the field.

 

Order yours by contacting: digital.zeus@yahoo.com

HVAC PROTech® Forums • View topic – Swaging Without the Hammer or Hydraulics