Home DIY

Good to know and I will be thinking of you as I'm bandaging my fingers tomorrow afternoon :)

Yes, absolutely. I have one on all day every day in bathrooms and kitchens. One thing is objects like to be level, don't fight them into position, it's best when the cabinets feel relaxed. The worktop holds them down very efficiently and they will settle a bit.

Check everything for square - measure corner to corner on each face or use a large square if you have one, then check for level. If it isn't square, it can never be level on all axes simultaneously.

Also, check the accuracy of your levels. Hold them on a surface, note the bubble position, then flip 180 degrees on the same spot - if the bubble isn't in an identical position, the level is borked.

Loved making frames with a morso, this looks like a nice compact home alternative. I'm half tempted as making picture frames is so much more of a faff without the right kit.

And slicing timber is satisfying as fuck.

i've done it as a one man job, just took a bit of sweat and swearing

18mm or 30mm birch plywood thickness for a desk, 160cmx90cm

Id probs go 30mm but you could get away with 18 if you have out supported right.

I'm currently using 18mm on top of two trestles as my desk. It's definitely strong enough. Depending on where the legs are you might get a bit of sag at 160cm long tho.

I would say that it doesn't quite "feel" substantial enough though. 30mm would deffo be nicer.

thanks, id rather thinner and will have excess so might use some extra 18mm lengthways to brace along the back of the width?

The best way to check a level is to use it to draw a level line on a wall then soon the level 180 degree and hold it against the line. If the level is accurate it will line up with the mark. If the level needs replacing it won't.

Edit @nefarious beat me to it.

Re. Levels
My joiner mate always said the bubble needs to be in the middle of the marks - NOT just between them.

Tradesmen who know their stuff may confirm this.

I don't mean to sound condescending but in my experience a lot of people don't realise that when you're reading a spirit level you can get it wrong. You should be looking at it so that the rings that the bubble sits in appear as lines.

I can confirm this *not a tradesman and was really surprised at how significant the variation in bubble being in the middle was

So what am i missing -

Parallelogram

And the best spirit levels have some form of anti parallax to stop error in reading

You learn by your mistakes - and my joiner mate knows what he is talking about - having levelled things for me which I believed were ‘level’.

TOP TIPS - speak to and ask questions of tradesmen ( they know what they are doing)
The biggest tip for everyone - GET THINGS LEVEL!!! If it isn’t level and square you really are going to be in a world of hurt and this is why you pay tradesmen - they can work with things which aren’t level or square. I learned this a long time ago.

In an ideal world where everything is level and square - there is no reason to have professional tradesmen - YouTube sorts a lot out. In the REAL world you will come a cropper very easily because things are not exact.

Back to my Peroni ...

Whilst we're here, what is the recommended laser level?

Apparently the dewalt ones is decent but im too tight and just use a set of stanley fatmax levels for hanging rads and boilers level.

yeaah, i totally don't trust my eyes or ability to read a level and this has been a good reminder of that...

Buuuut, after a long evening I can confirm that a) squaring the frame with the flimsy back panel is super important and b) don't underestimate the undulations in the wall, ours are not straight and it was throwing the frames out a bit too.

Can recommend the ikea 'exceptionel' drawers though - they're basically just the blum tandembox ones and way sturdier than the maximera ones for too much extra cash

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Is that Birch ply fronts?

I picked up a £20 one from Amazon that seems OK for my very amateur use. Good ones appear to be pretty pricey.

Does anyone have a good how to for laying a patio which includes how to manage drains, and drainage running underneath?

Cheers.

For DIY/small jobs, I am very happy with my stanley Cubix. I paid about £30 and I'm not precious about it and it's been going for years. I might invest in something better for doing more involved laying out at some point, but tbh the cubix does 90% of what I need.

Spirit levels are like tape measures, in that they require way more attention to use properly than people realise, and there is a skill to using them accurately.

Least they dont grow legs like tape measures, I lose at least 2 a month.

But spirit levels can be killed more easily IME. Just takes one twat clanging your level around a scissorlift, or knocking it off some scaff and it's fucked.

Now I'm moving around more on jobs, I've genuinely been getting a bit worried about misplacing tools. Got too many odd and hard to get hold of bits that I couldn't face losing, but that I hate being without when I need them!

Laser levels for the win. Even if just to make cycling to jobs easier.

Favourite use so far was to measure up for a bench outside the Rapha store a couple of weeks ago. Shoot a plane 440mm off the ground then measure at the position of each leg... all six are different as the pavement is on the piss. No doubt I’ll cycle past in a few months time to see someone has put it out back to front and it’s at a 10 degree angle, tipping flat whites into the gutter.