# my new little toy



## Master Mark (Aug 14, 2009)

I have an old wirsbo battery expander about 9 years old that finally took a good fall and broke the handle off,,,,
it was like lifting a bar bell every time you had to expand a pipe

I needed something to get a job done last week and found this little toy from milwakee that is really sweet..
It automatically turns the expander as you are expanding the joint... 

It is almost as light as a claw hammer and has a belt hook on it and works real well... total price $350.00
with 3 batteries and the complete kit of expanders

the price of these tools have fallen quite a bit over the past decade..


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## Will (Jun 6, 2010)

Hope you get alot of use out of it. I've had nothing but problems with mine. I use the manual expander ost of the time since it allways works....


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## Master Mark (Aug 14, 2009)

Will said:


> Hope you get alot of use out of it. I've had nothing but problems with mine. I use the manual expander ost of the time since it allways works....


 
Well thats a good thing to know... So what kind of troubles have you had with it anyway???

I am only using it on rare occasions ...maybe once a month, and dont plan on working it to death...with constant day in and day out jobs...

I was told it has a life time warranty so if it starts to give me touble its going back to the supply house....


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## sierra2000 (Sep 19, 2011)

I've had one for a few years and it's working good. I don't use it everyday though, maybe a few times a month.


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## Will (Jun 6, 2010)

The auto rotate jams all the time, batteries don't last


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## Cuda (Mar 16, 2009)

On mine the weirdest problem is I was advised to buy a larger m12 special battery pack that doubles as a wide stand, and even though it's the same 12 volt and same charger it does not work in the pex expander or my m12 pvc shears but works in my m12 copper cutters and drill.


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## tims007 (Aug 31, 2013)

i bought one of those a while ago and i love it .. i had a problem right out of the gate but i got it fixed with a really big hammer and then once that repipe job was done then the warrenty took over and repaired it ... it got stuck on the out stroke and the internials jammed due to the greese on the inside being not put where it is needed ... and then it also wasnt rotating when i bought it .. hammer got it unlodged after 20 whacks ... then i moved the greese inside it to where it needed to be


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## redbeardplumber (Dec 4, 2012)

Will said:


> The auto rotate jams all the time, batteries don't last


Mine will jam.... Gotta grease it. Then it's fine...

9 months no problems...


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## wyrickmech (Mar 16, 2013)

Got one last year,as long as you grease it you will have no problems. I did get a pair of the deep cell battery's that extended the life of the battery's by double.


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## jc-htownplumber (Feb 29, 2012)

I use mine on a regular basis. Biggest thing is keeping it Grease. Battery last a long time. No problems here


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## Master Mark (Aug 14, 2009)

*you are my kind of guy*



tims007 said:


> i bought one of those a while ago and i love it .. i had a problem right out of the gate but i got it fixed with a really big hammer and then once that repipe job was done then the warrenty took over and repaired it ... it got stuck on the out stroke and the internials jammed due to the greese on the inside being not put where it is needed ... and then it also wasnt rotating when i bought it .. hammer got it unlodged after 20 whacks ... then i moved the greese inside it to where it needed to be


 

I have greased mine like I have done with the old expanders, just around the piston... Is there somewhere else you are supposed to grease the thing
that i am not aware of???


20 wacks with a hammer got it going....


a good wack with a hammer can just about fix anything

I have lightly wacked those Icon valves when they act up with my channel lock pliers, ..
and now some of the guys call me a hack on this site.


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## Epox (Sep 19, 2010)

I have 2 of the m12's and one m18. Use them all the time. The m12's sometimes hang up in open position, I learned to loosen the expander nut a tad and it will POP and release. No hammer needed, lol. Haven't used the manual expander since unless I found myself with a dead battery. (once)
Edit: I'm anal about keeping them cleaned and greased


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## tims007 (Aug 31, 2013)

Master Mark said:


> I have greased mine like I have done with the old expanders, just around the piston... Is there somewhere else you are supposed to grease the thing
> that i am not aware of???
> 
> 
> ...


open the whole thing up .. apparently i got one that was built on a friday at 430pm lol.... the inside had a dolup of grease on the spinny part but not the other friction surfaces .. and the sliding pin got wedged .. ill go take it apart and post a pic in 5 min


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## tims007 (Aug 31, 2013)

so i got it unstuck by puting the pointy part in a 2x4 and then puting another 2x4 on the top part of the contraption that comes out .. and whacked it with my big ass hammer





















also if using fir service and it gets wet remember to dry it out and clean it after or bad things will happen .. i forgot once and this is the results


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## jc-htownplumber (Feb 29, 2012)

Hopefully mine isn't built on Monday @ 8:00


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## Master Mark (Aug 14, 2009)

tims007 said:


> so i got it unstuck by puting the pointy part in a 2x4 and then puting another 2x4 on the top part of the contraption that comes out .. and whacked it with my big ass hammer
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 

Thanks very much for the pictures... that is pretty informative... I am going to take it apart and add some grease to the internals tomorrow...


how much grease is the only thing I am wondering about

I used the heck out of mine today and did a whole house install....it works pretty well, though I am glad I got 3 batteries.. the 3/4 does run the battery down much much faster than the 1/2....

I did notice that the actual head was getting warm after I had done probably 150 joints.....

I guess it it is wise to throw some inside the head...

I think the unit kicks ass, we air tested the house and it held up fine at 125psi.


