|
Other Vintage Household Electrical or Electromechanical Items For discussions about other vintage (over 25 years old) electrical and electromechanical household items. See the sticky thread for details. |
|
Thread Tools |
13th Jul 2018, 7:11 pm | #41 | |
Triode
Join Date: Jul 2018
Location: East Midlands, UK
Posts: 39
|
Re: MK Plugs and their various designs.
Please do, thank you for posting
Quote:
Regards, Leo |
|
13th Jul 2018, 8:20 pm | #42 | ||
Rest in Peace
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: London, UK.
Posts: 2,508
|
Re: MK Plugs and their various designs.
Quote:
Quote:
Regarding making a collection of Wylex plugs, I am working on this and it is an uphill struggle. There are a few popular types that are plentiful, but many obscure variants with different pin configurations etc. Early non-polarised types are almost impossible to find. Returning to the early MK plug with the slotted solid brass terminal nuts and loose washers, clearly there were design flaws for a consumer product. The flat nut underneath that held the pin in place was a trap for the unwary - if that wasn't tight you couldn't make a secure connection with the terminal nut. Not everyone understands how nuts and locknuts behave, and the way wire pulls round a screw. People would lose the washers etc and make a bad job of it. But skilled hands could make a decent connection; with the external hexagon on the nuts, they were easy to tighten despite the threaded pillar invading the screwdriver slot. |
||
13th Jul 2018, 10:48 pm | #43 | |
Dekatron
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Greater Manchester, UK.
Posts: 18,725
|
Re: MK Plugs and their various designs.
Quote:
https://www.flameport.com/electric_m...K_13A_plug.cs4
__________________
-- Graham. G3ZVT |
|
13th Jul 2018, 11:13 pm | #44 | |
Dekatron
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: West Cumbria (CA13), UK
Posts: 6,130
|
Re: MK Plugs and their various designs.
From the linked page:
Quote:
__________________
Mending is better than Ending (cf Brave New World by Aldous Huxley) |
|
14th Jul 2018, 1:36 pm | #45 | |
Octode
Join Date: Jul 2017
Location: Newcastle Upon Tyne, Tyne & Wear, UK.
Posts: 1,186
|
Re: MK Plugs and their various designs.
Quote:
I also have a switched MK plug in brown. The cover does not fit flush for some reason. It has the nut and bolt arrangement of attaching wires as mentioned above. |
|
14th Jul 2018, 1:45 pm | #46 | |
Rest in Peace
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: London, UK.
Posts: 2,508
|
Re: MK Plugs and their various designs.
Quote:
One thing that my dad brought to my attention early in my learning curve about wiring plugs is that the fuse contacts are rather an Achilles' heel in the BS1363 design, and the plug with the best fuse contacts is, at least for heavy loads, arguably the best plug even if it has other minor disadvantages. Thus, he strongly favoured MK plugs of this era with their highly engineered contacts with stiffening grooves and line-contact with the fuse caps. They hold their own against most alternatives at 13A today. |
|
14th Jul 2018, 3:02 pm | #47 | |
Triode
Join Date: Jul 2018
Location: East Midlands, UK
Posts: 39
|
Re: MK Plugs and their various designs.
Quote:
has anyone heard of the mk plug with sprung sleeves?, I want to add one of those to my collection, I find them very cool Regards, Leo |
|
14th Jul 2018, 3:26 pm | #48 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Wiltshire, UK.
Posts: 14,007
|
Re: MK Plugs and their various designs.
I remember those MK switched plugs: I fitted one to my parents' 1970s "log effect" electric fire, which was powered through a 3-way adapter that also fed the TV and the radio - making it easier to switch the fire off without disturbing the other 2 outlets, which invariably happened if you tried to pull the fire plug out!
|
14th Jul 2018, 3:57 pm | #49 | ||
Dekatron
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Greater Manchester, UK.
Posts: 18,725
|
Re: MK Plugs and their various designs.
Quote:
__________________
-- Graham. G3ZVT |
||
14th Jul 2018, 5:18 pm | #50 |
Octode
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Watford, Hertfordshire, UK.
Posts: 1,270
|
Re: MK Plugs and their various designs.
During a course on Instructional Techniques, the class was asked to prepare a 30 minute lecture on whatever subject they wished, ready for first thing next day. What I came up with may serve as a useful tip for anyone put into this position.
I decided to base my lecture on the humble 13A Plug and you may be forgiven for thinking that to talk about it for 30 minutes is impossible? Not when you cover such topics as the need for a fused plug and the ring main system, the fitting of correct fuses, the changes made e.g. to sleeved pins, the identification and wiring up of the plug. The last five minutes were taken up by handing out various types of 13A plug including ones with built in neon lamp, rubber types and ones with built in switches. I even managed to find Council House types with rotated pins to discourage theft. Most of the plugs were MK but I don't remember MK making a rubber one so must have been the odd one out. Though I apologise for slight digression, this thread has brought back happy memories of that day.
