Another "What did you DIY at the weekend" thread.

[Crossy]

It's been a little while and I can't find my last thread. So here's a new one.

 

I had my own list of things that needed doing this weekend, I've done none of them.

 

So for Madam I have:-

 

Fixed another water pump. This one was a victim of the flooding and of course it was needed "now". New bearings in-stock (I bought extra last time), cleaned out all the mud and stuff. Insulation test OK, so put it all back together and it functions. Madam happy.

 

Re-cabled the door bell. Another victim of the flooding with water ingress into a junction box. It's a 12V circuit so no hazard but the wet had gotten into the cables, I cut it back about 1m and the cores were still black. So in goes a new cable (about 50m) all in one piece this time. Doorbell and indoor gate control switch (on the same cable) all working. Madam happier!

 

Replaced 30m of underground irrigation pipe which we installed when we moved in, it sprang a leak due to tree roots etc. so rather than replace it I bypassed it with a run of 50mm black PE stuff run surface under the hedge out of sight. Madam very happy.

 

Got a beer. Crossy happy.

 

Back to work tomorrow for a rest!

[Gsxrnz]

Crossy - how would you define the word "retirement"?

[Crossy]

45 minutes ago, Gsxrnz said:

Crossy - how would you define the word "retirement"?

 

At the current rate something akin to slave-labour!

 

I won't retire until I have to, I need to go to work for a rest

[bbko]

With the end of the rainy season and cooler temps I can work longer around the house, these past few days I used the power washer to spray pavers and garden walls getting rid of mold/mildew and getting ready to repaint.  Little washer but will tear up skin if used as a toy.

 

[sometimewoodworker]

1 hour ago, bbko said:

With the end of the rainy season and cooler temps I can work longer around the house, these past few days I used the power washer to spray pavers and garden walls getting rid of mold/mildew and getting ready to repaint.  Little washer but will tear up skin if used as a toy.

Nice,

 

I just recently got one that though not in as nice a package is probably equally powerful, on my list of things to do is to make a cart for it and it’s accessories. It’s probably a bit less expensive than yours in it’s basic state but with various extras is now about the same. 
 

Though unlike the industrious @Crossy I did manage to complete a couple of wall mounting stands for my sound system. I have managed to procrastinate enough to resist the temptation to fit the mounting cleats to the wall yet, so I maybe redeemed yet. ????

Edited December 12, 2021 by sometimewoodworker

[sometimewoodworker]

1 hour ago, Crossy said:

I won't retire until I have to, I need to go to work for a rest

My signature on another forum.

”Enough tools, enough time, just need more rountuits.” 
I was offered one, ???? 

[sungod]

2 hours ago, Crossy said:

Re-cabled the door bell. Another victim of the flooding with water ingress into a junction box. It's a 12V circuit so no hazard but the wet had gotten into the cables, I cut it back about 1m and the cores were still black. So in goes a new cable (about 50m) all in one piece this time. Doorbell and indoor gate control switch (on the same cable) all working. Madam happier!

Mine just packed up. much easier with wifi.

[ExpatOilWorker]

Bit of painting, but I did hire help to speed up the work.

[sometimewoodworker]

Despite manfully attempts to resist the location of roundtuits one was located 

 

The mains and Ethernet cables are waiting on the arrival of supplies from INvadeIT to get suitable hidden.

[ExpatOilWorker]

1 hour ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

Bit of painting, but I did hire help to speed up the work.

Victory dance after all the hard work.

 

[CharlieH]

14 minutes ago, sometimewoodworker said:

Despite manfully attempts to resist the location of roundtuits one was located 

 

The mains and Ethernet cables are waiting on the arrival of supplies from INvadeIT to get suitable hidden.

You do know they are not level ?

I wouldve made that one continuos piece, cut a rebate in the back to run the cable. Made a kind of feature out of it. ????

[sometimewoodworker]

2 hours ago, CharlieH said:

You do know they are not level ?

