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UK diy (uk.d-i-y) For the discussion of all topics related to diy (do-it-yourself) in the UK. All levels of experience and proficency are welcome to join in to ask questions or offer solutions. |
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Electrician's Box Sinker
On Sun, 06 Jul 2003 22:29:30 +0100, Martin Angove
wrote: They sound like a great idea, but if I'm going to be spending over £160 on a tool to do a single job I want to know, firstly does it *really* work, secondly is it easier than other methods and thirdly, will it last? I'm not quibbling the choice of SDS drill, but do you really need to spend £160 for one? I just spent £79 in a Homebase shed for the following: http://tinyurl.com/g601 Looks like they just come down in price too - oh well! I'm wondering whether paying double will actually buy you something better? Andrew Do you need a handyman service? Check out our web site at http://www.handymac.co.uk |
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Electrician's Box Sinker
On Sun, 06 Jul 2003 22:29:30 +0100, Martin Angove
They sound like a great idea, but if I'm going to be spending over £160 on a tool to do a single job I want to know, firstly does it *really* work, secondly is it easier than other methods and thirdly, will it last? Any experience? We had a very different looking thing from a hire shop the other day, just looked like a meat tenderiser, was a bit too violent, but certainly did the job, went through brick and block work in a lot less than the 3 minutes it says in the screwfix catalogue. It was too violent though really, we chose not to use it on a single block dividing wall the shaking it gave it... Jim. |
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Electrician's Box Sinker
"Martin Angove" wrote in message
... Since I'm likely to be doing a lot of wiring work in the future, I've been looking at various tools to make my life easier, and a nice shiny new SDS drill is top of the list. BES do a Hitachi or Makita or something similar for £100 Maybe we'll talk about what else I should get later, but for now what I want to know is, are the "Electrician's Box Sinker" devices (e.g. Screwfix d74206 / d91913) any good? They sound like a great idea, but if I'm going to be spending over £160 on a tool to do a single job I want to know, firstly does it *really* work, secondly is it easier than other methods and thirdly, will it last? Any experience? The rotary (tct-studded drill) bit makes a hell of a lot of dust, and isn't that quick. I haven't used it since the time I did a dozen or so boxes in one room followed by a couple of hours cleaning (the room and myself) up afterwards! (If you want to buy a slightly used one I'm up for offers :-). I didn't buy the box-shaped bit. They (SF) were also doing a sort of bed-of-nails-on-a-stick tool a while back, but it doesn't seem to be in the catalogue now. Don't know if they were any good. On a similar note, what about the channelling chisels (d16724 etc.)? They work, but the first one I had broke off at the SDS end of the shank after a while, followed by the drill I was using breaking at the chuck! Because of the way the tool shank curves ... --------- \ \ chisel ------|____ .... it generates a lot of sideways impact force which I suspect was what did for chisel and hammer. If they'd designed it with a straight shank ... ------------------\____ .... and with the chisel end slightly offset (imagine a slight rake upwards - impossible to show with ascii art!) I think it'd be more robust. For box sinking I tend to put in a few holes for the the corners and to break up the body of the cut (and to set the depth) and use a straight chisel to cut out the rest. cheers -- John Stumbles -+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ -+ Sometimes the only way you can feel good about yourself is by making someone else look bad. And I'm tired of making other people feel good about themselves! |
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Electrician's Box Sinker
"Roger Mills" wrote in message ... I think everyone is confused he means this http://tinyurl.com/g637 |
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Electrician's Box Sinker
On Sun, 06 Jul 2003 23:23:29 +0100, Andrew McKay
wrote: On Sun, 06 Jul 2003 22:29:30 +0100, Martin Angove wrote: They sound like a great idea, but if I'm going to be spending over £160 on a tool to do a single job I want to know, firstly does it *really* work, secondly is it easier than other methods and thirdly, will it last? I'm not quibbling the choice of SDS drill, but do you really need to spend £160 for one? I just spent £79 in a Homebase shed for the following: http://tinyurl.com/g601 Looks like they just come down in price too - oh well! I'm wondering whether paying double will actually buy you something better? In the case of an SDS drill, if you are going to use it regularly, absolutely it's worth buying a good one like a Bosch. ..andy To email, substitute .nospam with .gl |
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Electrician's Box Sinker
"Electrician's Box Sinker" devices (e.g. Screwfix d74206 / d91913) any
good? After hand chiselling about half the sockets in my house I started to seriously consider one. Thought about it, but someone suggested this to me one day, and it works for me. If you have a 110m core drill (cheap £20 type) sink this to box depth then knock out the core. Two holes like a venn diagram for a 2 gang box. Less dust than the box sinker as the core normally stays intact. I thought the hand method was neater, I could fix a box without breakout around the edges most times, but seeing as you've got to plaster the trunking anyway you may as well plaster round the box. Toby. |
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Electrician's Box Sinker
"John Stumbles" ] wrote in message ...
