Tom Builds Stuff: 2014

Lock Back Utility Knives are Stupid

Over the past few years lock back utility knives have been gaining in popularity.They look cool because they look like pocket knives but I just don't find them as easy to use or as safe as traditional retracting utility knives.

Most guys had pocket knives since they were kids. At least I know I did. Locking pocket knives are great because they keep the blade locked open so it doesn't accidentally close on your fingers. But you don't use utility knives like you do pocket knives.

When I first saw them I thought they looked cool too and bought one but it's not the first utility knife I grab when I have a choice.

Just think of how you normally use a utility knife. You're working on a project, maybe hanging or repairing drywall, trimming edge banding, cutting boxes for recycling, etc. In the middle of doing that, you need to cut something so you reach in your pocket or tool belt, pull out your utility knife, slide the blade up, make your cut, slide the blade back then put the knife away where you got it from. The whole thing happens very quickly using only one hand. Leaving your other hand free to hold the drywall square or measuring tape in place for example.

With a lock back utility knife you need to stop what you're doing, use two hands to open up the knife (some knives and some users can manage to open the knife with one hand) make the cut and then stop again to use two hands to close the knife before you put it away. What happens when your other hand isn't free to close the knife. Well, you probably just put the knife down somewhere safer than your pocket while it's still open or risk cutting yourself when you move around or use the knife again.

A utility knife is a tool that's supposed to make your job easier, not harder. Lock back utility knives do the opposite but look cool. You know what's really cool? Not having to stop working so you can open and close your shiny knife!

The lock back knife isn't even the coolest type of knife out there. Why not a butterfly utility knife? At least with some practice you can open and close it with one hand. Although if you hang Sheetrock for a living you'll probably give yourself carpel tunnel opening and closing it like that all the time. Or how about making a switchblade style utility knife with a retracting blade? Oh wait! That's what we had and it works great!

If you want to make a utility knife better and safer it should:

Open and close easy with one hand
Fast and easy blade changes
Store extra blades so you don't have to worry about poor cuts
Have space to safely store used blades for proper disposal

That's it.

American Standard Dual Injection Flush Valves Review

Tomorrow a new High Efficiency 1.28 gallon per flush toilet is going to be available for sale on HomeDepot.com from American Standard that features a Dual Injection Flush Valves which give it great flushing power. The Optum VorMax is the first toilet to feature this new flushing system. I installed one about 2 weeks ago and I wanted to let you guys know about it.

Is the Gerber Groundbreaker Multitool Worth the Price?

The Gerber Groundbreaker is more than just a pair of wire strippers. It's a multi-tool that in addition to being a multifunction wire stripper has plier tips, a hammering surface, a utility knife, a drywall saw and a multi-tip screwdriver. It comes with a sheath that hooks onto your belt that can also carry some other tools. It's not cheap. MSRP is $144 and as of right now it's selling for about $125 at Home Depot. At first I thought it was a little unnecessary but the more I've used it the more I appreciate having all the tools right where I need them.

This past weekend I was installing a couple of wireless switches that work in conjunction with my garage door opener. A fairly simple project and not the first time I used the Groundbreaker but it's the first project that unexpectedly required me to use much of the extra features of the Groundbreaker.

First, the switches came in that annoying plastic packaging that needs to be cut open and I used the Groundbreaker's utility knife to do that. I needed to strip a ground pigtail to connect it to the switches and the grounded outlet box. Always need pliers when doing electrical work and the Groundbreaker's plier jaws and wire bending loops worked perfectly. The switches have a wire antenna that needs to be fed down the wall and I was able to use the drywall saw on the Groundbreaker to slightly enlarge the wall opening around the bottom of the outlet box to feed the antennas through. The only thing I didn't use was the hammering surface. I really tried to think of a way to use them on the project too.

The saw, driver and utility knife are located on the handles and can be used with the handles still on the Groundbreaker. If you find that a little too cumbersome for some work, the handles are removable.

More importantly. Everything was right on my belt within easy reach when I needed it. I didn't have to waste time running around looking for a half dozen different tools that are in various locations as I realized I'd need them. Seems like have the time I work on any DIY projects I'm running up and down stairs or out to the garage looking for a tool.

