Oh yeah...I took a week's vacation to enjoy the beautiful fall weather and also to install an overhead garage door. It's now Saturday morning and I finally completed the project. Sheesh, talk about a headache. It was the most intimidating project I recall tackling, partly because of the poorly designed and illustrated directions, and partly because I think I'm getting stupider.

Anyways, what was your most daunting project?

 

What made it so tough? I've never installed a new door, so I have no experience to draw on. They don't look like they would be too tough - which usually means it would be...Anyway, this isn't meant to sound condescending in any way. Just curious about the difficulties.

 

oops...forgot to mention my project....It was insulating the ceiling in my basement. Not becuase it was difficult, just a PITA. Also, a strand of fiberglass got behind my glasses and scratched my cornea. Not fun.

 

Hello maa139,

For an example, I spent an entire morning trying to figure out how to install the handle. The handle in my hand did not jive in any way with the handle directions in the booklet. I finally took a coffee break and found in the parts box "supplemental instructions for installing the handle". Grrr... Granted, it was my fault but frustrating nevertheless. Plus, I had no other egress out of the building and spent hours locked inside while assembling it. I didn't mention the building, a boat house, was terribly out of plumb.

You're right, it isn't that difficult and I wouldn't have a problem doing it again. It's the first time that is particularly hard.

billsco

 

Xmas, 1987, assembling "Castle Greyskull". Finally got the kids in bed around 11 or so and started. Way too many plastic snap together parts and decals. Not to mention way toooo many brews for Dad! LOL! I still have flash backs!

 

I remember that! I ran out of beer

 

I'd have to say the garage itself. 46' by 63' by 16' high. Three five gallon buckets of 1/4" bolts but every damn one went in without fabrication. A great job by the US Arc Team.

MT

 

A childs swing set. It took me and a bud, friend that is hours to get this thing together. We worked half the night on this thing so it would be ready in the am. I should have just thrown the instructions away to start with.

 

A "baby carriage" for toy dolls.
It wasn't my chore to put the carriage together that fateful christmas morning approx. 20 yrs ago, but I got to watch my dad and his brother in law figure out how to assemble that thing! All of the parts (wheels, screws, bolts, straps, handle & everything else....) were packed in the plastic "tub" part of the carriage. The instructions for assembly were poorly printed on 2 or three small sheets of paper, few of the "parts" were marked in any way, and there were alot of parts. (The assembly instructions used a brand of the english language that we weren't very familiar with!)The best part of the instructions was that the tasks they wanted you to perform were numbered in sequence, and with good reason. (Dad & Chris had to un-assemble a few sub-assemblies part-way thru the job, in order to make the "next part" fit properly.) If I remember correctly, the job took them about 3 hours. When they were done, the finished product looked just like the picture on the box it came in, and my little cousin was thrilled with it. The last time I mentioned that project to Dad, he rolled his eyes and laughed! My own toughest "some assembly required project" is the controlled demolition of parts of my house i.e. "remodeling". I have managed to repair the main bathroom, restore my kitchen, and pay off the debts incurred by those (2)areas of my home. I started building my shop last spring, and so far it has cost me less than what I spent on the remodeling of the house, but I need a place to set up some wood working equipment so that I can build trim moldings to go around every door and window opening inside my house(part of the remodeling) Once the shop is done, I'll put the new brake sys. parts on my 1966 F-250 4WD, set up my metal lathe, in the shop, make some feed rollers for Dad's shaper (on the lathe), and then mill out the trim moldings for my house. I think that the hardest "some assembly required" projects are the ones that require you to MAKE THE PARTS YOURSELF. The best part of any "hard to do" project that you have completed is when you're showing it to a friend, and they ask, "How did you do it?" Of course, you get to tell them about the troubles you had while doing it, and how you solved certain problems. and if you're lucky they will ask you to help them to build/repair/replace something. Right here at FTE I found parts for my 1962 F-250 2WD and was able to ressurrect it from immobility last year!

 

Every fricken Christmas present my wife has given or recieved since our marrage! Why can't parents or the wife buy anything that is even put togther in at least some part?

Of course as said kids Christmas presents were a PITA, now that Santa is not a factor at least I can give it to them in a box and make them help put it togther and not try to do it drunk quiet in the dark. LOL

 

A steel storage shed! I pitty the person that does not have an almost perfect surface to mount it on. Mine was about as perfectly level as you could get and it was still a pain. Never buy a steel storage building. Buy a wood shed kit or stick build one.

 

Our pole barn was a huge pain, on top of the fact the sent us half the wrong steel. I woulda never imagined it would take as long as it did to build it. It was meant to be done for my graduation party 2 yrs ago, and by the time the party rolled around, we didnt have a garage door, or any steel on the front. Then came the second worst project i've encountered. That was putting the garage door on. It still isn't on yet. Me and my dad have basically given up on that thing.

 

To answer the original question: every Christmas toy my son got! I have a machine shop in my garage, and I have needed it on several occasions! As for the garage door; in Florida, we now have wind code rated doors, which are rather complex. Also, they didn't include the directions for that type of door. My teenage son downloaded the proper directions from the website, and we finished it in about 10 hours which included re-framing the opening with pressure treated. PITA, but it's rated to 170 mph winds. Too bad the rest of the house isn't...

 

LMFAO!!!! kinda like painting yerself into a corner huh?

 

Just thought of one:
Not a difficult assembly in itself.. just confusing instructions...

I picked up some real nice rearset pegs & controls for my ZRX1100. They were made in Japan & are incredibly well made. I pick up the instruction sheet & realise that the half that is written in reconisable english words doesn't make ANY sense whatsoever & the other half is written using the same alphabet, but is totally unreconisable as any language I have ever seen.

I am friends with the importer of these parts (they were FREE, usually $325.00) & the next time I saw him I mentioned the instructions as being no use whatsoever.... What he said next had me laughing so hard I was nearly in tears. Apparently they employed a translator to translate from Japanese to English... makes sense doesn't it?

Except the guy they employed was SWISS & barely spoke English OR Japanese Ya ever seen those HUGE words the Germans use for technical stuff? ok, now picture those same words being used in English translated from Japanese....

I have the instructions framed & hanging on my garage wall...