Nice People Thread No. 15, a Cyber Summer

PasturesNew

I've returned the drill already.

LydiaJ

PasturesNew wrote: »

...Other people call these "husbands", but I've not got one of those

I agree that the "husband" model is the most convenient. I have also used the "brother" model, on the rare occasions that one has been available in this part of the country when I've happened to need to do some DIY, and once or twice a "friend" version, but mostly these days I use a "helpful builder down the road" version which is very effective but costs money.

I do various kinds of DIY myself but not drilling. Years ago when we moved into a house that had 3 phone lines. Line 1 we were going to use for personal calls. Line 2 was going to be paid for by LNE's work and only used for work purposes. Line 3 was going to be cut off. However, line 1 was connected only to the study, whereas line 2 was connected to the kitchen and bedroom. I had no trouble opening up all the little boxes on the walls and working out what to connect to where to swap them round to get the work line to ring in the study and the personal one to ring in the kitchen and bedroom. But drilling... no. Any time I have a drilling job that needs doing, it's the kind of thing that needs to be done correctly or it will mess things up, so I decide that this is not the job for me to learn drilling on, and get some more experienced driller to drill it for me, feeling all the while that I *ought* to be able to do this myself.

In other news, I am getting very bored of being ill. This is now day 16 of viral laryngitis. I am trying to be good and not talk, but this is not easy to achieve while bringing up two teenagers without another adult around the place. My efforts to stay in bed and rest keep getting interrupted by offspring needing to be driven places, or to be watched performing in various Christmas events, too.

PasturesNew

LydiaJ wrote: »

....

The trouble is that tasks don't come in isolation.

Drilling doesn't start, or end, with drilling.

How do you know you're drilling in the right/safe place?
How big/deep do you drill?
What do you fill it with?
How big a screw will be sufficient to support whatever you're drilling for ....

If one could just randomly drill a randomly sized hole and that was it, it'd be easier.

That's why my aim was to mostly get a drill with an idea of "outside jobs" on "items of no consequence". Trying to fit a couple of hooks, or maybe even a small/lightweight bracket inside the shed seemed doable. The idea of buying a random bolt, then drilling six screw holes in the gate/post then fitting a bolt, seemed achievable.

I'd never go so far as to attempt something very complex like a curtain pole, inside, where you need to know about studs and wires.

LydiaJ

PasturesNew wrote: »

The trouble is that tasks don't come in isolation.

Drilling doesn't start, or end, with drilling.

How do you know you're drilling in the right/safe place?
How big/deep do you drill?
What do you fill it with?
How big a screw will be sufficient to support whatever you're drilling for ....

If one could just randomly drill a randomly sized hole and that was it, it'd be easier.

That's why my aim was to mostly get a drill with an idea of "outside jobs" on "items of no consequence". Trying to fit a couple of hooks, or maybe even a small/lightweight bracket inside the shed seemed doable. The idea of buying a random bolt, then drilling six screw holes in the gate/post then fitting a bolt, seemed achievable.

I'd never go so far as to attempt something very complex like a curtain pole, inside, where you need to know about studs and wires.

Yes - this is exactly what I was trying to say. Thank you for putting it so clearly.

I own a drill - inherited from LNE of course - which has been used twice since he died, I think - once by my London friend, putting up shelves while visiting, and once by my brother, making holes in the back of the kitchen cabinets for pipes to go through to allow the under the counter freezer and the dishwasher to swap places in my old house. Helpful builder and friend-next-door bring their own tools. I think I could have managed the holes at the back of the cupboards myself, actually, but it was a long time ago, when I was newly single and less confident. I did install the housing for the "slide in and out" kitchen bin myself (with DD's help) on a similar "doesn't matter if I get it wrong because nobody's going to be looking at it" basis, but that was just electric screwdriver, not actual drilling.

GDB2222

PasturesNew wrote: »

Whoosh. No idea what that means


Cheers. Bookmarked.

Simples. If it says SDS on the box, don't buy it.

The one I recommended is good for ordinary drilling, but not much good for driving screws, btw.

Pyxis

PasturesNew wrote: »

The trouble is that tasks don't come in isolation.

Drilling doesn't start, or end, with drilling.

How do you know you're drilling in the right/safe place?
How big/deep do you drill?
What do you fill it with?
How big a screw will be sufficient to support whatever you're drilling for ....

If one could just randomly drill a randomly sized hole and that was it, it'd be easier.

That's why my aim was to mostly get a drill with an idea of "outside jobs" on "items of no consequence". Trying to fit a couple of hooks, or maybe even a small/lightweight bracket inside the shed seemed doable. The idea of buying a random bolt, then drilling six screw holes in the gate/post then fitting a bolt, seemed achievable.

I'd never go so far as to attempt something very complex like a curtain pole, inside, where you need to know about studs and wires.

Re. Safe place, you can get gadgets that will tell you if there's metal behind the spot on the wall where you're going to drill, which means it's a cable or a pipe, although in a fairly new house like yours, the location of such things should be easy to work out.

How big? You match the drill bit to the screw size.
How deep? You mark the length of the screw on the drill bit...when that mark is going into the wall, it's deep enough.

You fill it with a rawlplug to suit the size of the screw. (The right size rawlplug always looks a lot bigger than the screw for it.)

The screw size for the thing to be supported.......No hard and fast rule, I guess. If in doubt, use a bigger one!


Another thing to consider, particularly in newer houses, is whether the wall is solid wall or a stud partition with a gap. If the latter, you need special rawlplugs for that type of wall, otherwise the rawlplug and screw will just fall down into the gap.



It's much, much easier drilling into wood.
You don't even really need a drill for softwood, just an auger to make the hole, unless it's for a really long screw.
Or you can use a handdrill.

PasturesNew

I've been in the wide awake club all night, so decided to try to start to look into who Mary's parents were... so I looked at the LDS parish registers for that parish and there were four contenders.

So now I'm back to 1660.

GDB2222

PasturesNew wrote: »

I bought an electric/cordless screwdriver from Lidl.... used it a few times but I've chewed up the heads by choosing/using the wrong size. Trouble is, you put one in and try it - and if it's the wrong size it wrecks the bit and the screw and it's already too late

The screwdriver bits get worn out in normal use, anyway. Why not buy a set of drills and screwdrivers, like this one?

http://www.argos.co.uk/product/4148573

ukmaggie45

Pastures, you might find a Dremel drill the right one for driling your shells etc.

chris_m

PasturesNew wrote: »

Ah, I thought bits would pretty much last for life - or at least last more than 1-2 uses.
That's more bits than I'd expect to use in 10 lifetimes! Blimey.... had no idea there could be so many sizes!

The biggest problem with screwdriver bits is not so much the size as the number of (slightly) different shapes of the cross-head type - some of which appear to fit the screw fine, until you apply plenty of torque and find that the damned thing slips and mashes the screw head because it wasn't the right one after all.