The toolbox thread

[patches]

11 hours ago, The Ouzo said:

regarding batteries for power tools.

My dad has a Ryobi drill driver thing. strange voltage, 16.6v .

He went searching for a new battery and came up empty at a couple of places, eventually he landed up at Aderndorf where they also initially told him they dont have. But whilst there he enquired on what drill drivers they have on special as if he cant get  a battery he might as well replace. So they pull this drill off the shelf, he looks at it and the battery is the same voltage as he needs. Takes the battery off and it looks very similar. Plugs it into his Ryobi (he took it with for testing) and the thing fits and works. Turns out other than the branding its the same thing.

So he bought the new drill as it came with 2 batteries.

 

So when looking at a brand of power tools, check to see if there arent other tools that use the same batteries, it could open up your options.

Good find! There are a few crossovers and some badge engineering (like AEG and Ridgid).

A number of brands also clubbed together to subscribe to CAS (Cordless Alliance System), where by the battery platform is universal between 30-something brands. Unfortunately most of those brands manufacture pretty specialised use tools with limited range. Not the kind of tools an average Joe or Joanne wold have need of. Metabo and Mafell seem to be the 2 exceptions. But if anyone thinks Festool is pricey, wait until they see Mafell!

Sadly most of the brands with the broadest range like: Makita, Milwaukee, Dewalt, Ryobi (their One+ platform), AEG/Ridgid etc, don't seem to have much in the way of house-brand compatibles. There are Aliexpress cheap-n-cheerful tools designed to run off the popular platforms (particularly Makita's and Milwaukee's 18V).

For older tools where battery tech is limited (ie old NiMH or even NiCad) or weird voltages, then aftermarket replica/replacement batteries may be available on places like Aliexpress (for those willing to wait). I probably would't use these off-brand batteries on current, high performance brushless tools with Li-ion cells and all manner of smart controllers within the tool or battery pack.

Another option is battery adaptors, but they can make tools bulky and only connect to the positive and negative terminals, so any other terminals for battery smarts (like thermal monitoring etc) don't translate.

I try to justify to myself that going onto a new battery platform to get a specific new tool then frees up the existing batteries I have, and opens up a whole new range of tools to add to the wish-list 😅 The initial hit of buying batteries and charger does hurt though 😖

[The Ouzo]

I'm currently very tempted by this offer

[BigDL]

So, looking for some advice please. My ballie passed away suddenly last Thursday in PMB, so I’m out for two weeks to try and sort out stuff for my mom. 
 

The old man was a fanatical woodworker and had heaps of equipment. He was  supposed to have been selling stuff over the past few months as the folks were supposed to be moving into a retirement complex, but it appears that he sold very little and the garage is still packed with kit and wood. I’m here for another 10 days and am keen to get my mom moved to the new place and to realise some cash for her from the woodworking stuff. The problem is that I have no idea how to sell it as I don’t want randomers turning up at the house because of a Facebook ad and I also have no idea of values of the stuff. 
 

So, the question is, does anyone have a suggestion as to a simplistic way to dispose of it all in the Pietermaritzburg area? 

[mazambaan]

9 hours ago, BigDL said:

So, looking for some advice please. My ballie passed away suddenly last Thursday in PMB, so I’m out for two weeks to try and sort out stuff for my mom. 
 

The old man was a fanatical woodworker and had heaps of equipment. He was  supposed to have been selling stuff over the past few months as the folks were supposed to be moving into a retirement complex, but it appears that he sold very little and the garage is still packed with kit and wood. I’m here for another 10 days and am keen to get my mom moved to the new place and to realise some cash for her from the woodworking stuff. The problem is that I have no idea how to sell it as I don’t want randomers turning up at the house because of a Facebook ad and I also have no idea of values of the stuff. 
 

So, the question is, does anyone have a suggestion as to a simplistic way to dispose of it all in the Pietermaritzburg area? 

Maybe try get hold of the local Woodworker's Club or Guild; Google should find it. I know they have done something like this before but I don't have any contact details sorry.

[dave303e]

10 hours ago, BigDL said:

So, looking for some advice please. My ballie passed away suddenly last Thursday in PMB, so I’m out for two weeks to try and sort out stuff for my mom. 
 

The old man was a fanatical woodworker and had heaps of equipment. He was  supposed to have been selling stuff over the past few months as the folks were supposed to be moving into a retirement complex, but it appears that he sold very little and the garage is still packed with kit and wood. I’m here for another 10 days and am keen to get my mom moved to the new place and to realise some cash for her from the woodworking stuff. The problem is that I have no idea how to sell it as I don’t want randomers turning up at the house because of a Facebook ad and I also have no idea of values of the stuff. 
 

So, the question is, does anyone have a suggestion as to a simplistic way to dispose of it all in the Pietermaritzburg area? 

My old man bought someone's entire workshop a few months back, similar thing. Seller advertised- must take entire contents, cash up front, garage must be empty that day. So you can maybe do similar on a woodworking FB group. Value is a tough one though, chisels and saws and planers and stuff can have huge value, especially the well kept older stuff.

 

Another option would be to have an auctioneer come and sort the tools out for you and auction them off. It will just leave you with all the wood offcuts and some smaller stuff to deal with. 

[Steven Knoetze (sk27)]

11 hours ago, BigDL said:

So, looking for some advice please. My ballie passed away suddenly last Thursday in PMB, so I’m out for two weeks to try and sort out stuff for my mom. 
 

