Tools you wish you'd bought sooner...

[dickymint]

Northernboy said:

JimbobVFR said:

Back in the day when I was a spark and still using NiMh I did have 3 chargers on timer plugs but I'm not convinced it's worth it for modern L-ion batteries.

I think that you’re right. If they are going to be unused for a while then leaving them at 80-90% is probably fine.

Give them a top-up for twenty minutes before using.

Agreed as Li-ion batteries shouldn't be stored at 100%

[Bodo]

dickymint said:

Northernboy said:

JimbobVFR said:

Back in the day when I was a spark and still using NiMh I did have 3 chargers on timer plugs but I'm not convinced it's worth it for modern L-ion batteries.

I think that you’re right. If they are going to be unused for a while then leaving them at 80-90% is probably fine.

Give them a top-up for twenty minutes before using.

Agreed as Li-ion batteries shouldn't be stored at 100%

Some manuals recommend to keep them between 40% and 60% when storing for longer. From my experience they hold their charge well; ie. only use 5% per year if unused.

[Sporky]

I just got one of the auto-retract hose reels recommended several pages ago. It's ace. I'd not realised how much I begrudged winding the old one up until I didn't have to do it. I went for the Gardena 35m one thinking it'd be way over the top, but it goes to the far end of the garden with about three winds of hose left on it. Now I "need" some of those hose guides to go around the corners of the house neatly...

Edited by Sporky on Tuesday 29th June 18:58

[paulrockliffe]

Northernboy said:

paulrockliffe said:

Yes I can, but it was much easier to find a file that works than to find my battery and measure it to work out what to scale it up to.

Done 3 Makita mounts and now I'm printing a couple of Dewalt ones for my Dad.

Was it mm/inch difference?

I think not, the object was tiny, but I simply deleted the file and found another one that would just work.

[lowdrag]

Sporky said:

I just got one of the auto-retract hose reels recommended several pages ago. It's ace. I'd not realised how much I begrudged winding the old one up until I didn't have to do it. I went for the Gardena 3m one thinking it'd be way over the top, but it goes to the far end of the garden with about three winds of hose left on it. Now I "need" some of those hose guides to go around the corners of the house neatly...

I hve one acre here, so I bought two 40 metre Hoselock reels and I would advise against. If you go to the limit they will leak inside the drum, and will not, after a while fully retract. If you go for Hoselock, limit yourself to a 30 metre one. Mind you 3 metres is not really necessary, is it?

[Sporky]

It may be shocking to learn that I mistyped 35m.

[Baldchap]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

And pushbikes.

[Northernboy]

I bought the welder and plunge saw from Lidl, both of which are now filling the boot of my SL.

I don’t have the first idea how or what to weld.

I’ve a garden stove where line of the seams is cracked, is that the sort of thing it’s designed for?

[marksx]

Impact driver and cordless jigsaw How have I done so much work without them in the past!

[Jonboy_t]

Northernboy said:

I bought the welder and plunge saw from Lidl, both of which are now filling the boot of my SL.

I don’t have the first idea how or what to weld.

I’ve a garden stove where line of the seams is cracked, is that the sort of thing it’s designed for?

Plunge saw - for wood
Welder - for steel (mild, not stainless.)
Garden stove - probably iron. Can be welded, but v v v difficult and not with one from Lidl!

Get some thick mild steel offcuts (> 5mm) off eBay/local merchant, cut some random 1-2mm thick channels out of it with an angle grinder and try to fill them up with the welder until you get a straight line and a nice seam. It’ll take a while, but good fun and good practice.

[Northernboy]

Jonboy_t said:

Plunge saw - for wood
Welder - for steel (mild, not stainless.)
Garden stove - probably iron. Can be welded, but v v v difficult and not with one from Lidl!

Get some thick mild steel offcuts (> 5mm) off eBay/local merchant, cut some random 1-2mm thick channels out of it with an angle grinder and try to fill them up with the welder until you get a straight line and a nice seam. It’ll take a while, but good fun and good practice.

Thanks. It’d be nice to think that come the apocalypse / robot wars / scrap heap challenge I can manage a nice weld.

[Du1point8]

Ok I need a bit of assistance here...

Have an old Bosch PSB 550 impact drill.

I now have 2 new tasks thanks to the carpenter I was using, letting me down, drilling the skirting in plaster/masonry (kind of like breezeblock) and I have to finish the window sill bull nosing.

So that means I need to get a combo drill set (2 drills etc) that's not too over the top as my impact is more wood and screwdriver and sod all else and a router.

So can anyone recommend 2 drills (in combo set) and said router that is not going to break the bank and is semi-decent, my go-to place is Screwfix but they seem to have stopped the dual sets for some reason.

[Fentalogue chic]

Impact driver and a drill, or an SDS and a normal drill? I have a Makita router, was under £100 but does lengths of skirting no problem - a pro would probably need a better one.
Remember that whatever you buy you are pretty much stuck with that brand...

[S6PNJ]

Fentalogue chic said:

...
Remember that whatever you buy you are pretty much stuck with that brand...

only if battery powered - if mains, no problems!! (except length of lead, getting tangled etc etc)

[Fentalogue chic]

Everything is cordless now. My kitchen sink is at the end of my garden and pipeless, I just slot in a Makita water battery and a Makita cordless drain, all sorted.

[Mr Pointy]

A number of posters have recommended FFX:
https://www.ffx.co.uk/

You need to decide mains or battery & then Makita/DeWalt/Ryobi/Milwaukee etc. Ryobi stuff is pretty good for most DIY use.

[S6PNJ]

Fentalogue chic said:

Everything is cordless now.

Hmm, you might be onto something there - my WiFi is cordless, my radio reception is cordless as is my TV reception, my car is cordless (but not battery powered )

[Du1point8]

Mr Pointy said:

A number of posters have recommended FFX:
https://www.ffx.co.uk/

You need to decide mains or battery & then Makita/DeWalt/Ryobi/Milwaukee etc. Ryobi stuff is pretty good for most DIY use.

Used them before and I supposed I don't mind, which corded and cordless are recommended? I'm running everything corded at the moment so don't have a brand loyalty.

[blueST]

Du1point8 said:

Ok I need a bit of assistance here...

Have an old Bosch PSB 550 impact drill.

I now have 2 new tasks thanks to the carpenter I was using, letting me down, drilling the skirting in plaster/masonry (kind of like breezeblock) and I have to finish the window sill bull nosing.

So that means I need to get a combo drill set (2 drills etc) that's not too over the top as my impact is more wood and screwdriver and sod all else and a router.

So can anyone recommend 2 drills (in combo set) and said router that is not going to break the bank and is semi-decent, my go-to place is Screwfix but they seem to have stopped the dual sets for some reason.

Probably can’t get this in a set together, but the Milwaukee M12 Fuel SDS is a brilliant little drill for masonry. It’s compact, not too heavy and I’ve recently done some 12mm in rock-hard concrete with no trouble. Don’t be put off by it being the 12v range. The only thing it lack is a breaker function, but I don’t miss it, If you could get that along with the M12 Fuel combi drill and a couple of 6.0 batteries you’d have a great set up.

[mickk]

Fentalogue chic said:

Everything is cordless now. My kitchen sink is at the end of my garden and pipeless, I just slot in a Makita water battery and a Makita cordless drain, all sorted.

Won't be long the Makita coffee machine is supposed to be great.