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Are us powertool junkies any quicker than the old boys?

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Discuss Are us powertool junkies any quicker than the old boys? in the Plumbing Tools area at Plumbers Forums

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Phil

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Although not as bad as Billy I myself am a powertool maniac and have to have all my expensive toys around me to do every single job.

I was doing a bathroom for a semi retired joiner who manages quite happily with only the most basic joinery tools and we even joked about the fact that by the time I've got all my toys out he would have opened his toobag and had the job done by the time I've finished unloading my gagets.

I mean I was helping my dad put his new hardwood door on the other week and you couldn't hardly move for kit everywhere...... Fein, router, SDS, impact driver, 10.8 drill driver, combi dril, circular saw, electric plane and god knows what else!
 
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My te60 smashes through the wall faster than my granddads black n decker . I can snort through 18mm ply faster than any handsaw and slotted heads eeeeerr . Drive A 125mm number 6 faster than any old Yankee could.
 
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I was trying to explain to my customer why an impact driver was better than a standard combi drill and to be honest I was struggling. I mean they are really noisy things and are they really any quicker...I suppose they are lighter and easier in your hand.
 
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They make and break contact lots so have a higher frictional contact.. Can't remember the physics but it's pretty much same as abs. Once you skidd your a goner, but pulse the friction and it's all good. Think it's to do with friction coefficients and acceleration
 
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I can happily work without the powertools bar a drill tbh

just the others speed up those tasks and gives me more time to do the other stuff.

also i suppose now as we can work faster with powertools, we get given a shorter amount if time.

i was recently told that 20 years ago the guy was given half a day just to knock out for a flue!
can't imagine being given anywhere near that amount of time nowdays
 
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I dont really use impacts much tbh and strangley ive got 4. cant see the point unless building timber studwork type stuff.

i think some tools can speed you up and make your work better, but then it takes the ingenuity out of some tasks.
 
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revequ3y.jpg


This wasn't a hard wall just it destroyed a few bits? Doing this by hand would have ruined my day!
 
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when i started it was not uncommon to hit balanced flue terminals out by hand,and houses in my area are typically 23 inch thick solid stone,you had to get the flues extended in most cases ,however we acquired the first kango great for the inside would eat it,but useless on the outside if up a ladder ,we have it much easier now
 
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When I first started we didn't have SDS drills. Just mains powered hammer drills. If we had to put fixings into hard concrete out came the rawl drills because you would just melt the end of a hammer drill bit. Then along came SDS and we could get the job done a lot quicker and earn better money. Then everyone had an SDS drill and you didn't get the job if you charged the extra for hole drilling so we were no better off. Same happened with Kango hammers for knocking out balanced flue holes, core drills for circular holes etc.

When these tools first came along the early adopters could make more money and charge marginally less than their competitors. Once the majority have the tools you can no longer charge a premium for their use and it's a case of needing the tools to remain competitive.

There are times when the old methods are best though. When taking boards up, springing them and cutting with a hand saw is a lot neater than using a rip snorter and a lot quicker if it's only a few boards.
 
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I had no special tools when I first started helping out at plumbing work. All I can remember was a professional B&D ordinary hammer drill which used to burn up if used with a 3/4" bit & it constantly jammed.
All hole cutting in walls was done by hand & also cutting of concrete floors. I was good at it but sometimes it could take half a day to do what an electric hammer can do today in minutes.
All floorboards were cut by hand - tongues & cross cuts. It was the best way & still is, with the exception of a multi tool which is brilliant for a nice fine cut & you don't sweat doing it.
 
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U tried stitching. 450 ish thick concrete on second floor?

Stitching is loads faster. Normall pop a 10mm through center to outside then litter perimeter with 6mm and smash it out in seconds.
 
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you want to try rubble walls with petersmarland brick outers. the bricks alone take around 30 to 50 mins to core safely. Putting the flue in for my own aga years back I hit a wall tie and ended up on the floor bleeding and unconscious as the drill clutch failed to work and it spun round and smacked me in the face. Never thought to sue screwfix, but a friend broke his fingers doing the same with a B&Q core drill, he got a hell of a sum off them several thousand, and BNQ now have disclaimers everywhere in using core drills.
 
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