Working for a guy for a few days installing a home office.

In he comes with a cup of tea & sees me using my 12v Makita drill driver.

Conversation about Makita stuff follows & a few minutes later he returns
with a Makita 14:4v combi, two batteries & a smart charger all about a year
old, looked hardly used. "Is this of any use to you?" he asks.

The chuck had apparently jammed & he couldn't be bothered to have it
repaired, so he bought a Hitachi lithium jobby.

I told him that a new chuck was a fairly cheap spare & that it was a good
quality bit of kit, worth repairing.

Wasn't interested at all - he gave it to me! Pleased to have it taken off
his hands! Wouldn't accept a penny for it!

I now have a nearly new free Makita 14:4v combi!!!

Not a bad days work that!


--
Dave
The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk
01634 717930
07850 597257

"The Medway Handyman" wrote in message
I now have a nearly new free Makita 14:4v combi!!!

Not a bad days work that!


--
Dave
The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk
01634 717930
07850 597257




You do get people like that,I remember back in the mid 70's rewiring a large
house which was being converted into flats...top floor already had
occupants.
Anyway this guy in one of the flats was down on his luck and produced a TV
tube rejuvenator along with different array of adaptors for smaller or
larger tube pins.
He asked the same question"this any good to you" and I asked him "do you
know what it is?" he said no and I told him what it was and does,he replied
give us a tenner and its yours.
As I was into repairing TV's at that time I couldnt believe my luck,at that
time we were talking about £1800 for this piece of equipment and I made
quite a few bob on zapping new life into peoples old CRT's at £20 a go.
After I binned the TV repairing lark which was about late 80's I sold it on
for £200. :-)

The Medway Handyman wrote:

Conversation about Makita stuff follows & a few minutes later he returns
with a Makita 14:4v combi, two batteries & a smart charger all about a year
old, looked hardly used. "Is this of any use to you?" he asks.

Sounds like you contracted a bout of the Red Dwarf luck virus...!

(which I last contracted many years ago when asked by a customer if I
could fix his computer. It turned out to be a late edition CBM super PET
style system (one of the rounded off corner style ones that came at the
end of the PETs) - very rare with not many made. I explained that it
looked like a circuit board failure, and chances of fixing it were slim
since parts were unlikely to be available, even if we could work out
what was wrong.

Having brought it home and poked about with scope for a while, it seemed
like it was showing signs of either a custom PLA or display controller
failure, but it was tricky to work out which of several chips could be
at fault. Schematics and parts were also in scarce supply. So I was
expecting to have to tell him that it was toast.

A couple of days later I drove into town for something and thought I
would try the small carpark near the town centre even though it was
often full. Luckily there was one space in it which no one had taken. As
I went to pull into it I saw why... there was an abandoned CBM 8296 just
laying there on the floor where someone had dumped it! So I said to
SWMBO, that's handy, picked it up and put it in the boot. Took it home,
hosed the crap off it and extracted the mainboard. It was also faulty
but in a subtly different way. However, by swapping components about I
was able to identify which custom chip was the most likely to be at
fault. Phoned CPC, they had one (and only one) of them left in stock (it
was also the only chip for that system they had any left of). Ordered
it, plugged it in, and it all sprang back into life).


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

"John Rumm" wrote in message

A couple of days later I drove into town for something and thought I
would try the small carpark near the town centre even though it was
often full. Luckily there was one space in it which no one had taken. As
I went to pull into it I saw why... there was an abandoned CBM 8296 just
laying there on the floor where someone had dumped it! So I said to
SWMBO, that's handy, picked it up and put it in the boot. Took it home,
hosed the crap off it and extracted the mainboard. It was also faulty
but in a subtly different way. However, by swapping components about I
was able to identify which custom chip was the most likely to be at
fault. Phoned CPC, they had one (and only one) of them left in stock (it
was also the only chip for that system they had any left of). Ordered
it, plugged it in, and it all sprang back into life).


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

But but this has nothing yo do with you gaining something worthwhile for
almost nothing.

George wrote:

But but this has nothing yo do with you gaining something worthwhile for
almost nothing.

I gained a solution which enabled me to fix the machine in a very
improbable way, something for which I was later paid. So it seems like a
very good example of "gaining something worthwhile for almost nothing".


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

John Rumm wrote:

I gained a solution which enabled me to fix the machine in a very
improbable way, something for which I was later paid.

But only at the expense of a very large hole in somebody's Lifetime Luck
Allowance. I hope you charged that to the customer!

(If you forgot, then get out of that house NOW, and don't go near the
shed either.)


--
Ian White

Ian White wrote:
John Rumm wrote:

I gained a solution which enabled me to fix the machine in a very
improbable way, something for which I was later paid.

