Author Topic: DIY boasting topic?  (Read 3931 times)

Alfred J Quack

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 420
  • Location: Netherlands
DIY boasting topic?
« on: July 29, 2018, 10:15:07 AM »
Hi guys,

I've been reading a lot on MMM for a few years now but I haven't found a DIY topic yet where we can showcase our badassity. I've followed a few courses and consider myself a most basic amateur but I many of you can outdo my and I'd like you to prove me right (especially with pictures)!

To kick off the topic my "accomplishments" in the last while is a bug screen for our friends to keep out the critters while they let in the cool evening air :)
Also, a baby gate preventing access to the kitchen for our 2 year old and a toolbox (made during the course I mentioned before).

Prairie Moustache

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 235
  • Age: 31
  • Location: BC's Best Small Town
Re: DIY boasting topic?
« Reply #1 on: July 29, 2018, 10:24:58 PM »
Looks good! I've been working on a window sill house plant stand but have been getting frustrated due to not having the proper tools (a drill press, etc.) and being too cheap to invest in them.

lthenderson

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 2252
Re: DIY boasting topic?
« Reply #2 on: August 01, 2018, 08:57:15 AM »
Here is a picture of a storage box I made for storing our good silverware. I made it out of mahogany.

lthenderson

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 2252
Re: DIY boasting topic?
« Reply #3 on: August 01, 2018, 09:14:48 AM »
This is an office remodel I did a couple years back. All the cabinets were custom built in my garage. The two inner lower units are filing cabinets and the two lower outer units are storage drawers. Unseen is undercabinet lighting clear across. On the back wall is a Murphy bed, mini closet (upper) with clothes rack and two storage drawers underneath. On the right is a book shelf to fill up the space underneath the ducting.

lthenderson

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 2252
Re: DIY boasting topic?
« Reply #4 on: August 01, 2018, 09:23:02 AM »
A built in bookcase along one wall to store some of our books. One can never have too many books.

Alfred J Quack

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 420
  • Location: Netherlands
Re: DIY boasting topic?
« Reply #5 on: August 02, 2018, 05:57:06 AM »
A built in bookcase along one wall to store some of our books. One can never have too many books.
Those are pretty badass, thanks for sharing!

The storage box in particular looks very nice :)

Enough

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 202
  • Age: 34
  • Location: KY
Re: DIY boasting topic?
« Reply #6 on: August 02, 2018, 08:55:38 AM »
Cool thread, PTF

A lot of my project posts, I have difficulty deciding whether to put them in DIY, Real Estate, or Share Your Badassity sub forums. Looking forward to seeing what people share

zolotiyeruki

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 5603
  • Location: State: Denial
Re: DIY boasting topic?
« Reply #7 on: August 05, 2018, 07:51:24 AM »
Oh, goody, I could use a thread like this.  Here's my project from yesterday:  new outlets on the far wall of the garage.  Due to our municipality's insistence on EMT, it took me about four hours (rather than the 1 hour it would have taken with romex).  For the last 7 years or so, I've had an extension cord running across the entire 3-car garage to power the tools in my shop.  No more.

lthenderson

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 2252
Re: DIY boasting topic?
« Reply #8 on: August 06, 2018, 07:26:18 AM »
Oh, goody, I could use a thread like this.  Here's my project from yesterday:  new outlets on the far wall of the garage.  Due to our municipality's insistence on EMT, it took me about four hours (rather than the 1 hour it would have taken with romex).  For the last 7 years or so, I've had an extension cord running across the entire 3-car garage to power the tools in my shop.  No more.

Cobwebs full of sawdust... that looks like my garage!

Samsam

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 273
  • Location: Charlotte
Re: DIY boasting topic?
« Reply #9 on: August 06, 2018, 08:18:50 AM »
A month ago I had someone come out to change and move an irrigation head.  Once I saw them do it once and realized changing or moving just one head wasn't that bad I decided to do this myself going forward.  Well yesterday I changed my first sprinkler head! The neighbors were impressed. cost went from $50-75 to $13!

