Shamelessly lifted from the IET web forum:

http://www.aldi.co.uk/uk/html/offers...08-07-18-12-12

Despite the ad date, just got one from Bexhill, East Sussex for 39.95. Quite
a few (10) left in the pile.

Generally as you'd expect for a chinese jobbie (it's NOT a
Makita/Bosch/etc). But despite that, it does seem fairly solid. Comes with
2 spare diamond discs and the spindle assembly looks robust. 3 chasing
widths (spanner and a fair bit of fiddling to change) and knob adjustable
depth. Cutsy cheap laser too.

Haven't run it in anger but I did spin it up and it's about as noisy as
you'd expect, but seems stable.

With the caveat I haven't tested it on a wall yet, I reckon that for a
single job like mine it's worth it even it it died afterwards (though it
claims a 3 year warranty) - still cheaper than hiring. Probably survive
longer than that.

Cheers

Tim

Got an 11w semi-rugged fluorescent inspection lamp with a surprisingly long
mains lead for 3.99 too. I am now an ALDI convert

"Tim S" wrote in message
...
Shamelessly lifted from the IET web forum:


Aldi tools are not made in China otherwise you wouldnt be looking at a 3
year guarentee.

You'll get more out of it than 12 months,my Aldi Biscuit jointer is regulary
used weekly and is now 18 months old and still puffing away. :-)

In article ,
Tim S writes:

Got an 11w semi-rugged fluorescent inspection lamp with a surprisingly long
mains lead for 3.99 too. I am now an ALDI convert

I picked up one of those too some weeks back.
Not used it in anger yet. Did have to put it in
the garage though, due to its extremely potent
smell of rubber, although that seems to have
dropped somewhat since.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

George coughed up some electrons that declared:


"Tim S" wrote in message
...
Shamelessly lifted from the IET web forum:


Aldi tools are not made in China otherwise you wouldnt be looking at a 3
year guarentee.

Really? OK, I *was* judging by the batteries which were made in Shanghai...
Didn't actually notice a "made in" on the case or box, must have another
look.

You'll get more out of it than 12 months,my Aldi Biscuit jointer is
regulary used weekly and is now 18 months old and still puffing away. :-)

All good news. Wonder how they do it... The 4 discs alone would be 12+ quid
even for cheapies.

Now all I need to make John Rumm's hoover dust bin and I'm good to go.

Cheers

Tim

"Tim S" wrote in message
...
George coughed up some electrons that declared:


"Tim S" wrote in message
...
Shamelessly lifted from the IET web forum:


Aldi tools are not made in China otherwise you wouldnt be looking at a 3
year guarentee.

Really? OK, I *was* judging by the batteries which were made in
Shanghai...
Didn't actually notice a "made in" on the case or box, must have another
look.


I' talking about the machine not the laser batteries. :-P

"Tim S" wrote in message
...
George coughed up some electrons that declared:


"Tim S" wrote in message
...
Shamelessly lifted from the IET web forum:


Aldi tools are not made in China otherwise you wouldnt be looking at a 3
year guarentee.

Really? OK, I *was* judging by the batteries which were made in
Shanghai...
Didn't actually notice a "made in" on the case or box, must have another
look.

http://tinyurl.com/65c39j

George coughed up some electrons that declared:


"Tim S" wrote in message
...
George coughed up some electrons that declared:


"Tim S" wrote in message
...
Shamelessly lifted from the IET web forum:


Aldi tools are not made in China otherwise you wouldnt be looking at a
3 year guarentee.

Really? OK, I *was* judging by the batteries which were made in
Shanghai...
Didn't actually notice a "made in" on the case or box, must have another
look.


I' talking about the machine not the laser batteries. :-P

Experience suggests that a set of "Golden Power" or similar batteries in the
box means the rest of the unit was quite likely put together in China.

Not always true I know... Just a hunch. Not that important though. I just
meant it didn't look bad for something that wasn't an industrially
known "real-man's" brand




Cheers

Tim

George coughed up some electrons that declared:


"Tim S" wrote in message
...
George coughed up some electrons that declared:


"Tim S" wrote in message
...
Shamelessly lifted from the IET web forum:


Aldi tools are not made in China otherwise you wouldnt be looking at a
3 year guarentee.

Really? OK, I *was* judging by the batteries which were made in
Shanghai...
Didn't actually notice a "made in" on the case or box, must have another
look.


I' talking about the machine not the laser batteries. :-P


Had to say, this made me laugh:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1700W-Wall-Cha...08100924a21990

Some joker trying to sell the same thing for 60 quid + 15 PP. I suppose it's
a "service" if you're a 100 miles from an ALDI...



Cheers

Tim

Owain coughed up some electrons that declared:

Andrew Gabriel wrote:
Got an 11w semi-rugged fluorescent inspection lamp with a surprisingly
long mains lead for 3.99 too. I am now an ALDI convert
I picked up one of those too some weeks back.
Not used it in anger yet. Did have to put it in
the garage though, due to its extremely potent
smell of rubber, although that seems to have
dropped somewhat since.