The rotary (tct-studded drill) bit makes a hell of a lot of dust, and isn't that quick. I haven't used it since the time I did a dozen or so boxes in one room followed by a couple of hours cleaning (the room and myself) up afterwards! (If you want to buy a slightly used one I'm up for offers :-). I didn't buy the box-shaped bit. They (SF) were also doing a sort of bed-of-nails-on-a-stick tool a while back, but it doesn't seem to be in the catalogue now. Don't know if they were any good. I can't see any of them being worth the money - I can make a neat (neat in the sense that it takes a rubber mallet to seat the box) cavity in less than five minutes just using an SDS drill, followed by a 20mm SDS chisel. On a similar note, what about the channelling chisels (d16724 etc.)? They work, but the first one I had broke off at the SDS end of the shank after a while, followed by the drill I was using breaking at the chuck! Because of the way the tool shank curves ... --------- \ \ chisel ------|____ ... it generates a lot of sideways impact force which I suspect was what did for chisel and hammer. If they'd designed it with a straight shank ... ------------------\____ ... and with the chisel end slightly offset (imagine a slight rake upwards - impossible to show with ascii art!) I think it'd be more robust. I use a 22mm SDS gouge, from Axminster. It is as you describe, does the channelling beautifully, and cost £4.95. For box sinking I tend to put in a few holes for the the corners and to break up the body of the cut (and to set the depth) and use a straight chisel to cut out the rest. This is the method that I use (see above), |
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Electrician's Box Sinker
I use a 22mm SDS gouge, from Axminster. It is as you describe, does
the channelling beautifully, and cost £4.95. Do you mean this? Axminster Power tools SDS Accessories G310B4 20mm SDS Channelling Chisel £24.31 excl VAT £28.56 incl VAT |
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Electrician's Box Sinker
On Sun, 06 Jul 2003 23:12:13 GMT, "BigWallop"
wrote: http://tinyurl.com/g601 The link you've given is to a search result page and doesn't link back to anything unless you go through the same search process as you went through. Well I've just clicked the above link and gone straight to the page describing the SDS drill! Obviously something to do with cookies or whatever I suppose. Andrew Do you need a handyman service? Check out our web site at http://www.handymac.co.uk |
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Electrician's Box Sinker
"Chippy" wrote in message om... This is the SDS gouge: http://www.axminster.co.uk/default.asp?part=BSDSGOUGE Just the job. Unlike the Axminster menu system. Toby. |
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Electrician's Box Sinker
On Mon, 7 Jul 2003 08:32:45 +0100, "Toby"
wrote: "Chippy" wrote in message . com... This is the SDS gouge: http://www.axminster.co.uk/default.asp?part=BSDSGOUGE Just the job. Unlike the Axminster menu system. Toby. I bought one of these cheap ones a few months ago and it didn't last at all well - went blunt very quickly and started making a big mess of the chases. I replaced it with the other one that was identified (G310B4). This is UK made by a company called Armeg and is a different proposition altogether - very smooth results and no sign of wear after quite a bit of use. I also bought their mortar rake (G175B4) which has proved to be a great tool for electrical and other work where neatly removing a brick etc. is required. ..andy To email, substitute .nospam with .gl |
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Electrician's Box Sinker
In article ,
"BigWallop" writes: These are the best type I've used: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/cooperhouse/fr_ha61.htm I have one of these. It did about 30-35 boxes (counting twice for double boxes) very well, but quite suddenly became ineffective when it wore out (cutting edge became rounded). The square piece in the kit was completely useless and would get stuck in the hole -- squaring off the round hole was much more easily done with a chisel attachment. So, the cost was something over £2 per box, or £5 for doubles, which looking back isn't cheap. -- Andrew Gabriel |
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Electrician's Box Sinker
In article ,
Toby wrote: I thought the hand method was neater, I could fix a box without breakout around the edges most times, but seeing as you've got to plaster the trunking anyway you may as well plaster round the box. Yup - I've never seen the point in making a neat hole in a solid wall. Plasterboard where the cables go behind it, yes. -- *If God had wanted me to touch my toes, he would have put them on my knees Dave Plowman London SW 12 RIP Acorn |
