six-point socket's tidbits of Home Improvement, small projects and other stuff.

[FestitaMakool]

Well.. you guys are way ahead of me, in both departments  [big grin]
[member=10147]jobsworth[/member] - Congratulations! One day, one day...  [wink]

[member=61712]six-point socket II[/member] and [member=11196]Peter Parfitt[/member] Thanks for the links and tips on the Zyliss vice! Might just order some additional accessories for mine, I’m preparing a systainer for this clever vice, neat to grab for on the fly tasks.

 

[six-point socket II]

Hi everyone,

So today you get to have a laugh at my expense, or "stupid"-temper-tantrum-throwing-Oliver at work ...

I found this:https://www.mixcard.de/p/holz-hygienehaken-werbemittel/ Not the worst idea these days. (I once used a disinfectant wipe on an ATM keypad - believe me, you don't want to see the result.) (I used this picture as template:

)

Anyway, I thought without the chip function to relase shopping carts at the grocery store, I could use a scrap of 4mm ply. (4mm is too thick for the shopping cart chip)

I scaled down the image (Used a shopping cart chip to check how far I was off, not bad ...) and got the tools out. (It's about 20 years since I had used a coping saw.) Luckily I had a few saw blades for it left. ...

Used spray adhesive to get the template on the ply. (Bad idea, since I only had "extra strong" at hand ...)

While eating some homemade pizza I led the adhesive dry. Then it was time to start. What can I say, there is a reason I haven't touched a coping saw for the better part of 20 years, I'm still not calm and focussed enough for stuff like this. What worked like a charm, was using the Rali press to hold the saw table.

Drilled a hole, and used the coping saw on the inner circle. Then I removed the template, interesting enough that was easier than I thought it would be, after using the "extra strong" spray adhesive.

Then some filing and sanding.

Then both of the "hygienic helpers" were ready. Absolutely no prize to be won with these, but they will work as intended. As I said, I'm neither calm nor focussed enough with stuff like this. I threw a temper/cursing tantrum after the first few cuts ... Glad you couldn't hear me.

Honestly, I didn't want to show them. But I had started taking pictures anyway, so I though "to heck" - why not show a classic fail.

Kind regards,
Oliver

 

[Stone Message]

Oliver [member=61712]six-point socket II[/member]

You must get a CNC or a 3D printer !

Well done for having the courage to show a "fail" - it shows character.

Peter

 

[Ron B]

It just gives you a new appreciation for all the Victorian work that I presume was cut by hand. 

 

[six-point socket II]

Oliver [member=61712]six-point socket II[/member]

You must get a CNC or a 3D printer !

Well done for having the courage to show a "fail" - it shows character.

Peter

Hey Peter, thank you! I don't think I will go that route. I know the endless possibilities that come with both tools, but I wouldn't use it enough to justify the time put into it until everything is setup and works smooth. Additionally, I'm very happy that I left Autocad together with my old job, behind me.

It just gives you a new appreciation for all the Victorian work that I presume was cut by hand. 

It sure does.

Kind regards,
Oliver

 

[sancho57]

[member=61712]six-point socket II[/member]

Hey Oliver, You mean Im not the only one that does things like that? At least ya thought of a way to correct it. I still got a coping saw to. I love using it when I need to

 

[Stone Message]

Hi Oliver  [member=61712]six-point socket II[/member]

Your idea made me put down the Sunday paper,  turn the workshop heater on and have a quick play on the CNC.

[attachimg=1]

I have not tested it yet so we may well have both wasted our time !

Cheers.

Peter

 

[six-point socket II]

[member=61712]six-point socket II[/member]

Hey Oliver, You mean Im not the only one that does things like that? At least ya thought of a way to correct it. I still got a coping saw to. I love using it when I need to

[big grin]

Hi Oliver  [member=61712]six-point socket II[/member]

Your idea made me put down the Sunday paper,  turn the workshop heater on and have a quick play on the CNC.

[attachimg=1]

I have not tested it yet so we may well have both wasted our time !