I thought about getting some of them to go on top of the kitchen units
for indirect lighting.


Not a bad idea. Standard two pin folded tube and there's an O-ring under the
end cap plus the switch is under a membrane so it should be pretty
greaseproof.

George coughed up some electrons that declared:


"Tim S" wrote in message
...
George coughed up some electrons that declared:


"Tim S" wrote in message
...
Shamelessly lifted from the IET web forum:


Aldi tools are not made in China otherwise you wouldnt be looking at a
3 year guarentee.

Really? OK, I *was* judging by the batteries which were made in
Shanghai...
Didn't actually notice a "made in" on the case or box, must have another
look.

http://tinyurl.com/65c39j

A point well made George:

This is it:

http://www.walter-service.com/shop/w...ser-p-170.html

I *am* surprised. Reasonable quality from Austria for tiny amounts of
money...

"Tim S" wrote in message
...
George coughed up some electrons that declared:


"Tim S" wrote in message
...
George coughed up some electrons that declared:


"Tim S" wrote in message
...
Shamelessly lifted from the IET web forum:


Aldi tools are not made in China otherwise you wouldnt be looking at
a
3 year guarentee.

Really? OK, I *was* judging by the batteries which were made in
Shanghai...
Didn't actually notice a "made in" on the case or box, must have
another
look.

http://tinyurl.com/65c39j

A point well made George:

This is it:

http://www.walter-service.com/shop/w...ser-p-170.html

I *am* surprised. Reasonable quality from Austria for tiny amounts of
money...

Well before I first bought a couple of Aldi's tools I did look up were they
where made,had I found they were made in china I would have left alone. :-)

Tim S wrote:
George coughed up some electrons that declared:

"Tim S" wrote in message
...
Shamelessly lifted from the IET web forum:

Aldi tools are not made in China otherwise you wouldnt be looking at a 3
year guarentee.

Really? OK, I *was* judging by the batteries which were made in Shanghai...
Didn't actually notice a "made in" on the case or box, must have another
look.

You'll get more out of it than 12 months,my Aldi Biscuit jointer is
regulary used weekly and is now 18 months old and still puffing away. :-)

All good news. Wonder how they do it... The 4 discs alone would be 12+ quid
even for cheapies.

Now all I need to make John Rumm's hoover dust bin and I'm good to go.

Yup, even that only just copes - the rate of fine dust production from a
chaser tends to overwhelm most collectors. It will be interesting to see
how yours is for dust since it looks like it is based on circular saw
technology rather than angle grinder. The rotation speed is under half
that typical of many, so you may find you get coarser dust that is
easier to collect.

For anyone interested:

http://www.internode.co.uk/cyclone/

(a smaller tighter cyclone might be better for wallchaser pre-filtering
- I built that more with woodwork in mind)

--
Cheers,

John.

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

John Rumm coughed up some electrons that declared:

For anyone interested:

http://www.internode.co.uk/cyclone/

(a smaller tighter cyclone might be better for wallchaser pre-filtering
- I built that more with woodwork in mind)


Good thing is yours is known to work with a VAX, which I also have as
my "dirty hoover", so I know it's going to work

The "bin" is going to get used to hoover up mouse crap and glass wool too
plus all sorts of other sundries. I'd better buy a spare cone filter for
the VAX (Been washed many times already, think it's getting a bit
knackered...).

Cheers

Tim

Tim S wrote:

Shamelessly lifted from the IET web forum:

http://www.aldi.co.uk/uk/html/offers..._id=2008-07-18
-12-12

Despite the ad date, just got one from Bexhill, East Sussex for
39.95. Quite a few (10) left in the pile.

Generally as you'd expect for a chinese jobbie (it's NOT a
Makita/Bosch/etc). But despite that, it does seem fairly solid. Comes
with 2 spare diamond discs and the spindle assembly looks robust. 3
chasing widths (spanner and a fair bit of fiddling to change) and
knob adjustable depth. Cutsy cheap laser too.

Haven't run it in anger but I did spin it up and it's about as noisy
as you'd expect, but seems stable.

With the caveat I haven't tested it on a wall yet, I reckon that for a
single job like mine it's worth it even it it died afterwards (though
it claims a 3 year warranty) - still cheaper than hiring. Probably
survive longer than that.

Cheers

Tim

Got an 11w semi-rugged fluorescent inspection lamp with a
surprisingly long mains lead for 3.99 too. I am now an ALDI convert

See the cloud of dust coming from the back of the machine.

--

On Sun, 17 Aug 2008 19:27:42 +0100, Tim S wrote:

Now all I need to make John Rumm's hoover dust bin and I'm good to go.

