Locating fault in a house full of craft junk?

[JohnW2]

Eric .... it seems that as long ago as November 2015 you were sometimes referring to your "late mother" ....

My sincere apologies - I did not pay enough attention to what this site's search engine was finding. In this one, it picked up "late mother" in something quoted in a post by eric ...

.... My late mother was once such.

There as some ..........

... whereas this one was even more my fault, for not looking carefully enough at what had been found ...

.... my late mother-in-law ....

Again, my sincere apologies, and a repeat if my condolences to eric.

Kind Regards, John

 

[ericmark]

Mother died on the 27th Feb, she went into a care home for 2 weeks respite, it was extended while considering options, and on Monday the 19th Feb we had a phone call to say she was in hospital, seems she had been ill all weekend, but we were not told, we were busy getting her house ready to rent, Tuesday 20th Feb we had a best interest meeting told we could not postpone, Wednesday social services phoned to say mother had died, however at this point she was still alive, however the liver and kidney damage due to being left dehydrated over the weeks end was too much, and she finally died as said on the 27th Feb.

This has resulted in not being able to rent the house until Probate has progressed, so decided to use the time to do some changes in our own house before returning, however the loss of the ring final was not part of the plan. What I am considering is clearing garage and running a cable from 15A MCB in old fuse box to socket in living room to get power back even if reduced to give us some breathing space. My son suggested a widow maker extension lead in the office which I could lock between old immersion heater supply and one of the dead sockets. And lock the office door. However I don't like that idea, even if I swap dead socket for a FCU one would not know if the supply some how repaired its self. And knowing my luck it would be me who gets the belt. And there has been enough of a problem getting everything transferred to my name, without leaving my wife with the job of doing it all over again.

At least we have some time to get it sorted.

 

[ericmark]

Oh and my wife has finally admitted she has to get rid of a load of stuff, but I am not blameless, counted 4 jigsaws, 5 drills, band saw, two electric planes, etc. Although I expect some one in the family will want them, but only one battery drill everyone wants that, they have no chance, but no one seems to want non SDS mains drills.

So tomorrow I will have to borrow my sons test gear, likely he nicked it of me to start with. I have two new consumer units sitting there ready to fit, one old plastic and one metal, but think need to find the fault first. Bet it turns out to be something daft?

 

[JohnW2]

Mother died on the 27th Feb ....

I'm sorry to hear that and offer my best wishes to you, your wife and family.

I'm also sorry for the confusion I may have caused. I posted the first of my above two messages just in case we were all making fools of ourselves by offering words of sympathy, but ended up making an even greater fool of myself.

... loss of the ring final was not part of the plan. What I am considering is clearing garage and running a cable from 15A MCB in old fuse box to socket in living room to get power back even if reduced to give us some breathing space. ...

That would certainly be one possible temporary measure, although I personally would feel a little uncomfortable about energising a circuit which presumably must have at least two separate faults of unknown nature.

As I wrote, from what I now understand of the situation, there must be faulty L connections between the MCB and both the first and last sockets on the ring. Unless rodents have been at work (is that a possibility?) it's unlikely that two cables themselves have developed faults, in which case the problems would presumably have to be the connections at the first and last sockets - if you could identify which they were (is it perhaps 'obvious' from the geography?), it ought to be easy to find the problem - and, if there were no apparent connection problems, then continuity tests between those sockets and the CU should indicate whether a finger needed to be pointed at rodents or the like!

Kindest Regards, John

 

[JohnW2]

Oh and my wife has finally admitted she has to get rid of a load of stuff, but I am not blameless, counted 4 jigsaws, 5 drills, band saw, two electric planes, etc. Although I expect some one in the family will want them, but only one battery drill everyone wants that, they have no chance, but no one seems to want non SDS mains drills.

Neither my wife nor myself are in any position to talk or criticise. We live in a house which for a good few years has probably been at least four times bigger than we now actually 'need' - so, rationally, we should have 'downsized' quite a long time ago. However, the house is absolutely crammed full of 'stuff' (of both her and my doing!), such that to attempt to downsize (unless we are ever 'forced' to) would be almost 'unthinkable'!

Kind Regards, John

 

[securespark]

Sounds like you, me and eric all need to do a Life Laundry.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Upsize.

Then you'll have room for more stuff.

You know it makes sense.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

no one seems to want non SDS mains drills.

Ha.

Wish I could find one that would fit into a drill stand accessory I have......

 

[JohnW2]

A variant of Parkinson's Law certainly seems to work with belongings. Just over 30 years ago, circumstances resulted in our 'upsizing' from a standard "2½-bed semi" to a house at least 4 times the size (the cellar alone probably has a similar floor area to our entire previous house, and there are three floors above that). Within less than 5 years we had totally filled the whole place with 'stuff'/belongings, and actually started moaning that we were running out of storage space!

Kind Regards, John

 

[rsgaz]

one that would fit into a drill stand accessory I have......

Is it the 43mm collar that you need?
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/391831309831
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/172897048343
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/222813882021

 

[JohnW2]

Is it the 43mm collar that you need?

I thought that most/all mains drills still had them. Most/all of mine do, other than those really ancient ones I still have which pre-date the collars and attach to accessories by the heads of two screws fitting into depressions in the accessory!

Kind Regards, John

 

[ericmark]

I still have a Wolf Cub drill, back in 1950's they came out with a selection of attachments, including a lathe, latter Black and Decker did some thing similar, however the B&D changed their gearbox making the drill longer so some of the old stuff with no longer fit, so kept the old Wolf Cub, however really does need a new power cable now.

The things like sanders are now so cheap as stand alone items the drill attachments are really a thing of the past. However be it DIY tools or cooking tools it is getting silly, the stand alone pressure cooker is so much better than the type which fits on the hotplate, same with deep fat frier's, but they take up so much space.

 

[JohnW2]

I still have a Wolf Cub drill, back in 1950's they came out with a selection of attachments, including a lathe, latter Black and Decker did some thing similar ....

Indeed - and some still exist, and are even used occasionally! ....

The 'drill holder' on the left is the original version, which held onto the drill by means of the heads of its gearbox casing screws (for drills with no collar). The one on the extreme right is a 'spare', in case I ever have to change to a drill which has a collar.

The things like sanders are now so cheap as stand alone items the drill attachments are really a thing of the past.

Indeed. However, 'back then' (60s/70s), I'm not even sure that standalone electric tools other than drills were available in the DIY market, at least at sensible prices. I therefore had (and still have) all sorts of 'drill attachments' - orbital sanders, jigsaws, circular saws etc. etc.

However be it DIY tools or cooking tools it is getting silly, the stand alone pressure cooker is so much better than the type which fits on the hotplate, same with deep fat frier's, but they take up so much space.

"so much better" in some senses but, in addition to the capital outlay, they invoke the running-cost-issue of 'cooking with electricity'.

Kind Regards, John

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I can't remember what size collar it has, but the drill goes into a rectangular frame which then fits onto the stand. It has to have a jacobs chuck, and an indentation at the back for the pointed end of a threaded rod to tighten into, possibly like what's going on here:

IIRC, back in the day such a feature was very common.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I therefore had (and still have) all sorts of 'drill attachments' - orbital sanders, jigsaws, circular saws etc. etc.

Clearing out the garage at Mum's, some years after my Dad died, I came across something which made my blood run cold.

A circular saw blade fixed to an arbor so you could just stick it into the chuck of a drill.

But not a nice delicate little thing like this:

it was a 6-7" dia ripsaw blade.


How can I amputate thee, let me count the ways.