Advice wanted for apprentice.

[phil d]

+1 tbh I'll often use the cordless for just deburring.

1mm thick and flap discs make things so much easier than when I were a lad, during the war, youngsters today etc, etc.

The thing with a lot of youngsters is they can't, or won't do things the old way, I've seen young lads spend 10 minutes going back to the van to get a cordless drill to put 2 screws in a piece of timber, my god, 2X 1 1/2X8 I'd have had them in with a screwdriver by the time they've gone to the van and back.

Recently I saw a video on YT and this young bloke was fitting a CU, he used an cordless impact screwdriver to tighten all the screws,including the breakers!

 

[OnOff]

The thing with a lot of youngsters is they can't, or won't do things the old way, I've seen young lads spend 10 minutes going back to the van to get a cordless drill to put 2 screws in a piece of timber, my god, 2X 1 1/2X8 I'd have had them in with a screwdriver by the time they've gone to the van and back.

Recently I saw a video on YT and this young bloke was fitting a CU, he used an cordless impact screwdriver to tighten all the screws,including the breakers!

My FiL would always bemoan me using even a 230V corded drill. I'd get:

"In my day everything was handraulic!"

 

[Lurch]

Recently I saw a video on YT and this young bloke was fitting a CU, he used an cordless impact screwdriver to tighten all the screws,including the breakers!

I use electric screwdrivers for tightening screws when there is a few of them, loading the busbar type thing. Not so much for individual ways when connecting, but in the workshop when panel building I hardly ever use the hand operated screwdrivers.

 

[Sidewinder]

The thing with a lot of youngsters is they can't, or won't do things the old way, I've seen young lads spend 10 minutes going back to the van to get a cordless drill to put 2 screws in a piece of timber, my god, 2X 1 1/2X8 I'd have had them in with a screwdriver by the time they've gone to the van and back.

Recently I saw a video on YT and this young bloke was fitting a CU, he used an cordless impact screwdriver to tighten all the screws,including the breakers!

I would never use a cordless impact to finally tighten anything in a CU.

However, I do use one to fit the mounting screws, and run the bulk of the threads down if its all I have, I would normally use the non-impact for anything with a machined thread.

The reason being, if I drove 2 off 1 1/2" x No 8 screws in by hand, if I could, then that would be my hand of no use for the next hour whilst I got the feeling back.

To use the "in" term, I have massive WRULD, Work Related Upper Limb Disorder.

My hands are "knackered" to put it politely, the action of gripping and tightening such as is required to drive a wood screw in by hand wrecks me for a good time.

If one understands this concept, then I would never push a youngster into ending up in the same position.

Remember the "mad hatters" that was not a nice place to be either.

I never had patience with people with a "bad back" until I had one, then my outlook on life changed completely!

My mantra these days is that I will not risk myself in any way, or further any of my conditions, just for a customer to make a profit at the risk of my health and wellbeing.

I will ask them is that is what they want, when you put it to them that way, it is surprising how many customers don't really want people hurting themselves on their sites, the paperwork is a nightmare...

 

[Evans Electric]

On the subject of powered screwdriving ..on dist. boards & CU's  I use a small B&Decker  screwdriver to back off all the terminals and to drive them back ..ALMOST .. to the end  then tweek them all up by hand with the mad shaped driver , modulo ?  thing that fits MCBs etc. 

I even use a mirror to make sure all MCBs are backed off and all the busbar fingers are in place before applying the B&Decker to pinch them up .

Sidey , sorry to hear you have a  repetitive injury ,  you need to avoid all that terminal driving now TBH. 

 

[phil d]

I have a typical set of working mans issues, dodgy disc, arthritis in both knees, back and hands, and spondylosis im my neck.The most annoying one is my left wrist (I'm left handed btw), anyway I belted something and must have fractured my wrist, it was a bit dodgy for a few weeks, then I noticed a small lump of bone sticking out under the skin, it's mostly ok now but plays up occasionally.

I don't have a problem with using power tools but they must be used appropriately, it's amazing these days how many youngsters can't do something without a power tool, a lot of them can't use a file properly.

As for impact drivers, well, as I said that guy on YT was ridiculous with his, I don't think they realise that there is no torque adjustment on them, and as most will do up to 160NM of torque then that's a lot of stress on a terminal.

I was thinking of buying a torque driver, however I think I prefer using my experience and feel to get a connection tight.

I must admit though the modern LiON gear is so much more powerful, I bought a load of Makita 18V stuff and was very impressed. I don't think I've used a plug in tool in ages now, recently I was giving a relative a hand to wire up an outbuilding in his garden, drilled all the joists with my 18v cordless, just got a nice sharp spade bit, I did try those "wood beavers" but it didn't seem to like them.

I keep thinking back how things have changed, my old fella was a plumber and a big hammer and sharp cold chisel was an important part of his kit, knocking out 4" holes for flues and toilet waste's was a pain back then.When I introduced him to a small Kango he thought it was great, the core drill that came later amazed him, no patching up holes!

A couple of years back he moved house, I went to do a few jobs for him and of course it was all cordless kit, that totally blew his mind.I must admit it's getting the same with me now, my first cordless took ages to charge and hadn't got much grunt, then I got an ex railways Black and Decker, the battery pack was the size of a 3kva transformer and the drill plugged into that, mind you on an 8 hour charge it would drill for days. This came in handy when I used to do the riding stables, they were always out in the sticks, and a generator was a pain to carry around.

Nowadays you can get virtually anything cordless, and it's all pretty decent too. I bought a circular saw and was amazed just how easily it ripped through a piece of 4"X2", still I suppose that's progress, mind you there are still times when it's quicker to do a small job by hand, not often I grant you but there are times.

 

[binky]

I still use mains powered tools for channelling walls and core drilling. Batteries just don't last, and the quick discharging doesn't do them any good.

.

 

[Lurch]

Batteries just don't last, and the quick discharging doesn't do them any good.

Mine seem OK, and I discharge them quickly quite often, cutting worktops with the circular and drilling 20/25mm holes with the SDS. The cheapy Axminster knock off ones are mostly dead but the original Makita ones still work fine/are going strong.

 

[binky]

I use a reciprocating saw (Makita) for chopping solar rails, it seems to flatten a fully charged battery on every job, about 8-10 cuts through hollow aluminium rails about 50mm sq. The batteries Makita batteries I bought for the saw seem to last about 2 years max. We were doing about 2 installs a week, so might just be old age, but I've replaced the batteries and solar work has died down. The replacements don't seem to be fairing much better.

 

[Lurch]

Maybe it's just to be expected then, to some extent. I do give mine some hammer, sometimes I can get through all 6 batteries pretty much in one go if I try hard enough but then that is only once every now and again, and more often than not it is only every couple of weeks or so I quickly drain a battery or 2, not cutting worktops and drilling big holes every day!

 

[Blue Duck]

I use makita 4ah for SDS & recip saw, they don't last forever but still have a good innings.

Newer Makita stuff is made in China & no longer made in Japan.

From what I recall they use samsung 25r 18650's which are very good lithium ion cells .

Just regurgitating...

:C