I think you'll need it big time. Think of the amount of wall that is
turned to dust and flung into the air a blown about by the motors cooling
air...

Personally a channel chasing chisel in an SDS is a better option and does
the job in basically one pass. After you cut the two slots you still have
to cut the middle out.

--
Cheers
Dave.

Tim S wrote:
John Rumm coughed up some electrons that declared:

For anyone interested:

http://www.internode.co.uk/cyclone/

(a smaller tighter cyclone might be better for wallchaser pre-filtering
- I built that more with woodwork in mind)


Good thing is yours is known to work with a VAX, which I also have as
my "dirty hoover", so I know it's going to work

I have used it with other domestic cleaners on the sucking side as well
- but the more airflow the better.

The "bin" is going to get used to hoover up mouse crap and glass wool too
plus all sorts of other sundries. I'd better buy a spare cone filter for
the VAX (Been washed many times already, think it's getting a bit
knackered...).

I tend to stick bags in mine for use with the cyclone... they last well
since they don't get used much.

--
Cheers,

John.

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

Dave Liquorice wrote:

Personally a channel chasing chisel in an SDS is a better option and does
the job in basically one pass. After you cut the two slots you still have
to cut the middle out.

The chaser is very much quicker IME though. Much less noise as well. The
centre bit can usually be popped out in lengths just by slipping a
bolster into the slots and levering to the side.

--
Cheers,

John.

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

Dave Liquorice coughed up some electrons that declared:

On Sun, 17 Aug 2008 19:27:42 +0100, Tim S wrote:

Now all I need to make John Rumm's hoover dust bin and I'm good to go.

I think you'll need it big time. Think of the amount of wall that is
turned to dust and flung into the air a blown about by the motors cooling
air...

Yep, used to angle grinders. This can only be worse...

I'll get a good mask too, as my project plan (yes, I have a plan, most of
the numbers are guesstimated ********, but you have to start somewhere...)
suggests 6 solid days of chasing and backbox sinking. I'll get it done in
one hit, then lay in oval conduit and backboxes. Actual wiring will be done
in stages later, as it's a clean job then.

Plan currently says Phase 1, 60% habitable by next August.

Good job I have an empty house. This would be practically impossible whilst
living there. But I do need to quickly commission a temporary kids room
(cheap bit of carpet, cheap LCD tv and some toys, so they have somewhere to
rest after school/nursery while I do non toxic and non dusty things...
Gotta get all the really filthy work over and done at the start on the
project.

Cheers

Tim

In article ,
George wrote:
Aldi tools are not made in China otherwise you wouldnt be looking at a 3
year guarentee.

I'm willing to bet they are. Ignore where it says they are made - this is
just a technical point about where the most value is added or somesuch
which allows them to say Germany.

But it makes no difference anyway. China is perfectly capable of making
superb power tools. It all depends on what the 'brand' is willing to pay.
And the likes of Lidl and Aldi work to a much lower markup than say a B&D
sold from a shed. So the end user is getting a better product like for
like, cost wise.
I've got a few basic Lidl power tools and quite a lot of their hand tools
and they're all of satisfactory quality.

--


Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Tim S wrote:
Shamelessly lifted from the IET web forum:

http://www.aldi.co.uk/uk/html/offers...08-07-18-12-12

Despite the ad date, just got one from Bexhill, East Sussex for 39.95. Quite
a few (10) left in the pile.

Generally as you'd expect for a chinese jobbie (it's NOT a
Makita/Bosch/etc). But despite that, it does seem fairly solid. Comes with
2 spare diamond discs and the spindle assembly looks robust. 3 chasing
widths (spanner and a fair bit of fiddling to change) and knob adjustable
depth. Cutsy cheap laser too.

I got one a couple of years ago, used it on one job and hated it. AFAICR
the laser guide thing was utterly useless as it pointed *backwards* as
you moved along the cut (ie moving in the opposite direction to the
disc rotation as directed).

To be fair on the device I was ignorantly trying to use it to fit
'capping' rather than oval trunking, which I'm sure would have given
better results - I'll probably try it again next time I have some
chasing to do.

David

"Lobster" wrote in message
...
Tim S wrote:
Shamelessly lifted from the IET web forum:


http://www.aldi.co.uk/uk/html/offers...08-07-18-12-12

Despite the ad date, just got one from Bexhill, East Sussex for 39.95.
Quite
a few (10) left in the pile.

Generally as you'd expect for a chinese jobbie (it's NOT a
Makita/Bosch/etc). But despite that, it does seem fairly solid. Comes
with
2 spare diamond discs and the spindle assembly looks robust. 3 chasing
widths (spanner and a fair bit of fiddling to change) and knob
adjustable
depth. Cutsy cheap laser too.

I got one a couple of years ago, used it on one job and hated it. AFAICR
the laser guide thing was utterly useless as it pointed *backwards* as
you moved along the cut (ie moving in the opposite direction to the
disc rotation as directed).