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Electrician's Box Sinker
In article , Martin Angove
writes Since I'm likely to be doing a lot of wiring work in the future, I've been looking at various tools to make my life easier, and a nice shiny new SDS drill is top of the list. Maybe we'll talk about what else I should get later, but for now what I want to know is, are the "Electrician's Box Sinker" devices (e.g. Screwfix d74206 / d91913) any good? Mine is the original Screwfix one, and it is good, including in the engineering-hardness bricks we have here. I've largely solved the dust problem: Bin-liner sized clear plastic bags taped to the wall with masking tape - cut off one bottom corner to pass the drill's plug through, then tape up, with around 1m of cable inside for ease of manipulation. You hold the drill through the plastic bag. I did this in one of the children's bedrooms, and hardly needed to run the hoover over the carpet where I'd been working afterwards. Pros and cons (YMMV): + Cuts nicely to depth, leaving a farly smooth back to the box. + The square cutter gives a nice clean hole + It is fast. Takes around 5-10 mins to do a hole, with far less making good than when I've used other methods. - The square cutter *does* jam, but not a disaster - using it for double boxes is tricky, so I made up a MDF template to drill pilot holes - works a treat. - the square cutter can slip round when you start (although it's SDS mounting can rotate WRT the cutter, you *must* have rotary stop for safety, in case it jams). It helps to have an 'assistant' hold a straight edge horizontal on the top of the cutter as you start to cut. Once it's started it's fine. Mine has done around 50-60 boxes so far. It doesn't look blunt yet, and I'd be tempted to try grinding it carefully when it eventually goes. On balance, I like it a lot. In block/weaker brickwork, it would be even better. It's not cheap, but IMHO, the ease of doing an irritatingly awkward job makes it worth it. Having said that, the core drill method suggested elsewhere sounds brilliant to get the depth. If you're going for a good quality, clutch-equipped SDS drill it might be worth it. Regards, Simonm. -- simonm|at|muircom|dot|demon|.|c|oh|dot|u|kay SIMON MUIR, UK INDEPENDENCE PARTY, BRISTOL www.ukip.org EUROPEANS AGAINST THE EU www.members.aol.com/eurofaq GT250A'76 R80/RT '86 www.kc3ltd.co.uk/profile/eurofollie/ |
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Electrician's Box Sinker
On Sun, 6 Jul 2003 23:35:33 +0100, in uk.d-i-y "John Stumbles"
] wrote: The rotary (tct-studded drill) bit makes a hell of a lot of dust, and isn't that quick. I haven't used it since the time I did a dozen or so boxes in one room followed by a couple of hours cleaning (the room and myself) up afterwards! (If you want to buy a slightly used one I'm up for offers :-). I didn't buy the box-shaped bit. See http://groups.google.com/groups?&thr...ic %404ax.com for a previous thread on this subject, which includes my expediencies with the screwfix version, and what sounds like a very good idea from someone else to use a fine water spray to control the dust. -- Phil Addison The uk.d-i-y FAQ is at http://www.diyfaq.org.uk/ Remove NOSPAM from address to reply |
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Electrician's Box Sinker
In message ,
Martin Angove wrote: Since I'm likely to be doing a lot of wiring work in the future, I've been looking at various tools to make my life easier, and a nice shiny new SDS drill is top of the list. Maybe we'll talk about what else I should get later, but for now what I want to know is, are the "Electrician's Box Sinker" devices (e.g. Screwfix d74206 / d91913) any good? They sound like a great idea, but if I'm going to be spending over £160 on a tool to do a single job I want to know, firstly does it *really* work, secondly is it easier than other methods and thirdly, will it last? Great responses, thanks everyone. Just to confirm, the £160 I'm worried about *isn't* the cost of the drill (though not far off - I've been looking at a 620W Bosch), it's the combined cost of the sinker set (single, double, rotary, pilot) from Screwfix. If I read things right, it seems there are two camps on this matter. First camp says they're brilliant for making a hole and doing it neatly, second says there are cheaper ways that don't make as much dust. I think I'm beginning to lean towards the idea of using a core drill and squaring it off with a chisel. Seriously short of powertool catalogues though. Maybe a request to Axminster is in order :-) Hwyl! Martin. -- Martin Angove (it's Cornish for "Smith") - ARM/Digital SA110 RPC See the Aber Valley -- http://www.tridwr.demon.co.uk/abervalley.html .... Monday is the root of all evil! |