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## tims007 (Aug 31, 2013)

Master Mark said:


> Thanks very much for the pictures... that is pretty informative... I am going to take it apart and add some grease to the internals tomorrow...
> 
> 
> how much grease is the only thing I am wondering about
> ...


it is a good tool but even the guys at the warrenty place ( i told them the whole story and didnt leave out any details ) also said it might have been a friday at 430 tool ..... i was in cali doing a repipe on my aunts house and i was going to crimp everything and well the fergisons in the area i was at didnt sell the crimp stuff or have it in stock but they had the expander tool so i took it as a sign to buy the tool .. half way into the first day of expanding ( probibly 150 expansions ) it siezed.... i was looking at a 50 mile one way drive and a day or more time lost .. so it was the hammer to the rescue lol .. i would grease everything


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## redbeardplumber (Dec 4, 2012)

tims007 said:


> so i got it unstuck by puting the pointy part in a 2x4 and then puting another 2x4 on the top part of the contraption that comes out .. and whacked it with my big ass hammer
> 
> also if using fir service and it gets wet remember to dry it out and clean it after or bad things will happen .. i forgot once and this is the results


So you pull the top off if it gets wet, dry and grease... Do grease in there regularly. I haven't even opened mine up. Great points here tims


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## tims007 (Aug 31, 2013)

Pull the top off to grease it .... if it's wet just make sure to dry it .. and don't slam it back in the plastic case where it can get hot and humid as the moisture has no where to go ...if you let it dry out in the air vs a box I can't see it rusting like mine did .. but you could just grease it all inside and maybe it won't rust lol... me I'm a service plumber I do some remodels but mostly I have the house water shut off and I'm expanding g pipe right quick with water coming out and fixing the issue with out fully draining the two story house if I am in a crawl space... if it's indoors then I try to drain the house first but the majority of the time this tool is in the crawl space


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## Master Mark (Aug 14, 2009)

*my little tool works great....*

this rough in was pretty tight and I decided to use some 6 port manifolds in aquapex to get everything 
tied in.... the job almost made me cross eyed standing on a ladder all day long working my new expander....no leaks, drips or errors..


so go ahead and slam away.............. the floor is to the left side in the picture


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## plbgbiz (Aug 27, 2010)

Master Mark said:


> ...so go ahead and slam away...


Okay...you suck. :laughing: :jester:

I don't do any better but it is more fun poking at you. :yes:


Looks better with the rotated pic.


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## Plumbtastic1 (Jul 5, 2014)

Nice info on the m12. I also have 2 of them. And have had trouble with one jamming. It was under warranty and they fixed it at no charge. But nice to see the inside isn't as intimidating as I thaught. I will be keeping it greased. Thx


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## Flyout95 (Apr 13, 2012)

Master Mark said:


> this rough in was pretty tight and I decided to use some 6 port manifolds in aquapex to get everything tied in.... the job almost made me cross eyed standing on a ladder all day long working my new expander....no leaks, drips or errors.. so go ahead and slam away.............. the floor is to the left side in the picture


I know that is code where you are at, But... Is there a way to make it look less .... Sloppy? Not saying you do sloppy work, but I've never worked with the stuff so I'm just asking...


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## Master Mark (Aug 14, 2009)

Flyout95 said:


> I know that is code where you are at, But... Is there a way to make it look less .... Sloppy? Not saying you do sloppy work, but I've never worked with the stuff so I'm just asking...


 
the only way to make it look less sloppy is to use copper.....


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## Gunnar (Jan 5, 2014)

Master Mark said:


> this rough in was pretty tight and I decided to use some 6 port manifolds in aquapex to get everything tied in.... the job almost made me cross eyed standing on a ladder all day long working my new expander....no leaks, drips or errors.. so go ahead and slam away.............. the floor is to the left side in the picture [/QUOTE .
> 
> A lil pride in your work would go along way..what a disaster


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## Master Mark (Aug 14, 2009)

Gunnar said:


> [
> 
> A lil pride in your work would go along way..what a disaster


 


apparently , you have never seen a pex disaster ...


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## wyrickmech (Mar 16, 2013)

What about this.


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## Flyout95 (Apr 13, 2012)

I'm happy we don't use the stuff... (Yet)


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## Gunnar (Jan 5, 2014)

I've seen a lot of plastic water piping look neat and clean. Wouldn't it make more sence to try and shoot for that type of work instead of showing me a picture if some other mess and basically saying it could be worse?


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## Master Mark (Aug 14, 2009)

Gunnar said:


> I've seen a lot of plastic water piping look neat and clean. Wouldn't it make more sence to try and shoot for that type of work instead of showing me a picture if some other mess and basically saying it could be worse?


 

being that all the fixtures were inside the same joyst run and it has a finished drywall ceiling, and I had a laundry drain , 2 lavatory drains all taking up the same space, that is about as tight as I was willing to make it.
. By using 2 6 port manifolds and spaceing them about 4 feet apart, I eliminated cramming about 14 tees into that joyst...for better or worse



of course, I like the other pex installation that Wykermech has posted, that looks real good with miles of room to work with , nice long runs along the bottom of the joysts, they have miles of room to work with and no restrictions like finished ceilings.... all in an unfinished basement area......with everythign spaced probably about 10 feet apart...looks goood.....

Natrually, we are not comparing apples to apples here but that is ok.... slam away....


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## wyrickmech (Mar 16, 2013)

Master Mark said:


> being that all the fixtures were inside the same joyst run and it has a finished drywall ceiling, and I had a laundry drain , 2 lavatory drains all taking up the same space, that is about as tight as I was willing to make it. . By using 2 6 port manifolds and spaceing them about 4 feet apart, I eliminated cramming about 14 tees into that joyst...for better or worse of course, I like the other pex installation that Wykermech has posted, that looks real good with miles of room to work with , nice long runs along the bottom of the joysts, they have miles of room to work with and no restrictions like finished ceilings.... all in an unfinished basement area......with everythign spaced probably about 10 feet apart...looks goood..... Natrually, we are not comparing apples to apples here but that is ok.... slam away....


 I understand where you are coming from. Not all installs can stay neat room is your biggest enemy most of the time.


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