Tell me when you used it which end of the chaser emitted the ost dust? I'm
suprised you could still see the laser or line of cut in the cloud of dust?

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article ,
George wrote:
Aldi tools are not made in China otherwise you wouldnt be looking at a 3
year guarentee.

I'm willing to bet they are. Ignore where it says they are made - this is
just a technical point about where the most value is added or somesuch
which allows them to say Germany.


How much you willing to bet £100?

But it makes no difference anyway. China is perfectly capable of making
superb power tools. It all depends on what the 'brand' is willing to pay.
And the likes of Lidl and Aldi work to a much lower markup than say a B&D
sold from a shed. So the end user is getting a better product like for
like, cost wise.
I've got a few basic Lidl power tools and quite a lot of their hand tools
and they're all of satisfactory quality.

--


Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

George wrote:
"Lobster" wrote in message
...
Tim S wrote:
Shamelessly lifted from the IET web forum:


http://www.aldi.co.uk/uk/html/offers...08-07-18-12-12
Despite the ad date, just got one from Bexhill, East Sussex for 39.95.
Quite
a few (10) left in the pile.

Generally as you'd expect for a chinese jobbie (it's NOT a
Makita/Bosch/etc). But despite that, it does seem fairly solid. Comes
with
2 spare diamond discs and the spindle assembly looks robust. 3 chasing
widths (spanner and a fair bit of fiddling to change) and knob
adjustable
depth. Cutsy cheap laser too.
I got one a couple of years ago, used it on one job and hated it. AFAICR
the laser guide thing was utterly useless as it pointed *backwards* as
you moved along the cut (ie moving in the opposite direction to the
disc rotation as directed).


Tell me when you used it which end of the chaser emitted the ost dust? I'm
suprised you could still see the laser or line of cut in the cloud of dust?

Not that much dust as I had it hooked up to my Earlex (Wickes) vaccum
cleaner. Certainly not enough to blank out the laser!

David

In article ,
George wrote:
"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article ,
George wrote:
Aldi tools are not made in China otherwise you wouldnt be looking at
a 3 year guarentee.

I'm willing to bet they are. Ignore where it says they are made - this
is just a technical point about where the most value is added or
somesuch which allows them to say Germany.


How much you willing to bet £100?

I'm willing to bet some are made in China, yes.

--
*If at first you don't succeed, avoid skydiving.*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Mon, 18 Aug 2008 09:54:59 +0100, Lobster
wrote:

I got one a couple of years ago, used it on one job and hated it. AFAICR
the laser guide thing was utterly useless as it pointed *backwards* as
you moved along the cut (ie moving in the opposite direction to the
disc rotation as directed).

To be fair on the device I was ignorantly trying to use it to fit
'capping' rather than oval trunking, which I'm sure would have given
better results - I'll probably try it again next time I have some
chasing to do.

Thanks to the heads-up here, I went and bought one today. Whilst in
the store a customer told me he had bought one and had had problems
with the laser not shining where he was cutting. At the time I thought
he meant that his laser was misaligned but now I realise his remarks
could be interpreted in a number of ways and I wish I had asked him
more.

The advantages a
1. the price. Screwfix don't sell one for under £100 and Toolstation
sell a Silverline, which I thought meant budget, for £85 IIRC. I
wouldn't call £85 budget but I would call £40 budget

2. the discs are fully enclosed so (hopefully) keep all the dust
enclosed. I couldn't try for sure as my vacuum nozzle didn't fit, but
the dust that was ejected all seemed to come through the exhaust port
rather than the sides. There is a disclaimer in the instructions not
to use a "domestic" vacuum but they don't say what you should use nor
what they consider to be a "domestic" one. That they are enclosed is
also a disadvantage though (see below).

The disadvantages a
1. The discs protrude so you have to lower them onto the wall. I
understand that posh models allow you to drop the blades into the wall
once the machine is in position. This may be only a minor
disadvantage, though I suppose this is when you will get dust ejected
at the sides.

2. The maximum width is 29mm. There are two spacers so you can set
three widths in total. I think if you are running two cables, as you
would for a ring, you might want it slightly wider than 29mm?

3. Third and finally, this is the big disadvantage to me, the laser,
as someone said above, points backwards. You place the chaser on the
wall and drag it downwards but the laser points upwards. I don't know
if this is what the other customer was trying to tell me. I have
always though that tools with white LEDS or lasers were gimmicks and
this has confirmed that.

I am not sure but I think that if you drift one way, the laser will
drift the opposite way, so if you try to correct your steering by
following the laser's direction, you will actually increase the drift
rather than correct it!

I wasn't sure whether the laser is actually to one side of the cut
rather than on it but I couldn't cut a straight enough line to find
out!

It seems to align (roughly) with the left disc; not the centre of the
chase nor the right disc. Since the left disc is a bit hidden in the
middle of the machine, I think shining along the line of the right
disc might have been better.

