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Old 16th Sep 2018, 5:10 pm   #21
gramophone1
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Default Re: Modern MK Safety Plug. Not impressed

The model make is MK 647WHI 13 Amp safety plug. Very different to the MK tough
plug.
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Old 16th Sep 2018, 5:36 pm   #22
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Default Re: Modern MK Safety Plug. Not impressed

The MK647 is a "non-standard safety plug" and is the one with the T-shaped ground pin. It cannot fit in a standard wall socket.

If yours had a regular ground pin, it was a fake.

Do a google search for MK647 and you'll see what it should look like.
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Old 16th Sep 2018, 7:35 pm   #23
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Default Re: Modern MK Safety Plug. Not impressed

Quote:
Originally Posted by paulsherwin View Post
The market for domestically rewirable BS1363 plugs must be very small now. Appliances have been supplied with fitted plugs for many years, and I haven't had to buy one for literally decades. When an appliance is scrapped I chop the plug off and chuck it in a box in the cupboard under the stairs. Most of them are reasonable quality and certainly adequate for low current appliances. Any really trashy ones get binned.
My Dad used to do that whenever we got rid of an appliance & normally it's replacement was fitted with the same plug. He stopped doing that when everything started to have a moulded on plug, but I managed to salvage a few plugs that would have gone in the bin.

Last year I replaced most of the unsleeved plugs I had still in use with ones I bought from Screwfix. The plastic shells were a little thin but I managed to wire them all up without any problems.

Recently I used a similar plug from Wilko to fit a modulator that came with a Europlug & iffy looking adaptor.
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Old 16th Sep 2018, 9:19 pm   #24
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Default Re: Modern MK Safety Plug. Not impressed

The ones I have are mk safety plugs in white, with wrap around terminals secured with a nut.
They fit in to a regular wall plug socket.

Last edited by gramophone1; 16th Sep 2018 at 9:26 pm.
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Old 16th Sep 2018, 9:50 pm   #25
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Default Re: Modern MK Safety Plug. Not impressed

Quote:
Originally Posted by gramophone1 View Post
The ones I have are MK safety plugs in white, with wrap around terminals secured with a nut.
They fit in to a regular wall plug socket.
If they do fit into a "regular wall plug socket", then they are not 647 type but 646. The 647 has an unusual E pin, restricting connection to its corresponding socket only and is intended for specialist applications. The 646 and the 647 are each classified as 'Safety plugs' by some distributors. The 646 is the common MK 13-amp. 3-pin plug with integral fuse holder.

Al.
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Old 16th Sep 2018, 10:16 pm   #26
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Default Re: Modern MK Safety Plug. Not impressed

Yes, sorry mk 646. Sorry for the confusion.

Anyway. They are not fit for purpose. I have made a mess of this thread with all the confusion caused.
My apologies. They will go with my other spare plugs, until I decide what to do with them.
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Old 17th Sep 2018, 9:10 am   #27
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Default Re: Modern MK Safety Plug. Not impressed

The MK 646 is 'not fit for purpose'?
Please elaborate...
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Old 17th Sep 2018, 9:53 am   #28
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Default Re: Modern MK Safety Plug. Not impressed

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Originally Posted by Brigham View Post
The MK 646 is 'not fit for purpose'?
Please elaborate...
https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/...04&postcount=1

$64,000 question is whether they're fakes or not.
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Old 17th Sep 2018, 11:05 am   #29
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Default Re: Modern MK Safety Plug. Not impressed

I explained the issues I was having at beginning of the thread.

The older mk646 was much better built. Guess that Is why I feel they are not fit purpose, because the quality is sadly lacking, compared to the older made in the UK mk646.

You should be able to fasten the nut on to the cable tightly, but you can't because the wrap around terminal will snap. You can only really go finger tight, then carefully tighten very slightly with a screw driver.
The older ones you had brass nuts, that you could fasten tight on to the wrap around terminal.

The fuse holder on the new ones are made from copper, and bends easily.
The older ones were silver plated, and held their shape well.

The brass prong moves when wiggled. The older ones don't.

Overall not as good as they used to be.

Nothing more I can add really.
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Old 17th Sep 2018, 1:33 pm   #30
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Default Re: Modern MK Safety Plug. Not impressed

A thread on the IET bemoaning the deterioration of MK products - from 2011.

https://www.theiet.org/forums/forum/...threadid=42814

But MK has been through a whole mess of being acquired, acquired, acquired. It floated in 1966, and was finally bought in an aggressive take over by RTZ in 1987 and shuffled into their Pillar division. That was sold to Caradon (which used previously to be called Metal Box) in 1993 along with a bunch of other brands and companies for £800m.

Caradon then went bust in 2000, and then there was a sequence of private equity deals though to 2004 during which Caradon was salami sliced. Finally the shreds of the Caradon Empire renamed themselves Novar - and MK got shuffled into that. And finally Novar was acquired by Honeywell in 2005.

