Christmas present suggestions?

Further to my earlier thread about Dremels, I've come to the conclusion that I can probably live without one!

But that still leaves me looking for something for SWMBO to buy me for Christmas.

I would welcome suggestions on any tool/device/gadget etc. which you wouldn't be without. Guess we'd better put an upper price limit of £100.

I suppose that it should be vaguely DIY-related, but could include hand or power tools, electronic devices, computer peripheral or software, etc.

TIA.

Reply to
Set Square
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With women it's shoes, with me it's power drills. I'm sure it's essential that you have the baby cordless, the cordless combi, the sds, and the b&stard sds. You can always use another one.

One handed quick clamps Big tapes (Fat Max?) Trend's clamp guide for ripping 8 x 4 Decent blow lamp.

Reply to
Toby

Not a lot of use without knowing what you've got already.

Reply to
Dave Plowman

o New set of cordless screwdriver bits

---- to replace the ones you used for crow-bars, hammers

---- as well as rounding out every screw you ever touched

o New set of screwdrivers

---- to replace the set I used to open/stir/set-in paint tins

---- to replace the set I used to bend into interesting shapes

---- to replace those whose flat-ends got bits sort of broken off

This is where your significant other is renamed significant bugger. You call it a screwdriver, I call it hole maker in plant-pots & crowbar.

o Spare cordless screwdriver

---- so the battery you forgot to charge doesn't stop you doing the job

---- so the screwdriver bit is in another tool, so you can trash twice as fast

---- so you don't have to change drill/tap/drill/tap/drill/tap all day long

o Replacement drill bits

---- for when you knocked the mains drill off the desk & broke the drill bit

o Replacement soft-board & squishy hole filler

---- to fill the hole you just made in the floor when the drill bit & drill fell off

-------- well it's why they call them drill bits isn't it!

---- and to fill the hole in the soft-board lining of the shed

-------- made by a bit of the 5mm drill that brittle fractured on hitting the floor

o Mole grips, because you know something is going to get stuck

---- forget the spanners, you know you never use them

---- far more effective at rounding-off-anything

o New wooden mallet

---- to replace the one you used to bash things to fit

---- because it is now sort of covered in an odd history of dents

o New cordless battery

---- because you can never wait for the old one to charge

---- so this one has the memory of everything except that it's a battery

---- it has no relation to the female species, except it knows what you screwed up :-)

o Tap extraction tool

---- so you can remove all those broken taps scattered about the things you made

o Tap high speed filing tool

---- so you can file off the broken tap extractor & tap in the things you made

o Assorted set of screws

---- so you can spend time going thro them to find yours isn't there

o Spare drill chuck key

---- so by sods law you will never lose the original, but always the replacement

o Drill storage box

---- so all those drills you refuse to throw out can be categorised

---- into blunt, buggered, hole-not-in-your-lifetime & fire-starter

o Longer hedge trimmer cable

---- since you spent more time trimming the cable forever shorter than the hedge

o First aid kit

---- which doesn't require fingers, thumbs, or teeth to open it

o Bulbs created by a company other than GE

---- which is being renamed *King Darkness

o Freezer alarm

---- because all the junk on top of the freezer stopped the door being shut properly

o Castors for everything heavy

---- like the Freezer, the Dryer and anything else, preferably 4" high nylon

o Odd shaped bits of cardboard or wood

---- because you thought you'd save money by buying non-braked 4" high castors

o VDE Screwdriver

---- since there's no need to turn the mains off to spot weld the screwdriver to the MK again

o Garden vacuum

---- so you can mulch fan blades & stones all over the garden

o Pricing chart

---- for the DIY/tool shop so every time you go they charge the SAME price

Q: If you remove the friction clamps on the tool shop desks, do they collapse?

-- Dorothy Bradbury

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Reply to
dorothy.bradbury

THE most useful thing I bought myself turned out to be a second hand HP DesignJet A1 plotter...but I suspect its over budget really...

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

OK, come on then..... tell us what you use that for...... Let me guess, model aircraft plans? .andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

Reply to
Andy Hall

And designing a cxomplete house, its plumbing, wiring, details of construction of various bits...garden design...

