Cordless Power nirvana redux

I picked up a Ryobi One Plus starter kit a few weeks ago, it even came with a free additional Reciprocating Saw, and I have to say I’m impressed.  The 18v rechargeable system works well, in particular the Drill, Driver and Circular Saw which I’ve got the most use out of so far.  Only the Mini Vac seems not quite up to muster and will undoubtedly end up on eBay in the next few weeks. 

I’m becoming a big fan of Ryobi kit, I already have the Compound Mitre Saw, as they seem an ideal balance between price and quality.   Of course I could have gone for DeWalt  instead but for the price one cordless drill I can have a whole box of Ryobi kit and I don’t think the price hike reflects the difference in quality.

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Is this cordless power tool nirvana?

Anyone who does even a spot of DIY will know there is no job that isn’t more interesting and more fun with a power tool to help you out, hey it might even make it quicker.  This is doubly true of cordless power tools which go ahead and add flexibility to the mix…the problem is though that you end up lots of different batteries and chargers.  Wouldn’t it be useful if there was a range of cordless tools that used a common battery and charger?  Well it seems Ryobi have released just a system called One Plus, I already have one of their mitre saws which has made cutting skirting simple and quick. so I know the quality will be excellent at the price.  If the batteries are strong enough to give you a fair chunk of use these could be worth a closer look.

Power on!

DIY blues…

The house I live in was built in 1896, it’s got bags of character, an interesting history and has suffered from many years of bodged DIY.  The previous owners but one are the key guilty parties who’s hamfisted attempts to update the house would shame the most inept monkey with a paintbrush and a screw driver.

Take the spotlights now properly installed as you can see below.  The originals were white, faded and in many cases glued in with plaster as they hadn’t been fitted correctly. 

I naively thought it would simply be a case of pulling out the old ones, rewiring and fitting the shiny new chrome models.  Stupid me.  When I took the old ones out due to the clumsy gluing lots of ceiling and plaster came with them, leaving holes in one case the size of a football.

Once the swearing had stopped…say after about an hour I had to work out how to fix the new ones and patch the ceiling.  The general patching was pretty straightforward but I wasn’t confident that I could cut a reliable new hole for the spot in the plaster patch.  But I tried something I’d done on another standard light fitting by cutting an MDF ring with a 100mm and 80mm Holesaw and filled in the plaster around it.  This then gave me somewhere solid to attach spring clips too.  As you can see from the picture it worked a treat.

Now to fit some new skirting.  Wish me luck.

Telecaster DIY

I’ve always preferred the Fender Telecaster over the more obvious Stratocaster, it’s nothing technical, musical or rational.  The only problem is choosing one as there are now hundreds of different types, reissues, copies and custom shop variants so rather than have to find one that fits the bill I thought why not build one, not from scratch but from second hand and maybe some new parts.

So far I have a ’92 Squier Silver Series rosewood neck ironically from a Stratocaster but no matter as Strat necks attached to Tele bodies is not uncommon, the Silver Series Squiers where relabled Fender parts from the now defunct Japanese factory and the quality is superb.  It also came with a set of Ping Tuners, yep I didn’t know the golf guys made bits for guitars but apparently they do.  The body as far I can tell is a copy from a Telecaster of unknown origin and finished in an almost radioactive metallic green and looks great with the neck, the fit is spot on too and I don’t think I’ll have to trim the neck slot or use shims.  A tortoiseshell pickguard will look very cool against the green.