Cheers.

Peter

That looks great Peter! I don't see why it wouldn't work. Thanks for sharing!

Kind regards,
Oliver

 

[hdv]

Oliver, I hope you did give them some good surface treatment and will disinfect them regularly? Virus particles and bacteria are known to stay alive on surfaces for a long time. Multiple studies on Covid-19 suggest this particular virus might retain its contagiousness for up to 2 weeks on contaminated surfaces.  [scared]  Also make sure that you do not put them anywhere where they will contaminate other objects (including your hands) after use.  [eek]

Peter's plastic version can be reliably disinfected, but for wood that hasn't been treated appropriately this is nigh impossible.

Not trying to be a negative factor here, just hoping to give you some good advice, as you are in the same boat as I am, when it comes to health and being in a high-risk group. All the best, and stay safe!

 

[Stone Message]

Hi Oliver

i have now mentioned you in a video and many thanks for the shopping trolley idea....


It is about 10 minutes in.

Peter

 

[six-point socket II]

That's so cool Peter, thank you!

Here's a little still life from my latest adventure/endeavor down in the basement, nothing special, just consider it a "sign of life".  [big grin]

And, as always. Festool came through and shipped me the latest catalog, '21 calendar, sticker and the Domino and Conturo books. Thank you very much Festool!

Kind regards,
Oliver

 

[sancho57]

Cool Oliver I down loaded the FT contouro book and have it on my computers desk top.

 

[six-point socket II]

"State of the six-point socket II Address"  [big grin] [scared] [big grin]

Looking back, one year of Covid-19 lies behind us now, a year that came with a lot of challenges for everyone. Sadly also with incredible pain, loss, and financial hardship for so many.

Speaking of Germany, we are facing at least 13 more days of lockdown and vaccinations are on their way. Personally I belong to one of the "at risk" groups, this really got to my attention, as I received a letter from the government including vouchers to purchase some FFP2/KN95 masks at a specially reduced price from the pharmacy.

So I guess I will receive my shot as part of "Group 3", but I don't really expect that to happen before summer. And honestly, I'm not too fond of the idea of receiving that shot in one of those temporary set up "vaccination centers" - so I'll probably sit this one out until the nurses at my GP can administer the shot.

Time to face the more present future and how to proceed.

Looking at all of my outstanding material orders that keep being postponed time after time I decided it's time to move away from my usual habits. I decided not to wait until I have received everything like I usually do, but to split the project(s) and start.

This means that I ordered a waste container for spring and will start the demolition at that time no matter what. This makes me independent from lockdown related closure of the municipal waste/recycling/junkyard. I have to demolish flooring, ceiling, wainscoting, trim & drywall ... Additionally I need to carefully open some cladding.

Then we will have to see when & if the plumber/HVAC technician can come to work here to replace the last of the old piping. Hopefully until then our design radiator has been delivered, so he can actually prepare the connections accordingly. (Very different from the connections I'm used to by now, so better to have him do it & learn ...)

Additionally there are some smaller projects planned that can hopefully be done in between.

- Sanding & re-finishing of all the doors and frames. This is for warm weather, when I can set up shop outdoors again. Probably going to bridge the time gap between demolition and the plumber coming to work.

- Renovation of the Guest Bathroom

- Renovation of the entry hallway

- Renovation of the kitchen

All three of them can only happen when there is no lockdown, and we can actually visit stores to chose, paints, paper ... Not buying that online.

Last but not least, don't consider this whining by any means, we are very, very fortunate and incredibly lucky all in all - and very thankful! It's just stating the (obvious) facts on how & when things are going to proceed here.

Kind regards,
Oliver

 

[Bob D.]

"...we are very, very fortunate and incredibly lucky all in all - and very thankful!"

I think that goes for all of us who are here and able to visit the forum today Oliver.

I am high risk also and registered with our state health system but they have given
no clue as to when I will be able to get the vaccine.

For now I just stay home, venturing out only to the market and to haul trash to the
recycling center. Any projects I have worked on made use of materials I have on hand.

