I knew this Atlantic Oskar CD/DVD rack has assembly and sturdiness issues. But there just wasn't anything else I could find online that had the same enormous capacity (1080 CD's is the headline number, but more important is the number of DVD's it can store, 504) and would fit into the 40 inches available along the already crowded south wall of the King's Room.
The previous weekend I assembled the Ameriwood nightstand (very easy to assemble, and satisfying result) I had wanted to assemble the Oskar as well, but spent 3 hours merely cleaning off the broken strofoam bits and dust off of all the pieces and the floor afterwards.
So this weekend, I had to do the assembly, if for no other reason than to satisfy my need to make progress (i.e., catching up with all the stuff I've bought). I hadn't even realized it, but I REALLY had to do the assembly because my monthly party is next weekend. Somehow it didn't seem like a last-sunday-of-the-month party would fall BEFORE Thanksgiving, but it does this year.
But the first thing I did on Saturday was actually to pick up my new pants at the tailor (I had skipped that last weekend), then I picked up two kinds of natural steak at Sprouts (I got one steak "all natural from USA" and another "certified organic, grass fed, and free range," from Ecuador). I made a home cooked meal (first time in more than a decade) with pan fried steak and served my friend (before she had to go back home for a nap before going to work 3rd shift). She has been looking too thin to me, so making a first class meal for her and me was my highest priority.
Only then, and it was about 8pm or so, I got to the rack assembly. It started fairly quickly and easily, but the pieces were installed in a peculiar order so finding the correct pieces became one of the most difficult parts. And while I didn't over tighten the screws were it said "be sure not to over tighten", I possibly did overtighten some of the screws on the bottom where it did not give that warning. Nothing became free-spinning or loose, however. I was trying to get the bottom screws more level with the bottom panel, but apparently that isn't possible. The unit will essentially stand on it's own bottom screws, no matter what you do.
Once I got all the frame pieces together, around 11:30 PM I decided to call it a night. I had heard that one of the trickiest bits is where you turn the unit upside down and nail the back on, because before the back is on it's very flimsy. In fact, it's rather flimsy even after you get the back on.
On Sunday I got back to the assembly work on Sunday afternoon. Turning the unit over was not as hard as I thought, and I spent about an hour lining the back pieces (and nudging the frame a bit) so the back lined up perfectly with the frame. Strangely, several of the nail holes seemed covered as if the manufacturer had changed their mind about whether nails were appropriate at those spots. As there were many leftover nails anyway, I went back and nailed the "covered" holes also, and added a few more to the bottom as well, since I had been concerned about overtightening some of the bottom screws.
Finally I get to standing the unit upright, and it nearly comes apart in half (as several posters complained). The top piece had come a little loose around the metal tightenters (some of which pulled out of the particleboard on the screw side, not the tightener side fortunately, the metal tighteners were still good). I pushed it back on, and it was standing and leaning on the living room bookcase OK.
But then I noticed that in the parts package (an unwieldy piece you can't turn upside down or have all the nails spill out) there were some wood dowels I hadn't used. I went back through the instructions and found they were used in the middle and top pieces. I had overlooked them because those steps had two parts, the first part involving setting the tighteners in place.
At first, I didn't think I'd bother with the dowels. Too much trouble to take everything apart, and I had already stripped the phillips head groove on the tighteners, possibly they wouldn't stand up to a loosening and re-tightening anyway, then I'd have junk. But I also thought about the possibility of the unit top falling off. That shouldn't happen anyway, since the top is going to be secured to the wall, but I didn't want to worry about it. Also, the notable flimsiness in the middle, it really should be better. So I decided to take the unit apart and do the dowels in the middle piece. But not bother with the dowels in the top piece, which is also held in place through nails in the back, and doesn't face the same kind of twisting tension as the middle. (If I were to add the dowels into the top, I'd have to remove the nails and itw would be a big mess. But the back is split in the middle, so no nails would have to be removed to add the dowels in the middle.)
Taking the upper and lower assemblies apart was fairly easy (just loosen the screws). Putting the dowels in was very easy too. But getting the two completed halves back together was very very tricky, and I tried doing it with unit laying down (impossible), standing up (it seemed impossible again), on it's side. Finally I got the two halves together with the unit standing up. The trickiest part was alighning the tightening nuts beforehand. I had to use a flashlight to see the now-worn markings on the screws correctly. It was critical that these tightening nuts were all alighned correctly. Then the two halves came together well. The unit is much more solid (still not exactly solid) with the dowels in place. Funny, the dowels are not screwed in or anything, they only provide a little bit of friction, but that little bit is enough to make the whole assembly much better.
