Wednesday Weekly Stock: Tools

Every week at W.L. May we have several items we feature as good parts to consider adding to your stock. These parts also have special pricing available. For pricing details, ask your account representative for more information. This week we look into the world of tools.

M14-F

The first item we feature today is one of the largest and most needed tools a serviceman might have. Every shop should have a hand truck and this is a nice one. It is 59 inces tall, giving leverage for larger items such as refrigerators. It has 2 ratcheting straps to secure the load. The aluminum alloy frame has non marking plastic padding. Please be aware, these do not qualify for prepaid freight.

M110A

Another tool that a repairman must have to do the job properly is a multimeter. There are some jobs that can be diagnosed without it,  but there are also a  whole lot of jobs where having a meter is essential. It can prove continuity and save money over throwing parts at a problem hoping one of them will provide a fix. For years, a popular inexpensive, yet rugged meter has been the UEI M110A analog multimeter.

DM10T

Another multimeter being featured this week is the DM10T. Like the M110A, this meter will serve you well for all of your multimeter needs. Featuring a digital display, you will get readings that are more precise than the older analog units provide. In addition, this meter also can be used for reading temperature. It is marketed as an economy model, so the price is right too.

SD-10

Last month, we told you about the 4-in-one torx nut driver. The maker of that tool, Sensible Products, has another driver that you also might consider keeping on hand. SD-10 is a slide driver. A slide driver can be adjusted with a simple twist so that it can be a socket driver for 1/4" & 5/16" sockets. With a 10" shaft it can get into many of those hard to reach places.

EMF-1

Another very popular item we carry from Sensible Products is not really a tool per se. It is however, very handy. EMF-1 is pretty nifty flashlight. The head (the part with the light) can be extended and bent to shine light into the tightest of corners. A side feature, but a very useful one is that the head is also magnetized. Imagine that you dropped a screw, it rolls into a shadowy corner, where it is both hard to see and hard to reach. The flashlight can show you where the screw fell. With the magnetic head you can pic the screw up as well. Time saved is money saved which will make this "tool" pay for itself pretty quickly.

TB123A

Here is a tool that only an appliance guy could love. A spanner wrench is a specialized appliance tool that is used to remove spanner nuts allowing agitators to come free. Supco makes the tool called a spanner wrench that will loosen those nut on machines made by Whirlpool, GE and Maytag. The part number for this beauty is is TB123A.

93001

This next item is more useful for a consumer than a technician. It is a good practice to clean coils behind your refrigerator frequently to make the machine. Moving the refrigerator to get to the coils can be tricky and it easy top damage flooring dragging the appliance out. Glide and guards a re a possible solution. Basically, enterlocking tracks similar those you might remember from a childhood Hot Wheels track. They allow the refrigator to "glide" away from the wall and the "guard" your flooring. They call it a Glide & Guard kit. We stock it with the part number 93001.

001

Finally, this week, we have a product that every home should have. In or out of the appliance repair trade, everyone has knives and scissors in their homes. Even though it is counter-intuitive, a sharp knife is a much safer tool that a dull knife. The Accusharp knife sharpener can easily keep the blades honed to a fine cutting edge. It also is an easy add on sale for field technicians. Just ask for part 001.

                                                                                                                                                                   

For more education and entertainment from W.L. May Company click...HERE

Kelly's Korner - Tomboy Tools

Hey, All,

Having been and always will be a tomboy, raised by a mechanic father who could fix anything and a fix-it-yourself mom, I have always been a bit handy with tools and fixing things myself.  So having tools around the house has always been a must.

A few years ago, I was introduced to a company called Tomboy Tools (now called Project Home) and fell instantly in love with their company and product.  Started by three women homeowners who had projects to do, they figured for a variety of reasons that they could do it themselves without waiting for someone else to do them.

They starting using tools designed for men, who have bigger hands and more strength than women, and decided to design their own tools designed for women.  These durable, lightweight and ergonomically designed tools are as tough and durable as any of the Craftsman, Snap-on, Stanely or any other tool manufacturer out there.  And they are PINK!  And they have power tools!

Now while I am definately not a pink person, I have a lot of these tools.  Not only are they easier to find in a dark toolbox, but I can leave my pink box knife

Quick Changing Utility Knife

 anywhere in our warehouse and it finds its way back to my desk.  And many guys would think twice about using your pink tools.

Tomboy Tools believes in educating women and girls on using their tools and in their home parties will show you the proper ways to use them.  They also are into charitible foundations with their Pink For A Purpose Fund that raises funds for the Susan G Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, the Avon Foundation for Women and others.

