Considering these definitions, a power tool, loosely defined, is anything used as a means of accomplishing a task using mechanical energy.

All power tools use mechanical energy to accomplish tasks that would otherwise be difficult or even impossible to accomplish by hand.

Now think about all the jobs that we are able to accomplish with power tools. There are fun ones like being able to change a tire on a race car in 4.3 seconds! Try that with a tire iron and see how it works out for you! How about loosening head bolts on a Cat D9? Let's see, if you use a 1" breaker bar with a 10' long piece of pipe on it with two BIG guys you should be able to break those loose in nothing flat! How about porting and polishing a Harley-Davidson racing motor to increase horsepower? Sounds like a great job for a mini die grinder with ultra-fine carbide burrs.

There are also less "fun" jobs that we need to be able to do every day that power tools make easier. Cutting, grinding, drilling, tightening, loosening, screwing, sawing, chipping, bending, flaring, polishing, buffing, the list goes on and on. The point is, life as a technician would be a whole lot more difficult without the power tools that have become such a large part of day-to-day life in the shop.

Power tools come in lots of different flavors, colors, shapes and sizes. The trick is deciding how to pick the right tool for the right job. As mu...