I guess you can get them now at the BigBox stores (cheaper on Amazon). I started trying to sharpen them by hand, but that’s just nuts. They are not special (they have just a black oxide coating), but I sharpen them when they get dull.
And I use bits out of it every couple of weeks (wood and some metal). I have the same set of drill bits (index) that I bought about 15-20 years ago. Then you have an expensive, useless, dull bit. If you hit something even with a bit coated with some sort of Titanium, or a carbide tip, you will break it. If you really only drilled 2 holes, you definitely hit something. You’ve got multiple inches of flutes left, and you can re-sharpen almost till the flutes are gone.įrom the picture, it looks like you hit something (nail, metal tab, etc…). The bits are not disposable, but they are sharpen-able. What more could you ask for? Well, an electric unicorn that farts rainbows would be nice, but we can’t always get what we want. A simple hack that solved a problem and saved a bunch of money. If anyone could recommend some genuinely good drill bits, please enlighten me in the comments below. This (brand-new) one shattered on the second hole, and I was using oil and being careful not to overheat it. In all seriousness, I've had it with disposable hardware-store drill bits. One 3/8" drill bit was injured during the making of this hack. No matter what Samsung says, I'm not hanging an expensive piece of electronics from freaking drywall anchors. Not a bad idea here in earthquake country. It's safe to say that it is five kerfillion times (precisely) stronger than the factory mount. The height is perfect, and we know it's level since that was all set up carefully for the old panel.
Wall mounty bit set tv#
It was then a simple matter to hang the TV on the existing wall mount. All that was needed was some big washers behind the plate, because it's boxed and we want the stress to be distributed around the area of the bolt holes. However, we know this is okay, since the factory Samsung mount only used the top two bolts. Note that the plate is too short to reach the lower VESA 400 holes. That means I could just drill some holes in the backing plate, thread in some M8 bolts, and presto! Instant Samsung-to-Pioneer conversion plate. Luckily though, that pattern was wider than VESA 400. The old Pioneer, unfortunately, had an arbitrary bolt pattern of its own. The Samsung has a standard VESA 400 bolt pattern on the back for mounting. The second piece is a plate that mounts to the back of the TV, and it has hooks on it that engage with the wall bracket shown above. This piece is bolted to the wall studs with 6" lag bolts, and is rated for 250lbs. They provide some basic lateral adjustment of position. The first piece mounts to the wall: The row of slots are what the other piece hooks into. The Pioneer mount was two pieces of boxed 3/8″ steel plate. The svelt mass is what will make this hack so easy. It weighs less than the mount for the Pioneer did. How can they get away with that flimsy contraption? Well, this new TV, despite being considerably larger than the old one, is only 1″ thick and weighs a scant 39lbs! It’s really quite amazing. Sure, knockoffs of this mount are available for much cheaper, but we can do it for zero dollars! Come on now- a pair of Benjamins for two fancy bolts and some string. Wha?! $200? Really, Samsung? The little widget on the right is a "kickstand" so you can tilt it to access the connections. It’s literally two bolts with a cable between them that they say you can hang from drywall anchors. The official Samsung mount is $200(!!), and it’s amazing how… unsubstantial it is.
It was a non-trivial project to mount it, and I really didn’t want to undo it all just because it wasn’t compatible with the new panel. The wall mount for it is a serious slab of steel, with 6″ lag bolts that go into the wall studs. That panel was 6″ thick and weighed 132 lbs. Many years ago, I had gone to great lengths to wall-mount my Pioneer, and it was no small amount of trouble. Of course, I didn’t pay retail for the Pioneer (if I could afford that, I wouldn’t need to hack the wall mount to save a few bucks), but that’s another story.Īnyways, when it arrived, it was time to get it mounted on the wall. It’s an amazing piece of kit, and cost less than one fifth of what my Pioneer did when new.
Wall mounty bit set plus#
On the plus side, it was an opportunity to pick up a shiny new Samsung 55″ LED TV. It was not repairable this time, so away it went. My beloved ten-year-old Pioneer 502MX plasma television died recently.
Sometimes the simplest hacks are the most useful.