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How, exactly, can anyone get it this wrong? (About 30 seconds in).

Hi, I have a little Ryobi cordless saw which I really like, it's my first circular saw and I've been using it to build a shed recently so it's had lots of use despite being only a month or so old. Today I was cutting up some little bits of 1x2 and I had a minor kickback where the bit I was...

Hi, I am about to build a new shed and I am looking into options for cladding. Frame will be made of 3x2 CLS, overall size of shed is 12ft by 7ft. My previous shed was feather edge board nailed directly to the frame, which worked and was surprisingly watertight, but my main concern with this...

Hi, I have come across a two-core SWA cable connected into a metal cased CU. The "banjo" is bolted to the case of the consumer unit and the consumer unit's earth bar is then electrically connected to the case by one of its supports, which are metal. Is this acceptable? There is good...

Hi I am helping with some work in a pub at the moment and have found rather a lot of (poorly installed) pyro cable. A bit of googling seems to suggest this was at one point required. Can anyone please tell me if this is still the case? Why was it ever the case? I can understand pyro for...

Hi all, Bit of an odd one. Noticed this morning that our prepay (it was there when we moved in) electricity meter has a blank screen and won't respond to button presses etc. Power is still on. Obviously only the owner of the meter can touch it, so we called our supplier (british gas)...

Hi all. I just got my first circular saw today, and the first time I used it found out what a kickback is :shock: Fortunately I was hold of it tight with both hands at the time and managed to control it just fine, but it has got me super worried about cutting my leg off with it now. What...

Hi all, I am currently building an amplifier and need to figure out how to get power into the (home-made) case. The usual method is to use an IEC socket but I don't have the tools and don't trust myself to cut the square hole in the (acrylic) back panel without messing it up, so I want to...

Hi, I am designing a 10x6 workshop/shed. I'm currently designing the base, and because the entire garden is on a slope I want to do something like this: The front side will need to be raised around 47cm one one end and 37cm on the other to make the whole thing level. Pouring a concrete...

Hi, I am building a shed on an existing concrete yard. The concrete has a slope for drainage and digging it out to lay a new concrete base isn't an option, since it's a rented house. Here is the base and the yard where it's going: I've bought some bricks and my idea was to place 15...

Hello, Part of my job is to install and maintain computer systems, and one in particular that I look after is a till system in a small shop. Ever since these machines were installed, they keep powering off and rebooting. Some days they don't do it at all, some days you can't get one to...

I left my floursecent under-cabinet kitchen lights switched on last night, and when I came home today there was a funny smell and they were no longer working. After checking for voltage at the plug I decided to actually have a look at the lamp and one end has melted itself into the holder...

Hi guys, I have a socket in my house - above the kitchen cupboards - which was never screwed in to the backbox (I know, shocking!) It never previously bothered me, but I went up there to screw it in the other day and realised why it was never done - the backbox is not deep enough to...

Guys, I spend a lot of my spare time building and hacking gadgets and tinkering with electronics in general, so I've decided to build a proper workbench in my workshop. As part of this I want to install sockets atop the workbench; extension leads are messy and this way I can have as many...

Hi all, Got another brainteaser for you all. Ever since we moved into this house the lights have flickered slightly, seeming to get worse when it's raining heavily outside. All circuits are affected - lighting and sockets. Last night they were flickering pretty badly, so I decided to...

Hi, I've discovered something I don't like very much in my kitchen. I have some undercupboard lights connected to the lighting circuit through a normal light switch. The connection between the light and the switch is in tiny, tiny white flex (0.75mm at a guess?) and I don't fancy its chances...

Recently I have been reading up on various earthing systems, not for any real reason other than I'm interested in electrics :D My understanding is that in a TNCS system (like in my house) you have a neutral and a live from the supplier, and your house's earth is connected to the neutral at...

Hi, I have an old outdoor toilet in my back garden which the previous owner of the house ran what looks like 2.5mm SWA cable to. The cable is currently connected to a bog standard socket in the shed (which doesn't seem particularly great as it does get very damp in there) and is wired into...

Hi, I'm not sure if I'm putting this in the right place, as I actually want them for car wiring, but I'm wondering if any of you sparkys know a good (reasonably priced) brand of ratchet crimper, and a source of uninsulated high-quality crimp terminals that will fit roughly 4-6mm multistranded...

Hi, I think I may have an electrical problem. The other day we heard a snap/crack sound a couple of times. We put it down to a failing CRT monitor which we had in the study, which we replaced (I am a computer engineer and have seen them make that noise sometimes when the HT circuitry is...