I wouldve made that one continuos piece, cut a rebate in the back to run the cable. Made a kind of feature out of it. ????

Your eyes are deceiving you, they are both level and plumb (my laser level confirms that) & I have no desire to make a 2.4 metre long shelf when 2 small ones do a better job, and that doesn’t address the point that our 3 indoor destroyers would enjoy it too much.

[CharlieH]

14 minutes ago, sometimewoodworker said:

Your eyes are deceiving you, they are both level and plumb (my laser level confirms that) & I have no desire to make a 2.4 metre long shelf when 2 small ones do a better job, and that doesn’t address the point that our 3 indoor destroyers would enjoy it too much.

 

Guess we'll have to agree to disagree, and no one said shelf, I said one piece.

Upto you obviuosly.????

[Crossy]

9 hours ago, sungod said:

Mine just packed up. much easier with wifi.

 

Yeah, we tried various wireless doorbells. They all suffer from two issues:-

1. Lack of range, the bell push is some 50m from the centre of the house and there are various obstructions in the way too.
2. Lack of audibility (not loud enough).

Item 1 is fixed by going wired.

 

Item 2 is fixed by this -

 

 

Yup, that's the "doorbell", no dainty Friedland "bing-bong" here. Even Madam can hear it in all corners of the garden.

 

Note that this is a mains powered bell, it has a relay and 12V power supply to the bell push to avoid zapping our visitors before we know what they want. I may add a zapper in future for those visitors we don't want.

 

The remote control for the gates suffers from the same range issue although the original DEA ones work from inside the house the cheap Chinese "work alike" units are on the limit of range particularly when the batteries are getting low, a physical wired connection is more reliable. 

 

 

[sometimewoodworker]

7 hours ago, CharlieH said:

 

Guess we'll have to agree to disagree, and no one said shelf, I said one piece.

Upto you obviuosly.????

 

As to level, you are welcome to dispute a laser line level, but for the physics involved to manage that you’ll probably be eligible for a Nobel award or honorary mention???? it is probably the camera angle that is deceiving you.

 

I can breakout a water level along with photographing the laser line if you want proof ???? 

Note; this is a genuine offer (though my as it will assist in my procrastination for other projects) but is also made with my lingua firmly implanted in my buccae. ????

 

 

as to the self construction  being one piece, unless you envision me making floating shelves (the fitting of  them to the wall isn’t that simple) I fail to understand what you mean

[BritManToo]

2 minutes ago, sometimewoodworker said:

As to level, you are welcome to dispute a laser line level, but for the physics involved to manage that you’ll probably be eligible for a Nobel award or honorary mention???? it is probably the camera angle that is deceiving you.

Your time would be better spent hiding the ugly wires.

I couldn't live with that.

[sometimewoodworker]

28 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Your time would be better spent hiding the ugly wires.

I couldn't live with that.

Did you miss the last line of my original post? ???? 

work in progress!

[Crossy]

12 minutes ago, sometimewoodworker said:

Did you miss the last line of my original post? ???? 

work in progress!

 

How are you going to handle the speaker wires, I always find them a bind with bookshelf speakers?

 

Our big floor speakers are no issue whatever of course, the wires are hidden by the dust they gather

[sometimewoodworker]

4 minutes ago, Crossy said:

 

How are you going to handle the speaker wires, I always find them a bind with bookshelf speakers?

 

Our big floor speakers are no issue whatever of course, the wires are hidden by the dust they gather

That is still under consideration. 
some options include;

1) Grey paint on the wire to match the grey wall and coordinate with the grey dust and spiders homes that will probably go along with your floor concealment. 
2) Black Gaffer tape to make a wimpy line into a bold statement (intending to be painted grey at some  indeterminate time when my TUITs have been required)

3) some other brilliant idea forthcoming from the intelligentsia in the contributing public ????