I feel like a prisoner, just need an ankle bracelet and orange jumpsuit to complete the
picture.

 

[danny l]

Used H05RN-F 3G1,5 mm² for the internal wiring and connection. Supply cable is something similar, don't have it's specs at hand.

Kind regards,
Oliver

Is this 1,5 mm² allowed in germany. Here it must be 2.5 mm². 1,5 mm² Is only for feeding lamps.

 

[six-point socket II]

Long story short:

1,5 mm² is permitted for general outlets in conjunction with (up to) 16A breakers and an overall cable length of 17m or less. AND if there are no other cables running with it/parallel to it.

Consensus is, ideally you would use/have 10A breakers wired with 1,5 mm² for general outlets.

There is no fixed value set out by the standard (VDE) regarding outlets, it depends on multiple factors that you have to calculate. So no: "it has to be 2,5 mm²", for us.

I'm not going to go any deeper into this/ discuss this any further.

Kind regards,
Oliver

 

[six-point socket II]

Crispy, or extra crispy?  [scared] [eek] [blink]

So yesterday evening I went down to the basement to fetch some water, I came by the distribution panel and thought I'd take a look - something I do every other week (loosely).

When I looked through the window of the housing to our 3, private, 50A main fuses Warren Zevon started to play & sing in my mind: "Send lawyers, guns and money, Dad get me out of this" ...

This is what I saw. (Obviously I checked for temperature & voltage first, took out the the side cover so I could look inside. Only then I took the pictures!) The fuse did not terminate the connection/ trip. That's why I/we didn't notice this.

To work on this I would have had to pull the 3 ("utility owned") 63A main fuses. I don't do this. So I decided to call an electrician in the morning. After a night with not much sleep, I had to call up about 6 electricians before I got one, at about 11 AM that was interested in fixing this/ taking a look. I spoke to the owner/master electrician, he said he had a journeyman not far from us on a site, and would call him up. Ten minutes later he called back to let me know the journeyman was on his way and would arrive within another ten minutes. That was awesome, because other electricians I had reached earlier in the morning told me about lead times of several weeks, even months. Some didn't even answer their phones/ had their offices not staffed.

So the journeyman arrived and did the same testing I did the night before and proceeded to remove the fuse and holder. (I didn't do this as when I checked it was cold and no voltage was present where it shouldn't have been. And I thought since everything runs as normal, if I unscrew and can't get it back in - there is a phase missing, and whatever is connected to it, wouldn't work anymore. By chance it's a fridge or freezer and that would be a problem.)

So that's when I really realized how lucky we were that this didn't cost us our house. Time to really thank the big guy, and the industry for coming up with plastics that smolder and melt, but do not necessarily burn without a flame present ...

This is the fuse (still working) and the smoldered holder.

After the housing was removed:

And everything renewed, up & running again.

Then it was time to go "full CSI" on the culprit. And yup, that's extra-crispy please.

Originally the electrician wanted to renew the whole cable, but came to the conclusion he couldn't pull that off without disconnecting any and everything and basically re-setup the whole breaker box where these 3 cables go into. So he was lucky that cable was long enough to be cut well beyond the damage, a new crimp, and good as new.

Since per Stig's ( [member=71478]FestitaMakool[/member] ) recommendation, I bought a new type (VDE) insulated pliers, I consider this my sacrifice to the god of insulated tools and the goddess of electricity ...   [big grin]

Kind regards,
Oliver

 

[Michael Kellough]

Any idea why that fuse got so hot? Or was it the crimp at fault?

 

[six-point socket II]

Hi Michael,

Most likely it was a bad connection, maybe 1/4 of a turn missing on the fuse holder. Possibly "rattled" or "worked" itself loose, maybe during all the work I did in that area. No telling for sure.

I will keep an eye on it, and regularly check if it sits correctly. If it doesn't happen again, that was it. If it happens again we need to do a closer/ more in depth inspection/ evaluation.

Kind regards,
Oliver

 

[Michael Kellough]

Keep up your inspections.