Screw this!!!!

[wissy]

Found out today how much a decent cordless screwdriver costs!!! OUCH... Have about four cordless ikkle cute ones which I either lose, lose the charger or both... Found a couple of my old ones and they hardly screw anything! Methinks I will write to Trading Standards.. Hmm?

So spent a stupid stupid stupid amount on a Bosch screwdriver. It was impossible to actually screw decking screws throu two 5cm planks by hand... Another case for Trade Description..how can they sell screws that won't screw???! How come they don't say you have to have x amount wrist strength to make it work through Y type wood at Z thickness??? how about some sort of diy wrist strength test before you buy. Grrr.

So been carrying loads of planks of wood down steep garden to make raised beds and now added a stupidly epxensive screwdriver to the stupidly expensive wooden boards. And added to that I now find out the's not enough soil to fill the damned box I made.. Grrr again. Will have to buy more compost.. Would prefer top soil but terraced house would not appreciate me lugging topspoil thorugh kitchen and lounge attenot at a room. so ikkle bags of compost it is.. On 8 so far and only filled a quarter of the accursed box. Ever regret starting something and then....... Sighs.... !(Rhymes with sais)

Only solution is to get ****ed (having to add that *** means drunk as the censored version implies much worse!!!!) with my cat (not the kitten who wasn't a kitten but an evil cat) looking at loads of graves whilst sitting on the decking and hiding from Artsu!!!!

 

[Alan Quay]

A battery drill is a much better tool for driving screws in. Even a cheap B n Q 14v will do a good job.

Unless I'm missing something here, and a battery screwdriver is euphemism for something else....

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Yup. Battery drill for serious stuff, though the lithium screwdrivers you get in Aldi and Lidl are good for general stuff - and pretty inexpensive.

 

[Scimitar]

Avoid Aldidl cordless battery tools - the batteries are rubbish. If you want somethint worthwhile, pick up a used *but still good* Makita drill/driver and splash out on a battery for that or buy one and have the peace mind that the tool will last a good couple of years, it will be strong enough for your needs and it will do the jobs you need of it.
If you get adventurous, you can look into re-celling the battery packs with lithium for even better life and power.
I've done all the above, and it's working out great - now got 3 cracking Makita drills (the older 14.4V drills were out of fashion, as the newer Li-Ion ones came in) and there's no shortage of relatively cheap suppliers of batteries for the older tools.
I reckon I'm good to go for another four or five years now. Total outlay, about a hundred quid.

 

[Geebee]

Use an impact driver (aka rattle gun) due to the way they work little to no torque is transmitted to your wrist, they will screw anything and don't damage screw heads, and even "off" brands will do the job for DIY.

 

[wissy]

I needed a lightweight one, one that didn't have this massive bulge at the end so the drilling option was a no go. it also had to get into confined spaces so again was not an option. I needed one that was small. Got the Bosch GSR 10.8 in the end and still going 'ouch' but if looked after will last ages and be of use. ll the others bought from b and q are fine I suppose for putting very small screws into soft woods but that is about it for them.

Thanks for the advice on refilling battery.. Actually attempted to do this with a de walt reciprocating saw battery but failed misreably. Am trying to rescue an old lithium battery ion thing by putting in freezer.. Which reminds me ..... eek!

The new scwdriver does the biz but now I am going to complain about screw drill heads being too soft or the scw ends being too soft..had adjusted torque to avoid the screw head 'collapsing' but still did so, always at the very end. decking screws..... Think they must have been cheap ones as they were not silverey finish like my old decking screws but strangely coated a gray ish material......

Today I will be screwing some more to finish my raised beds but it seems I have not bought enough compost to fill the accursed bed area now. Eight bags of compost (of girlie carrying type) already used and only third full. have to carry them through the house to get to the garden.

Now are there any experts on raised beds? Would have liked to put top soil in there but access to garden a problem as is my carrying ability down steps and steep garden so had to make do with compost bags.... will a raised bed full of compost be bad idea for growing veg etc in short and long term? the other ( smaller height for now) raised bed I am making today does not need so much extra compost on top of the nice soil in garden.

Ho de hum....

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Avoid Aldidl cordless battery tools - the batteries are rubbish. .

Aldi lithium screwdrivers are brilliant. I've had mine for years.



Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Scimitar]

You've been lucky, then.
The NiCad and NiMH batteries are just enough to last for a few months then start going downhill rapidly. The basic drill/driver is good enough but nothing special and I wouldn't expect it to be long-lived; but for that price, why should it.

To Wissy - are you drilling a pilot hole first? Sounds like you aren't.

 

[jazper53]

You've been lucky, then.
The NiCad and NiMH batteries are just enough to last for a few months then start going downhill rapidly. The basic drill/driver is good enough but nothing special and I wouldn't expect it to be long-lived; but for that price, why should it.

To Wissy - are you drilling a pilot hole first? Sounds like you aren't.

I use a drill/drivers which I regard as far superior with better torque. Try Robert Dyas can get a good set up for about £65, or this one http://www.robertdyas.co.uk/P~146989~Bosch-PSR14.4v-Cordless-Drill-Driver-and-15-Piece-Accessory-Set-

 

[wissy]

Thanks for the link.. I had actually been trying to rack my brain to remember that Robert Dyas website for stuff for my mum....

I haven't been drilling a pilot hole but have done a short tap with one of those tappng make holes in wood sort of thing. u sing decking screws and told no need to drill through?

