Cheap adhesive backed copper foil

[Tubetec]

Lidl has copper foil on offer here this week , it designed for use as a slug repellent around flower or veg containers or beds ,
Its a little thinner than the usual copper screening foil used in electronics , but should be no less effective .
3.99 euros for 10 meters x 50mm wide . The adhesive being destined for outdoor use should stand up fine over the longer term .

 

[rock soderstrom]

thanks for the hint, I'll get myself a roll or two. They're always useful!

Lidl will have 12V tools on offer again from May 2nd this week in Germany. Some people are calling it the “toy series”, which is certainly true from a professional's point of view.

For me as a home user (and electronics tinkerer) with little space, it's a pretty useful investment. I already have some of the tools and will be buying the cute angle grinder this week. Also very nice, the 4AH battery for this series is also only 4.99€ for LIDL Plus customers this week.

 

[Tubetec]

Ive got a bunch of the Lidl 20v tools and batteries ,
there not super heavy duty ,but still very good value for the money .

Beware though , I purchased one of their mains powered angle grinders a while back ,
as soon as I put the unit under any kind of load the commutator and brushes turn into a lightening storm , the first one I returned , then a newer model came on the shelves , bought one of those ,
same thing , even worse the unit has speed regulation , that tends to go to full RPM randomly while in use ,
I would have assumed these units having metal exposed on the housing are required to have a three wire mains cable , it has a proper three pin plug with PE , but only two wires in the cable , which I discovered when the cable frayed where it enters the tool .

These things are dangerous , thats for sure , if it turns out it should have protective earth and doesnt they have a very serious safety problem that could land them in hot water if someone got hurt .
I wont interact online with Lidl to get a return code , but I think its only right to try and warn the manager of the store these units are potentially dangerous .
What I'll do is call into the local tool hire place and check how the reputable brands of grinder are wired .

A quick search shows this ,

 

[ruffrecords]

I love a good rummage through the tools section at Lidl. I got a great drill and knife sharpener and even a couple of basic multimeters.

I will definitely be getting some of the copper foil. My wife needs it to protect her Hostas.

Cheers

Ian

 

[rock soderstrom]

The devices are all battery-based, so the PE is irrelevant. I agree with you, it is dangerous if it is not connected, if available!

I already have all these devices in mains-powered versions, mostly from Bosch and much more powerful. But that's one of the reason why I hardly use them any more. They are simply too big (for my jobs), too loud and as I often do these dirty jobs on the balcony or even outside the door in my new apartment, the mains connection is a real disadvantage.

I was out drinking beer with a few guys at the weekend and was amazed that even professional craftsmen use such mini tools. Everyone is celebrating the super small accumulator Parkside angle grinder because it is extremely flexible to use thanks to the 76 mm disk and the very small size.

This class of tool is of course also available from well-known manufacturers and is now used almost everywhere. You then pay 5 times as much, which makes perfect sense if you need it all day long. I don't need it that often...

 

[Tubetec]

I actually picked out a few Lidl 20v batteries from the electronic recycling pile the other day ,
Cell voltages were depleted to the point the system charger wouldnt work ,
I have a hobby type charger , with that its easy to gradually bring up the cells to the nominal voltage , after that they work on the system charger again .
So Ive ended up with working 2ah and 4ah batteries for free .

Likewise the hobby charger provides a lipo cell balanced charge mode ,thats another good way to fix batteries that wont take a charge .

 

[Rob Flinn]

I have a Lidl circular saw that I bought for something like £16 on special offer when they opened a new branch on my town maybe 15 or 20 years ago. It's more powerful than any of the pro brands & I have used it on numerous jobs so that it has paid for itself probably 100's of times over.

I also recently bought one of their SDS drill/breakers for about 60euros after my neighbour in France lent me his. So far it has been brilliant & I have mainly been using it as a breaker.

I have other things like digital calipers I bought from Lidl etc that are great.

However I bought some of their pump action clamps recently & they were not so great one breaking on first usage.

I think the point is if I were a professional carpenter I would be buying Festool, etc but I'm not. I do actually have quite a few Makita & DeWalt drills, driver, multi tools, planers & they re better quality than Parkside, but they are a lot more money.

 

[rock soderstrom]

I have other things like digital calipers I bought from Lidl etc that are great.