[CharlieH]

6 minutes ago, sometimewoodworker said:

That is still under consideration. 
some options include;

1) Grey paint on the wire to match the grey wall and coordinate with the grey dust and spiders homes that will probably go along with your floor concealment. 
2) Black Gaffer tape to make a wimpy line into a bold statement (intending to be painted grey at some  indeterminate time when my TUITs have been required)

3) some other brilliant idea forthcoming from the intelligentsia in the contributing public ????

What, you mean, like, wireless speakers????

No wires, no problem.

[sometimewoodworker]

10 minutes ago, CharlieH said:

What, you mean, like, wireless speakers

Unlikely, as the RF spectrum is already getting rather crowded in the house, and the moths are hibernating in the currency storage unit and get upset if disturbed. ????

But thanks anyway 

 

BTW did you mean floating shelves?

Edited December 13, 2021 by sometimewoodworker

[Crossy]

31 minutes ago, sometimewoodworker said:

3) some other brilliant idea forthcoming from the intelligentsia in the contributing public ????

 

What's on the other side of the wall?

 

Brute force technique. Drill through the wall behind the speakers and the amp then run the wires in someone else's space (or the cavity if it's a cavity wall).

 

[Crossy]

14 hours ago, sometimewoodworker said:

My signature on another forum.

”Enough tools, enough time, just need more rountuits.” 
I was offered one, ???? 

 

There was a chap on Ringwood market selling these, he also had square-tuits (to make people ask questions).

 

One of his best sellers was his "left-handed mugs". Of course as a southpaw I had to ask what the difference to right-handed mugs was. It turned out that his original stock were manufacturing defects which had the image on the wrong side (it's supposed to face outwards when the mug is in use). In the end they sold so well that he actually had to order mugs that were made "wrong".

 

[sometimewoodworker]

25 minutes ago, Crossy said:

 

What's on the other side of the wall?

 

Brute force technique. Drill through the wall behind the speakers and the amp then run the wires in someone else's space (or the cavity if it's a cavity wall).

 

Nice idea BUT this door, it’s the weakest point of the room,

gives an idea of the strength of this

 wall, filled with high strength RMC.

 

So of course drilling through is technically possible, it’s  not really a good option 

[Crossy]

@sometimewoodworker is that where your good lady keeps her gold stash?

[GreasyFingers]

2 hours ago, sometimewoodworker said:

As to level, you are welcome to dispute a laser line level,

When was the last time it was calibrated. They do get out of whack.

[Denim]

Built 2 small garden walls using 13 cinder blocks in between which will be a raised flower bed.

 

Drilled holes in plastic pipe then tied these to overhead span for next planting of long beans.

 

Finished crafting swing seat from old plank of wood. Wife almost got one for 1000 baht on Lazada so money saved. Getting rope today. That little hand plane of mine that grandad left me is worth its weight in gold.

 

Re graveled various pathways

 

Repainted various exterior walls that were looking a bit dirty.

 

Crawled under house, dug out hole and filled with rebar and concrete to add a steal beam to support front crossbeam which has subsided a little over the years ( about half inch )

 

Making the most of the cool weather

[Crossy]

12 minutes ago, GreasyFingers said:

When was the last time it was calibrated. They do get out of whack.

 

Someone (who shall be nameless) borrowed mine and told me it was useless "his spirit level was better".

 

Turned out he was using it in "locked" mode

[sometimewoodworker]

21 minutes ago, Denim said:

Crawled under house, dug out hole and filled with rebar and concrete to add a steal beam to support front crossbeam

Humm… is that some new novel form of theft prevention? 555

[BritManToo]

Not really over the weekend, but in the last month I've fitted home automation and voice control to my home.

2x Google mini nests, 3x 3 gang light switches, 3x socket adaptors.

Had to dig up the electric wires going to the gate lights, they'd been broken for a couple of years.

The live wire still made it, but the 2 doorbell wires and the neutral seem to have melted together.

Had to reroute a few wires in the loft, damn that was hot poking 1.5mm single wires down the light switch trunking.

 

All under Google home voice control + Tuya phone app.

Not expensive at all, under 4,000bht for the lot.