**** You Home Depot!

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chefchris

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So after 4 days of non stop work on my collar I go to put it on and the son of a ***** is too big. I got the wood cut at Home Depot. I was asking him questions about the cuts he was making and he just looked at me and said, "I've been doing this long enough, I know what I'm doing."

I haven't been this mad in a very long time. My girlfriend was a little scared.

What he ended up doing was not accounting for the width of one board, thus making the collar to wide from from to back.

There's only two ways I can think of to fix this. One, which is my last resort, is to take it back apart, hack off the extra and put it back together. Or I could remove the hinges from the freezer bottom and put in some sort of spacer to account for the extra.

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b103/christoomany/bless%20home%20depot/fvckhomedepot008.jpg

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b103/christoomany/bless%20home%20depot/fvckhomedepot014.jpg

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b103/christoomany/bless%20home%20depot/fvckhomedepot015.jpg

I just kegged that IPA in the background since I thought had room in the freezer now. I have been working on this since Thursday night.

HBT, I need you now more than ever.
 
By the looks of it that back seems to be flush, as you have the hinges installed. That leads me to believe that the front of the collar is overhanging the edge of the keezer itself.

If you dont want to dissasemble the whole thing, you could just cut another piece of 1 X and place it behind the front piece of the collar.

That would mean you would have to re-drill holes for your taps but atleast you wont have to bless with the finish of the collar by ripping it apart.


Does that make sense to you? It's hard to tell from those angles you took.
 
By the looks of it that back seems to be flush, as you have the hinges installed. That leads me to believe that the front of the collar is overhanging the edge of the keezer itself.

If you dont want to dissasemble the whole thing, you could just cut another piece of 1 X and place it behind the front piece of the collar.

That would mean you would have to re-drill holes for your taps but atleast you wont have to bless with the finish of the collar by ripping it apart.


Does that make sense to you? It's hard to tell from those angles you took.

Nothing's attached yet and there are no holes drilled except for the CO2 line. The back is flush and the front hangs over by the width of the board. This also causes a problem with the top fitting on right.

Are you saying to cut another front piece and attach it behind what is now the front piece? Problem is I have L braces attached and have caulked it as well.
 
you could take just the front board off. Cut it down by the width of your 2, 2x6's and slide it inside the side boards. This should not mess up your finish too much.
 
Nothing's attached yet and there are no holes drilled except for the CO2 line. The back is flush and the front hangs over by the width of the board. This also causes a problem with the top fitting on right.

Are you saying to cut another front piece and attach it behind what is now the front piece? Problem is I have L braces attached and have caulked it as well.

But the L-braces will come off, and the caulk can be trimmed out pretty cleanly with a razor or sharp box cutter. I think this is a good solution if you can make it work at all. Once the new piece is in place (held in by glue and a few screws), you can put the brackets back in against that piece, and re-caulk.

And I gotta point out for the benefit of others: If there was ever an example of the need to re-measure and test fit before final assembly and finishing, this is one. This would have been SO easy to fix before you finished it.
 
Remove the front piece, trim to fit inside the sides, instead of outside.. Problem solved..

Recaulk and brace, then plumb that b!tch.. :ban:

:mug:
 
Hmm, good points. I would probably do this with the back piece as I don't want the ends of the side pieces to be viewable from the front.
 
I haven't been this mad in a very long time. My girlfriend was a little scared.

What he ended up doing was not accounting for the width of one board, thus making the collar to wide from from to back.

Who did the design?
Who supplied the dimensions to the accused?
If you designed it, why should he account for anything.


Cheers,
ClaudiusB
 
Who did the design?
Who supplied the dimensions to the accused?
If you designed it, why should he account for anything.


Cheers,
ClaudiusB

I agree with this sentiment. Take a tape measure with you when someone cuts for you and measure it before paying and leaving the store. If you let the guy design on the fly for you, you got what you paid for.

btw - I can't cut wood correctly to save my life. . . and I have only myself to blame for it.
 
you could take just the front board off. Cut it down by the width of your 2, 2x6's and slide it inside the side boards. This should not mess up your finish too much.

A big +1 on this idea, use a finishing blade and some blue painters tape over where you will cut. Not only the easiest but the best solution as well.
 
+100000 on not trusting anyone at The Despot to do your designing/measuring for you. The only thing I'll have them cut for me is sheet goods (I would KILL to have a vertically-mounted circ saw like they have for plywood!). The local store has been better lately, but it's usually hard enough to get someone to just show you where something is, much less have them help you build a project. "You can do it, we can hide in the back so you don't ask us questions."

semi-:off:

Your coat of poly looks a little sloppy. Make sure you're doing two or three thin coats instead of one thick one, and get some ultrafine sandpaper to sand between coats (and some tack cloth to pick up the dust). Looks like a lot of little air bubbles trapped in there.
 