I have one too, I use it every day!

However I bought some of their pump action clamps recently & they were not so great one breaking on first usage.

They are not that good, one of mine tensions very well and builds up a lot of pressure, but then can no longer be released. The mechanism for this is blocked - crap!

 

[Rob Flinn]

They are not that good, one of mine tensions very well and builds up a lot of pressure, but then can no longer be released. The mechanism for this is blocked - crap!

The mechanism on one of my clamps just broke the first time I used it. Although I have bought F clamps from them that are really good. Like this https://cpc.farnell.com/rolson-tool...2964&s_kwcid=AL!5616!3!224687617643!!!network}!369687693802!&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwir2xBhC_ARIsAMTXk87GEHHu0pkhl2WeeBjFILpPlN0Ice_3WHwpKzy4PVzT4ZDTaR4I1LAaAmevEALw_wcB

 

[RCAguy]

As with all shielding to work, Lidi adhesive copper foil must be grounded to the protected electronics. If not soldered, a clipped-on wire to common for each separate shield.

 

[rock soderstrom]

As with all shielding to work, Lidi adhesive copper foil must be grounded to the protected electronics. If not soldered, a clipped-on wire to common for each separate shield.

That's very interesting what you're saying, because I'm thinking about this very topic at the moment.

That would mean the shielding effect would be given or better if you connect the surrounding shielding (as an example, around a spring reverb plus electronics in a wooden case, no PE) to the reference ground of the circuit. Why is this the case?

This may well be the case, but could the screen not act as an antenna and "contaminate" the circuit via the ground?

 

[Electrobumps]

I’ve picked up some good quality copper shielding off Temu. Some in adhesive tape form and some rolled sheet that I glued to the inside of my amp cabinets.

 

[RCAguy]

That's very interesting what you're saying, because I'm thinking about this very topic at the moment.

That would mean the shielding effect would be given or better if you connect the surrounding shielding (as an example, around a spring reverb plus electronics in a wooden case, no PE) to the reference ground of the circuit. Why is this the case?

This may well be the case, but could the screen not act as an antenna and "contaminate" the circuit via the ground?

It should be no different than grounding a chassis (enclosure) that shorts the RFI “contaminate” to earth. I’m assuming well designed powering with no “pin1” problem.

 

[cyrano]

I gave up when LIDL offered a soldering station, some years ago. In the manual it was mentioned (at the very end) that it wasn't to be used for soldering electronics, or do plumbing jobs. It was only suited for burning wood. Yes, I RTFM.

Despite that fact, it came with two small rolls of solder wire. One marked for "electronics" and one for "electrics"...

It also came with three spare irons. Badly needed. I've never seen an iron wear out so fast.

Could you use it to solder? Yes, but I wouldn't dare use it on an SMD board. Or anything sensitive, as the temp regulator was a simple triac circuit without an ntc or any other way of measuring temp. Hardly any noise suppression and to top things off, it wasn't even isolated as it should be. There was AC on the iron.

It's not about the money. It's about the pile of useless waste. Still have one, new in the box. Yes, I bought TWO of those and I can't be bothered to take them back.

LIDL seems to have a publicity run for their tools on YT and FB. Seen several vloggers who sold their soul. Hope they were paid well.

I still own a Black & Decker jigsaw. Hate it every time I use it. Noisy, unprecise. It has seen a lot of use. But my Metabo circular saw has seen far more use, is older and still goes strong.

I've been buying and restoring older tools. Metabo, Bosch and Hilti. Spares are available, if needed. They're not even expensive. And at least they were made to be fixed. Not welded shot ultrasonically, to make sure they can't be repaired.

 

[cyrano]

I’ve picked up some good quality copper shielding off Temu. Some in adhesive tape form and some rolled sheet that I glued to the inside of my amp cabinets.

TEMU doesn't seem as bad as wish.com. My son bought some stuff for next to nothing and most of it is at least useable. 1 out of 10 is a useless scam, but at so little money he's OK with it.

 

[Electrobumps]

TEMU doesn't seem as bad as wish.com. My son bought some stuff for next to nothing and most of it is at least useable. 1 out of 10 is a useless scam, but at so little money he's OK with it.

It’s free returns and under $10 they don’t normally request a return. So if I’m not in a rush I’ll check it out.