What part of DIY do you HATE?

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This is it for me - dropping an infinitesimally small part onto the floor where it seems to be swallowed up into oblivion, only to stop whatever progress was being made to crawl around on the floor for 20 minutes...

Repeat after me: I love DIY! I love DIY!
I've never recovered such a piece. They disappear into another universe, even when there is a large lighted floor with no where for it to hide. You can get down on your knees and get your face close to the floor, flashlight at a shallow angle...nope, gone forever. Someone else found the one they lost...MURPHY!:cool:
 
eyesight issues...

A body / physical thing (*no overcoming it)
Having to use 2 different strength "reading glasses" for different work and needing to use (photo type) magnifying loupe to even see and check certain details. My *eyes are just not what they used to be... pretty major.

A mind thing (possible to over come)
During the build making and committing to choices [trimming power transformer leads] not allowing them to be repurposed in the future. The point of no turning back with choices made. pretty minor.
 
I hate that feel I get when I finish soldering everything up turn the the project on for the first time and something doesn’t work. I can’t get it to adjust or there there is no sound out of one or both channels. This usually happens late at night when I’m to tired to spend time trouble shooting, so I go to bed and try to sleep thinking about all the money and time I have invested. I hate that feeling.

No the plus side when I finally het it up and running I feel great.
 
When you remember that one extra critical part that you needed to order, but you already hit the 'order now' button and the free shipping minimum will cost another $60.

Then spend the rest of the evening scouring the categories for stuff you don't need, just to get that free shipping.

Or maybe that's just me ;)
 
When you remember that one extra critical part that you needed to order, but you already hit the 'order now' button and the free shipping minimum will cost another $60.

Then spend the rest of the evening scouring the categories for stuff you don't need, just to get that free shipping.

Or maybe that's just me ;)

Did you try emailing or ringing the supplier about adding the part to your order?
 
Any metal or wood work.

How about being compromised in your designs to things you can actually make, materials you can actually handle? Or to that which you have a good chance at inventing the tool you'll need to execute?

Saw a really nice piece of 3/4 cabinetry ply on the sale rack at HD - one side got skid-marked - could have got the sheet for <$20. (It did have voids and wasnt hi count laminate plywood)

I couldnt lift the thing.

The fit young man who told me he'd just put it there and what a bargain it was would have helped me hoist it onto the Subaru roof rack - but then I was on my own. Reluctantly, I passed - imagining the work it would have taken to get it home, off the car w/o damage and then into sized pieces I could physically move about.

(I suppose if I'd used my imagination, I could have asked him to cut it up into thirds and then loaded it into the back hatch. Unfortunately, that didnt occur to me at the ripe moment I was presented with)

30" sections of 4" PVC pipe is more my speed these days :'(
 
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How about being compromised in your designs to things you can actually make? Or to that which you have a good chance at inventing the tool you'll need to execute?

:up:
For the first 10 or 15 years of my audio obsession, my motto was, "Every new project deserves a new tool." :cool: But still I find myself thinking about how I'll make something with the tools I have, or jigs that I can make. A lot of times, things can be accomplished if sequenced in the right order. Sometimes, the fabrication challenges are part of the fun. :)


How about being compromised in your designs to materials you can actually handle?

I made some TL cabinets from a kit plan once that called for 1 inch thick MDF. It could have been made by gluing 2 layers of 1/2" together, but decided to stick with the plans. Finally found a lumber yard that carried it about 35 miles away. I realized that I was in trouble when they loaded a single sheet with a forklift, and then watched my pickup squat when it was put in the bed. I figured it was somewhere between 125-150 pounds. :eek: I was able to slide it out onto some saw horses, where I had to use the circular saw to cut it into manageable pieces.
 
Currently I'm working on a scratch-built mixing console, and that's highlighted a few things that are majorly frustrating.

Most frustrating thing for me is being limited by distributors and minimum order quantities, particularly with pots. They never have the right shaft type, with the right taper in the series I want.

Another for me is finding a place to do silkscreening at a non-insane price.

A final, and really seriously frustrating, is that some distributors can't be bothered to enter the data into their parametric searches correctly.