I had some choc blocks from B&Q. 15A and 30A. I found these to be
extremely weak. I know you shouldn't over-tighten these things onto
copper, but I found they cracked at the base without much screwing
pressure. Folding the wire ends over made them less likely to crack,
but these things were extremely weak. Anyone come across this before ?
Simon.

On Feb 9, 4:45*pm, sm_jamieson wrote:
I had some choc blocks from B&Q. 15A and 30A. I found these to be
extremely weak. I know you shouldn't over-tighten these things onto
copper, but I found they cracked at the base without much screwing
pressure. Folding the wire ends over made them less likely to crack,
but these things were extremely weak. Anyone come across this before ?
Simon.

I've just used some 5A junction boxes from Toolstation where the screw
heads snapped off at the first sign of tightness. Fitted five -
happened on three - always on the terminal used for earth.

sm_jamieson wrote:
I had some choc blocks from B&Q. 15A and 30A. I found these to be
extremely weak. I know you shouldn't over-tighten these things onto
copper, but I found they cracked at the base without much screwing
pressure. Folding the wire ends over made them less likely to crack,
but these things were extremely weak. Anyone come across this before ?

Yup there are some really poor ones about...


--
Cheers,

John.

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

In article ,
John Rumm wrote:
I had some choc blocks from B&Q. 15A and 30A. I found these to be
extremely weak. I know you shouldn't over-tighten these things onto
copper, but I found they cracked at the base without much screwing
pressure. Folding the wire ends over made them less likely to crack,
but these things were extremely weak. Anyone come across this before ?

Yup there are some really poor ones about...

Ages ago I bought bulk packs from TLC, and they're ok but not brilliant.
Where would you guarantee to get top quality ones?

--
*If a pig loses its voice, is it disgruntled?

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

Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
John Rumm wrote:
I had some choc blocks from B&Q. 15A and 30A. I found these to be
extremely weak. I know you shouldn't over-tighten these things onto
copper, but I found they cracked at the base without much screwing
pressure. Folding the wire ends over made them less likely to crack,
but these things were extremely weak. Anyone come across this before ?

Yup there are some really poor ones about...

Ages ago I bought bulk packs from TLC, and they're ok but not brilliant.
Where would you guarantee to get top quality ones?

Don't know about guarantee - you never know when someone is going to
change supplier.

Normally I get them from CPC and they have been OK so far.

--
Cheers,

John.

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

In article ,
John Rumm writes:

Normally I get them from CPC and they have been OK so far.

Same here, and they have different types to choose from.
They often have the 30A ones going cheap in their leaflets.

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

In article , "John
Rumm" wrote:

Don't know about guarantee - you never know when someone is going to
change supplier.

Normally I get them from CPC and they have been OK so far.


Has anyone got a good source of the type with an flat insert in the
hole? This is pushed down onto the wire by the screw to grip the wire.

I used to use these for connecting thin stranded wire where soldering
the strands wasn't a good idea. The standard one where the screws
rotate down into the wire are no use with such fine strands

I've taken to fitting bootlace ferrules, but that's one extra operation
- and cost...

Back to the original topic - I've recently had some choc blocs locally
sourced that have had such a long unthreaded part and a dome on the end
of the screw such that it was held by no more than a turn or two of
thread when tightened onto the wire. Tightening it up resulted in a
stripped thread...
--
John W
To mail me replace the obvious with co.uk twice

In article ,
John Weston writes:

Has anyone got a good source of the type with an flat insert in the
hole? This is pushed down onto the wire by the screw to grip the wire.

Leaf protection springs -- yes CPC again ("Protectors" in following)...
http://cpc.farnell.com/jsp/level5/mo...cpc/257816.xml

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

In article , "Andrew
Gabriel" wrote:
In article ,
John Weston writes:

Has anyone got a good source of the type with an flat insert in the
hole? This is pushed down onto the wire by the screw to grip the wire.

Leaf protection springs -- yes CPC again ("Protectors" in following)...
http://cpc.farnell.com/jsp/level5/mo...cpc/257816.xml

Thanks - the link through to the maufacturer, Camden Electronics, has
provided some other bits I'd lost the source of, e.g. the pluggable
type. Their terminal strip looks to be of good specification, having
heat resistant plastic, plating of the brass parts, captive screws - and
stainless "protectors"

--
John W
To mail me replace the obvious with co.uk twice

In article ,
Andrew Gabriel wrote:
Normally I get them from CPC and they have been OK so far.

Same here, and they have different types to choose from.
They often have the 30A ones going cheap in their leaflets.

As I said I bought bulk packs from them ages ago - 5,15 and 30 amp. Not
even sure they were all of the same manufacture. Quite a few of the 5 amp
ones have non existing threads or whatever - the screws go round without
tightening up. But restricted to the odd one on a strip so you just don't
use that one.

More annoying are the screw heads. Meant to be those types that will take
either plain or crosshead. But no screwdriver I possess is a good fit in
either. Basically, the indents are too shallow.

--
*Growing old is inevitable, growing up is optional *

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