On the subject of left and right, I do not know how left handed
friendly it might be.

Though enclosing the discs encloses the dirt, this does mean you
cannot see what you are cutting. Whilst the exposed disc of an angle
grinder causes all the dust, it does mean you can watch the disc
follow your line. I always had straight lines with my angle grinder.

What happens next? I have one more chase to cut. I think I will mark a
line on the wall and pull the machine with the edge of the machine
aligned to my mark and use this to guide me rather than the stupid
laser.

I think I will send a letter to Aldi and the manufacturer thanking
them for a model at a good price but ask them to remove the laser or
put it on the correct end in the future!

If I cannot cut straight tomorrow, then I'm afraid it's going back!
How do you guide other models, are they similarly difficult to see
where they are going?

I have never used/hired/bought/seen/touched/held a wall chaser before.
IANA Aldi employee nor wallchaser manufacturer, YMMV, and all the
other standard disclaimers etc.

Stephen.

"Stephen" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 18 Aug 2008 09:54:59 +0100, Lobster
wrote:


Forget the laser,they are just a gimick.

Draw two straight lines up the wall that are the width of the chaser at the
same time mark lines where the channel is supposed to be,then follow the
lines of the chasers side width.

"George" wrote in message
om...

"Stephen" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 18 Aug 2008 09:54:59 +0100, Lobster
wrote:


Forget the laser,they are just a gimick.

Draw two straight lines up the wall that are the width of the chaser at
the
same time mark lines where the channel is supposed to be,then follow the
lines of the chasers side width.



Forget that.. nail a batten to the wall and use it as a guide.

Stephen wrote:

1. The discs protrude so you have to lower them onto the wall. I
understand that posh models allow you to drop the blades into the wall
once the machine is in position. This may be only a minor
disadvantage, though I suppose this is when you will get dust ejected
at the sides.

Face it, with any wall chaser, even with a dust extractor going
full-pelt you will get dust everywhere. Just not as much as if you were
using one without the vac. But still plenty of it everywhere.

In article ,
"dennis@home" writes:
"George" wrote in message
om...

"Stephen" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 18 Aug 2008 09:54:59 +0100, Lobster
wrote:

Forget the laser,they are just a gimick.

Draw two straight lines up the wall that are the width of the chaser at
the
same time mark lines where the channel is supposed to be,then follow the
lines of the chasers side width.

Forget that.. nail a batten to the wall and use it as a guide.

I did that, once. The resulting perfectly straight channel means the
oval trunking falls out. A bit of freehand wobble holds it in place
perfectly.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

In article ,
Stephen writes:
Thanks to the heads-up here, I went and bought one today. Whilst in
the store a customer told me he had bought one and had had problems
with the laser not shining where he was cutting. At the time I thought
he meant that his laser was misaligned but now I realise his remarks
could be interpreted in a number of ways and I wish I had asked him
more.

The advantages a
1. the price. Screwfix don't sell one for under £100 and Toolstation
sell a Silverline, which I thought meant budget, for £85 IIRC. I
wouldn't call £85 budget but I would call £40 budget

2. the discs are fully enclosed so (hopefully) keep all the dust
enclosed.

Only with a very good vacuum cleaner.

I couldn't try for sure as my vacuum nozzle didn't fit, but
the dust that was ejected all seemed to come through the exhaust port
rather than the sides. There is a disclaimer in the instructions not
to use a "domestic" vacuum but they don't say what you should use nor
what they consider to be a "domestic" one. That they are enclosed is
also a disadvantage though (see below).

The only domestic I've found which comes even close to coping with
the rate of dust one of these ejects is a Dyson. Forget any bagged
cleaner, and forget a Henry - that worked for less than 10 seconds
before it completely clogged.

If you use a Dyson, bare in mind the dust will sand-blast the
inside of the Dyson's dust bin, and the bin will weigh much more
than the handle was designed for when you empty it. You will need
to wash the pre-motor filter every 5 or so bin fulls you empty, so
if you're doing lots of chasing, get a spare to swap in whilst one
is drying. In spite of doing loads of chasing, the post-motor filter
has not even the slightest staining so no dust is getting through to
the Dyson's exhaust.

The disadvantages a
1. The discs protrude so you have to lower them onto the wall. I
understand that posh models allow you to drop the blades into the wall
once the machine is in position. This may be only a minor
disadvantage, though I suppose this is when you will get dust ejected
at the sides.

2. The maximum width is 29mm. There are two spacers so you can set
three widths in total. I think if you are running two cables, as you
would for a ring, you might want it slightly wider than 29mm?

30mm is widest standard oval trunking size, but it's not very
widely available. 25mm is normally used for 2 X 2.5mm T&E for ring
circuits.