In short anything you need to work out in advance and get down on paper for yourself, or someone else, to build.

Its also very useful for prepareing color pictures of things, with words, to help you document things that need it.

Its very useful for toy planes as well, but thats not why I bought it.

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

A grinding wheel. Not nearly enough people have one. It can regrind all steel dril bits, sharpen knives, redo damaged screwdrivers, chisels, make tools, I think thats enough.

One that fits in the drill is more eaily stored than a whole benchtop machine - its not like its used a lot, but its worth having several times over.

Regards, NT

Reply to
N. Thornton

Forget the money - tell her you`re just happy to have her for christmas, and that you couldn`t ask for more.

It doesn`t work for me either, but it makes her feel wanted :-p

Reply to
Colin Wilson

Trouble is that to be much use the drill has to be clamped in something - and you need a rigid rest close to the wheel. By the time you've arranged for all of that you might as well have a purpose made bench grinder - they're not expensive.

Reply to
Dave Plowman

I'd say if you've got the room for one, a pillar drill is extremely useful, and 100 quid will buy a decent DIY one. The next size up from the

40ish quid jobbies is probably the one to go for as a decent compromise.

Another thing I couldn't do without is a good DVM. Having had cheap ones, I'm delighted with my Fluke, but that's a bit outside the budget.

Reply to
Dave Plowman

Thanks. Got most of this though - apart from the 8x4 ripping guide. Not sure I's use that very often! Thanks anyway.

Reply to
Set Square

In message , dorothy.bradbury writes

LOL - 10 of your items should definitely be on my list - the screwdrivers already are due to reasons you mention :-)

Reply to
Robert

I've got a good selection of electric drills including mains hammer drill, cordless drill and SDS drill with rotation stop. I've also got standalone circular saw, jigsaw, planer, orbital sander and bench grinder - plus a reasonable selection of hand tools and a couple of B&D Workmates.

I haven't got any laser levels or routers. I did buy a 2000w B&Q router earlier in the year but took it back because the motor was dead on arrival and the plunge lock didn't lock. Apart fron that, it was pretty good!. Rather put me off the idea of routers though - yes, I know it's irrational!

I've also got a fair selection of automotive tools - socket sets, trolley jacks, axle stands etc. - and plumbing tools, including pipe bender, pipe, cutter and powerful blowlamp - oh and a selection of ladders.

That's why I'm struggling to find anything else which could possibly be useful.

Reply to
Set Square

Thanks for the ideas. The best one is probably the garden vac. However, we've bought my 94-year-old father-in-law one of those for Christmas - so I might be inheriting that soon!

Reply to
Set Square

SDS drill. You can use it for many things - punching holes thru walls, knocking bricks out, installing rawlplugs in walls which otherwise are impervious to being drilled, installing extractor fan vents, digging channels for cabling, knocking out recesses for sockets and switches.

And possibly its best redeeming feature is taking tiles off walls!

PoP

Replying to the email address given by my news reader will result in your own email address being instantly added to my anti-spam database! If you really want to contact me try changing the prefix in the given email address to my newsgroup posting name.....

Reply to
PoP

Definitely useful, but I've already got a wet and dry bench grinder. [Don't use the wet end much though!]

Reply to
Set Square

Nice! Bit of an overkill though! I've got a DeskJet 1220C - which can print up to A3, which is big enough for anything I want to do. Thanks for the suggestion anyway.

Reply to
Set Square

Frankly, I'd settle for that - but one is *expected* to have a pressie!

Reply to
Set Square

Thanks for the suggestions. I've got a reasonable digital multimeter which I bought in Tandys about 15 years ago when they were on special offer - and that does all I need on that front.

A pillar drill could be a good idea though. [I've got a vertical stand for my electric drill - but that's not as good as a proper pillar drill]. I've looked at the cheap pillar drills in the sheds and have never been impressed with the precision. Any recommendations on make/model/supplier for getting a slightly better one?

Reply to
Set Square

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