Not only the tools that are part of the Groundbreaker but other tools that are important when doing electrical work. A loop on the bottom of the sheath can hold a couple of rolls of electrical tape. A tool holder on the right can hold a screwdriver or a pencil and the pocket on the left is the perfect size for my Milwaukee Non-Contact Voltage Detector. In addition to being a voltage tester it has a little flashlight on it so I could have a good look inside the box when I needed to. I also keep a philips head screwdriver in the pouch but I use the Groundbreaker's screwdriver for slotted screws.

Everything I need to do some electrical work around the house is right there in one place ready to go when I need it. The belt loop unsnaps so you don't even have to take off your belt and a flap on the back of the sheath slips in your back pocket so it doesn't flap around as you move.

This is how I normally keep the Groundbreaker sheath set up. Non-contact voltage detector in one pocket, philips screwdriver in the other, a pencil in the main pouch and a roll of electrical tape on the loop. It's always ready to go.

But still.... It's expensive. At first look I thought it was neat but I don't think I would spend that much for it. As luck would have it, I needed a new set of wire strippers at the same time the Groundbreaker was made available to me for free so I could review it. The more I used it the more I appreciated the multitool aspects of it over individual tools. It has saved me quite a bit of time. So let's look at what it would take to create a Groundbreaker experience with individual tools and how much it will cost.

Multifunction Strippers $22.76 -- The Klein 1001 Multipurpose Electrician's Tool has similar features to the Groundbreaker as far as wire stripping, cutting, terminal screw cutting and crimping goes.

Pliers $29 -- Klein Tools 9" High Leverage Side Cutting Pliers.

Screwdriver $16.99 --Milwaukee 10-in-1 ECX Multibit screwdriver.

Utility Knife $5.97 -- Stanley Quick-Change Retracting Utility Knife.

Drywall Saw $7.97 -- Milwaukee 6" Fixed Jab Saw

Pouch $29.98 -- Dead On Tools HDP222496 Electricians Professional Pouch

Total: $112.95

The price of the Gerber Groundbreaker doesn't seem too high anymore when you compare it to individual tools of similar quality. Plus you get everything in a smaller package that doesn't take up a lot of space or weight on your belt, toolbox or drawer.

For me, I just like having a small compact set of tools I can grab and go when I occasionally need to do electrical work. I don't know about you but I've tried to set up individual tool kits in the past and it never pans out. If I did build the electrical tool kit above it wouldn't be long before everything went missing. If I needed a utility knife, screwdriver, pliers, or drywall saw and my electrical pouch was closer than other tool kits, I'd grab it from there. Slowly the tools would make their way to other areas and tool storage cases, defeating the whole purpose of being able to grab one set of tools quickly to get the job done fast.

Is the Groundbreaker worth the high price? Yes in my opinion.

At first I thought the Groundbreaker was overpriced and a bit gimmicky. The more I've used it the more practical I realize it is. It's also a very well made tool with a Lifetime Limited Warranty. Gerber is one of Fiskar's brands. You probably know them from the high quality scissors and outdoor cutting equipment they make.

See more info and current pricing at HomeDepot.com.

Kreg Rip-Cut™ Rip Fence Mod

Instructions for modifying the Kreg Rip-Cut™ to attach circular saws using their rip fence slot that otherwise wouldn't fit.

I noticed a lot of links to my plans being posted on Kreg's social media streams and I contacted them to say thanks for being so generous with their links by asking them if the would send me a review sample of their Rip-Cut™ . Yeah, twisted logic but as luck would have it they were coming out with a new version and were happy to oblige. I'll be posting a full review later on but I wanted to address a problem I had getting a couple of my saws to work with the Rip-Cut, a cordless circular saw and a worm drive saw, and how I solved it.

The Problem

With a standard sidewinder saw the Rip-Cut worked well but I was hoping to use a couple of my newer saws with it. My Bosch CSW41 Worm Drive Saw and my Milwaukee M18 Fuel 18-Volt Cordless Circular Saw both have narrow shoes (base plates) that don't allow the Base Plate Lock Downs to hold the saw base securely. On the Bosch CSW41 the bevel gauge completely blocks one side where one of the Lock Downs would go. On the Milwaukee Cordless Circular saw I can somewhat get it clamped down but not securely and the back of the saw lifts up off the sled.

Both these saws have magnesium shoes that have a bevel in the front that aids with plunge cuts. With the Milwaukee M18 the set screw on at least one of the lock downs would be over this bevel and the pressure from the screw over the bevel would make the angle act as a pivot point raising the back of the saw up. Here's how the screws should attach to these types of saws.