The old man was a fanatical woodworker and had heaps of equipment. He was  supposed to have been selling stuff over the past few months as the folks were supposed to be moving into a retirement complex, but it appears that he sold very little and the garage is still packed with kit and wood. I’m here for another 10 days and am keen to get my mom moved to the new place and to realise some cash for her from the woodworking stuff. The problem is that I have no idea how to sell it as I don’t want randomers turning up at the house because of a Facebook ad and I also have no idea of values of the stuff. 
 

So, the question is, does anyone have a suggestion as to a simplistic way to dispose of it all in the Pietermaritzburg area? 

You could try the cestpool that is FB Marketplace, good luck though.
The advice above is probably best but also SA is struggling, less disposable income, these niche/specific products take time to shift.

And condolences for the passing of your dad. Strength to your mom too.

[BigDL]

1 hour ago, mazambaan said:

Maybe try get hold of the local Woodworker's Club or Guild; Google should find it. I know they have done something like this before but I don't have any contact details sorry.

Thank you. The old man was chair of the local guild so they have been buying stuff for a few months now, although there also seems to be some stuff that wasn’t there before, so I suspect there’s been some swapping going on as well 😂. Appreciate the help. I’ll reach out to them now and see if there’s any more interest. 

[BigDL]

9 minutes ago, dave303e said:

My old man bought someone's entire workshop a few months back, similar thing. Seller advertised- must take entire contents, cash up front, garage must be empty that day. So you can maybe do similar on a woodworking FB group. Value is a tough one though, chisels and saws and planers and stuff can have huge value, especially the well kept older stuff.

 

Another option would be to have an auctioneer come and sort the tools out for you and auction them off. It will just leave you with all the wood offcuts and some smaller stuff to deal with. 

Good call - thanks - hadn’t thought of a woodwork specific FB group, but will look at that now.  There is some really good stuff there so it would be a pity to not get a fair price, but I am also tight for time as I don’t want to leave the old lady trying to sort stuff out once I’m away. 

[BigDL]

17 minutes ago, Steven Knoetze (sk27) said:

You could try the cestpool that is FB Marketplace, good luck though.
The advice above is probably best but also SA is struggling, less disposable income, these niche/specific products take time to shift.

And condolences for the passing of your dad. Strength to your mom too.

Appreciate that - thanks. I’d rather give the stuff away than have a normal  FB marketplace experience. 

[dave303e]

send some pics here, you might have some takers, between me, my old man, BIL and his friend we might take some stuff.

Also condolences to you and your family, good luck with the whole process, realised my post was crude earlier. Always forget how emotionally tough it is sorting someone's loved possessions.

[BigDL]

8 minutes ago, dave303e said:

send some pics here, you might have some takers, between me, my old man, BIL and his friend we might take some stuff.

Also condolences to you and your family, good luck with the whole process, realised my post was crude earlier. Always forget how emotionally tough it is sorting someone's loved possessions.

Thank you - appreciate that. I’ll put some pics up but don't want to spam the forum 😂.  I don’t mind crude posts either. Lots of emotion but emotion won’t shift the kakhouse full of stuff 

[patches]

On 11/10/2022 at 7:53 AM, BigDL said:

So, looking for some advice please. My ballie passed away suddenly last Thursday in PMB, so I’m out for two weeks to try and sort out stuff for my mom. 
 

The old man was a fanatical woodworker and had heaps of equipment. He was  supposed to have been selling stuff over the past few months as the folks were supposed to be moving into a retirement complex, but it appears that he sold very little and the garage is still packed with kit and wood. I’m here for another 10 days and am keen to get my mom moved to the new place and to realise some cash for her from the woodworking stuff. The problem is that I have no idea how to sell it as I don’t want randomers turning up at the house because of a Facebook ad and I also have no idea of values of the stuff. 
 

So, the question is, does anyone have a suggestion as to a simplistic way to dispose of it all in the Pietermaritzburg area? 

 

Sorry to hear that BigDL.

Unfortunately I don't have any great ideas on where the tools may find new homes. When my Dad passed my Mom gave most of his stuff away to friends etc (although his collection was pretty basic).

I see others have mentioned guilds and the like. Not sure if PMB has a Men's Shed chapter, but that could be another option.

[ichnusa]

PM sent…

 

[Muttley]

Just purchased one of these after seeing it at my mate...
Looks really good and price is good (confirmed on Serval Tracker)
Xiaomi Mi 16 in 1 ratchet screwdriver
 

 

[The Ouzo]

8 minutes ago, Muttley said:

confirmed on Serval Tracker)

thanks for this, I never knew about it.

[patches]

New tool day. This one was a bit of an impulse purchase (suckered in by AliExpress' 11.11 sale) and ultimately it's a nerdy toy.

But yeah, I added this little guy to the workshop

Atomstack X20 Pro, 20W Diode Laser Engraver & Cutter. This won't be it's permanent home, and I need to do some tidying and proper setup.

But in my haste to try it out, I manged to cut out the one of the test files on the supplied test material and was pretty impressed with the quality

Some charring is from the beginning when I forgot to turn on the air-assist, and yes, I'm using a cookie cooling tray as a raised cut bed, but don't worry this wasn't stolen from the kitchen (I know my limits). I bought it as a cheap temporary solution while I wait for a proper honeycomb bed.

Overall, I'm very impressed with the build quality, ease of assembly (approx 20min and pretty good instructions), accuracy and detail of the cut and delivery time (1 week via DHL).

As mentioned, it was a bit of an impulse purchase, but I do have a number of uses and projects in mind (which I'll probably post on the woodwork thread one I figure out the software and settings and make something constructive). I also justify it to myself (and my wife) by saying that it's far cheaper than a CNC router (although I still plan to sneak one of those in someday 😅)

Edited November 17, 2022 by patches