standard diameters for wooden dowelling?

[john]

Can I pick your brains please.

What are the standard diameters for wooden dowelling. I don't want the downright specialist sizes please because I hope to find it at one of my local DIY superstores!

My application is to use a very short length of dowell to replace an AAA or AA battery in order to run an electrical device all day. The dowell would have a drawing pin at each end with a thin wire attached which is connected to a 1.5volt power supply at the other end. IYSWIM!

The cell diameters are as follows:

AAA cell = 10.5mm (0.42") diameter AA cell = 14.5mm (0.58") diameter

What alternative material to wood could I use?

Thank you.

[Andy Burns]

If you can't buy dowel that is the right size, get the next size up, cut it a couple of inches longer than you want, Assuming you don't have access to a lathe, stick it in the chuck of a drill, and use a strip of sandpaper to thin it down.

[Rod]

Or get some the next size down. Roll paper round it until it has grown to the diameter required. (Use glue between layers for super job; a bit of sticky tape at the end for a lash up.)

No need even for a drill. :-)

[Tim Lamb]

Take some time:-)

Does it actually need to be round?

regards

[Arfa Daily]

Just as a matter of interest, what sort of device is it that you want to run for an extended time, and what is it you are going to use as your external power supply ?

Arfa

[Alang]

You can buy 10 mm dowelling but it usually comes in 1.8M lengths. Try modeling clay of some sort or epoxy putty

[Alang]

Or papier mache

[Arfa Daily]

Or a modelling or craft shop, which will have lots of bits of odd-sized wood and plastic in small lengths.

Arfa

[robgraham]

Does it need such a specific diameter anyway?

Rob Graham

[ScrewMaster]

What about a dead AA or AAA cell - should be about the right size - bit of insulting tape over the ends to prevent it interfering - add the wire as planned

[Ash]

What about a dead AA or AAA cell - should be about the right size - bit of insulting tape over the ends to prevent it interfering - add the wire as planned

'Dead' cell's tend to leak over time and leave a nasty mess not recommended.

Ash

[Dave Plowman (News)]

You can buy dummy cells for this very purpose.

[Arfa Daily]

Maplin used to keep them, but don't seem to any more. You also used to get them with CB handhelds to make the difference between 10 rechargeable cells at 1.2v, and 8 dry ones at 1.5v. Those ones had contacts and a shorting strap, which would have made them ideal for the job, once the strap had been cut, and wires attached to the two new ends. If there's a CB or amateur radio shop in the area, might be worth just popping in, and seeing if they still have any laying about, long forgotton in a drawer somewhere.

Arfa

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "Arfa Daily" saying something like:

A second's googling...

[Frank Erskine]

Really? I thought dummy cells were 'short-circuit' - the OP wants to fit a PSU across the 'cell'... :-)

[Arfa Daily]

combination of "dummy" and "battery" and "cell" that I could think of into their on-site search engine, and it didn't return any useful results. I hereby declare you king of the keyboard, and authorise you to have an extra cup of coffee and a biscuit for your efforts ... :-)

Arfa

[Appin]

The message from Grimly Curmudgeon contains these words:

nail -- or at least that's what I did years ago when making up an external battery pack for a power-thirsty Z88. For larger sizes of battery, pad out with insulating tape to ensure it stays in location. or use the plastic spacers which allow AA batteries to be substituted for C or D cells