On overbuilding

[Ryan Mooney]

While disassembling my lumber cart the other day I had plenty of time to wax philosophical and ponder the reason I had so much time.

The lumber cart was one of the overly beastly monstrosities that never really offered the space saving joy and portable happiness I had envisioned when I built it some 15 years ago. I probably should have taken it apart long ago but never really got the motivation..

I also vastly overbuilt the thing. Hannibal could have marched his entire army across the thing elephants and all, and while the number of screws in it might not have been enough to sink the Queen Mary it'd surely have been enough to clear the decks with several good broadsides. I also used glue in places it surely wasn't needed which impeded disassembly as well.

I think my take away is that when building shop fixtures consider not just their immediate perceived utility but also think a bit about how hard it'll be to decommission the thing and reclaim the lumber/parts (where feasible). This also translates to house fixtures to some extent, I was (in contrast) fairly pleased with how easy the sewing room table I made came back apart into pieces small enough to easily transport and setup in it's new location.

I think this might also be why it didn't roll so well after a few years.... (the pallet jack could still move it just fine mind you... so I guess that's another thought of some sort)

 

[Ted Calver]

I can appreciate the desire to overbuild. It probably fits right in with the philosophy of "if you're gonna do something, do it right" that's often led me down a similar path. Pity the fool that has to decommission some of the stuff around here after I'm gone.
The same experience with wheels in the shop. Just replaced the ones on my sander, did my big bench a few years back and probably have some other flat tires out there I won't find until I try and roll what they're on.

 

[Jim DeLaney]

The same experience with wheels in the shop. Just replaced the ones on my sander, did my big bench a few years back and probably have some other flat tires out there I won't find until I try and roll what they're on.

Some years back - 15~20 - I built a number of things using those 3" wheels/casters with the red plastic 'tires.' They ranged from a planer stand to the wife's sewing machine cabinet.
Over the past couple years those red 'tires' have been disintegrating and just crumbling off their hard plastic backing. I've replaced at least a dozen of them. On the shop stuff I've used metal wheeled casters, but for the more 'furniture pieces' I've had to just use new plastic-tired ones.
Aggravating at best, and somewhat expensive, too.