3. Third and finally, this is the big disadvantage to me, the laser,
as someone said above, points backwards. You place the chaser on the
wall and drag it downwards but the laser points upwards. I don't know
if this is what the other customer was trying to tell me. I have
always though that tools with white LEDS or lasers were gimmicks and
this has confirmed that.

Mine doesn't have a laser, and I haven't needed one. Actually I
would be somewhat concerned at risk of reflecting it into my eyes.
A chaser is already quite a dangerous tool and not one which needs
additional useless things to worry about added to it.
Can you take it off or turn it off?

I am not sure but I think that if you drift one way, the laser will
drift the opposite way, so if you try to correct your steering by
following the laser's direction, you will actually increase the drift
rather than correct it!

I wasn't sure whether the laser is actually to one side of the cut
rather than on it but I couldn't cut a straight enough line to find
out!

It seems to align (roughly) with the left disc; not the centre of the
chase nor the right disc. Since the left disc is a bit hidden in the
middle of the machine, I think shining along the line of the right
disc might have been better.

On the subject of left and right, I do not know how left handed
friendly it might be.

Though enclosing the discs encloses the dirt, this does mean you
cannot see what you are cutting. Whilst the exposed disc of an angle
grinder causes all the dust, it does mean you can watch the disc
follow your line. I always had straight lines with my angle grinder.

What happens next? I have one more chase to cut. I think I will mark a
line on the wall and pull the machine with the edge of the machine
aligned to my mark and use this to guide me rather than the stupid
laser.

That's what I do.

I think I will send a letter to Aldi and the manufacturer thanking
them for a model at a good price but ask them to remove the laser or
put it on the correct end in the future!

If I cannot cut straight tomorrow, then I'm afraid it's going back!
How do you guide other models, are they similarly difficult to see
where they are going?

I have never used/hired/bought/seen/touched/held a wall chaser before.
IANA Aldi employee nor wallchaser manufacturer, YMMV, and all the
other standard disclaimers etc.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

In article ,
Andrew Gabriel wrote:
Forget that.. nail a batten to the wall and use it as a guide.

I did that, once. The resulting perfectly straight channel means the
oval trunking falls out. A bit of freehand wobble holds it in place
perfectly.

I'm not quite sure of the purpose of this oval trunking. For most things
it's unlikely you could replace a cable or add one at a later date - and
if PVC gives no real extra protection to nails, etc, in the wall. I just
use a few cable clips and plaster over.

--
*A journey of a thousand sites begins with a single click *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Dave Plowman (News) coughed up some electrons that declared:

In article ,
Andrew Gabriel wrote:
Forget that.. nail a batten to the wall and use it as a guide.

I did that, once. The resulting perfectly straight channel means the
oval trunking falls out. A bit of freehand wobble holds it in place
perfectly.

I'm not quite sure of the purpose of this oval trunking. For most things
it's unlikely you could replace a cable or add one at a later date - and
if PVC gives no real extra protection to nails, etc, in the wall. I just
use a few cable clips and plaster over.


For me it's an easy decision:

1) It's cheap as chips and does protect against plastering related
accidents.

2) On the admittedly unlikely occasion that you wanted to insert another
socket outlet/FCU in a horizontal run it would be possible to break in and
replace the cable with two new bits.

3) Lets you do a 1st fix minus cables and plaster up without getting your
wires covered in muck or sliced to buggery.

4) If you do nail a cable, you can at least pull it and stick a new one in.
Rather than leave it and hope for the best like some bloke I know...

I agree, 2+3+4 are all a bit tenuous, but given (1) it's a non issue for
me

Now, I've got a real problem... How to route meter tails out the bottom of
the jewson box, through a cavity wall, hide in plaster, upto a switch-fuse
then along to the CU, now I've *finally* found a sensible siting for it
that involves the minimum intervention from EDF. 25mm (I hope not 32mm)
steel conduit is going to be involved out of necessity for the 17th. The
problem is to avoid difficult sh*t with a big pipe bender if possible. This
will be the first test of my ALDI chaser, and my new Hitachi 2kg SDS

Cheers

Tim

"Tim S" wrote in message
...

Now, I've got a real problem... How to route meter tails out the bottom of
the jewson box, through a cavity wall, hide in plaster, upto a switch-fuse
then along to the CU, now I've *finally* found a sensible siting for it
that involves the minimum intervention from EDF. 25mm (I hope not 32mm)
steel conduit is going to be involved out of necessity for the 17th. The
problem is to avoid difficult sh*t with a big pipe bender if possible.
This
will be the first test of my ALDI chaser, and my new Hitachi 2kg SDS

Run the conduit/trunking outside, you know its going to be easier.

Why not run SWA?

In article ,
Tim S wrote:
I'm not quite sure of the purpose of this oval trunking. For most
things it's unlikely you could replace a cable or add one at a later
date - and if PVC gives no real extra protection to nails, etc, in the
wall. I just use a few cable clips and plaster over.


