Rubbermaid Roughneck Resin Storage Shed 5-ft x 4-ft

September 26, 2022 in Review

I recently moved into a new home and was in need for a shed. I needed one quick and from what I’ve seen, in the shed world, nothing’s faster when it comes to DIY than a resin shed. Everything’s pre-made and all you have to do is put it together. In terms of sheds, I don’t know how it could be any easier aside from buying a pre-assembled one and having it delivered to your property.

I personally purchased a 5-ft x 4-ft Rubbermaid Roughneck Resin Storage Shed and was able to assemble it by myself. So assumably, anything smaller should also be easily assembled by one person but having help will definitely move things along. Assembling the Rubbermaid shed is largely just punching out some plastic for the screws and then screwing everything together. All the screws are the same size and you can pretty much get everything done with just a drill, drill bit, and a Phillips screwdriver. The entire thing is like a giant jigsaw puzzle but one of those extremely simple ones with like 50 pieces. I don’t think putting this shed together should be any problem for someone with the most basic ability to read instructions and comprehend. Again, I put the shed together by myself and even moved it by myself with a single hand truck but if you have some help it just makes an already easy project that much easier.

Now, like all sheds, you have some options when it comes to the base. You can build something but because the Rubbermaid shed comes with a floor, you can get away with direct ground contact in some situations. I planned to put the shed in this rocky section of the property and it largely worked until I put the doors on the shed. What I found was that if there’s a big enough elevation shift from one side to the other, the doors won’t work properly. In my case, the rocks made the right side of the shed slightly higher than the left and this caused the left door to pop completely off when both doors are closed. I could’ve resolved this by leveling out the ground by various means but I took the easiest route and just threw a sheet of pressure treated plywood under the shed. This gave my shed a flat enough base for the doors to work and some protection from the rocks.

So, at the end of the day, what do I think about this Rubbermaid resin shed? To be honest and knowing what I know now, I would buy something different or if I had the time, I would just build my own shed from wood. This Rubbermaid shed just feels like a child’s toy. The walls are pretty thin and flex with little force. If someone wanted to and had a knife, even a pocket knife, I think they’d be able to cut through the walls relatively easily. But in reality, that’s not needed at all because the doors are barely held in place. When I lock the doors together and give them a little tug, there is a lot of movement. That’s a gap of a couple of inches and I’m telling you now as someone who’s been playing with these doors a lot over the past few days, that gap allows me to leverage so much energy that not that much force is needed to rip these doors off from the shed because it’s not like there solidly held in place by anything. It’s just a piece of plastic going into a groove at the top and bottom. This is a huge problem and such a security risk to me. This is a deal breaker and I personally would say that it makes this Rubbermaid Roughneck Resin Storage Shed not worth it. It’s fine if you’re storing stuff that you really don’t care about but if you’re looking for something with a reasonable amount of security, this is not it. Look at one of those cheap sheet metal sheds if you’re looking for something relatively easy to put together and possibly even cheaper. I’m pretty disappointed in this purchase but it is what it is.

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Inspire Fitness FPC1 Full Power Cage First Impressions

September 26, 2022 in Review

I recently moved into a new home with a good amount of garage space and I’m finally able to build my own home gym. To start things off, I bought a power rack. This particular one is the Inspire Fitness FPC1 or the Full Power Cage 1. I’ve just got this thing assembled and my other gym equipment hasn’t come in yet so this rack hasn’t been used for anything but pull-ups and dips so for this video, we’ll only do a first impression. I’ll get back to you with a more in-depth review at a later time.

First off, this rack arrived in one big box. Upon opening the box and because this is my first time assembling a power rack, the task looked pretty daunting but I assure you, assembly is as straightforward as can be. The directions are laid out clearly and this is definitely one of the easiest installs that I’ve had to deal with. I was able to put the cage together by myself and that was very doable but if you have an extra set of hands, the assembly would just fly by.

In terms of dimensions, we are looking at 60” wide, 58” in length, 85” in height, and a weight of 365 lbs.

The cage is constructed from 3x3 tubing with 1” holes for attachments. The holes are 3” apart, center to center. The cage, accessories, and hardware are all black, and we get a hint of red with the multi-grip pull-up bar.

With this cage, you get 2 dip handles, 2 pin style safeties, 2 J-Hooks, 2 outer safeties, 2 upper band attachments, 2 lower band attachments, a landmine, and a battle rope holder.

For residential use, the rack comes with a limited lifetime warranty.

In terms of a first impression, this rack looks amazing. I’ve been in a good amount of racks at commercial gyms and I can’t say that this is any worse. If anything, it’s better. Fit and finish is great. Everything lines up like it’s supposed to and the rack seems to be very robust. I’m sure it can hold up to any lifting that I’ll be doing. Also, a big benefit of this rack is the accessories that already come with it. Typically, you’d have to pay for things like the pull-up bar, dip handles, outer safeties, band attachments, landmines, and battle rope holders. Here, you get all that for an MSRP of $999 but you can definitely find the cage for less than that. I’ve seen a few sites offer it for $100-$150 off but the cheapest place that I’ve seen this rack for sale is Costco where it can go down to $400, which is an insane value. That’s where I picked this rack up and would definitely recommend you do the same if possible. The savings alone would pay for a Costco membership multiple times over, not to mention some more gym equipment.

I’m pretty excited to actually start using this cage for its intended purpose and will let you guys know how that goes. Again, I’ll make a more in-depth review video in the future so make sure to subscribe to my YouTube for that.

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Whiten a Sweat Stain Gi with OxyClean

July 14, 2022 in Review

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ValvoMax Oil Drain Valve

April 14, 2021 in Review, Automotive

If you change your own oil, then I have an add-on that you’re going to love. This is the ValvoMax.