The Pink Diamond Kit

Every woman needs her own tools - hammer, screwdrivers, pliers, etc - for all those little things around the house - fixing kids' toys, hanging pictures, putting together a dollhouse, but why stop there?  Why pay a handyman or wait for some other male to get around to doing those bigger projects?  Need to retile your bath?  Put in new flooring?  Do it yourself with your own tools.  Want to contribute to society with Habitat for Humanity or other group?  Show up in your fully loaded pink leather toolbelt with your pink toolbox full of the tools you'll need to help build a house for someone.

The Basics Tool Kit

Check out this company and you will find a tool or tool kit for every purpose - gardening, painting, and plumbing to name a few - and find a consultant in your area for a party or just order online.  Hey, you guys out there - here is a great idea for gifts for the gals in your life - birthdays, anniversaries, graduation, Christmas, Mother's Day - and then they'll keep their hands off your tools.

So if you are looking for a great bridal shower gift or just need some tools to call your own, check out Project Home's website.

Have a great week!

Wednesday Weekly Stock: Temperature Testers, Cleaners and a Tool

Every week at W.L. may we have several items we feature as good parts to consider adding to your stock. These parts also have special pricing available. For pricing details, ask your account representative for more information.

DTK2

Accurate appliance diagnosis and repair sometimes requires specific measurements of temperature. A great tool for temperature testing is the UEI dual input digital thermometer. With a temperature span of  -328 to 1, 832 DEG F, this rugged meter features large easy to read figures on its display screen. The meter comes packaged with 2 test leads, a protective carrying case, a 9v battery and a manual.

MT012A

Believe it or not, there are still a few long time servicer techs out there who do not like or really trust digital meters. We are not so sure why, as this technology has been around for quite a while and seems to perform well. Regardless, a person is entitled to their preferences. For those folks, or for people looking for an inexpensive temperature tester, we offer the MT012A from UEI. With an analog gauge, this meter has a range of 0-1200 DEG F and comes with a carrying case, test leads, and instructions.

31462A

In a previous post we talked about some cleaners like L30443208 and 31464. This week we look at a similar product designed for cleaning stainless steel appliances. Whirlpool has stainless steel polishing creme with a "no shake needed" formula. In addition to cleaning stainless steel in appliances, it is great for cleaning sinks and grills.

W10355049

Another solution for the problem of cleaning stainless, provided by Whirlpool, are cleaning wipes. Even easier than polishing creme, the pre-moistened wipes can remove fingerprints and smudges on your stainless steel appliances, large or small.

TRTD-1

Finally this week we look at a popular hand tool. TRTD-1 is an industrial quality 8 in 1 screw driver. With interchangeable tips, this tool has two sizes of phillips head drivers, two sizes of flat blade drivers and 4 different sizes of security torx bit drivers. This is a pretty versatile tool for a minimal investment in price and storage space.

      For more education and entertainment from W.L. May Company click...HERE

Truck Stock Thursday: Brushes

Brushes

Truck Stock Thursday: UEI Meters

UEI Meters by goldenroad66

Web Tools Wednesday: Facebook for Beginners

Like us on Facebook. Follow us on Facebook. Facebook this, Facebook that. It seems like everywhere you turn these days people are talking about Facebook.What is Facebook, and does it have a place in the way your business goes to market?

In case you somehow don't know, Facebook is the world largest social network. As of March 11 of this year they report 963,812,360 users worldwide and almost half of them are in the United States! What are all of those people doing? Well, they are sharing what they are doing and what they like with their friends and they are seeing what their friends like and are doing. In other words, they are communicating with each other. Like any form of communicating, some is serious, some is joking, some is important and relevant and some of it is just chatter. But it is communicating, and isn't that what you want to do with your customers?

How this works is the users post to their status update whatever it is that they want to share, such as comments, pictures, links, etc. Facebook then takes what it considers to be the most interesting posts and presents them in a timeline that is constantly updated as new items are posted. Each user sees a different timeline based on who their friends are and the subjects they have clicked the "like" button on. You can then indicate that you "like" what has been shared by clicking on a "like" button at the bottom of the the post, or you add your own 2 cents by commenting at the bottom of a given post. This is where communication occurs.

