Do you ever feel like....

[MMUK]

You're losing it? I don't mean your mind, I mean skills.

I decided to make a simple box yesterday evening to carry my small cordless drills in and using up some of my offcut pile. Nothing particularly pretty in mind, more practical and hard wearing as it will spend most of it's time in the van.

So, I found some offcuts of 1 1/2" x 3/4" and made a mitred base frame. All cuts at a perfect 45*, opposing sides identical length. All glued up fine. Banded with a brace overnight and clamped down to prevent movement. Double checked with my Mitutoyo square before I left the workshop and it's all fine.

Came in this morning and started to do the 'uprights' from some 1" sq and routed out 3/8" x 3/8" on the inside edge, creating a corner rebate to fit paneling flush on the inside (I'm using 3/8" T&G for the paneling). I marked my dowels with panel pins and tapped them onto the base in position to make the opposing drill point impression. Drilled out and glued the dowels in, all looking fine and dandy. Popped the uprights in, glued and tapped into place. All fine again.

Then I checked size top and bottom for my top frame. 17", 17 1/16" :? 16 1/4", 16 5/16" :? I've ended up 1/16" out in both directions :?

So I dig out the square and only one side is now 90* :shock: WTF? The whole thing is now way out of square #-o


I have no idea how this has happened but I realise I should have double checked the corner angles when I unclamped the base frame this morning.


I'll leave that project for now and come back to it later. If I do anything with it right away it will probably involve an axe (hammer)

 

[No skills]

That would be a pretty good day for me, so dont worry about it.

 

[Baldhead]

1/6!!!!
SWMBO wanted a cabinet to stand on the decking, nothing flash, and she wanted it to look like it was very old and had been repaired? etc etc. It defo looked like it was old and repaired because the diagonals were over an inch different, how I don't know, but she was well pleased and thought it was all part of the design.

Baldhead

 

[Phil Pascoe]

My friend, a sparks, once worked on a brand new bungalow that was ten inches out of square. And no, it wasn't meant to be.

 

[MMUK]

Well I've managed to get it pretty much straightened out. All sides are now within 1/4* It's all built and fixing holes fillered ready for sanding down. Ran out of real timber though so had to use chipboard for the lid. Oh well, it's only living in the van.

 

[JustBen]

My dad's house has an extra course of bricks on one of the carport pillars.
So the whole house is 75?mm higher at one end.

Not down to my dad I might add.

 

[Cheshirechappie]

About ten years ago, I built my tool chest. The lid is fitted for a couple of tools, and consequently quite heavy. I couldn't find any lid stays man enough to support it in the open position, so designed my own. Bought about twenty quid's-worth of brass bar, and with much sawing, filing and drilling made and fitted a couple of stonking stays. Polished 'em up too - they look right smart, and work a treat. Only took a fortnight.

Then I bought a copy of 'The Anarchist's Tool Chest'. Schwarz had the same problem that I did - getting the lid to stay put when open without leaning it against a wall. He solved the problem by obtaining a short length of chain and hooking it over a screw in the case, and a screw in the lid. Must have taken him nearly ten minutes to install it.

I banged my head on the wall for nearly two days.

 

[cedarwood]

Do I ever feel like... ? yep every time I take ages to do job and get it just right, like digging a hole with a trowel only to find a spade just round the corner that would of made the job easier and quicker.
So next time you use the spade only to find the chap next door would have lent you his mechanical digger lol
(hammer) (hammer) (hammer)

 

[doctor Bob]

Happens all the time, I think the key to success is how quickly you can dig yourself out of the hole you have dug.

 

[Karl]

About this time last year I tried to do some work when I was suffering from man-flu. It took be about an hour to cut 4 pieces of mdf for a carcass. When I finished, none of them were square.

I went home and spent 4 days in bed :lol:

 

[Phil Pascoe]

About ten years ago, I built my tool chest. The lid is fitted for a couple of tools, and consequently quite heavy. I couldn't find any lid stays man enough to support it in the open position, so designed my own. Bought about twenty quid's-worth of brass bar, and with much sawing, filing and drilling made and fitted a couple of stonking stays. Polished 'em up too - they look right smart, and work a treat. Only took a fortnight.

Then I bought a copy of 'The Anarchist's Tool Chest'. Schwarz had the same problem that I did - getting the lid to stay put when open without leaning it against a wall. He solved the problem by obtaining a short length of chain and hooking it over a screw in the case, and a screw in the lid. Must have taken him nearly ten minutes to install it.

I banged my head on the wall for nearly two days.

That's like the old one about the Yanks spending millions trying to develop a biro that would write in zero gravity, while the Russians used a pencil.

 

[Tony Spear]

OR - didn't happen to me, but I was there!

A pub I used to freqent had an outside toilet and the Landlord got fed up with people leaving the door open, blocking access to the car park. So on the recomendation of several of us he bought one of those hydraulic "slow close" door closers.

Now, we had a regular at the pub who was forever offering to do odd jobs about the place for beer, so when it arrived he was there like a flash - "I'll fit that for you Jack for the price of a few pints"

Off he goes with door closer and screwdriver. About 40 minutes later he comes in the door and says " I think that there's something wrong with this gadget".

So we all trudge outside to have a look, and there's the toilet door standing fully open....................... :lol:

 

[Jinx]

Hah - I look at other peoples projects and whilst appreciating them I always aspire to do better! Usually by the time I am still cutting the first bit of wood for the third time I know it aint never gonna happen - ha ha. I always feel jealous when I do a project from say from a You Tube woodworker and they cut all the bits out first!!! Heck I can never do that, despite measuring a dozen times I still don't know how big the second piece needs to be cut before I know how far out the first one was.

Jinx

 

[wabbitpoo]

This thread is really cheering me up!

 

[graduate_owner]

Yeah, not just me then.

K