Finished the accursed thing and now on bag 18 of compost from an empty garden centre up the road.

Just remembered to take out battery from freezsr to see if it will come alive again!

 

[Scimitar]

Wissy; you'll be lucky if you can eke any more life out of it - lithium cells just die of old age after about four years or so and earlier if they've been badly charged or stored.
However, you could look into re-celling it with suitable cells, once you open it up to see exactly what's in there. I've certainly found it's not worthwhile cheaping out with aftermarket batteries, as what's in them is often rubbishy quality and if I can't find a pukka maker's OEM battery at a decent price I'd rather put known good-quality cells in a sub-standard battery and give it several more years of life.
This is why I bought used-but-still-good Makitas - the tools are barely used, it's only the batteries that need some attending to and that's a consumable cost anyway.
My experience with the crappy Aldi drill left me leary of cheap sheet cordless. Never again.
The Aldidly hand tools are generally fine and so are many of their mains-powered ones (if not exceptional, they are at least useable and have a reasonable life) but the cheapy cordless; no thanks.

 

[103Alex1]

Now are there any experts on raised beds? Would have liked to put top soil in there but access to garden a problem as is my carrying ability down steps and steep garden so had to make do with compost bags.... will a raised bed full of compost be bad idea for growing veg etc in short and long term? the other ( smaller height for now) raised bed I am making today does not need so much extra compost on top of the nice soil in garden.

Ho de hum....

I'm not an expert on veg but have grown a bit. Compost all rots down in the end so you should be fine, wissy. Just make sure there's good drainage under the beds (having them raised already helps) and all that compost will feed your veggies nicely with some extra liquifeed / fertilizer depending on what you're growing and if you have anything especially hungry. Proprietary compost nutrients get washed out pretty fast as it's mostly cardboard, wood fibre and the like, so the proprietary compost just gives you structure and some start-up feed thrown in. It's better mixed with topsoil for longer term growing. If you think about it people who grow veg like potatoes in bags use pure compost so it's fine - just watch it doesn't dry out too quickly. Blooming expensive way of doing it though !

You'll likely have to top the beds up every year with fresh compost (or preferably manure cheap from a local farmer - apply it just before onset of winter and it'll break down/age nicely by the time you plant out next year - and be frozen and odour-free a lot of the time).

 

[Synthman]

I have had the Bosch GSR (and GDR too) for over 5 years still on their original batteries. I've had no problems with them. The 10.8v reciprocating saw is quite good too.

 

[wissy]

52 bags of compost....... All carried by little old me... From the vw camper, through hallway, through kitchen, lounge, past decking, down steps and downsteep garden via obstacles..... And I decided 'sod it' the garden centre is making too ,uch money from me.. Supidly expensive blydi idea come to think of it ...... Wood, screwdriver (!) and compost.. How much is 40 litres x 52 spacewise in comparison to say mars bars piled up???

Sorry about quality of photos, was carrying a bag down at same time!

 

[wissy]

And then past my mess......

 

[wissy]

and here they be.. Excuse the bamboo and weird hedge edgey things.. Am trying to keep my cats from doing their business in the raised beds tomorrow!!

 

[Scimitar]

and here they be.. Excuse the bamboo and weird hedge edgey things.. Am trying to keep my cats from doing their business in the raised beds tomorrow!!

Jeez, Wissy, that looks like a load of work - and you're going to hate me for saying this, but it doesn't look like you've treated the wood, or is it pre-treated?
It'd be a damn shame to have gone to all that effort if the wood rots away from under you in a couple of years.

I have had the Bosch GSR (and GDR too) for over 5 years still on their original batteries. I've had no problems with them. The 10.8v reciprocating saw is quite good too.

I have an ancient (by today's standards) Bosch 12V SDS drill, ex-PO, which came to me having done a tour of duty in the PO and still going strong on its pair of 1.3Ah NiCads. Those batteries lasted another 8 years or so until they just got shegged out. The price of replacements was utterly ridiculous so I left it mouldering in its box for a couple of years until I twigged I could use a Makita-fit 12V stick battery in it. That's given it a new lease of life and it's very useful to have the SDS option in cordless, but the cheapy replacement battery is now on its last legs. For that, I think I'll make up a LiPo pack and ca' canny with it.
It's been a brilliant tool though; the only thing against it is its weight - it's a sod to wield all day long but many times it's proved its worth and I'm hanging on to it. The used Makitas I bought are easily as powerful, but no SDS and they're probably half the weight.

 

[wissy]

Wood comes pre treated from the timberyard . I decided not to do additional treatment still due to chemical issue and growing stuff and time. Pictures don't show clearly there are two layers of wood (5x2 planks) although top layer this side of photo basically had to be positioned more or less completely in the ground to make whole thing eventually level.... took me about 4-5 almost full days in total to do it.

Next job for the stupidly expensive screwdriver is to refit broken gate into horrendously tough wooden post which is made out of sme sort of wood that does not limescrews. Also to replace rotten wooden step .... That will be summer holidays probably.

 

[Taff]

... took me about 4-5 almost full days in total to do it.

Bit late now but Aldi and Lidl sometimes have pre-cut raised beds for sale. Wood is notched and the 4 pieces just slot together - simples. Homebase do similar. Remember a raised bed will dry out more quicker than ordinary beds.