When your married to an engineer there is no such thing as a "simple request" to make a big board ironing board
05-18-2011, 02:26 PM
#191
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Palmdale, California
Posts: 657
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.
05-18-2011, 04:11 PM
#193
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Pikesville, MD
Posts: 720
My husband built me an ironing table. Actually, I'm the engineer (really!), but he builds everything. He overdesigned a little; I wanted something that would be able to go into the closet easily when we had guests who needed the bed; but he agreed he would take it apart whenever I wanted, and he does--he has to remove about 16 screws, but it's worked out pretty well. I love using it.
05-18-2011, 04:33 PM
#195
Junior Member
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: BELL GARDENS, CA
Posts: 112
Oh my dear,,,,,,,,,,,
I can't see myself screwing or unscrewing all those screws. I think I would just leave it together until I had some company over.
Looks very sturdy thats for sure that's for sure.
I can't see myself screwing or unscrewing all those screws. I think I would just leave it together until I had some company over.
Looks very sturdy thats for sure that's for sure.
05-18-2011, 04:44 PM
#196
Super Member
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Yakima, WA
Posts: 2,439
yeah, I have one of those tends to overthink everything kind of guys too. I bought one of those craft tables at Joanns, ordered a custom ironing board cover for it, and that's my ironing board. The height is good and it's big enough to handle any project.
05-18-2011, 05:35 PM
#197
Super Member
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Joplin, Missouri
Posts: 1,058
Oh man can I relate.. by the time I finally get something that I've asked for it's generally way too late for what I needed it for.. cost 3 or 4 times the money, and is so heavy (oops, make that stable), and is so re-engineered that it no longer is what I need.. then I need to find a place to store it (whatever it is) and make it work for what I was asking for.. Oh the flip side, if there is a problem with something, he can fix it, and if there is math involved he just blinks and looks off into space, (where evidently the answer is written), because he has it in a flash. I just have to be careful what I ask for.
05-18-2011, 08:11 PM
#198
Member
Join Date: May 2011
Posts: 1
My solution for this challenge was to go to Hobby Lobby and buy a stretched (& primed) canvas that painters (artists) use. It's 24x48 and cost about $17. That was cheaper than the canvas I was looking at. Anyway, I bought a 24 x 48 piece of pegboard (masonite), screwed it onto the canvas side, padded it with pieces of batting and stretched WET canvas over and stapled to the inside of the back (so the staples wouldn't scratch any surface.) I have an island in the kitchen that is 30x48 and that's where I'll iron the cloth. It's still heavy enough, but not as heavy as plywood, I think.
(originally I thought I could use the canvas side if I padded the back enough, but this isn't ideal on the 12x14 one I did. My artist friend assured me I could spray the primed canvas with an acrylic paint and could iron on it...not sure that was good advice!)
(originally I thought I could use the canvas side if I padded the back enough, but this isn't ideal on the 12x14 one I did. My artist friend assured me I could spray the primed canvas with an acrylic paint and could iron on it...not sure that was good advice!)
05-18-2011, 09:47 PM
#199
Power Poster
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Front row
Posts: 14,646
Originally Posted by momski
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.
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