I dunno but... *if* such a thing exists I would truly rejoice. Plugging badly/wrongly drilled holes with badly/wrongly filling rawlpugs is the bane of my life. ...and THE reason I don't do much d-i-y.
If I could a few of these right once-in-awhile, I'd be inspired and motivated to tackle bigger jobs.
If you mean the uncut foot long strips - yes I saw these some place recently... damned if I can think where though, nor what they were called. But maybe it'll give you hope to search at least.
I never understood the mentality of selling only precut short lengths,
- theyre often not the right length, we still need plugs for those other holes. You can always use matchsticks or wood dowel, works fine.
The cut to length wallplug takes me back a bit. Not seen them for absolutely ages. Used them when, back in the old days before hammer drills, I was using the old rawldrill and lump hammer. Always carried a supply of plasters or insulation tape with me.
I still use them all the time - I get mine from a local DIY shop in Farnborough, Hants. About 60p a length. I think they're called "Viking plugs" or something like that.
I'm probably being completely thick here (yes, ok, don't say it), but although I do know of and have used these things I really can't see the advantage over "modern" pre-formed plugs.
I don't do a lot of very heavy fixing, but I have yet to find a situation where a pre-formed plug doesn't work where I think "oh yes, what I need is a plug of exactly the same diameter but different length." Usually if the plug fails it is because I've stupidly drilled the hole in the wrong place or at the wrong size or the wall has fallen apart for some reason (crumbly mortar being the current favourite - manky 1930s council house in ex-mining village). In these cases it is either a case of upping a size (i.e. fatter diameter plugs) or mentally chastising myself and doing it right the second time. Occasionally Gripfill comes to the rescue :-)
I have even standardised on a plug (red) and screw (No8 by 1 inch or by
1.5 inch, or whatever the actual metric sizes are) for practically all the work I do at the moment. The trick for the sort of work I do is to drill "tight" - I generally find a 5.5mm drill works best for these plugs, though a 6mm might be needed if the substrate is very sound - and to use a thin-shafted screw such as the Turbo things from Screwfix. The way it works seems to be that they "cut" their way into the first part of the plug without expanding it too much, and then expand as per normal later on.
The 1 inchers don't make it all the way down the plug but given a half decent wall hold really well. The 1.5 inch screws just poke out the end (there's really no need to do more, is there?) and can hold in less decent walls.
The biggest problem (apart from dodgy walls) is the odd occasion where things are *too* tight, and the thin shaft on the turbo screws breaks. This only happens with the 1.5 inch screws - the 1 inch ones don't go in far enough. Over time I have learned to recognise the onset of this and back out quickly. Often this brings out just enough plastic debris to allow the next screw (always discard the first) to work.
First of all you need the right colour plug for the diameter masonry drill. Brown is the one most commonly used by carpenters (with 7 and 7.5 drill bits) as it is good enough for screw sizes 7 to 10.
Electricians usually needing lighter fixes use the reds and 6 or 6.5 mm diameter bits and smaller screws. Other colours are not needed by most of us.
Next is the drill you use. For soft brickwork and breeze block you don't need the hammer action and certainly not sds. In fact you can even use ordinary steel bits with breeze blocks.
The idea is to not make the hole too big for the plug. Also with breeze block, for example, the stuff splits very easily, so get the hole drilled the right size and just use a hammer insteads of a screwdriver as you would with Fisher Fixings.
To be honest I hate breeze block and wouldn't use it in a house I was going to live in. Try and catch the mortar. Better still, glue a block of wood to the crap with no nails if you can as grounds for door frames etc.
Drill said hole and put the plug in, hammer flush and insert screw. Tap this in a short distance to take the plug into the hole and make the thread of the screw bite hard into the plug. Then screw it home. Most failures are because of hammering the screw in too deeply. The screw needs to wind out the wedging action of the plug. It can't do that if the hole is too big or the medium is too friable or the screw and plug have been hammered home.
On Mon, 17 May 2004 23:38:51 +0100, in uk.d-i-y Martin Angove strung together this:
You're not alone, I was wondering what the fixation was. I usually put two normal length plugs in if one wont do it, and if one is two long, cut the end off. Simple really.
The cut to size plugs are more rigid and, obviously, have no lip. This means they can be knocked through whatever you're fixing, rather like a frame fixing, only better IMO. I certainly lament their passing
I dunno what happened to them, but they were great, by far the best wall plugs around. I haven't seen them for about 15 years when my usual suplier stopped stocking them.
If you find a supply please report back. I used to tap the end of the stick into the hole, then cut it flush with the wall with a sharp, flexible knife. Easy.
I saw Viking cut to length wall plugs in my local timber merchant today but have also found them listed as Bostik cut to length wall plugs for 42p each on:
Is anyone old enough to remember Rawlplastic? Especially pertinant if you saw the article in the Times recently about the severe underfunding of research into asbestos related carcinoma. Still, it was great stuff and I've never found anything to beat it.
Didn't they also make yellow, blue & green ones with different diameters? Now I know who makes them, I'll scout around for a local supplier. Much appreciated.
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