__________________
Whether the Top Cap is Grid or Anode - touching it will give you a buzz either way! |
14th Jul 2018, 5:45 pm | #51 |
Nonode
Join Date: Sep 2017
Location: Stockport, Cheshire, UK.
Posts: 2,004
|
Re: MK Plugs and their various designs.
MK made some rubber plugs which were square in shape with rounded corners.
My parents had one on their washing machine for years, & unfortunately I forgot to liberate the plug when it was disposed of. My Dad had stopped removing plugs from old electrical items by this point, which he used to do when most appliances didn't come with a plug so we had a stock of them at hand. Rotated pin plugs like the Walsall & Wandsworth gauges seemed to be mainly used on non-standard electricity supplies to stop people plugging in normal devices. |
14th Jul 2018, 8:38 pm | #52 |
Dekatron
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Greater Manchester, UK.
Posts: 18,725
|
Re: MK Plugs and their various designs.
I still do that, but it's good to hear I might yet grow out of it
__________________
-- Graham. G3ZVT |
14th Jul 2018, 8:46 pm | #53 | |
Triode
Join Date: Jul 2018
Location: East Midlands, UK
Posts: 39
|
Re: MK Plugs and their various designs.
Quote:
Regards, Leo |
|
14th Jul 2018, 8:50 pm | #54 | |
Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Ipswich, Suffolk, IP4, UK.
Posts: 21,289
|
Re: MK Plugs and their various designs.
Quote:
Having spent the first 23 years of my life living in council houses I object to council house tenants being continually branded as low life.
__________________
Graham. Forum Moderator Reach for your meter before you reach for your soldering iron. |
|
14th Jul 2018, 9:22 pm | #55 |
Nonode
Join Date: Sep 2017
Location: Stockport, Cheshire, UK.
Posts: 2,004
|
Re: MK Plugs and their various designs.
|
14th Jul 2018, 9:28 pm | #56 |
Nonode
Join Date: Sep 2017
Location: Stockport, Cheshire, UK.
Posts: 2,004
|
Re: MK Plugs and their various designs.
|
14th Jul 2018, 9:40 pm | #57 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Heckmondwike, West Yorkshire, UK.
Posts: 9,643
|
Re: MK Plugs and their various designs.
My Wife was brought up in a Council estate (Ireland Wood, Leeds, if anyone knows it). They had unusual sockets, a round centre pin with two horizontal pins at slightly different levels. They were difficult to find, and the few they had were wired to bulb holders. Appliances had bulb adapters to fit. Once I had my feet under the table I located some plugs and replaced every one PDQ. Not long afterwards the houses were rewired!
The only ones I've come across with a rotated live pin were for security reasons, to safeguard essential services from random interruption risks. |
14th Jul 2018, 9:40 pm | #58 |
Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Ipswich, Suffolk, IP4, UK.
Posts: 21,289
|
Re: MK Plugs and their various designs.
I can confirm that.
__________________
Graham. Forum Moderator Reach for your meter before you reach for your soldering iron. |
14th Jul 2018, 9:45 pm | #59 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Brentwood, Essex, UK.
Posts: 5,349
|
Re: MK Plugs and their various designs.
We were provided with six standard 13A plugs when we were moved to a newly-built council flat in the late 1960's due to redevelopment of our area. Before that we had mostly used the good old BC adaptor in the light socket (our old flat had only had one 5A and one 15A socket). When in the early 1970's my aunt was moved from her prefab bungalow to a prefab house, they were supplied with six of the D&S 13A plugs (the ones where one of the pins was the fuse) that the house was fitted with. Their prefab bungalow had had standard 3 pin 5A plugs (at least two in every room - luxury!). D&S plugs were expensive and getting hard to find in the 1970's, and no mutliway adaptors were to be had, so I made up short adaptor leads terminated in 5A sockets for each of their D&S sockets to allow them to use their 5A plugs and "Grelco" adaptors. Their house was re-wired using standard 13A sockets a few years later.
I have one of those rubber-covered square MK plugs somewhere in the loft. Unlike the Duraplug all-rubber plugs we used to get from Woolworths that couldn't really handle a 3kW electric fire without getting so hot that the rubber got very floppy, I think that only the cover is rubber. |
14th Jul 2018, 10:01 pm | #60 |
Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Ipswich, Suffolk, IP4, UK.
Posts: 21,289
|
Re: MK Plugs and their various designs.
If a council supplied plugs to new tenants, presumably these were a gift and didn't have to be handed back at the end of the tenancy, so why would tenants want to steal them?
If the supplied plugs were non-standard 13A types this would make things difficult if the tenant bought or rented a new appliance. The supplier would have to source a non-standard plug for it.
__________________
Graham. Forum Moderator Reach for your meter before you reach for your soldering iron. |