Could you just use a 1x2 or 2x2 furring strip or something like that glued/screwed to the inside of the front board to act as a bearing surface on the gasket? As long as there is room under the tap holes then that would work well enough, and not require pulling it all apart and redoing glue/caulk/finish...

Edit: And you could then attach a 1x facia board stained/finished to match your color which could support your drip tray.
 
I agree with this sentiment. Take a tape measure with you when someone cuts for you and measure it before paying and leaving the store. If you let the guy design on the fly for you, you got what you paid for.

btw - I can't cut wood correctly to save my life. . . and I have only myself to blame for it.

+1 That's what I do and did when I had my collar cut for the Koolerator.
 
Ya, I'd be upset also.
But at least we learned to dry-fit our pieces before we assemble/stain/poly them. :)

Take apart carefully (rubber mallet?) and do the tape thing and saw it carefully. Take your time, you don't want crooked boards at this point. Or, you can take the boards back to HD and trim them a 1/2 inch or whatever you need to get a straight cut if you don't have access to a chop saw.
 
When you get wood cut for free at Home Depot you aren't exactly dealing with a person of the same caliber as Norm Abraham from "The New Yankee Workshop".

At least it is oversized and not undersized. I would take it apart, trim, reassemble, and take your time with the finishing. Just like the_bird mentioned, apply thin coats and sand that whole sucker down between each coat. Sure it will be a pain in the butt but s#@? happens...
 
I'm much more of a lurker than a contributor as i haven't been doing this long enough to offer much incite. However, this post really irritates me. I realize that there are a lot of people that aren't very handy and need help building projects. But who supplied the design? Who gave this guy the dimensions? As already mentioned, if you let him design on the fly, then you got what you paid for, and you paid nothing for the cuts. And for you to say that you spent 4 days non-stop working on this collar is absurd. You attached 4 pieces together and applied some stain/poly. and you never once set the collar on your freezer? You cant blame that on someone else. I completely understand you coming and looking for suggestions on how you can fix your errors, but for you to come and fly off the handle because you think this idiot screwed up is ridiculous.

Take a razor blade and cut the caulking out of the front of the collar, measure for a new 1x, measure again, go to the depot and have them cut a new piece and measure it before leaving, come home, glue and screw it to the inside of the front, drill your tap holes and enjoy a home brew.

Ok, I'm done venting.:mug:
 
1. It's your responsibility to furnish the cutting dimensions and to check them before final assembly including a dry fit. When having the lumber cut to your specifications, always check it before leaving the store when there is still an opportunity to do something about it.

2. I would scrap what you have and start over using 2 x 6 material instead of 1 x lumber. The 2 x material is easier to work with, generally less prone to warping and provides a wider lip for the lid seal. This will also give you an opportunity to improve the urethane finish.

3. Master carpenters make mistakes just like the rest of us. What separates the masters from the butchers is the ability to conceal the mistakes.
 
I'm much more of a lurker than a contributor as i haven't been doing this long enough to offer much incite. However, this post really irritates me. I realize that there are a lot of people that aren't very handy and need help building projects. But who supplied the design? Who gave this guy the dimensions? As already mentioned, if you let him design on the fly, then you got what you paid for, and you paid nothing for the cuts. And for you to say that you spent 4 days non-stop working on this collar is absurd. You attached 4 pieces together and applied some stain/poly. and you never once set the collar on your freezer? You cant blame that on someone else. I completely understand you coming and looking for suggestions on how you can fix your errors, but for you to come and fly off the handle because you think this idiot screwed up is ridiculous.

Take a razor blade and cut the caulking out of the front of the collar, measure for a new 1x, measure again, go to the depot and have them cut a new piece and measure it before leaving, come home, glue and screw it to the inside of the front, drill your tap holes and enjoy a home brew.

Ok, I'm done venting.:mug:

+500 My sentiments precisely!
 
even though the guy may have screwed the cuts up, you put it together and finished the wood project without test fits ? $hit I do custom Motorcycle where I do all the work and I put the bike together and then take it apart prior to finish body work and painting .

Always test fit before completion . You could have just gone back the next day and told him to take 3/4 of an inch of each side board or just 3/4 off each end of the face board and refit.

if you don't want to take it apart get some 1 inch pink foam board and glue it to the inside of the front board gets you the seal and insulates too. Most times they have broken pieces and huge discounts
 
I haven't been this mad in a very long time. My girlfriend was a little scared.

Wow, someone needs a time-out. Seriously what else is going on in your life to make you so pissed at a very minor problem. If I got that pissed at everything I foul up, I'd probably get my ass kicked every day, if not by my relatives, then by someone else.
CHILL OUT and use some american enginuity to fix your problems!
 
Sorry about your misfortune, my experience getting cuts made at the Depot has always been good, "they" cut exactly the length "I" give them.
 