This post is going to be for those who are familiar with the oil change process. I’m not going to show you how to change a vehicle’s oil but will solely focus on the ValvoMax and how it can assist in the process.

To make it plain and simple, the ValvoMax is an oil drain valve. When changing the oil and after you’ve removed the oil drain plug to let the oil drain, instead of reinstalling the oil drain plug, you install the ValvoMax in its place.

So, what is the point of this?

Well, let’s take a look at the ValvoMax itself. This product consists of two main parts: the quick twist valve and the drain tube assembly. The quick twist valve is the part that takes the place of the oil drain plug and stays installed on the vehicle. The quick twist valve consists of the valve itself and a cap to protect the valve. The cap even has its own rubber seal and is held in place by the cap tether. When it comes time to do an oil change, we take the drain tube and screw it on to the quick twist valve. This opens the valve and oil begins to flow from the engine, through the drain tube, and into an oil collector.

Now if you’ve changed your own oil, then you’ve probably already figured out why something like this so great. If not, let me break with down for you. This product almost completely removes the possibility of making a mess. With this system, the oil drains in a much more controllable fashion. No more loosening the oil drain plug then quickly pulling it out as you try to dodge the stream of oncoming oil. No more worrying if you’ve positioned the oil catch pan in the right place. With the ValvoMax, the oil flows when you want it to and it can be controlled and repositioned.

If you watch the video above, you’ll notice that the larger oil pan that I was using to hold my used oil was actually half full. Midway through the oil drain, the pan started to overflow. Because I had the Valvomax installed, I was able to stop the oil drain and position a new oil pan. Had this had happened without the Valvomax, this oil change would’ve been a complete disaster for my driveway.

This is a pretty great system but I would say that there are some potential drawbacks. First, it’s pretty much guaranteed that it’ll take longer to drain the oil with the ValvoMax than if it were to just flow normally. The manufacturer advertises that oil will drain in 10 minutes or less and I assume that just depends on the amount of oil that needs to be drained. In any case, because the ValvoMax channels the oil into a smaller stream, it’ll flow slower and take more time to drain. I personally don’t mind this but it just depends on your needs. For reference, it took about 5 minutes to drain the 4-ish quarts of oil from the Corolla in the video.

Another potential drawback is the size of the ValvoMax. With the cap on, this thing sticks about an inch from the oil pan. The drain tube assembly also takes a bit of space when installed on the quick twist valve. Depending on your vehicle’s setup, you may not be able to fit the quick twist valve or it with the drain tube. This is not likely to be a problem for many people but a select few.

Lastly, the price of the Valvomax is also a pretty big turn-off. At $35 to $40, the ValvoMax is pretty pricey. If it were half that, this would almost be a no-brainer. But at the end of the day, only you can determine if this product is worth it for yourself. For me, because I keep my vehicles for a long time and do my own maintenance, it’s worth it in the long run.

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Olsa Tools Split Beam Torque Wrench

July 29, 2020 in Automotive, Review

I’d like to share with you guys a new tool that I recently acquired and I think some of you will be interested in. This is the 1/2” Split Beam Torque Wrench from Olsa Tools.

If you don’t do a lot of research on torque wrenches, you may have never seen one of this design. To be honest, I’m new to it too as this is my first split beam torque wrench. If you’re like me, you’re likely more familiar with the micrometer click type torque wrenches. Micrometer torque wrenches work by adjusting the tension of the spring in the shaft. Split beam torque wrenches, on the other hand, have a spring that’s always under the same tension and is more dependent on something similar to a lever and catch mechanism. A big advantage of the split beam design is that because the spring is always under the same tension, users don’t have to worry about it deforming and contributing to inaccurate readings as possible with micrometer torque wrenches.

With a micrometer torque wrench, the proper procedure for storage is to release the tension of the spring by lowering the torque setting to it’s minimum. That way the spring doesn’t form to its compressed size while it’s not being used and sitting in storage. With the split beam design, there is no such thing. It can be left at whatever torque setting for however long and the spring will not deform.

Another big advantage of the split beam design is the ease of adjustment. With the micrometer design, you typically twist the handle up and down working your way through the torque range. Depending on the size of the torque range, this can take a bit of twisting to get from one end to the other. With the split beam, you’re able to move through the range almost effortlessly. This Olsa Tools Split Beam Torque Wrench has a working range of 50-250 ft-lb and you can get from one end to the other in a few seconds.

To use this torque wrench, you first flip open the safety lock. From there you turn the knob up and down to get to the desired setting. When you’ve achieved the desired setting, just close the safety lock and you’re good to go. This design is very quick and easy to use.

When in use, this torque wrench will emit an audible click when the desired torque is achieved, like other click type torque wrenches.

After owning this torque wrench for a few weeks, I would say that I like it a lot but I have noticed two drawbacks. First, the torque display window only shows increments of 5. This is fine if everything that you torque down requires a torque setting that ends in 5 or 0 but that isn’t always the case. And because all the numbers and lines are so close to each other, whenever you need one of those in-between numbers, it becomes a guessing game as to where to set the torque wrench at. The second drawback is that this torque wrench only measures when used on forward, clockwise rotating fasteners. There is no reverse. This is something inherently attributed to the split beam design so it’s not a knock on Olsa Tools.

Overall, I would give this tool a thumbs up and a recommendation. It seems to be of high quality and functions really well. Not to mention that Olsa Tools offers a lifetime warranty on this thing so if it were to ever become defective, they’ll take care of it.

If you’re interested in trying this tool out for yourself, check out the links below. If you use the one that leads to Olsa Tools’ official website and use the code HT10, you’ll be able to get 10% off of your order.