AMandM

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1673
Re: DIY boasting topic?
« Reply #10 on: August 15, 2018, 03:29:42 PM »
I just replaced the latchbolt on my front door.
It wouldn't retract when the door closed. I did a bit of internet research and discovered this is common and it's covered under Schlage's lifetime warranty, so I called them. They sent a new bolt out right away and I replaced it less than five minutes. No new handle, no trying to match the rest of the door hardware, no rekeying. I love jobs with minimal effort and big payoff in smoothness of life.

NoVa

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 182
Re: DIY boasting topic?
« Reply #11 on: August 16, 2018, 09:10:06 AM »
I just finished an interior wall. Divided a third bedroom we weren't using into a front space for the kitty litter box and a bit of storage and the rear space will be walk-in closet where the cats are not allowed (they love to sleep on clothing.) Total cost for a ten foot sheetrock wall with a pre-hung door, trim, 2x4's, mud, tape, sheetrock, screws, nails and paint was $608. That include some outside labor. I built the wall, hung the drywall, but hired someone to do the mudding. He also helped with painting to fill out a day's labor ($200). So $200 labor and $408 for parts.

I made it so that it could be removed fairly easily, didn't cut the original moulding, curved the ends of the new moulding to fit over the original. Tearing it out, there would be some spackling and painting, but nothing else.

lthenderson

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 2252
Re: DIY boasting topic?
« Reply #12 on: August 16, 2018, 12:18:16 PM »
I recently finished making custom bookshelves for the walls of my daughters bedrooms. Each one had lots of stuff filling the perimeter of their room but had lots of blank wall space above so this was my solution to get some of it up off the floor.

I used cheap pine and filled in all the knots with putty before priming and painting. All the outside corners are just locking rabbit joints and glue. The T-intersections were glue and pocket hole screws using a Kreg jig. I also used the Kreg jig to drill out mounting holes on the shelves at each stud to bear the load. My daughters are both thrilled with their new shelves.

thedigitalone

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 192
  • Location: PNW
Re: DIY boasting topic?
« Reply #13 on: August 16, 2018, 02:55:09 PM »
Our septic system started to slowly back up, last time this happened about  8 years ago it was $600 for a service to come out and pump the tanks just to find that the outflow filer was partially collapsed and blocking the liquids from getting to the drain field.

So I went out and dug up the hatch covers myself (even bought some septic risers off of Amazon so next time no digging is required) pulled the clogged filter out myself and replaced it. While I was in there I tossed a handful of copper sulfate crystals into the outflow to kill off any roots that might be invading the drain field for good measure.

Total cost was about ~$150 (risers + chemicals) next time it'll take 10 minutes vs. a couple of hours so a win-win.


FireEngineer

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 27
Re: DIY boasting topic?
« Reply #14 on: August 16, 2018, 03:02:46 PM »
Ptf. This is awesome!

zolotiyeruki

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 5603
  • Location: State: Denial
Re: DIY boasting topic?
« Reply #15 on: August 17, 2018, 08:59:16 AM »
Two days ago, I (finally!) took the time to work with my 12-year-old daughter to build a flower box.  She's been wanting to have her own little flower garden to tend.  We built it out of some scrap OSB, so the out-of-pocket cost (for the box) was $0.  Quality time together, and zero cost!

Mezzie

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 816
    • Mezzie Learns
Re: DIY boasting topic?
« Reply #16 on: August 18, 2018, 10:13:43 AM »
I am not handy in the least, but these are inspiring!

Alfred J Quack

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 420
  • Location: Netherlands
Re: DIY boasting topic?
« Reply #17 on: August 18, 2018, 11:33:12 AM »
I recently finished making custom bookshelves for the walls of my daughters bedrooms. Each one had lots of stuff filling the perimeter of their room but had lots of blank wall space above so this was my solution to get some of it up off the floor.