If you notice in the picture, the lock down in the back is actually on the edge of the shoe and not the flat part of the base in the middle. If I tightened it down it would put pressure on the part over the bevel. I tried using different combinations of using the 4 available holes for the lock downs. The only one that "worked" was having both lock downs on one side but that didn't give the saw much stability and it would rock a bit side to side on the base.

The Solution

Both my Milwaukee M18 Cordless Circular Saw and Bosch CSW41 Worm Drive Saws come equipped with a slot for a rip guide so I went about making an attachment that would slide into this rip guide slot which I could then bolt it down to the Kreg Rip-Cut Sled Base.

So far it's providing a more stable attachment to the base but the usual disclaimers apply. Know what you're doing and use at your own risk as these modifications were not supplied by either the saw manufacturers or Kreg.

What You'll Need

Components are pretty simple and I was able to pick them all up at a trip to my local Home Depot. I wound up using longer bolts because I wasn't sure of the exact size needed and used regular nuts instead of wing nuts but the materials list below indicates the more appropriate choices.

Materials

1/2 in. 36 in. Plain Steel Flat Bar with 1/8 in. Thick although in hindsight I probably should have bought the aluminum flat bar to avoid any future rust issues. The 1/2" x 1/8" thick was the perfect size for the Milwaukee saw. The Bosch CSW41 accepts a wider rip fence but I was able to get the 1/2" wide flat bar to work.
#8-32 x 1-1/2 in. Phillips-Slotted Round-Head Machine Screws (6-Pack) 2 per saw
#8-32 Wing Nut (6 pack) You'll need 2 per saw

Tools

Drill with 9/64" drill bit
Hacksaw
pencil or marker

Step 1: Cut Flat Bar To Length

The length of the flat bar isn't that critical but it should be at least as long as the width of the Rip-Cut Sled which is 6-1/2". For simplicity I just clamped the flat bar on the sled using the lock downs to mark it before cutting it with a hacksaw. I wound up cutting mine at about 7" to give me some extra room.

Step 2: Mark and Drill First Hole

Lay the flat bar you just cut on the bottom of the sled and mark the location for the first hole. It should lie directly in the middle of the valley between the plastic ribs as indicated by the arrow. I was just eyeballing it which is why I cut the bar a little long.

Step 3: Drill First Hole and Mark Second Location

Drill the first hole and slide one of the bolts into the hole. Place the bar and bolt on the bottom of the sled so the head of the screw is in between the two plastic ribs on one side. #8 screws fit perfectly in this spot which is why I went with them.

With the screw head keeping the bar in place, mark the location for the second hole to be drilled and then drill the hole at your mark.

After you've drilled the hole, make sure you can slide both heads in between the plastic ribs on the bottom of the sled.

Step 4: Place Saw On Sled

Follow the instructions that came with the Rip-Cut as far as positioning the saw on the base. It's important that the blade guide is free to move up and down without any obstruction. Also leave some room on each side for the bolts. Secure the saw with one of the Lock Downs. (With the M18 I was only able to get one screw on the right side.)

Slide the flat bar through the slot for the rip fence so that the holes line up in the center of the ribs and tighten it down making sure that the bar is pressed firmly toward the front of the saw. This is especially important if the bar is narrower than the slot as is the case with my worm drive saw.

Please forgive the angle of the drill in the next photo. I haven't mastered holding a drill in my left hand while trying to take a picture at an awkward angle. Drill a hole through the holes in the bar so that they land in the middle of the ribs, just make sure you hold the drill bit straight up and down. If necessary, just mark the location and drill the holes after you remove the saw if it prevents you from getting the drill straight.

Repeat this process for other saws you might want to use with the Rip Cut.

Step 5: Secure the saw with bolts and Wing Nuts

Slide the bolts in from underneath the sled, making sure the heads of the bolts do not stick out past the ribs of the sled base.

As I mentioned previously, you'll want to use shorter bolts and wing nuts for quick removal but this is what the end product looks like with my Bosch CSW41 Worm Drive Saw on the Kreg Rip-Cut

With the Milwaukee M18 Cordless saw, there's a part of the blade guard that sticks out too much to get the saw far enough to the right to get both bolts on but even just one bolt provides sufficient stability combined with the full force of 1 lock down and partial force from the other.

Now I can use the Kreg Rip-Cut with my two favorite saws and I'll be posting a full review soon with some details on the changes.

