Quiltingboard Forums - When your married to an engineer there is no such thing as a "simple request" to make a big board ironing board

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Quote:

Originally Posted by charity-crafter

Mine's a nerd too. I love my nerd. Wouldn't trade him for the world.

I love my nerd too. I happen to be one myself (you have to be one to combine video games and quilting). He's just too smart for his own good sometimes. At least he's not cocky with it and acts like he's a real know-it-all and actually thinks he's way smarter than me.

I understand completely. I made a periodic table baby quilt and a nuclear chemistry baby quilt.

did you get your ironing board yet???

Quote:

Originally Posted by DogHouseMom

I'm determined to get a big board type ironing board (homemade). I read the tutes & testimonials, and I even bought a new cover that will be perfect for a big board.

So I tell the husband "please cut a piece of 1/2" ply 18 x 48". Simple. Precise. Concise.

Naturally he wants to know why. So I tell him. I explain what and how I want to iron, and I show him what happens on my current (regular) ironing board.

He has found several things wrong (in his mind) with the concept and has spent the last two weeks over-engineering (in his head) my SIMPLE and CHEAP ironing board.

It will be too heavy.
It will be too wobbly.
It will soak up steam and starch and the ply will separate.

It seems like every time I have an idea to make something, he steps in and over-engineers the heck out of it and tells me I need something completely different than my original specs. You should have seen the whelping box he made, my bitch hated it and the puppies didn't like it much either.

So he looked at ironing boards online, you know the cute little ones that fold up into the wall (which are fantastic if I was only ironing shirts!) and told me "this is what you need". NO IT'S NOT!! Why can't he listen to me when I tell him what I NEED. I want to iron 44" of fabric across the board ... pretty simple concept isn't it?

Then there was the brilliant idea of ... 1/4" aluminum. We have tons of that stuff in stock (it's used for the beds on our machines). Thankfully the widest he can get it is 12". Whew!! Caught a break there!!

At the moment in his head I "need" a 1" thick (!!) piece of solid Birch (!!!), my dimensions (how'd I swing that?), marine varnished (indeed!!), and I need new legs that have a wider spread for stability.

Oh save me.

Being married to an engineer is trying sometimes.

My husband-to-be and I (for the next 10 days anyway, then he's just "husband", YAY ME) have a roommate who tends to do the same thing. Our roommate is a 25 yr old sweet guy named Brian who "knows everything" but when it comes to handyman stuff he is quite knowledgeable, I must admit. However, there is a bit of overengineering involved on his part, but I let him go for it, he enjoys it, it keeps him out of trouble and he likes to make me happy. Who am I to take that away from him, right? As payment for Christmas I'm going to try my hand at making an art quilt of a naked woman (I said he's 25, right?) out of minkee fabric - finally he will have someone he can't keep his hands off of!

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Originally Posted by RkayD

If you have the room do this...I went to Lowe's and bought a kitchen cabinet without a top. Its the one that the sink is suppose to go in. It has two doors that open in the middle and one on each side plus two drawers. I got a piece of plywood and covered it with batting and an old sheet and set it on top of that cabinet piece. That takes care of your wobbly problem. And there's not much engineering to it. =)

Love your solution, plus "sink bases" (as these are called) are cheaper than most cabinets their size because of no shelves behind the middle doors. Perfect if you have some bolts to stand up in there, or just bins stacked! I will also suggest any of you who like this solution, call your local cabinetmakers...they often have cabinets people change their minds about, or they change out their display cabinets. I got nearly a whole kitchen's worth of the same cabinets for $600 for one house we had; regular price was $8,000. All new, just changed the style they wanted for showroom.

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Originally Posted by charity-crafter

Why is it so many of creative quilter types have married analytical spouses?

Funny, I am the Engineer, but he is MORE of a perfectionist than I (he's the builder). We both have our ways of doing things, and both work with tools. Not until my arthritis kicked in a few years back, did I really ask him to make anything for me. Now, I have the same issues many of you do. As he wants to re-invent the wheel. I simply go with good designs I've seen at the quilt shows or online. I don't feel the need to reinvent what seems to work. I still say measure twice, cut once...works for me; at least in woodworking. I am a frugal person, and I don't require the decorator's touch in my sewing room, so my things don't have to "match", as my husband prefers everywhere else in our house. I just close my door. :D

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Originally Posted by dljennings

LOL amen to that..brought home a couple of those office partitions to put together, put batting on & use as a design wall... well, dh, the aerospace engineer... made it such a project, it took a weekend... i wanted simple bolted together, that i could TAKE APART AT WILL....this "frame" he made will never come apart & god forbid we move, we can't get it down the stairs... i'm afraid to ask for the ironing board... i am waiting until he goes out of town for a full week & making my own from the tutes on this board... and i'm going to use some of his 19 drills to do it... !

If you move & want your design wall to go with you...ask him to "fix it" so you can take it apart as you'd planned to. For anything hinged...ask for "Loose-pin" hinges. You just lift one side up, & it lifts off. Or use cheap standard door hinges, since the pin can be tapped out with a screwdriver in seconds. I am personally a fan of movable things, since we've moved so many times.