There is no charge for setting up a Facebook account. When you create an account with Facebook, you will create a profile for yourself-as an individual. If you are approaching Facebook as a tool with your business, you might be tempted to set up an account in the name of your business. I would recommend against that. Facebook allows you to create a page for your business separate from your personal profile. In fact, to set up your account where your main profile is your business actually violates the Facebook terms of service. If they catch you, they can close down your account and all of your work on the site would be lost.The thing to do is to set up a profile for yourself as an individual, then create a Facebook page for your your business-take the time to make fill out your business pages profile. Include hours, what sort of business you do, areas you cover, brands serviced, and any other about your company you would like to share. You will also be able to include a picture for the header at the top of your page as well as your "Face" that will show up alongside all of your posts. This will introduce yourself to people who visit your page. Creating your business page allows you to stay within the Facebook terms of service. It also has an advantage in that Facebook pages are publicly viewable and can show up on search engines, like Google or Bing. You want that!

Now that your page has been created you will want to get involved. Take some time to find and "like" pages that are relevant to your business or would be of interest to your target customer. For example, our timeline includes customers, suppliers, and a few local sports teams and news outlets. Now why would we include the sports teams and local news? It's because if we find a post worth commenting on or "like"ing from them, our reply will reach everyone who follows them on Facebook which could be exposure to people who were unaware of WL May prior to that communication. A well known member of the United Servicers Association follows Susan G Komen Run for the Cure and the local sports radio station. By doing that he has found an way to reach many of the women and men in his community. What's nice is he is meeting them while their appliance is working (under good times) and it helps establish trust (which is essential to any sort of repair specialist). This works best (some would say it works ONLY) if you are engaging with other users. You don't wan't to just post ads about your business, take the time to post interesting items and to comment on others posts. An occasional advertising type of post is ok, but less than 20% of your activity should be that kind of thing (ideally much less).

As you can see, Facebook can help your business reach out to your community in a number of ways. However, Facebook is not a one-size-fits-all way of reaching your marketplace. It has a few disadvantages. First it does take some time to set things up and to monitor your page, although in my experience that process was fairly fun and interesting. Once you are set up, in order for someone to see your posts they need to take the time to visit your page and click on the "like" button. Also, once they do that they may not see every thing you post on their timeline. They will see all of your posts if they visit your page, but many Facebook users primarily read what shows up in their timeline. Luckily, Facebook says how it chooses what to include in timelines. The have an formula they use called "edgerank" which gives your post a score based on a number of variables such as if you include video or images, how many followers you have, how frequently you post, and how much interaction you have with other Facebook users. So, in order to effectively use Facebook you need to engage yourself with your customers or followers. Also, as of late, Facebook has tried to increase their income by requesting payment to make sure your posts show up in your followers timeline. Is this worthwhile? The jury is still out on that one, but it does remove the attractiveness of free from the equation.

Facebook is a complicated subject and a Google search of "using Facebook for business" yields almost 2 BILLION hits. Obviously, there is a lot to say on the subject and I am just scratching the surface. Ultimately, there is no replacement for quality work and good service. Facebook just gives your customers the opportunity to share their positive experiences with your company. And it allows you to share ideas and tips with your customers which makes you a trusted expert. And isn't that what you want? The more you show show yourself to be an expert the more your business will grow. Don't be afraid to try something new and good luck out there!

Wednesday Web Tools: Where to find free images for your blog or Facebook

I recently read a blog post that left me a little concerned. The post was written by a "mommy blogger", who was sharing a cautionary tale. Her blog was a personal journal kind of site, not a for-profit business site. To keep her blog visually interesting, she liked to put some pictures on it to go with her writing. Sometimes she would use Google images to find pictures to use. Makes sense. Its easy, very searchable, and easy to download too. Then something went wrong. She got a letter from the attorney of a professional photographer. Now you might think that since she was just running a blog as a hobby that an apology and removal of the offending images would take care of the problem. It didn't. In the end, she ended up paying several hundred dollars to the photographer for the unauthorized use of the images.