I used cheap pine and filled in all the knots with putty before priming and painting. All the outside corners are just locking rabbit joints and glue. The T-intersections were glue and pocket hole screws using a Kreg jig. I also used the Kreg jig to drill out mounting holes on the shelves at each stud to bear the load. My daughters are both thrilled with their new shelves.

Wow, those look really nice!

Two days ago, I (finally!) took the time to work with my 12-year-old daughter to build a flower box.  She's been wanting to have her own little flower garden to tend.  We built it out of some scrap OSB, so the out-of-pocket cost (for the box) was $0.  Quality time together, and zero cost!

Quality time for no cost, it's a win-win!
#####
For our house we had a Heatpump installed  but we have also got 2 kids who don't keep their mitts of the expensive gear. So, I bought a cupboard sized nearly perfectly to surround the gear and make it unavailable to their grubby paws ;)

Unfortunately, the bearer isn't level so I have got to fix the cupboard to the wall when all the work is done.
DIYing the entire cupboard was my intention but I'm still recovering from a concussion so that was basically impossible. This solution was 120 for a cupboard which was on sale and 5 euro for the stand. Only 20 minutes of routering required to make the bottom fit around the fill up valve :)

lthenderson

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 2252
Re: DIY boasting topic?
« Reply #18 on: October 04, 2018, 11:46:16 AM »
Just wrapped up the latest project that I built. It was unique in that instead of it being in one piece, it broke down into five pieces not counting the shelves. The top and bottom were separate assemblies as well as both sides and the back. Eight bolts hold the top and bottom assemblies to the side assemblies and a handful of screws hold the back onto them. So it was just a one man job to move this up several stairs and into the house where I put it together and tipped it up into place.

zolotiyeruki

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 5603
  • Location: State: Denial
Re: DIY boasting topic?
« Reply #19 on: October 04, 2018, 01:55:00 PM »
Wow, that's a beautiful piece!

I had forgotten about this thread, but I have something of my own to contribute:  Yesterday I had my (24-year-old) car's trunk lock repaired, and also got a brand-new key made for the lock.  You see, my keys are extremely worn down, and it's a miracle they even work.  Of course, the new key doesn't work in the other door locks, nor in the ignition.  So last night I pulled the door locks out and cleaned out all the corrosion and gunk, and they work great with the new key.  Of course, the old key no longer works in the door locks or the trunk.

This weekend's project will include fixing the ignition cylinder so it works with the new key, and getting a couple copies of the new key.
« Last Edit: October 05, 2018, 01:40:44 PM by zolotiyeruki »

lthenderson

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 2252
Re: DIY boasting topic?
« Reply #20 on: October 05, 2018, 11:03:17 AM »
Wow, that's a beautiful piece!

I had forgotten about this thread, but I have something of my own to contribute:  Yesterday I had my (24-year-old) car's trunk lock repaired, and also to get a brand-new key made for the lock.  You see, my keys are extremely worn down, and it's a miracle they even work.  Of course, the new key doesn't work in the other door locks, nor in the ignition.  So last night I pulled the door locks out and cleaned out all the corrosion and gunk, and they work great with the new key.  Of course, the old key no longer works in the door locks or the trunk.

This weekend's project will include fixing the ignition cylinder so it works with the new key, and getting a couple copies of the new key.

Yeah it took me a few minutes to find the old thread and resurrect it. I've always squirted some WD40 in my car locks about once a year, usually in the fall when getting my 20 year old car ready for winter. Thus far it has kept them in working order. My biggest complaint is that my window trim is falling to pieces and when I drive with my arm resting on it when the window is down, the sharp edges digs into my arm. In order to replace it I have to take the door apart so I haven't gotten the motivation to do it yet. Now that fall is here, I can think about it until spring again when the car turns 21.

zolotiyeruki

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 5603
  • Location: State: Denial
Re: DIY boasting topic?
« Reply #21 on: October 07, 2018, 10:14:06 AM »
Despite some other time-consuming events yesterday, I was able to accomplish a few things:
--Fixed the ignition on my car so it works with the new key
--Changed the oil
--Replaced the front sway bar bushings
--Fixed my sister's laptop

AMandM

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1673
Re: DIY boasting topic?
« Reply #22 on: October 15, 2018, 01:16:39 PM »
Wow, that was very productive day! Congratulations!

