Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Fred's (hopefully) excellent HT adventure

I'm not sure yet Mark. I'm going to talk to my Dad tonight. He's actually moving to an apartment next spring, so there are a lot of tools he will have to get rid of. I really want the riding mower, but I don't think I have space in the living room. . I don't think I want a full bore corded hammer dril in my apartment either though, so it depends what he has and will be getting rid of.

The Dewalt I'm looking at actually looks like a very good deal. Its from their XRP line (complete metal drive train) and is actually a 3 speed. Seems to be less than all the other 2 speed 18v units with metal gearbox. It's overkill, but after my experiences with cheap drivers with plastic gears, I think I want all metal.

Fred, if you are considering buying a hammer drill, check out IHL . They have some deals on the better brands of tools like Makita, Bosch ect. Sometimes the "better" deal isn't what it appears btw...NiCad vs LiOn, no comparison, the LiOn kills NiCad in every respect and is therefore priced accordingly...how many batteries are included and what size are they? 1.5Ah...smallest and cheapest...3.0Ah...4.0Ah much more expensive. Personally I'd take the Makita any day over the Dewalt, just my opinion of course. Also check TSC Stores .

Uh-oh! Them's fightin' words!

I ain't LiOn about it, or trying to be a NiCad.

I walked right into that one Mark.

Another big Makita fan here. Metal gears add weight if thats an issue.

On sites there is every flavour of drill. If you spend the money generally you will do fine with any brand.

Avoid brushless. Completely useless. Once taxed they cut out. If I want my drill to work hard I dont want it tapping out on me. 2 guys at work bought brushless drills as a promo and returned within a week. Lol.

I will say the dewalt hammer function is better than makita. But damn they are bulky and heavy. Nicad sucks.

The Dewalt I am looking at it LIon.

As far as Makita vs Dewalt, I prefer Chevy... oh, wait, Toyota.

I won't be taxing this thing. From past experience, I just don't trust plastic gears.

why are you NiCad when your drilling, you'll get sand in your slitz doin that.

Dad says, "don't waste your money, that Ryobi is just fine." ... and everyone knows that father knows best.

I talked to him a bit and he has used several Ryobi cordless drills over the years and they've worked fine. I think I'll sit tight with what I have now.

Thanks for trying to help me spend my money though.

OK, back to some HT type stuff. I've mounted my rail and projector and am working on squaring up the image. What I ended up doing, is using a measuring tape taped to the wall at one end (only one person right now) and measured opposite ends of the screen in the vertical and horizontal direction until they are within 1/16". Quite a PITA even with a decent mount. I can see how lens shift is such a desirable feature.

Now that I have the screen square, I know how much offset the projector has in its default position and I can go ahead and get a pipe an ceiling mount that add 11" to the drop. From there I can use lens shift to adjust in the vertical direction, but I've got to get the vertical bang on. I'll probably have to redo the image squaring as well.

So, how do you guys go about getting the projector square to the screen?

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Bosch-130-ft-Laser-Distance-Measurer-DLR130K/202504985

Not sure its the exact model but they work.