But only at the expense of a very large hole in somebody's Lifetime Luck
Allowance. I hope you charged that to the customer!

I will assume it was the customers.... ;-)

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

The Medway Handyman wrote:
Working for a guy for a few days installing a home office.

In he comes with a cup of tea & sees me using my 12v Makita drill driver.

Conversation about Makita stuff follows & a few minutes later he returns
with a Makita 14:4v combi, two batteries & a smart charger all about a year
old, looked hardly used. "Is this of any use to you?" he asks.

The chuck had apparently jammed

That's Makitas for you

& he couldn't be bothered to have it
repaired, so he bought a Hitachi lithium jobby.

I told him that a new chuck was a fairly cheap spare & that it was a good
quality bit of kit, worth repairing.

Wasn't interested at all - he gave it to me! Pleased to have it taken off
his hands! Wouldn't accept a penny for it!

I now have a nearly new free Makita 14:4v combi!!!

Not a bad days work that!

The Medway Handyman wrote:

The chuck had apparently jammed & he couldn't be bothered to have it
repaired, so he bought a Hitachi lithium jobby.

Out of curiosity, was it a two speed one with the Rhom chuck, or the
later three speed one with the less identifiable chuck?

(Personally I don't like the new chucks they used on some models as much
as the Rhom ones)



--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

John Rumm wrote:
The Medway Handyman wrote:

The chuck had apparently jammed & he couldn't be bothered to have it
repaired, so he bought a Hitachi lithium jobby.

Out of curiosity, was it a two speed one with the Rhom chuck, or the
later three speed one with the less identifiable chuck?

(Personally I don't like the new chucks they used on some models as
much as the Rhom ones)



Its this one
http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/...23695&id=44987


--
Dave
The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk
01634 717930
07850 597257

The Medway Handyman wrote:
John Rumm wrote:
The Medway Handyman wrote:

The chuck had apparently jammed & he couldn't be bothered to have it
repaired, so he bought a Hitachi lithium jobby.
Out of curiosity, was it a two speed one with the Rhom chuck, or the
later three speed one with the less identifiable chuck?

(Personally I don't like the new chucks they used on some models as
much as the Rhom ones)



Its this one
http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/...23695&id=44987

ah, that looks like a two piece Rhom one which is different again (it
suggests the drill itself does not lock the spindle when you tak your
finger off the trigger)

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

John Rumm wrote:
The Medway Handyman wrote:
John Rumm wrote:
The Medway Handyman wrote:

The chuck had apparently jammed & he couldn't be bothered to have
it repaired, so he bought a Hitachi lithium jobby.
Out of curiosity, was it a two speed one with the Rhom chuck, or the
later three speed one with the less identifiable chuck?

(Personally I don't like the new chucks they used on some models as
much as the Rhom ones)



Its this one
http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/...23695&id=44987

ah, that looks like a two piece Rhom one which is different again (it
suggests the drill itself does not lock the spindle when you tak your
finger off the trigger)

Same chuck as my 12v Makita. That doesn't have a spindle lock as such,
although it has a forward/reverse 'lock' in the central position, the
spindle still moves.


--
Dave
The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk
01634 717930
07850 597257

The Medway Handyman wrote:
John Rumm wrote:
The Medway Handyman wrote:
John Rumm wrote:
The Medway Handyman wrote:

The chuck had apparently jammed & he couldn't be bothered to have
it repaired, so he bought a Hitachi lithium jobby.
Out of curiosity, was it a two speed one with the Rhom chuck, or the
later three speed one with the less identifiable chuck?

(Personally I don't like the new chucks they used on some models as
much as the Rhom ones)


Its this one
http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/...23695&id=44987
ah, that looks like a two piece Rhom one which is different again (it
suggests the drill itself does not lock the spindle when you tak your
finger off the trigger)

Same chuck as my 12v Makita. That doesn't have a spindle lock as such,
although it has a forward/reverse 'lock' in the central position, the
spindle still moves.

The one I was thinking about was like that used on my 18V one, where
there is no second ring on the chuck, and you only need to one hand to
undo or tighten it. It relies on the shaft of the drill not being able
to turn unless powered.

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

The Medway Handyman wrote:


I now have a nearly new free Makita 14:4v combi!!!

Not a bad days work that!

Finished the job today. As I was leaving he told me to hold on because he
had found the case for the Makita. He appeared with a toolchest like case,
drill, charger & batts fit in top, two drawers underneath.

First drawer is a complete bit & drill set. wood bits, Tit bits, masonry
bits - all on the 'click' system, click chuck, flip driver, drywall bit
holder, nut drivers etc!

Second drawer was empty :-(


--
Dave
The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk
01634 717930
07850 597257