The "How Much?" / "Having a Giraffe!" Café thread...

[MontyVeda]

Much the same as the thread in the vintage bikes forum.... but not vintage bike related.

it's the How much? You must be having a giraffe! café thread.



Aside from restoring my old Stanley No 4 plane and (badly) restringing my mums washing line... I've also been fettling my old Stanley hand drill:

image for illustrative purposes only

The three jaws in the chuck won't meet up when getting close to fully closed, so I took it apart and found that one of the three tiny springs was bent out of shape...

...measured the springs, 3mm diameter and 12mm long, then got on fleabay to find some.

£2.99 EACH!!!!

I figured they can't be that expensive, so upped the quantity from 1 to 5, and the price remained at £2.99, then upped it from 5 to 50 and got a message saying i can't order more than 25 of the maggot sized springs, so figured £2.99 was for a bag of up to 25 springs... fair enough. Clicked buy now and was asked to pay £74.75p.... so they really are two fecking ninety-nine each! (with free P&P).

I can buy a pack of 10 from China for £2.98 (still expensive IMO)... but that UK seller is taking the pith... surely???

 

[uphillstruggler]

Much the same as the thread in the vintage bikes forum.... but not vintage bike related.

it's the How much? You must be having a giraffe! café thread.



Aside from restoring my old Stanley No 4 plane and (badly) restringing my mums washing line... I've also been fettling my old Stanley hand drill:

View attachment 603681 image for illustrative purposes only

The three jaws in the chuck won't meet up when getting close to fully closed, so I took it apart and found that one of the three tiny springs was bent out of shape...

View attachment 603680

...measured the springs, 3mm diameter and 12mm long, then got on fleabay to find some.

£2.99 EACH!!!!

I figured they can't be that expensive, so upped the quantity from 1 to 5, and the price remained at £2.99, then upped it from 5 to 50 and got a message saying i can't order more than 25 of the maggot sized springs, so figured £2.99 was for a bag of up to 25 springs... fair enough. Clicked buy now and was asked to pay £74.75p.... so they really are two fecking ninety-nine each! (with free P&P).

I can buy a pack of 10 from China for £2.98 (still expensive IMO)... but that UK seller is taking the pith... surely???

just how badly do you want to fix the hand drill i suppose the seller may have been storing 1000's of them and wants to cash in.

i think its worth it, just for the fun of fixing the drill anyway.

 

[MontyVeda]

just how badly do you want to fix the hand drill ...

i think its worth it, just for the fun of fixing the drill anyway.

sometimes a powered drill isn't fit for the task at hand.

 

[Blue Hills]

Don't suppose you could find a spring in something else?
Springs, nuts, bolts, bits of string, those "what the fark is that for?" Bits should never be thrown away.
Looking forward to more of your repairs monty.

 

[Profpointy]

how big is the spring in a biro?

 

[MontyVeda]

Don't suppose you could find a spring in something else?
Springs, nuts, bolts, bits of string, those "what the fark is that for?" Bits should never be thrown away.
Looking forward to more of your repairs monty.

before looking on fleabay i did look inside a retractable pen... but they're 4mm instead of 3mm.

I have been rummaging through all my bits and bobs but am yet to find anything other than a pen with a small compression spring in it.

EDIT!

however inside a retractable pencil...

there is a 3.5mm x 12mm spring that does fit snugly in those tiny holes in the jaws
...and there just happened to be three pencils left in that pack of 10

 

[MontyVeda]

Looks like i've diverted my own thread, with was supposed to be extortionate prices for tiny things rather than, Monty saves a tenner getting his old drill to work by rummaging around in a pencil case.

Someone report me to the mods... and keep this thread on track

 

[Salad Dodger]

Magnetic cupboard catches. My daughter was horrified to find them at £2.50 each in a DIY superstore. She needed at least 3.
She bought a pack of 10 from Toolstation for about £2.20.......

 

[MontyVeda]

Tool Station is great, even better than Screwf9 for a lot of things

 

[classic33]

Much the same as the thread in the vintage bikes forum.... but not vintage bike related.

it's the How much? You must be having a giraffe! café thread.



Aside from restoring my old Stanley No 4 plane and (badly) restringing my mums washing line... I've also been fettling my old Stanley hand drill:

View attachment 603681 image for illustrative purposes only

The three jaws in the chuck won't meet up when getting close to fully closed, so I took it apart and found that one of the three tiny springs was bent out of shape...

View attachment 603680

...measured the springs, 3mm diameter and 12mm long, then got on fleabay to find some.

£2.99 EACH!!!!

I figured they can't be that expensive, so upped the quantity from 1 to 5, and the price remained at £2.99, then upped it from 5 to 50 and got a message saying i can't order more than 25 of the maggot sized springs, so figured £2.99 was for a bag of up to 25 springs... fair enough. Clicked buy now and was asked to pay £74.75p.... so they really are two fecking ninety-nine each! (with free P&P).

I can buy a pack of 10 from China for £2.98 (still expensive IMO)... but that UK seller is taking the pith... surely???

Did you try bending the spring back into shape?

 

[MontyVeda]

Did you try bending the spring back into shape?

nope

...but sorted now 😊

 

[Kestevan]

What you need is a proper hardware shop...The one in Holmfirth is excellent. Ask for a single small spring/washer or similar widget and the old chap in a brown smock will suck his teeth, then rummage about in one of the many drawers before producing said item. Usually for pence.


Also sells wellies, clothes pegs, and pretty much everything else.

 

[Poacher]

What you need is a proper hardware shop...The one in Holmfirth is excellent. Ask for a single small spring/washer or similar widget and the old chap in a brown smock will suck his teeth, then rummage about in one of the many drawers before producing said item. Usually for pence.


Also sells wellies, clothes pegs, and pretty much everything else.

Fork handles?

 

[Kestevan]

Fork handles?

Pretty much, the shop could double as the set for that sketch.

The owner is taller though.

 

[Kestevan]

Although, given the state of Holmfirth it's likely to be turned into a wine bar at any moment...