When your married to an engineer there is no such thing as a "simple request" to make a big board ironing board
05-16-2011, 08:39 PM
#21
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Posts: 814
Originally Posted by quilting memaw
My hubby is a pattern maker. Patterns out of plastics and molds for just about anything! He does my templates for me and other friends. He even helps with designs and colors. He can tell if I am off ever so slightly....LOL...
05-16-2011, 08:54 PM
#23
Junior Member
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Morgan Hill, CA
Posts: 136
I am laughing so hard it hurts. It sounds like your husband has been talking to mine. My darling Engineer decided that the design I printed out for him was faulty in so many ways that it wasn't worth his time to build because I wouldn't be happy with it. So he just didn't make it... so I took over the kitchen table to do my ironing (indefinatly). To spite me, he went and bought a new kitchen table instead of buying or building the ironing board I requested.
05-16-2011, 08:59 PM
#24
Banned
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Sturbridge, Ma
Posts: 3,992
Tell him that I am a male quilter and made two which are 22"x62 or so and with padding and covers they cost me $35.
Buying one ready made is $99 plus shipping.
It just takes plywood, two 1"x1" and a handfull of screws.
.....and I'm neither an Engineer or a Carpenter.
Buying one ready made is $99 plus shipping.
It just takes plywood, two 1"x1" and a handfull of screws.
.....and I'm neither an Engineer or a Carpenter.
05-16-2011, 09:12 PM
#25
Junior Member
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Chandler, AZ
Posts: 214
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.
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.
I'm sorry. I know exactly what you mean. I work with a bunch of engineers!
Instead of waiting for your DH to engineer a board, consider buying one of these Lifetime tables that adjusts to different heights. Sam's Club has different sizes and the prices are fantastic.....and they even have a nifty one that folds. http://www.samsclub.com/sams/shop/pr...avAction=#desc
The tables don't wobble and are built to last.
Then get yourself some Insulbright (sp?) to use as the padding, cover in a heavy cotton twill (run a drawstring around it like a normal ironing board cover) and you are done in about an hour! Of course you may want to take your cover back.
The Lifetime tables take heat really well. I use a small personal size next to my sewing machine and it's endured many hours of a hot Rowanta. It still looks like new.
Good luck with whatever you decide.
Mary
05-17-2011, 02:04 AM
#27
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: WISCONSIN
Posts: 381
2yrs ago I wanted one also and showed my brother the pic in keepsake quilting mag. Two weeks later I am the happy owner of a ironing board. I believe he used mbf?sp. He installed some wood stays on the bottom and it fits snug.Not heavy.(my 80 yr old mom can move it without a problem) I purchase a cover from keepsake quilting but with my moms he stapled batting and then fabric over that.Oh, my brother is a plummer,car/airplane mechanic,house builder,jack of all trades.I to am married to a thinker(pharmacist) thinks everything thru over and over again.Gives me a dissertation on pro and cons.Sometimes it is good and sometimes it drives me crazy.
05-17-2011, 02:09 AM
#28
Super Member
Join Date: Oct 2009
Posts: 5,453
Originally Posted by Jammin' Jane
Yup! I live with one too! They analyze everything over and over...drives me nuts! Maybe is would be easier just go buy one!
he sure means well though!
05-17-2011, 02:48 AM
#30
Junior Member
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Texas
Posts: 165
I go through the same thing every time I even mention him helping me make or do anything. I asked him to glue the little thingy that holds my little tiny clover iron onto something so it wouldn't always tip over and it took him 4 hours to think of a way to do it. He was out in the workshop trying to make a round piece from some leftover hardy plank. I gave him a little plastic/cork coaster and said "Here - glue it to this". Works great!!! He did however do a great job on my big board ironing board! It is in a permanent place though - screwed to the old ironing board frame!!! Love that man!
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