Temporary DIY Cold Frame Plans

Free woodworking plans to build DIY Cold Frames. The cold frames are easy to take apart so you can put them away when you're not using them. Great idea if you have limited growing space and want to start seeds outdoors earlier or extend your growing season.

Set them up in your vegetable garden in early spring when it's still too cold to plant outside and you don't have room or lights to start indoors. When the fear of frost is gone, you can remove the cold frames and stack them up neatly in your garage or shed. Don't take up much space at all.

Check out the DIY Cold Frame plans from OrganicLawnDIY.com.

The Concrete Mixing Bag Rocks!

I needed to mix about 10 bags cement mix for a small concrete slab and used the Concrete Mixing Bag to do so. I don't have a wheelbarrow or large mixing tub and transporting a small rented cement mixer would be a hassle. The Cement Mixing Bag worked out great and was about half the price of a large mixing tub.

I didn't think to take any pictures or video at the time and the whole process was a little wet but it was fairly clean and easy.

The Concrete Mixing Bag is just a large, thick plastic bag and a hook and loop strap to close the top. You just cut open your cement mix bag, place the Concrete Mixing Bag over the top, flip it over, add water, close the top and rock it back and forth. Here's a video showing how to use it.

Some of my tips:

Dust does come out of the bag when you lift up the cement mix's bag so it's a good idea to wear respiratory protection.
Tie it as high as you can so you have a lot of room to mix.
Bend the bag opening forward while you're rocking the bag so that if any liquid does come out it doesn't shoot onto you, especially your face.
If you don't rinse the Cement Mixing Bag out between bags your arms will get cement on them as you remove the next bag so you might want to wear something that covers your arms. Cement is very alkaline and can burn your skin so it's better to rinse the bag out between bags of mix.
Mix as close to your pour as possible.
A dry mix takes longer to mix than a wet one but provides greater strength in your concrete. Aim for the mix recommended on the cement mix bags.
Can handle up to 80lb bags of cement mix but the 60lb bags are easier to mix and pour.
If you quickly rock the bag so the cement gets thrown from side to side it mixes faster but takes more effort. Rolling it with your hands lower to the ground and letting the cement fall from side to side is easier but takes longer.
After you rock from both sides, kneed the middle a little to make sure it's not dry.

The bag is reusable and I read one person used it for 200 bags.. Just rinse it out with a hose and let it dry. Folds up so it doesn't take up a lot of space.

The instructions are simple and come with different recommendations for the amount of water to add. I found the "ideal" recommendations had more water than what was recommended by the concrete mix. The "Dry" recommendation was fairly close to what the mix suggested. Here are the instructions for reference.

I ordered the Cement Mixing Bag from Amazon because I couldn't find it sold anywhere locally. Cost less than $8 and I got it in 2 days with my free Prime shipping. If you buy a lot from Amazon and like to stream movies and tv shows online the Prime membership is well worth it.

Tips For Making Cabinets Square With A Circular Saw

Reader question on how to get square cabinets when cutting plywood with a circular saw and what to do when your cabinets aren't square. A lot of good information on how to buy a circular saw for cutting plywood too.

A couple of days ago I received the following email from Catherine regarding cabinets that aren't square.

Hi,

I just found your site and love it. I'm new to woodworking and want to know what tools you use keep boxes square? I see a lot of 90 degree clamps out there and wonder if you recommend any of them? Also, what do you do if your project isn't square? How can you adjust it? Say a cabinet or bookcase for example.

Thank you, Catherine

In a follow up email I found out she's cutting her plywood with a circular saw and guide with pocket screw joinery. Since this is how I also cut my plywood I'm very familiar with the problems. There are four main problems that can cause your cabinets to not be square. In this article I'll discuss what causes cabinets to not be square as well as how to prevent them. At the end I'll discuss what to do when things don't line up square.

I had planned to write a separate guide on how to buy a circular saw but Catherine's question brings up a lot of the points I wanted to address so I'm including that here.

Organizing Cable Clutter

Some helpful tips on how to organize cables around your computer desk, entertainment system and other parts of your home.

Sadly, that's an actual picture of what's lurking under my desk. What's even sadder is that's just one small portion of the mess and it repeats itself in other parts of my home. (I won't mention the peanut I had to crop out so you don't think I'm a complete slob!)