By this time, it was 7pm, and I actually had to rest a bit before getting enough energy to cook dinner, the Organic Free Range Grass Fed Beef steak, which was wonderful, and I saved some pieces for my friend who loved it too.
Sometime around 8:30 I got to work moving the dresser and other CD rack around so I could fit the new DVD rack in place. I also started on running the phone extension wire from the permanent jack near the window in the King's room to the night stand. Remember last week I bought Radio Shack Indoor/Outdoor phone wire, and ordered a new staple gun and staples to do the job like a professional, I thought. Once the new rack is in place, I would not be able to staple the new phone wire behind it, so I had to do this job now.
I like the way the Radio Shack phone jack box has big screws to screw down the wires, instead of the push-down jacks used by professional installers (which never seem to work with any push-down devices I buy). The phone jack recepticle fastens to the wall either with adhesive (not tried) or screws, I just pushed and turned the small screws right into the drywall which holds fairly firmly but would not stand up to a strong pull (ok, no kids in household). As weak as that might be, it's still probably less likely to fail than the adhesive back. As the phone wire comes out of the recepticle it is also stapled to the wall right there, that's probably at least as strong as the screws. The phone wire is then stapled to the wall using the new Arrow T59 stapler and 6mmX6mm insulated staples, which looked like the best solution for 7/32" wire just slightly less thick than Cat5.
But after using these new staples, I decided the installation did not look as professional as I thought it would. The big black insulated staples look funky, and the wire still isn't held tight enough to be perfectly straight. I took out an alternative stapler which I've used for years to hang Cat5 wire, an Acme 37AC. That can actually hold several Cat5 wires or coaxes per staple. I decided to switch over to using that along the south and west walls. The Acme 37AC staples are far less visible because they need no insulated portion--the staple gun simply insures that the staples will not go too far. Even though the room under the staple is larger, the wire seems to run just as straight, or even straighter, as the wire falls to the bottom part of the space available within the staple, so it is then resting right above the baseboard. The Acme staples seem to grip the wall tighter also, it's fairly easy to pull out the Arrow staples.
I did not quite finish running the phone wire along the south wall by the end of Sunday night. I did get it run completely past where the new rack will go, and behind the dresser and the CD rack however. And I adjusted the location of the dresser so the new DVD rack will fit perfectly in place.
Meanwhile I've been running the new ceiling fan in the Kings Room continuously to help outgas the foam rubber smell from the new adjustable bed frame. It does seem to have gotten better after a few days of being set up. I also unboxed the Scooba 390 floor mopping robot, but did not start charging the batteries yet.
The previous weekend I assembled the Ameriwood nightstand (very easy to assemble, and satisfying result) I had wanted to assemble the Oskar as well, but spent 3 hours merely cleaning off the broken strofoam bits and dust off of all the pieces and the floor afterwards.
So this weekend, I had to do the assembly, if for no other reason than to satisfy my need to make progress (i.e., catching up with all the stuff I've bought). I hadn't even realized it, but I REALLY had to do the assembly because my monthly party is next weekend. Somehow it didn't seem like a last-sunday-of-the-month party would fall BEFORE Thanksgiving, but it does this year.
But the first thing I did on Saturday was actually to pick up my new pants at the tailor (I had skipped that last weekend), then I picked up two kinds of natural steak at Sprouts (I got one steak "all natural from USA" and another "certified organic, grass fed, and free range," from Ecuador). I made a home cooked meal (first time in more than a decade) with pan fried steak and served my friend (before she had to go back home for a nap before going to work 3rd shift). She has been looking too thin to me, so making a first class meal for her and me was my highest priority.
Only then, and it was about 8pm or so, I got to the rack assembly. It started fairly quickly and easily, but the pieces were installed in a peculiar order so finding the correct pieces became one of the most difficult parts. And while I didn't over tighten the screws were it said "be sure not to over tighten", I possibly did overtighten some of the screws on the bottom where it did not give that warning. Nothing became free-spinning or loose, however. I was trying to get the bottom screws more level with the bottom panel, but apparently that isn't possible. The unit will essentially stand on it's own bottom screws, no matter what you do.
Once I got all the frame pieces together, around 11:30 PM I decided to call it a night. I had heard that one of the trickiest bits is where you turn the unit upside down and nail the back on, because before the back is on it's very flimsy. In fact, it's rather flimsy even after you get the back on.
On Sunday I got back to the assembly work on Sunday afternoon. Turning the unit over was not as hard as I thought, and I spent about an hour lining the back pieces (and nudging the frame a bit) so the back lined up perfectly with the frame. Strangely, several of the nail holes seemed covered as if the manufacturer had changed their mind about whether nails were appropriate at those spots. As there were many leftover nails anyway, I went back and nailed the "covered" holes also, and added a few more to the bottom as well, since I had been concerned about overtightening some of the bottom screws.
