Mobile Solutions Professional Training

Mobile Solutions is a one of a kind company that offers many Professional Training classes at their Tempe Arizona facility. They also teach seminars world wide. If you've ever considered a career in the mobile electronics industry or are just a hobbyist looking to sharpen your skills, Mobile Solutions should be at the top of your list!

Smart Guide Drill Concept Keeps Things In Line

If you work in this industry long enough, or keep up with the hobby long enough, your bound to experience the dreaded "Drill Wobble". Whether you're trying to shoot a screw for a ground, sink a sub, or mount an amp, you're bound to slam that screw bit into the sheet metal or a finger, or worse, perforate the surround of a subwoofer. When drilling a new hole into a tough material, the wobble can also screw up a perfectly straight hole. Now a pretty decent solution that I've used for the lat 10 years is Dewalt's magnetic drive guides. They won't help you when drilling new holes, but they will keep your tip from slipping when sinking screws (and more importantly, save you from ventilating subs!!) I've always had a 3" and 6" version in my toolbox.

But the concept drill you see above, the Smart Guide, takes the drive guide idea one step further, incorporating a guide into the drill's body. Two interset rings collapse in on each other as the bit sinks further, keeping everything straight and inline. Props to the designer! 

We've got a bunch of pics after the jump!

in the forums!

Check Yourself! Testing a Speaker's Ins and Outs

When you install new speakers in your car, one of the most important things to ensuring your new speakers actually sounds good is to make sure they're in phase. MECP defines phase as "The timing of a sound wave that is measured in degrees from 0 to 360". Speakers have both a positive and negative connection, and the signal that is sent to all the speakers in a car needs to be consistent. If one speaker is connected "positive/negative" and the other is hooked up "negative/positive" the speakers will be out of phase with each other. When one speaker is pushing in, the other will push out and vice versa. This 180° difference will cause the speakers to cancel out frequencies and sound very flat and hollow, like they're playing in a long empty hallway and will have very little, if any bass.

So what do you do if you've installed your system and as soon as you fire it up, you notice the "empty hallway" symptom? Follow the jump to find out!

in the forums!

Crimpin' Ain't Easy

If you don't have a crimper in your tool box, or yours is old and rusty, or you're just looking for an excuse to add a new tool to your collection, the new Rachet Crimp Tool from Del City is a pretty handy addition. This crimper features 4 crimping nests and accepts 22-gauge all the way up to 8-gauge.

"8-gauge you say?! Won't my hands get cramped trying to crimp something that large?"

No, no it won't. Thanks for asking! The crimper features a padded and insulated grip to help preserve your delicate hands, and the locking-ratcheting system makes getting a grip on your crimp a piece of cake. The price is a little steep, but if you crimp for a living or want somethign new to brag about, this could be just what you need.