So is it little wonder that quality has suffered? Certainly for some of their products. Or that 1970's classic era MK mains plugs sell for good money on eBay.

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Old 17th Sep 2018, 10:08 pm   #31
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Default Re: Modern MK Safety Plug. Not impressed

My experience of recent MK products across the range is that the quality has fallen considerably since the Honeywell take over. The consumer units have suffered especially badly in my view. I now almost exclusively use Hager fittings.
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Old 17th Sep 2018, 11:47 pm   #32
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Default Re: Modern MK Safety Plug. Not impressed

It's across the board really, quality wise. Not specific to MK, although the premium prices really infer a premium product.

I haven't had cause to complain yet although the quality of the mouldings on the far-eastern MK stuff is much worse than the UK made stuff. Corners used to be crisper, the fit used to be tighter. I bought a 3-gang light switch the other day and when installed the 3 rockers aren't 100% level and the gaps not 100% equal. In the olden days it would've been a reject.

Certainly the UK made MK stuff is as good as ever, but you need to know before you buy it!

Here in the potteries the premium pots were the same, stuff passing as a 'second' back in the 60's/70's/80's would be considered a 'first' these days.

The problem is that any old company can produce 'seconds' all day long but when you want a 'first', well, what do you do? A company's reputation is built on its products. Unfortunately, it can go one of two ways
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Old 18th Sep 2018, 12:20 am   #33
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Default Re: Modern MK Safety Plug. Not impressed

As an electrician. I've never liked modern MK stuff and have found other brands to be much better. On one job I did recently, I had to install a 32A double pole switch with neon as that was the only make my wholesaler had at the time. The quality was dire and the neon just fell out. After 2 weeks running a 23A resistive load, the switch melted!!
I've never liked their sockets with all the terminals in the middle and screws that are really stiff to turn.
In fact, I've never liked the classic MK plug with the binding post type terminals:- I've always found standard screw terminals to be much better.
And a total abomination was the introduction of the horrid plastic 'screwless' cordgrip.
So all in all, I'm really not an MK fan!!

Cheers
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Old 18th Sep 2018, 10:57 am   #34
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Default Re: Modern MK Safety Plug. Not impressed

Interesting...... I felt (as an engineer) that the binding post connections were much better electrically- less likely to work loose and kinder to the wire strands too. More time consuming to fit, though, and you did need to know which way to loop the wire round the threaded post- a bit more fiddly on the neutral side!

For screwed (choc-bloc) type connections it's interesting that higher current ones like in BS4343 connectors use two screws.
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Old 18th Sep 2018, 2:08 pm   #35
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Default Re: Modern MK Safety Plug. Not impressed

Looks like MK has gone down the same path as Bush: a classic British brand name that used to be a yardstick for quality but is no longer quite what it was.
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Old 18th Sep 2018, 3:10 pm   #36
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Default Re: Modern MK Safety Plug. Not impressed

I opened a pack of 5 MK Made in UK twin power sockets. I am never buying them again! Switch action is horrible and the connection terminals are hard to reach and have screws made of cheese. The screws are also not easy to get to, because the plastic moulding on the back is mis aligned with the screw heads.
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Old 18th Sep 2018, 4:35 pm   #37
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Default Re: Modern MK Safety Plug. Not impressed

I wouldn't conflate MK and Bush. MK are trying to stay afloat in an increasingly hostile sales environment. We see quality, they see share price. Bush no longer exist as we knew them.

OT, but coincidentally I recently bought an MK shower pull switch. UK made, and genuine, it was faulty in that it would switch on OK, but switch off only by a random combination of cord "twitches". It was replaced without question however.
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Old 18th Sep 2018, 5:35 pm   #38
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Default Re: Modern MK Safety Plug. Not impressed

When I was at Crabtree (early 90s), although MK kind of 'had the name', those in the know believed Crabtree to be the best quality. Not saying there was much in it mind, but Crabtree stuff was superb. They're part of the Electrium group now, well, have been since the mid 90s when I was made redundant. I'm not bitter though.
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Old 18th Sep 2018, 9:01 pm   #39
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Default Re: Modern MK Safety Plug. Not impressed

Quote:
Originally Posted by stevehertz View Post
'When I was at Crabtree (early 90s), although MK kind of 'had the name', those in the know believed Crabtree to be the best quality...'
I always preferred Crabtree sockets, being, as far as I know, the only ones that would fit into a plaster-depth box, obviating the need to chase the wall.

And Crabtree MCBs (multi-and single phase) have a long and successful pedigree too.
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Old 18th Sep 2018, 9:48 pm   #40
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Default Re: Modern MK Safety Plug. Not impressed

Is Crabtree stuff still good?

As mentioned above, Hager seems to be the go-to brand used by many professionals these days.
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