For me it's an easy decision:

1) It's cheap as chips and does protect against plastering related
accidents.

I'm not convinced.

2) On the admittedly unlikely occasion that you wanted to insert another
socket outlet/FCU in a horizontal run it would be possible to break in
and replace the cable with two new bits.

That's the bit that usually isn't so. Unless you use vastly oversized
conduit.

3) Lets you do a 1st fix minus cables and plaster up without getting your
wires covered in muck or sliced to buggery.

Have you actually tried getting the cable through after plastering? If
you've used large enough conduit it means a much bigger chase than
otherwise.

4) If you do nail a cable, you can at least pull it and stick a new one
in. Rather than leave it and hope for the best like some bloke I know...

Again this depends on being able to extract/replace the cable.

I agree, 2+3+4 are all a bit tenuous, but given (1) it's a non issue for
me

Now, I've got a real problem... How to route meter tails out the bottom
of the jewson box, through a cavity wall, hide in plaster, upto a
switch-fuse then along to the CU, now I've *finally* found a sensible
siting for it that involves the minimum intervention from EDF. 25mm (I
hope not 32mm) steel conduit is going to be involved out of necessity
for the 17th. The problem is to avoid difficult sh*t with a big pipe
bender if possible. This will be the first test of my ALDI chaser, and
my new Hitachi 2kg SDS

I'd be inclined to use SWA.

BTW, what's a jewson box? Is it some form of service connector block?

--
*Whatever kind of look you were going for, you missed.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

dennis@home coughed up some electrons that declared:



"Tim S" wrote in message
...

Now, I've got a real problem... How to route meter tails out the bottom
of the jewson box, through a cavity wall, hide in plaster, upto a
switch-fuse then along to the CU, now I've *finally* found a sensible
siting for it that involves the minimum intervention from EDF. 25mm (I
hope not 32mm) steel conduit is going to be involved out of necessity for
the 17th. The problem is to avoid difficult sh*t with a big pipe bender
if possible. This
will be the first test of my ALDI chaser, and my new Hitachi 2kg SDS

Run the conduit/trunking outside, you know its going to be easier.

Yes indeed, but see below.

Why not run SWA?

The thought did occur. Unfortunately theres a doorway in between and no
space over the door (bungalow). I did actually consider going down,
underground, along and up, which isn't actually a stupid idea, except for
this bit:

Currently we have 2 adjacent jewson (meter) boxes. One has meter, other has
current CU (don't ask). Both are 3m from the site of the new CU (indoors)
though not by much, but being pedantic, I'm going to put a fused-switch in
place to abide by DNO rules 'cos I need them to reterminate the tails, so
it's better to be by-the-book. If I can get the switch-fuse inside, I can
lose the surplus jewson box. One's ugly enough, two are hideous.

Here's a drawing of the best theory to date:


----------------------------------- Ceiling
| |****************
| SF | *
------ *
----*---------------------*------- Picture rail
* | | *
* | | *
* | | -------
*Meter | | | |
*Outside | DOOR | | CU |
* | | -------
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
==================================== Floor

* = 25mm2 cable runs.

SF = Switch-Fuse

Bottom of the left hand cable run has a 90** degree bend straight through
the wall.

Top run can go behind coving, but still needs mechanical protection under
the 17th and due to the nature of the circuit, the otherwised required 30mA
RCD protection for not having protection isn't viable. The new CU and down
run of conduit will be in a 200mm deep full height new wiring cupboard
(boxed in with ply). This bit works really well as SWA terminations are
done low in the cupboard and go down through the floor and outside for
external final circuits (shed, gate lights etc). All the rest of the final
circuits go up into the roof void.

With the above, I *should* be able to limit each run to 1 bend, possibly
even using a preformed fitting so I've only got the thread cutting to deal
with. Might need a second bend on the conduit to meter box depending on
whether I'm feeling brave enough to core drill through the back of a
populated box or whether I go in the side near the base (coward's method, I
like being a coward)

The room is a hallway and utility area, but I'd prefer to avoid surface
conduit if possible, except where I can hide it under the coving.

It's all good fun

Cheers

Tim

Hi Dave,

Dave Plowman (News) coughed up some electrons that declared:

In article ,
Tim S wrote:

1) It's cheap as chips and does protect against plastering related
accidents.

I'm not convinced.

Which bit: cheap or plastering related damage protection?

2) On the admittedly unlikely occasion that you wanted to insert another
socket outlet/FCU in a horizontal run it would be possible to break in
and replace the cable with two new bits.

That's the bit that usually isn't so. Unless you use vastly oversized
conduit.

One cable in each half of a newly divided conduit run, not 2 cables in one
conduit.

3) Lets you do a 1st fix minus cables and plaster up without getting your
wires covered in muck or sliced to buggery.

Have you actually tried getting the cable through after plastering? If
you've used large enough conduit it means a much bigger chase than
otherwise.