I need a lot of different peripherals and even though I have good WiFi equipment as more people in the area use WiFi it's difficult to maintain speeds good enough to stream full HD video to other computers and TVs. I've bought new access points, built antenna boosters and still have to scan and switch channels from time to time. Wired ain't tired! (fake TM)

It's one of the big reasons I'm trying to plan a structured home wiring project. It would get a lot of the cables I have by my computer, and other areas, moved to a central location.

Probably the worst part of the photo is all the dust and pet hair. It's dark down there so I normally can't even tell. I try and vacuum but it's just so hard with that mess. There is definitely no 5-second rule if I drop a snack while at the computer! Partly because it just disappears into the void.

When I have to replace a cord, upgrade a device or try to plug something new in it takes me more time than it should. Over the years I've tried improving my cable management by using different things I had laying around but now it's time to do things right and this is how I'm going about it.

DIY Wall Mount Rack For Patch Panels

Free woodworking plans to build your own 19" wall mount rack for patch panels for your home structured wiring project.

Having the patch panels of your structured wiring installed in a rack instead is a little neater and in my opinion looks better than using smaller standoffs like wall mounts. The patch panels that have a little plastic bracket that attaches to the wall are not full 19" width. At least the one's I've seen anyway like this Intellinet 12-Port Cat6 Wall-mount Patch Panel . If you need more than 12 ports that means you're going to have to mount more than 1 of them and they're not much cheaper than getting a single 1U 24 port patch panel. I'm considering these Cable Matters 1U 24-Port Cat6 Unshielded Patch Panels because they have the plastic arm in the back that can support the cables.

You just need some way to mount the patch panels to your plywood structured media panel. In this article I'll provide plans for building a simple 7U wall mount rack for patch panels and as a bonus a simple 2U hinged bracket.

Homemade Wire Caddy

Free plans to build a simple, cheap yet effective wire caddy to help pull and store cables.

While planning my structured wiring project I wanted an way to easily pull cable bundles. When professional cable contractors come and pull data cables they show up with a bunch of cable in pull boxes. When they need to pull a bundle, they set up their boxes and pull one cable from each. Whatever is left over gets used for the next job.

If you're running structured wiring in your home... there is no next job. You may buy 2 or 3 1000' boxes of Cat6 for example. What do you do when you want to pull 6 or more cables in a single bundle?

How Many Cables Can You Pull Through A Hole?

A guide to help figure out how many cables you can pull through a hole to help you plan your structured wiring project.

I'd like to run new cables for TV, phone and network and I came up with this little chart that might help you figure out how many telecom cables you can pull through a hole. It includes Cat3 2-pair, Cat3 4-pair, Cat5 4-pair, Cat5e 4-pair, Cat6 4-pair, RG59 and RG6 Quad Shield in various sized holes.

How To Wire RJ45 Patch Panels For Home Phone Lines

You can create flexible, multi-line telephone wiring using Cat5 or Cat6 RJ45 patch panels. Here's some tips on how to wire RJ45 patch panels for telephone wiring.

Home networks are becoming more important and many people are adding structured wiring for high speed data lines in their existing homes or new construction to be able to transport large files such as video and backups quickly. While adding these new data lines it's a good time to rewire your outdated home telephone wiring too!

It's common to use a 66 block or 110 block for analog phone lines but it seemed a bit complicated to do what I wanted. You can create a simple switch board to help you manage multiple analog phone lines using the same RJ45 patch panels you're using for your Cat6 data lines.

You can have multiple lines per room and easily change which lines go to which rooms. You can have as many or as few incoming phone lines as you need but for this tutorial I'm going to assume there are 4 incoming phone lines. Let's say one main house voice line, 1 line for a home office plus 1 fax line and another line for an older kid's room.

I spent half this past weekend trying to find info on how to do what I wanted without much luck. After I figured out how best to wire telephones using Cat6 patch panels I decided to post it here so I don't forget and incase anyone else finds it useful.

If you don't have a need to regularly switch around your phone lines have a look at my posts on how to wire a 66 block and how to wire a residential 110 block. If you want something very simple use a Leviton Phone Distribution Panel which was very quick and easy to install.

DIY Server Rack Plans

Free woodworking plans for an open frame or enclosed 20U Server Rack for home or small office.

I have a few rack mount servers that I use for testing and development. These days home servers are becoming more popular. Everything from storage servers, home theater servers, home automation and more are making their way into people's homes and having a rack mount enclosure helps fit all those servers neatly in one spot.

