Post Race!

Wow, I'm in the top three 'last post by' in the Chit-Chat!

I used the back of a splitting maul, which means a bit more force than an axe, but is essentially the same idea.

I spent an inordinate amount of time this weekend changing a couple switches in my house. I thought it would be a half hour job, but it ended up taking hours. The problem was that I thought the service came in through one of the wall boxes, but it actually came in through the ceiling light fixture. I didn't figure that out until I took the fixture down in frustration at not being able to figure out how the wires were connected.

I was getting rid of a couple X-10 switches that were doing me no good at all. The idea was kind of cool, but the switches only lasted a few years before becoming increasingly tempermental. It's bad enough when you hit a switch and the light doesn't come on. It really sucks when it comes on....and you can't get it to shut off.

Anyways, it's fixed now.

I would imagine that it would be quite shocking when it doesn't come on.

I'm so close to passing up the next guy.

I replaced all the switches in my house a couple years back. As I was on about the fourth or fifth room, I noticed that I wasn't shutting off the electricity anymore. That's often not a real issue with house wiring, which is so stiff that you can set a wire in any direction and it will stay there. Crossing wires is a bit hard to do by accident. I was still thinking about this as I pulled out one switch....and somebody called me on my phone, which was on vibrate and vibrated right about 60Hz. I jumped pretty high.

Holy guacamole! I bet so.

I'm pretty bad at electrical, but good enough to wing it.

When it comes to replacing fans and switches, I can do it, but any thing else... ehh.

That's about all I've done, too. One or two outlets, some CAT-5 cabling (trivial in comparison), a bunch of switches, and a pair of bathroom fans. Those last two were a extractor fans, and I really like them, so I guess I'm an extractor fan fan. I haven't worked with anything fancy, either, and stay away from 220 lines whenever possible (though I guess I did wire in a few thermostats on 220 lines, now that I think about it).

I've put an extra 60-amp box on my home service myself - moved oven and dryer 220's and what not. Crazy pool filter breakers with GFCI built into the breaker that goes into the panel...

Lots of cat-5 - heck we made RS232 cables and ran them for our customers 30 years ago!

Got my own punch down tools for phone system and network jack setup - have wired my last three offices myself for all desk services - all the way to the network jack boxes.

You're a braver man than I. My dad always told me never to fix two things by myself: electrical stuff and brakes

I've got my own acetylene torch for doing real plumbing as well!

Brakes - no problem. Re-built an Oldsmobile engine 30 years ago. Down to stuff like mic'ing the crank shaft. You use this thin plastic thread - totally tube-like - and put it in place - and then squeeze it down - by torqueing down the bolts to whatever foot pounds and yadda yadda. Then you take off the bolts and see how "wide" the tube-like thread has become. Look it up on the chart and that width corresponds to the "tightness" in micrometers of that joint. I think they call this plastigauging or something like that...

Doesn't everyone here have a torque wrench?

Drill press?

Radial Arm saw - with digital readout?

Table saw?

Band saw?

Metal vice for the drill press?

Biscuit joiner?