Finally I get to standing the unit upright, and it nearly comes apart in half (as several posters complained). The top piece had come a little loose around the metal tightenters (some of which pulled out of the particleboard on the screw side, not the tightener side fortunately, the metal tighteners were still good). I pushed it back on, and it was standing and leaning on the living room bookcase OK.
But then I noticed that in the parts package (an unwieldy piece you can't turn upside down or have all the nails spill out) there were some wood dowels I hadn't used. I went back through the instructions and found they were used in the middle and top pieces. I had overlooked them because those steps had two parts, the first part involving setting the tighteners in place.
At first, I didn't think I'd bother with the dowels. Too much trouble to take everything apart, and I had already stripped the phillips head groove on the tighteners, possibly they wouldn't stand up to a loosening and re-tightening anyway, then I'd have junk. But I also thought about the possibility of the unit top falling off. That shouldn't happen anyway, since the top is going to be secured to the wall, but I didn't want to worry about it. Also, the notable flimsiness in the middle, it really should be better. So I decided to take the unit apart and do the dowels in the middle piece. But not bother with the dowels in the top piece, which is also held in place through nails in the back, and doesn't face the same kind of twisting tension as the middle. (If I were to add the dowels into the top, I'd have to remove the nails and itw would be a big mess. But the back is split in the middle, so no nails would have to be removed to add the dowels in the middle.)
Taking the upper and lower assemblies apart was fairly easy (just loosen the screws). Putting the dowels in was very easy too. But getting the two completed halves back together was very very tricky, and I tried doing it with unit laying down (impossible), standing up (it seemed impossible again), on it's side. Finally I got the two halves together with the unit standing up. The trickiest part was alighning the tightening nuts beforehand. I had to use a flashlight to see the now-worn markings on the screws correctly. It was critical that these tightening nuts were all alighned correctly. Then the two halves came together well. The unit is much more solid (still not exactly solid) with the dowels in place. Funny, the dowels are not screwed in or anything, they only provide a little bit of friction, but that little bit is enough to make the whole assembly much better.
By this time, it was 7pm, and I actually had to rest a bit before getting enough energy to cook dinner, the Organic Free Range Grass Fed Beef steak, which was wonderful, and I saved some pieces for my friend who loved it too.
Sometime around 8:30 I got to work moving the dresser and other CD rack around so I could fit the new DVD rack in place. I also started on running the phone extension wire from the permanent jack near the window in the King's room to the night stand. Remember last week I bought Radio Shack Indoor/Outdoor phone wire, and ordered a new staple gun and staples to do the job like a professional, I thought. Once the new rack is in place, I would not be able to staple the new phone wire behind it, so I had to do this job now.
I like the way the Radio Shack phone jack box has big screws to screw down the wires, instead of the push-down jacks used by professional installers (which never seem to work with any push-down devices I buy). The phone jack recepticle fastens to the wall either with adhesive (not tried) or screws, I just pushed and turned the small screws right into the drywall which holds fairly firmly but would not stand up to a strong pull (ok, no kids in household). As weak as that might be, it's still probably less likely to fail than the adhesive back. As the phone wire comes out of the recepticle it is also stapled to the wall right there, that's probably at least as strong as the screws. The phone wire is then stapled to the wall using the new Arrow T59 stapler and 6mmX6mm insulated staples, which looked like the best solution for 7/32" wire just slightly less thick than Cat5.
But after using these new staples, I decided the installation did not look as professional as I thought it would. The big black insulated staples look funky, and the wire still isn't held tight enough to be perfectly straight. I took out an alternative stapler which I've used for years to hang Cat5 wire, an Acme 37AC. That can actually hold several Cat5 wires or coaxes per staple. I decided to switch over to using that along the south and west walls. The Acme 37AC staples are far less visible because they need no insulated portion--the staple gun simply insures that the staples will not go too far. Even though the room under the staple is larger, the wire seems to run just as straight, or even straighter, as the wire falls to the bottom part of the space available within the staple, so it is then resting right above the baseboard. The Acme staples seem to grip the wall tighter also, it's fairly easy to pull out the Arrow staples.
I did not quite finish running the phone wire along the south wall by the end of Sunday night. I did get it run completely past where the new rack will go, and behind the dresser and the CD rack however. And I adjusted the location of the dresser so the new DVD rack will fit perfectly in place.
Meanwhile I've been running the new ceiling fan in the Kings Room continuously to help outgas the foam rubber smell from the new adjustable bed frame. It does seem to have gotten better after a few days of being set up. I also unboxed the Scooba 390 floor mopping robot, but did not start charging the batteries yet.
No comments:
Post a Comment