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Electrician's Box Sinker
On Mon, 07 Jul 2003 20:03:35 +0100, Martin Angove
wrote: Seriously short of powertool catalogues though. Maybe a request to Axminster is in order :-) Hwyl! Martin. Oh dear. You mean you haven't got six of them? Other useful ones are from Rutlands and DM Tools who have some things that Axminster doesn't. ..andy To email, substitute .nospam with .gl |
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Electrician's Box Sinker
On Mon, 7 Jul 2003 22:05:38 +0100, "John Stumbles"
] wrote: Your SDS drill looks suspiciously like a NuTool! I had B&Q's own brand but found it was heavy and went through 3 each of which broke. It certainly is heavy. I have no idea if it is a rebadged NuTool but I dare say that is a strong possibility. To be perfectly honest with this being my first ever experience of an SDS drill I'm happy to write off the cost if it proves unreliable, because any future replacement will be made on the basis of direct experience which I didn't have previously Andrew Do you need a handyman service? Check out our web site at http://www.handymac.co.uk |
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Electrician's Box Sinker
On Mon, 07 Jul 2003 20:03:35 +0100, Martin Angove
wrote: I think I'm beginning to lean towards the idea of using a core drill and squaring it off with a chisel. Core drills are quite capable of producing lots of dust Andrew Do you need a handyman service? Check out our web site at http://www.handymac.co.uk |
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Electrician's Box Sinker
"Andrew McKay" wrote in message ... On Sun, 06 Jul 2003 23:12:13 GMT, "BigWallop" wrote: http://tinyurl.com/g601 The link you've given is to a search result page and doesn't link back to anything unless you go through the same search process as you went through. Well I've just clicked the above link and gone straight to the page describing the SDS drill! Obviously something to do with cookies or whatever I suppose. Andrew I'm Sorry Andrew.........you can stop hitting me now.........ouch.........ooya.......ow! It works now, but when I tried it earlier it took me to a search page..........ow!...........ouch. :-)) --- BigWallop http://basecuritysystems.no-ip.com Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.497 / Virus Database: 296 - Release Date: 04/07/03 |
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Electrician's Box Sinker
On Tue, 08 Jul 2003 07:27:48 GMT, "BigWallop"
wrote: I'm Sorry Andrew.........you can stop hitting me now.........ouch.........ooya.......ow! It works now, but when I tried it earlier it took me to a search page..........ow!...........ouch. :-)) Biff....smack.....wallop! Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da ------ BATMAN! Andrew Do you need a handyman service? Check out our web site at http://www.handymac.co.uk |
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Electrician's Box Sinker
On Tue, 8 Jul 2003 23:48:16 +0100, "John Stumbles"
] wrote: Core drills are just wimpy amateurs in the dust producing league compared to these babes! ;-) I stand corrected. Though when I used a core drill a few weeks back for the first time I was amazed at the fine dust that came out of the wall! Andrew Do you need a handyman service? Check out our web site at http://www.handymac.co.uk |
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Electrician's Box Sinker
In article ,
Andrew McKay writes: On Tue, 8 Jul 2003 23:48:16 +0100, "John Stumbles" ] wrote: Core drills are just wimpy amateurs in the dust producing league compared to these babes! ;-) I stand corrected. Though when I used a core drill a few weeks back for the first time I was amazed at the fine dust that came out of the wall! The box sinker (rotary type anyway) effectively turns the whole core into dust too, and checks it out into the air. -- Andrew Gabriel |
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Electrician's Box Sinker
On Mon, 07 Jul 2003 08:59:47 +0100, Andy Hall
wrote: http://www.axminster.co.uk/default.asp?part=BSDSGOUGE I bought one of these cheap ones a few months ago and it didn't last at all well - went blunt very quickly and started making a big mess of the chases. Looks like the Axminster one I used (very briefly). Went through two red bricks OK, then into a blue engineering brick. Made it about halfway down, then the end fell off ! |
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