No, but I've been playing with 2.5 T+E and a 2m bit of 16mm oval conduit in
free air. Goes through fine as long as the cable isn't kinked. 20mm oval
should be even easier I would have thought.

4) If you do nail a cable, you can at least pull it and stick a new one
in. Rather than leave it and hope for the best like some bloke I know...

Again this depends on being able to extract/replace the cable.

I agree, 2+3+4 are all a bit tenuous, but given (1) it's a non issue for
me

Now, I've got a real problem... How to route meter tails out the bottom
of the jewson box, through a cavity wall, hide in plaster, upto a
switch-fuse then along to the CU, now I've *finally* found a sensible
siting for it that involves the minimum intervention from EDF. 25mm (I
hope not 32mm) steel conduit is going to be involved out of necessity
for the 17th. The problem is to avoid difficult sh*t with a big pipe
bender if possible. This will be the first test of my ALDI chaser, and
my new Hitachi 2kg SDS

I'd be inclined to use SWA.

More context is needed to see the issues with this, explained in another
post on this thread.


BTW, what's a jewson box? Is it some form of service connector block?

Some slang I seemed to have acquired from the IET forums, means standard
meter box. Didn't mean to be obscure, just came out :-o

Don't mind me. It's my nature to plan a job to buggery and go through about
6 iterations. Wife hates it. Fortunately my planning method usually
produces good to excellent results for me, and not planning is disasterous,
always.

I'm not a person who can hit on the answer first time. But I know it seems
like incessant irritating wibbling to other (smarter) people ;-

That's why I'm on here all the time picking brains! I do hope, sincerely, in
about 3-6 months to start contributing some material back via a photo blog.

Cheers

Tim

In article ,
"Dave Plowman (News)" writes:
In article ,
Andrew Gabriel wrote:
Forget that.. nail a batten to the wall and use it as a guide.

I did that, once. The resulting perfectly straight channel means the
oval trunking falls out. A bit of freehand wobble holds it in place
perfectly.

I'm not quite sure of the purpose of this oval trunking. For most things
it's unlikely you could replace a cable or add one at a later date - and

I've done both, quite easily.
It's a bit harder with capping as one side of the channel is
rough. However, I managed to draw new wires through all except
one piece of the existing capping when rewiring an early 1950's
bungalow.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

Andrew Gabriel wrote:
In article ,
"Dave Plowman (News)" writes:
In article ,
Andrew Gabriel wrote:
Forget that.. nail a batten to the wall and use it as a guide.
I did that, once. The resulting perfectly straight channel means the
oval trunking falls out. A bit of freehand wobble holds it in place
perfectly.
I'm not quite sure of the purpose of this oval trunking. For most things
it's unlikely you could replace a cable or add one at a later date - and

I've done both, quite easily.
It's a bit harder with capping as one side of the channel is
rough. However, I managed to draw new wires through all except
one piece of the existing capping when rewiring an early 1950's
bungalow.

During my last experience of wiring - which, as it happens, was the last
time I used my Aldi wall chaser - I used capping which I'd nailed
roughly into place (not very well) just to support it while the
plastering was done.

The plasterer came and did his stuff in my absence, and later on when I
came to test the wiring I found a short in that cable drop (ie between
ceiling and socket) and I ended up just taking that socket out of the
ring altogether rather than trying to get fresh cable to that socket).
I'm convinced that the plasterer must have bashed another nail through
the capping to hold it better in place, and caught a cable in doing so
(I sure as hell didn't do so myself!).

Anyway, that's another vote for oval trunking next time I have to do it!

David

Owain coughed up some electrons that declared:

Tim S wrote:
Run the conduit/trunking outside, you know its going to be easier.
Yes indeed, but see below.
Why not run SWA?
The thought did occur. Unfortunately theres a doorway in between and no
space over the door (bungalow). I did actually consider going down,
underground, along and up, which isn't actually a stupid idea, except for
this bit:

Could you run SWA outside over the door, and conceal it (and the areas
of wall made good post-removal of "jewson boxes") with some trellis and
climbing plants?

Owain

Hi,

Unfortunately, there isn't an "over the door" as such - the soffits are more
or less level with the top. I'll see if there's any clearance above the
soffit boards (they need to come off anyway). Might be able to notch out
their supports a bit. Worth a look.

Cheers

Tim

"Tim S" wrote in message
...


Unfortunately, there isn't an "over the door" as such - the soffits are
more
or less level with the top. I'll see if there's any clearance above the
soffit boards (they need to come off anyway). Might be able to notch out
their supports a bit. Worth a look.

I was just going to suggest taking the soffits off.
The rafters/trusses shouldn't be structural at that point (assuming there
are no joint plates) so you can drill quite large holes to thread SWA
through.
You can probably just run it in the attic without cutting anything.
If so fix it to the underside of the roof so it doesn't get covered by
insulation, then you don't have to de-rate.