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Sure. In my view second hand is buying smart, not buying cheap but I didn't mention that in the original post. It aslo depends on the nature of the tool. Any big tools fine, but I'd be more wary of e.g. a handheld power drill or jigsaw. Actually I have a Katsu mini bench drill and love it...

In part this is a reflection on the tool regret thread posted yesterday, but also a point I've raised here and there recently. Forget top quality. What are the tools you buy bargain basement stuff and why? Feel free to debate an answer but keep it civil. If someone doesn't value your favourite...

I'd be wary of disk cleanup, I've found in the past it'll delete things you want to keep. For a quick fix I'd say try clearing the cache of any web browsers, including long forgotten one such as Internet Explorer. I'll give fuller advice tomorrow.

Sure, like you it tends to be when I've bought cheap rather than paying over the odds for quality. There have even been times I've bought a tool with a specific job in mind and I ended up not using it, either it wasn't as suitable as I thought or the task evolved in a different way - don't...

Just got a new iron delivered today, yes I already have plenty but this was a supposedly good quality gas powered iron with spare bits you can actually buy. Filled it up with lighter gas and... the valve's leaking. Try shutting it down in various manners, no not happening. Stick it on the...

Scratch awl. Not so much for marking out as a general holdy, proddy, denty, hole making thing.

Sorry, I hadn't even thought of that - I did say it was an "on autopilot" spec. As I hinted at those assumptions are based at switching anything up to 100mA, since your application is nowhere near that a BC817-25 or even -16 will do without switching any surrounding components and easier to...

A bipolar NPN needs to be sourced current to the base in order to turn on. If the I/O is in input mode that shouldn't happen unless there are weak pull-ups in play, you'll need to read up your specific docs. I wouldn't bother, the capacitance involved here that could possibly cause any spike...

OK, I wasn't expecting you to go SMD but you seem to have a grip on most of the basics. To cut a long story short I suggest a BC817-40 for the input from the MCU, 100K for the pull up (R1 in my circuit diagram), perhaps 2.2K on the base of the 817, and a DMP3097L-7 for switching the lamp. The...

Sure, generally you'll want to form a low side switch first to create the gate voltage for the high side switch, see the pic - things can sometimes be simplified if you have an open collector or open drain output at your disposal. R1 can generally be high to minimise waste power - values of...

Oh right, sorry, I was under the impression you already had the brass. You should find it a lot easier to work with than steel paper clips, steel is nasty stuff to solder even if not lacquered or whatnot. Just be mindful of the conductivity - brass does get hot fast.

Tolkien was supposedly at Stonyhurst College when devising Middle Earth and it is based on the locality. I'm not exactly next door to the college but it's less than an hour on push bike even for me...

Precisely what kind of issues are you having? If you can try and describe the problem it would help diagnosis. What kind of iron are you using and what bit? I recall there was mention earlier of filing bits down, I must admit I grimaced when I saw that - modern bits are invariably iron plated...

I remember this kind of thing was one of the basic soldering exercises used for apprentices at British Aerospace - yes it's fiddly but they got to grips with it easy enough. Literal wire frame models of aircraft. Can't remember what wire was used, from the colour it may have been nickel silver...

Something like this that seem tailor made for the job? Although they do fold down rather than up, don't know if that is a show stopper or not. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08PKNF3K6

Invest in a cheap random orbit sander, going rate is under £40, often can be had for under £20, and go through the grades next time. You still get the cross grain sanding but the random orbit (not simply orbital) covers up a lot of sins, if you get down to 240 grit in all probability the finish...

1/4” BSP is a screw fitting and in all likelihood the only screw fitting you need be concerned with, 1/8” is mostly airbrushes and 1/2” for flow rates well above that of most domestic users. Euro connectors, also known as PCL XF, are quick release fittings, that is they're simple push on/pull...

When I use the term it's is of course by allusion to the car, implicitly referencing quality, refinement and attention to detail. And the corresponding price tag of course. I don't  think I've been misunderstood but to be clear my initial comment was on the attitude rather than the terminology...

Bear the insurance ramifications in mind if that is the only lock. Most policies won't cover doors secured solely with surface mounted locks (that includes night latches), the lock needs to be morticed into the door.

Segmented snap off knives, apparently they date to the 50s. I don't think the comparative sparsity of truly new classes of hand tool means the sector is some kind of innovation wasteland, it's simply a reflection of a mature sector with few new problems to solve. It follows that innovations are...