I replaced the broken elevators on my dishwasher upper rack (the part that holds the rack in its track and also allows the rack to be raised/lowered).  It was super easy, just popping off the old ones and snapping the new ones on according to the illustrated step-by-step directions. But because it's *gasp* appliance repair, my MIL is very impressed and sang my praises around the extended family. My 6yo niece now says, "Aunt AMandM can do anything!"

zolotiyeruki

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 5603
  • Location: State: Denial
Re: DIY boasting topic?
« Reply #23 on: October 17, 2018, 09:09:23 AM »
I should have double-checked the exhaust bolts while I was under there--over the last couple weeks, the front exhaust pipe (which I replaced a few months ago) became slightly loose, making my car noisy and allowing fumes into the car.  Two minutes with a wrench (plus 10 minutes to jack the car up and another 5 to jack it down), and my car sounds (and smells!) much better.

lthenderson

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 2252
Re: DIY boasting topic?
« Reply #24 on: October 17, 2018, 01:13:43 PM »
I finished making the fanciest cheese board ever for my wife. This project started last year when I cut a burl off a black cherry tree that died in my yard and had it sawed into planks at a local sawmill. Towards the edges of the burl was a board that had lots of holes in it from defects and ant damage but lots of character to it. So I cut it in half to book-match it and glued it together. I wanted to leave the edges "live" but due to the shape of the tree, it left one side severely overhung and the book-matched other side the opposite so in the end I just cut them perpendicular and rounded over the edges ending up with a cheeseboard that looks like a small guitar body or the state of West Virginia.

I filled in the huge voids caused by the insect damage with clear epoxy so that you can still see the interior of the holes. This took me quite awhile because about half the time the epoxy wouldn't set up... ever. I finally decided it was because the label wasn't right calling for 2:1 ratio. I bumped it up to a 2:1.25 ratio and the problem went away. After all the voids were filled up I applied Tung oil to it. The picture shows it before I wiped the excess off after it had sat for an hour. After it cures, we will have to find some cheese and crackers and have us a party.

lthenderson

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 2252
Re: DIY boasting topic?
« Reply #25 on: October 20, 2018, 12:50:40 PM »
I've been wanting to experiment with live edge wood materials and resin for awhile after seeing it all over many of the woodworking sites I skim through. So I finally bought a small container of clear polyester casting resin and sorted through my pile of cherry burl from a tree I cut down on my property after it died a couple years back. I found a piece that I thought would do nicely, made a mold of melamine and poured in the resin after cleaning off all the bark. It turned out so nice and the resin set up just right so it was kind of like working with a soft wood so I decided I had to use it for something. I build the box out of ordinary cherry from further down the trunk from the burl, cut in some splines made from some black ebony like wood that I brought back from a trip to the Philippines and put this together. I finished it with two coats of pure Tung oil.

Alfred J Quack

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 420
  • Location: Netherlands
Re: DIY boasting topic?
« Reply #26 on: October 21, 2018, 07:00:40 AM »
@lthenderson, if you ship your cheese tray and box over to my place I can properly view and appreciate them. Those are done magnificently! I bet you've got more than a little experience in woodworking...

zolotiyeruki

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 5603
  • Location: State: Denial
Re: DIY boasting topic?
« Reply #27 on: October 21, 2018, 12:11:32 PM »
Yesterday I replaced a drive axle on our minivan. It used to vibrate terribly when accelerating from 55mph. Now it doesn't. I'm happy,  and so is DW.

lthenderson

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 2252
Re: DIY boasting topic?
« Reply #28 on: October 22, 2018, 07:24:26 AM »
@lthenderson, if you ship your cheese tray and box over to my place I can properly view and appreciate them. Those are done magnificently! I bet you've got more than a little experience in woodworking...

No formal training, just self taught over the years. But the more I build things, the more I enjoy it.