Scary story. The reason I mention it is because this did not have to happen to her. She could have used pictures that she took herself. Unless she is as bad a photographer as I am. So what to do? Luckily, there are some inexpensive options out there. Even luckier, there are some free options too. Here are some of my favorites of those free options:

• Flickr Creative Commons-I think just about everyone on the internet knows what Flickr is. Any image on Flickr has the potential to be used, but make sure you have permission from the photographer to do so. Some photographers have already given you permission by way of a creative commons license. Make sure you read the license on the images page regarding its terms of use.
• Wikimedia Commons-This is a hit and miss option. Images are public domain that are used in Wikipedia. Some good stuff here although often more of a historical nature.
• Morgue File- I really like this site. They have lots of varied images available. The only catch is that images from here need to be modified if they are used.
• FreeDigitalPhotos.Net-Several thousand images are available from this site. You are freee to use the small size images but larger versions require payment.
• FreeMediaGOO.com-This site features an assortment of images, wallpapers and even some video clips. To be honest, I have not had the best success with their images matching my needs. Naturally, your mileage may vary.
• Photo Rogue-This site offers a twist from most stock photo sites. In addition to their library of stock images for use, you can request an image. Photographers that frequent the site MIGHT respond with images to match your request. Obviously, this would give you the opportunity to have some more unique images than might be available from some other sites. 
• stock.xchng VI-Over 100,000 images available here. The photographers set the terms, so read the fine print on an image you are interested in using.
• FreePhotosBank-This site does have some free images available, but my experience is that far more images listed on this site link to Dreamstime.com, which is a good site for inexpensive, but not free, stock images.
• Present Outlook-If you like the images with quotes like the kind we post on Motivation Mondays, then this site is for you. Lots if gorgeous photography with inspirational quotes. Oh and by the way, we make our own slides for Motivation Monday, so these will be different from the slides we have posted.

Tuesday Tips: Creating a mobile service library

Recently, the Appliance Samurai posted a great idea for service techs. It involves using a bit of tech to have a functional service library on the job site. You'll need an Amazon Kindle as well as some basic computer skills. His explanation can be found here-with video.

Wednesday Web Tools: Internet Browsers

There are a lot of useful tools online to run your business more efficiently, engage with your customers, and to stay informed about the marketplace. But first you need to be on the internet. Obviously if you are reading this you've made it that far. However, I'd still like to start by talking about the most basic of subjects, your internet browser.

The internet is the network of computers. Web pages make up the World Wide Web, and those are what you access with a browser. Most PC's come with Internet Explorer from Microsoft built in. If you are on a Mac Safari from Apple will be your default. But you also have a few more options that are also popular.

Mozilla Firefox is an open source browser. What that means is that the browser was created by some smart users to be used as a free way to connect to the web. Firefox has become a popular browser due to it's reputation as being less susceptible to viruses. It also has a wide variety of extensions and add-on's that can be used to customise the browser and to add features for many websites. A few add on extensions I like are ad-block, which removes ads from web pages you might visit. I also like Pocket, which bookmarks web pages to be read later at a more convenient time.

Google has also thrown their hat in the ring with their Chrome browser. I find Chrome to be a very good browser and it, like Firefox, can be customized with a wide variety of extensions and add-ons. My favorite of these in KanbanFlow, which I find to be a quite useful to-do list. The largest criticisms I hear about Chrome is that it is heavily tied into Google, which causes some people concerns regarding privacy. Also, there is the precaution against "putting all the eggs in one basket" since Google is involved in so many different web services.

This has just been a brief overview. Like choosing a car, your best choice is a blend of performance, style, and features. I recommend trying them all to see who is your best fit. You may find, like me, that using different browsers to do different things is your best choice.

Workplace Wednesday: Appliance Samurai's Tool Kit

If you have spent any time online looking for educational material about appliance repair, then you have probably crossed paths with Samurai Appliance Repair Man. In this video he shows off his tool kit. We don't necessarily agree with him on all of his tool brand recommendations, but we have to admire his well organized and thoughtfully laid out tool kit. How do you organize and carry your tools? We've seen backpacks (like in the video), buckets, tool belts, tackle boxes, and briefcases. What do you use? Let us know in the comments.

Truck Stock Tuesday: Linteater

Here's an item that not only makes a great truck stock item, but is also a good tool for the do-it-yourselfer. The Linteater duct cleaning system is a great way of cleaning lint from dryer ducts, which is important since lint filled vent lines can be a major fire hazard.
Servicers, this is an easy way to increase your invoice while providing a valuable service to your customers. DIY folks, this is important maintenance and can save you the cost of hiring a repairman to do the job for you. In addition to dryer ducts the manufacturer recommends using the Linteater to clean baseboard heaters, under appliances, pellet stove vents and even gutter downspouts!

Workplace Wednesday: Uncle Harry's Tool Bag

"Uncle Harry" runs an online program to train people who would like to start and run an appliance repair business. This video shows some not so common tools that the "Uncle Harry" carries on his truck for those unusual jobs. What unusual tools do you carry and what do you use them for? Let us know in the comments.