At least you learned to do as said before. Dry fit before you glue, screw and poly and caulk. Anybody who has worked with wood before knows to account for the thickness of the material. In the pic it is obvious that you gave him the wrong dimensions. The overlap is exactly the width of the board. Your Screw-up, not his. You made several screw-ups here. Be a man and admit it. Don't trust Home Depot, Measure twice cut once, dry fit and don't blame others for when it doesn't work. If you had mitered the joins your measurements would have been correct. Instead you butt joined them and did not account for the thickness of the material. your fault not his.

Next time buy a saw and do it your self. This is the DIY section, not the "Home Depot idiots do it for me" section, anyway.

P.S. I don't doubt that your Girl Friend was scared. Good luck to her.
 
At least you learned to do as said before. Dry fit before you glue, screw and poly and caulk. Anybody who has worked with wood before knows to account for the thickness of the material. In the pic it is obvious that you gave him the wrong dimensions. The overlap is exactly the width of the board. Your Screw-up, not his. You made several screw-ups here. Be a man and admit it. Don't trust Home Depot, Measure twice cut once, dry fit and don't blame others for when it doesn't work. If you had mitered the joins your measurements would have been correct. Instead you butt joined them and did not account for the thickness of the material. your fault not his.

Next time buy a saw and do it your self. This is the DIY section, not the "Home Depot idiots do it for me" section, anyway.

P.S. I don't doubt that your Girl Friend was scared. Good luck to her.

+1k

Yes! Man Up! Buy a saw and get 'er done! You just gained some kindling wood for the fire pit. Now go get the right lumber and do it again. Pick up a random orbit sander while you're back at Home Depot. Some tack cloth too. Drill the shank holes before you assemble and finish it. It's easier to drill the holes with the board flat on a workbench or something similar. You will want to drill the holes square and true. Failure to align the shank holes precisely will show up with poorly aligned taps and handles. This can be visually annoying to some. Me for example, but I'm fussy about this stuff.
 
Ok, I bought the freezer I have from Home Depot so we walked over there and he measured the size it needed to be. I don't have any tools to do this. Once again, he assured me he knew what he was doing. I agree that I should have tested it to see if it fit before I assembled it.

I'm not an angry guy so whoever that was that was trying to look deeper in my life problems because I got angry over this incident ... well, you don't know me. Stop thinking that I cussed her out or beat her. She just hadn't seen me get that upset over something. I was laughing about it within the hour. My life is fine.

I appreciate all the negative comments.
 
It really wouldn't be that big of a deal to shim out the hinges if you really don't want to mess with the assembled collar. You can go back to the mentioned home depot and get some of their galvanized roof flashing squares and some tin snips and go at it. You will need a drill and the snips.
I use those flashing squares all the time it seems :D
Tom
 
I'd just put the spacers on the back. My collar overlaps front and back for additional strength. The hinges are on one side, so I can load from the other side and not worry about hitting the faucets. If you look closely, you'll see that I doubled up front and back to accommodate the top.

2113-img_1418.jpg
 
I appreciate all the negative comments.

Don't just appreciate them, Learn from them. They weren't negative comments they were constructive criticism (most of them, at least mine was) to get you to learn that you are responsible for this as much if not more of what happened than the HD dude.

Yes the comments by others were a bit strong, but so was you original post. Next time use the forum to ASK how to do it, and learn, not rant and rave and blame others for what you should have known or done the first time.

Look at the other posts in the forum. MOST are of the "Hey, How do I do this?" or Look how good this turned out, this is how I did it." category. Not the "Some other a$$hole screwed this up for me" category.

Live and Learn, cool concept.

Post pics of the re-do, and tell us how you fixed it.
 
I appreciate all the negative comments.

More then the positive ones giving advice I see....

And if the home depot guy sucks so bad why dont you buy a saw and try it?

I didnt want to mention anything negative but you really are coming off as a prick to guys trying to help. Would you rather we all say yeah that guy at home depot was such an *******, he measured your kegerator collar wrong, then told you the wrong material to buy, the wrong way to polly and sand it and to top it all off didnt dry fit it for you? Just to let you know he must of forgotten to tell you to glue and screw the corners as well.
 
I still think you guys are a little strong on this one. I understand its hard to read tonality in a written text. If what he said is true, the only thing he's "guilty" of is not dry fitting it first (and maybe posting this in the wrong place but who cares). If the HD guy went over to the appliance he bought and measured it in the store and then made the cuts, it was HIS f up. Especially after this guys questioned him about the dimensions of his cuts and was pretty much scolded for doing so by the HD dude himself.
 
God I miss working construction, been in an office for two years now and all I do is daydream of the **** talking banter that I used to indulge in everyday. Just remember chefchris, it's all outta love, it may be tough love but it's love none the less. Now quit your boobin and get to fixin, and make sure to post the pics when you're done. Personally I'd go the route of taking the hinge side off and cutting it down to fit inbetween your sides, but I do like david___42's idea as well.
 
If you want something done right, do it yourself. That way when you foul up stuff you get the full pleasure and experience of doing it over and over and over until you get it right so that next time you only have to do it over and over instead of over and over and over, Over?
 
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