Onoff

Seen a few basements in commercial buildings where they've tried to seal around pipe and cable entries with it. Water just pi$$es in. Might be a water table/pressure thing but it's failed every time.

Think my first ever pipe cutter was Wickes, then a couple of Forge Steel ones and the odd really naff pound shop one! A bad workman etc.....

I do follow up with wire wool tbh but am fastidious about having no burrs. Knife is so much better than this 3 bladed Monument thing. I find with the knife I can take off the burr in almost a continuous strip of swarf.

Now with steel conduit I always use a proper deburring tool or tbh a pair of pliers if they're handier! But copper pipe. Up until now I've always used the tip of a Stanley blade. Never got on with those wedge shaped ones on the side of pipe cutters. Today I thought I'd treat myself to a "proper" pipe deburrer. One of those Monument, red plastic,double ended things that supposedly do 3-32mm internal & external. £7 I think it was in Electricfix. Well, what a POS! Going back to the knife! What do others use?

I was recently looking for "cheap" for the kid's treehouse spiral staircase treads and ended up with Sfix No Nonsense Wood Treatment in Dark Brown. Quite impressed tbh. Quite tarry going on and good coverage. Almost black:

+1 on the Bedec. I did in fact enthuse about it in Barney's thread: Bedec covers like nothing I've ever seen but I'm still not sure if it sits on top or penetrates. Saying that there's a half timber clad place along the road from me been up circa 25 years now. I knew the original owner / builder who was an architect. He put me onto Sadolin way back when. I went off of it mainly because of the drying time. Anyway, the wood on the place still looks pristine.

What's the black stuff Barney12 used on his workshop / bat roost? Looks really good.

The Screwfix case is great. I've topped it up on occasion with the Goldscrew Plus stuff when they've run out of the "normal" ones. Left the catches off a couple of times and dropped the lot! First time I managed to convince the youngest it was a game to sort them back into sizes but she's wise to it now! This is that Lidl set.....comes in a case. See how the drill bit flutes are weird: I tend to leave a PZ2 bit and holder along with a countersink bit in my Screwfix case. Also got a few of these type scattered around: http://www.toolsandfishing.co.uk/4-pce-pilot-drill-countersink--screwsink-drill-bit-set-792085-8562-p.asp

Bought a set from Lidl the other day. Parkside brand. Very unusual flute form on the drill but they seem to work.....

I use these to hold laminated A3s: http://www.ryman.co.uk/ryman-ring-binder-a3-landscape

My only contribution to the discussion is that I usually pilot EVERY hole still except when using plasterboard screws or SPAX flooring screws which are just amazingly designed things IMHO. 6x100 Goldscrews from S'fix - 5mm (long series) pilot. 5mm screws, 4mm pilot and so on. I countersink too. I don't generally hold with all this self cutting / no splitting spiel. In Contiboard or MDF edges I think a pilot is an absolute must to stop swelling/splitting.

That would have been about 30 years ago then!

Emailed just now!

I might whip the pan out for easier access. All that huggjng the pan whilst soldering is a right pita!

Weirdo! Next you'll be saying Leela from Futurama does nothing for you.....

Reckon this'll work alright, just laid loose at the mo:

It's a little more complicated than that and there are "rules" in 7671.....for instance: .....if spurring off from a socket on a 4mm2 radial to more than one socket the spur wiring has to be in 4mm2 .....if you've a 4mm radial run you can take an unfused spur off of it in 2.5mm2 but only to ONE single or double socket .....etc Just Google "appendix 15 bs7671 ring final circuits" and "appendix 15 bs7671 radial final circuits" and look at Images or buy a copy for about £65! There's even lollipop circuits to say utilise an old cooker point and then do a ring from that. Don't forget though that if you deviate from the regs even though they're not legislation you could could be on a loser if it goes wrong.

Aka the Mandy Jordache of TEF!

Steptoe will be getting feelings of deja vu on here wondering if in fact he has left TEF. Seriously, it's got a LONG way to go here, the recent body piercing thread over there was quite something!

Click stuff is very nice: http://www.ukelectricalsupplies.com/Click-scolmore.htm I've used a fair bit of Varilight stuff in the past. Quite taken with the idea of their "wall paperable" ones. might in fact end up looking tacky! Knightsbridge, MK Edge..... Good free catalogue here: https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/?ad_position=1t1&source=adwords-tlc&ad_id=109086895277&placement=&kw=tlc&network=g&matchtype=e&test=finalurl&gclid=CP7z96rAxs8CFRW3Gwod9rQKxg

Nice, thick, tile effect wallpaper in the kitchen works to iron out any wall imperfections with flat plate stuff.....don't ask how I know!

With a ring the load is in effect shared by the two legs going back to the cu. Think what happens when say one leg goes open circuit - all the load could be on one possibly now undersize cable leg. Every socket might still work until something melts.....or worse! Thinking about high load areas like the kitchen you might be better running a 32A radial (or two) in 4mm. It might serve to run 20A radial to low load areas like bedrooms for example. Testing is easier on radials too. Be aware some socket makes don't like accepting 4mm cables (tbh some struggle with 3x 2.5mm).

Hello you! Yep I've been here a while now (and eBuild before) all down to PD! (He's on a MASSIVE commission btw . As for inane building questions you've a long way to go to catch me up I reckon! Collective knowledge on here is great. A bit gutting when you realise you could have done such and such building job so much better though! It's not all the Grand Designs brigade at all they'll help all sorts. A few Pi & Linux fans about. There's some really clever PLUMBERS here too and a blinding roofer called ProDave!

If you want a taster of simple 2D CAD I've done a very short few page guide as a PDF using the completely free Draftsight program. PM me an email address or maybe one of the mods here can make it a sticky available for download?

AutoCAD is just a big, blank piece of paper tbh. You draw everything at full size.....even if it's an aircraft carrier! You can download most fittings as pre done drawings tbh but it keeps my hand in. These were just quick, fag packet realisations tbh. They're near enough. A lot of people knock Acad but it's what I trained on. You could even plot your building plot gradients, heights and create a 3D releif. I think it's pretty intuitive tbh. It's only lines and curves after all. EDIT: Tbh I came up through AutoCAD LT98 then LT2000. Did a couple of years night school C&G then on full version 2000 & 2000i. Making the jump to 2010 was (is still) a steep learning curve for me. I even use it in "classic" mode. Main issue I'm having at the mo is creating legible JPEGS for inclusion in posts here. Really I want black backgrounds in my pics so the component colours stand out.