Every so often I look into purchasing a rack to put them in but even used they're not cheap. A new half height, no frills open rack cabinet (like this Tripp Lite SR4POST25 25U 4-Post Open Frame Rack Cabinet) sells for a few hundred dollars. Enclosed racks are around $1,000.

Out of curiosity I wanted to see what it would take to build my own so I designed and priced out a 20U server rack. 20U is more than most people will need for a home server rack but I chose that height because it puts the top at a comfortable position as a standing desk. You can place a monitor, keyboard and mouse hooked up to a KVM switch to have direct console access.

Pricing wasn't too bad. Materials for an enclosed 20U server rack came out to just under $400. For an open rack it was only about $100 including casters. Much cheaper than buying a server enclosure. Here's what I came up with if anyone is interested.

DIY Table Top Photo Studio Plans

Every so often I try to get rid of things I don't need any more by selling them on Ebay or Craigslist. I've found that having good photos helps items sell faster and get better prices so I made this little table top light box to take better product photos. It was made mostly of things I had lying around. Here are plans to build one yourself.

How To Add An In-Desk USB Hub To Your Desktop

I've been trying to design a new desk/office for a long time but am never quite happy with it. One feature I know I'm going to want in my custom desk is a built-in USB Hub. Instead of waiting around until I have the perfect plan and time to build it I decided to purchase a 3" Belkin In-Desk USB Hub (model F5U402-03IN-KIT) while I was upgrading my PC and add it to my current desk.

I decided to mount the In-Desk Hub to the return of my desk. It solves a couple of problems I was having. First, it obviously gives me additional USB ports which are easy to access for the times I need to plug-in a thumb drive, camera, charge my bluetooth headset, etc. without having to reach around to the back of my computer. Second, it acts as a traditional desk grommet which allows me to run some cables from peripherals on top of my desk return to my computer chassis underneath it. I've been trying to be neater with my cable management.

The 3" In-Desk USB Hub kit comes with a 3" grommet, 4 port powered USB Hub that fits in the desk grommet, USB cable and power adapter.

The USB Hub will work without the power adapter being pulled and just off of the power from the USB port you connect it to. For devices that draw more energy, such as external hard drives, you can choose to plug in the Hub.

Belkin also makes a smaller 2" In-Desk USB Hub that fits into a 2" hole. It only has 3 USB ports but still has holes on the side to run cables.

I chose the Belkin because I've used their products in the past and have always been pleased. I saw another model that also

What You'll Need

Materials

3" Belkin In-Desk Hub (or 2" In-Desk Hub)
Labels

Tools

Drill
3" Hole Saw bit (or 2" if using 2" hub)

Step 1: Make the Hole

Start by determining where you would like to mount the USB hub in your desk top. The location should be convenient and not in the way of other items you plan on putting on this area of your desk. Also check underneath the desk to make sure there are no obstructions to interfere with the installation or cables.

Use the hole saw in your drill and make the hole. If possible it's best to start the hole from underneath but don't cut all the way through. Once the drill bit portion of the hole saw emerges on the desk top, stop drilling, pull out the hole saw and finish up the hole from the top. This will give you a cleaner cut. If you just drill from the top, like I did, the hole has some imperfections along the edge but these will be covered up by the grommet.

Step 2: Install the Grommet

Next, slide the grommet into the hole. It wasn't fitting very tight for me so I cut up a wide rubber band into 4 pieces and positioned them in the hole before sliding the grommet in to get a tighter fit.

There are a couple of indentations around the rim of the grommet. These need to be orientated so they are at the 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock positions. You can make minor adjustments from underneath after the hub is installed.

Step 3: Prepare Hub

It's much easier to feed the cables from the top than trying to make the connections from the bottom. Before mounting the USB hub in the grommet I attached the USB and power cables to the bottom of the hub. With the 3" Hub you can slide the power adapter through the grommet but I'm not sure if you can with the 2" version.

I also like to label the adapter and end of the USB cable. It makes it easier to make changes in the future.

Step 4: Insert Hub Into Grommet

Carefully fish the power adapter and USB cable through the grommet then slide the USB Hub into the grommet. There are two tabs on the hub that fit into the left and right indents on the grommet. Once you have inserted the hub's tabs into these indents, twist the hub clockwise to lock it in place.

If you're grommet isn't tight you may need to hold the bottom of the grommet from underneath.

Next just plug the hub into a free USB port on the back of your computer and the power adapter into an outlet and you're set. Remember, the power adapter is optional. If you're not going to be using devices that require a lot of power you don't need to plug it in.