DIY manuals - are they still a thing?

[Dave Plowman (News)]

They always were, compared to factory manuals, which you could get for most cars. Cost a lot more than Haynes, though.

[Max Demian]

In the 70s I looked at one in a shop supposedly for a Ford Capri. Actually it was for a left hand drive US Mercury Capri with air con. (It must be bad enough "reassembling in reverse order" without having to reverse left and right as well.)

[charles]

I don't tink they were ever as bad as then rival manual I bought for my Anglia. "If the windscreen wiper fails to operate, connect a 0-15v voltmeter to the motor terminals and check that a current of 5 amps is being drawn." {First find your motor terminals}

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Every time I looked at one, the bit I wanted to know about said 'take it to your dealer'

But they all gave full details on how to de-coke an engine, long after this ceased to be ever needed.

And the bits you really needed, like a wiring diagram, rubbish.

[Mike Clarke]

The words 'period' and 'dated' are used for the same feature depending on whether the speaker thinks they should be retained and emphasized or ripped out and replaced with 'modern'.

[michael adams]

"High Hopes" Mike Leigh 1988

Leslie Manville plays Leatitia and David Bamber plays Rupert.

Leatitia and Rupert live in a gentrified small terrace house in Hammersmith. The house next door is lived in by a working class old lady played by Edna Dore. By the state it's in, her house hasn't been touched since the day it was built. Leatitia and Rupert have never even spoken to the old lady up to now ,but now there's a crisis and they have to go into her house. Lesley Manville as Laetitia in her best posho voice looks around the old ladies front room and says to the uncomprehending Edna Dore character with her lived in face "Oh my dear aren't you so lucky ! You've still got all your original features!"

michael adams

...

[bert]

Court ruling on copyright killed them. They had to own a model of the car to prove they had learned by dismantling it rather than copying the official workshop manual.

[michael adams]

I stand to be corrected but didn't they feature photos of the actual operations being carried out ? Which if they'd been copied from the workshop manuals would have been a bit of a giveaway, shirley ?

michael adams

...

[alan_m]

Mine is a Makita. It's not the new brushless model but takes the same batteries as my old Makita cordless drill so not a lot of money for the body.

[alan_m]

Do you mean those random photos which never seemed to match what was on your car?

[Roger Hayter]

those are they??

[The Natural Philosopher]

These are they...

[Halmyre]

I found a Yankee when clearing out my dad's garage. Cleaned and oiled it and then decided I treasure my fingers too much to try it out in anger.

[Tim Lamb]

I used one when they were popular. AFAIR they were just about usable if you didn't allow the scroll to reach the travel end.

[John Rumm]

Well that should teach you :-)

(My Makita ones are *very* good and used extensively)

[charles]

the important thing is to grip the knurled ring at the end away from where you push. It holds the blade in place.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Very rare for any Lidl power tool to be useless. And if it is, you have a three year money back warranty...

I'm still using my tiny makita as recommended on here yonks ago, and is as amazing now as then.

I did buy a Lidl cordless impact driver fairly recently. But it's the size of a cordless drill and really made for nuts and bolts and takes sockets. It made short work of undoing the crank pulley bolt on the old Rover, which is extremely tight - about 130 lb.ft when tightening.

[tabbypurr]

It has, I've never bought another parklife tool from Lidl. I've never had a patheticness problem with Aldi tools, though too many have failed.

NT

[Steve Walker]

Many worksites banned them years ago, as being too prone to slipping and causing injury or, more likely, damaging surfaces.

SteveW

[bert]

I still have my Stanley version, lovely wooden handle, really nice to grip. Unfortunately I managed to bend the shaft but I haven't the heart to throw it away.