The Ryobi AIRgrip Laser Level is a nifty little gadget for some home projects. Simple to use, this laser level uses battery powered suction to keep it from falling off of your flat walls. If you have textured walls, the Ryobi AIRgrip does come with pins that can be used to secure it to most surfaces. In our home test, we used the laser level to attempt to hang a 4′ x 4′ bathroom mirror, mount a corner shelf, and to hang some newly framed family photos.

This suctioned powered laser level boasts that it provides a visible light for up to 30 feet. The 360-degree rotating head offers users multiple angle capabilities, and a unique rotating laser head rotates 90 degrees for vertical and horizontal applications.

Hanging the large bathroom mirror was a breeze with the Ryobi AIRgrip Laser Level. With fresh batteries, the Ryobi remained firmly suctioned to the flat surface of the bathroom wall. The level was easy to read and the laser was simple to see. All we needed to do was measure and mark where we wanted the mirror to hang. Having the laser as a guide made this task much easier than we anticipated.

Following the success of the mirror, we decided to test the angular claims that the Ryobi makes by mounting a medium sized corner shelf in the living room. While the level and the laser were able to provide a perfect 90 degree angle, the battery powered suction failed to work on our lightly textured walls. This task ended up requiring two people. We placed the laser level on the corner shelf and while one of us held the shelf in place, the other marked the mounting points using the laser as a guide. While not the ideal situation, the shelf was mounted nicely after a few attempts. We could have opted to use the pins to mount the laser level to the wall, but decided that we did not want to have unnecessary holes if at all possible.

Hanging the family photos using the Ryobi AIRgrip Laser Level proved to be quite the project, as the textured wall surface again prevented the suction function from working. Following multiple attempts, we decided to use the pins to secure the Ryobi to the wall. This would have worked just fine had we wanted to hang the photos in a straight line; however we opted for the stair step look, so the laser level had to be moved and re-pinned several times, leaving small, but visible holes in our wall.

Overall, the Ryobi AIRgrip Laser Level is a cool gadget if you are soley working on flat surfaces or if holes in your walls do not bother you. The AIRgrip Laser Level comes with a padded case, 4 mounting pins, and a velcro strap to secure the laser level to objects. You may also use a tripod with this product. The Ryobi AIRgrip Laser Level can be found for less than $40 at many locations.

When it comes to fixing power tools, there are tools everyone needs to have and some they simply should have to make their lives easier and avoid causing damage to the power tools they’re fixing. Aside from your basic screwdrivers, hammers, pliers, and wrenches there are some tools we recommend you keep on-hand if you are the fix-it-yourself type:

Adjustable Spanner Wrench – Used for changing grinding wheels. This wrench is adjustable, which means you won’t need to buy different sizes for different grinders.

Bearing Puller – Very useful for removing bearings and even gears from just about any tool.

Bearing Separator – When a bearing is flush against another part, like an armature bearing against the commutator, you will need to use the bearing separator to create space first, then you can get the bearing puller’s jaws behind the bearing for removal.

Torx Driver Bits – A majority of manufacturers are switching to torx screws, so it’s important for you to stock a collection of torx driver bits. These bits are extended so you can reach the screws that are deep inside a tool’s housing.

Folding Torx Key Set – These are useful when you can’t get in a good position with your driver bit to remove a screw. Set includes sizes T10, T15, T20, T25, T27, T30, and T-40

6-piece Snap Ring Plier Set – Features two-way adjustable pliers that are good for helping you easily remove retaining rings, which can be very difficult without the right tool.

7-piece Drive Pin Punch Set[/url] – Knocking out roll pins, bearings, and whatever else needed won’t be challenging with this set that has all the sizes you will need.

Ten-in-one Screwdriver – A handy tool to have around because it has flat-head, phillips, and torx bits easily accessible and it is also a ratcheting screwdriver.

Here is a video we made illustrating the tools listed above:

Tools for Tool Repair Video

These tools usually cannot be found in your local hardware store, that’s why we decided to make them available for you at our website. They are in the Power Tool Accessories section of our website under General Accessories, listed as Tools for Tool Repair.

So, what do you do if you are on the job and you have a spline bit that you need to use, but you are working with a SDS Max tool?

The good news is that Bosch has a great set of adapters that will convert one type of shank to the other.

1) Spline-SDS Plus Rotary Hammer Adapter

This adapter converts spline shank to SDS Plus. Here is a picture to help show how it works:

2) SDS Max-SDS Plus Rotary Hammer Adapter

Here is a picture of this one. It is just like the adapter above, except that it converts SDS Max to SDS plus.

3) SDS Max-Spline Rotary Hammer Adapter

This last one converts SDS Max to Spline shank.
All of these accessories are genuine Bosch brand accessories. They are manufactured with the quality and engineering that you would expect from Bosch.

Please let me know if you have any questions or comments about these adapters. Also, if you have used them before, let me know and I will post about your experience.