Playset Instruction

[Slugger926]

I hate those playset instructions for a high end playset from Lowes (home depots is from the same company).

They instructions were created by designers rather than an engineer. They changed the mold for their mountain wall and failed to change the directions in their instructions for boards you need to cut for support/anchoring. I have to dig the thing up and cut the width down 2 inches tonight before trying to get it back together.

The hours they suggest for the playset construction is 4 to 8 hours while realistically I have already spent 20 hours for 1/2 of the construction. A lot of cuts need to be done twice since they don't take into account lug screws sticking out, and other tollerance adjustments.

I think the person who estimated the construction allowance had worked in one of the project management groups that I deal with where they expect 6 months of work to be completed in a week even if they knew about the project for 18 months before releasing it.

 

[Dleg]

Sounds like a nightmare!

The worst thing I have had to assemble in recent years was a cheap BBQ grill. I swear that thing had at least 200 parts, and not a single one of them was assembled. The instructions (obviously translated into engirsh by the company's office secretary back in China) consisted of a single, poorly printed "explosion" type parts diagram with a few numbers signifying the order in which you should begin manufacturing this thing for them. I honestly don't know how anyone could be expected to put something like that together without mechanical skills and experience. The manufacturer should be sued for calling it a BBQ grill and not a "BBQ KIT" .

I lost 6 hours of my precious life on that damn thing and then gave it to my in-laws. It lasted all of about 6 months before rusting through and falling apart.

 

[TouchDown]

I put up a pre-made playset (just assemble) for the kids in our backyard. On the instructions is says 6-8 hours to assemble. I would agree with that estimate if you had put one together before, and had 2-3 people helping. It took me a full 3 days (24 hours) to do it... My wife gave me a hard time about it, but she wasn't out there "helping" me either.

 

[FusionWhite]

I have an extremely low tolerance of frustration for stuff like that. We bought a new fireplace facing that we had to put together. Well we mounted the doors on the frame then attached the frame to the fireplace and the damn doors were so crooked it was comical. My wife and I disassembled the thing 3 times and remounted it. Crooked as a question mark everytime. Finally we returned it and got an identical model. Same problem. After closer inspection you could see that the door hinges and frame were constructed so shitty the weight of the doors was warping the frame and hinges.

I called the manufacturer and got some snotty guy in Canada who tried to get pissed at me when I told him how shitty his product was, which pissed me off even worse. Needless to say my wife doesnt let me deal with customer service people on the phone anymore. When we returned the thing to Lowes the manager gave us 5% off a different brand of fireplace screen so in the end it all worked out.

 

[Road Guy]

That is some hard shit to do.

I have a 12 year old hand me down playset that I am trying to talk myself out of upgrading. My kids want me to make it bigger. I wish I just had the $$$ to just pick up the phone and have someone install me a nice brand new one.

 

[Slugger926]

That is some hard shit to do.
I have a 12 year old hand me down playset that I am trying to talk myself out of upgrading. My kids want me to make it bigger. I wish I just had the $$$ to just pick up the phone and have someone install me a nice brand new one.

All done. Estimated time for install with minimal help is 48 hours. Some of it was engineering my own solutions since the directions made no sense, and had conflicts with the instructions that came with some of the parts. It also didn't help that the peons that pulled the lumber at Lowes couldn't count to 5 on the 4"x4"x10's. They gave the three missing 4"x4"'s to me 2 days later when I figured it out. I also had to get additional lumber for some of the alternate construction the instructions that the part list doesn't take into account.

I did save $500 on the construction fee by doing it myself, and I know it is built right. It is funny that my wife and myself can actually play on this set.

This project was thrown in with 3 projects from work, two college papers to write, and talking to my delegates at the ASABE international meeting.

(NOTE TO SELF: Don't write college papers or reports when 2 year old is helping by being normal 2 year old.)

 

[Freon]

I built one a few years back. The cut sheet and assembly was easy enough, assuming you had all the tools. In my case I have a 12" radial arm saw, a 10" chop saw and a drill press; they were worth their weight in gold. The "Instructional video" that came with the kit showed the cuts being made with a hand saw, but they "recommended" a hand-held circular saw. Norm Abrams (New Yankee Workshop on PBS) could not have built that bad boy in less that a week with hand tools.

Freon, P.E. and I still have all ten fingers

 

[Mike1144]

I built one a few years back. The cut sheet and assembly was easy enough, assuming you had all the tools. In my case I have a 12" radial arm saw, a 10" chop saw and a drill press; they were worth their weight in gold. The "Instructional video" that came with the kit showed the cuts being made with a hand saw, but they "recommended" a hand-held circular saw. Norm Abrams (New Yankee Workshop on PBS) could not have built that bad boy in less that a week with hand tools.
Freon, P.E. and I still have all ten fingers

Norm Abrams could build the whole thing out of clamps. He wouldn't need the lumber.

 

[Slugger926]

Norm Abrams could build the whole thing out of clamps. He wouldn't need the lumber.

I could have built one with clamps much faster.

The one I built, I can play on myself. It will probably last 20 years.

 

[Slugger926]

My homework is done. I am going to go play on the swing and slide. :multiplespotting: Then have a beer before bed.

 

[Road Guy]

well for some reason I wasted my entire weekend upgrading the kids old playset.

Was more of a PITA then I expected, but here it is. The kids were away at the grandparents last weekend so I did this instead of taking a day for myself

We have limited space in this corner of the back yard, so I fit in most all I could. The old playset is.. old.. theres lots of 3/8 carriage bolts throughout so its not going anywhere,.

 

[Road Guy]

another pic

 

[Road Guy]

semi - finalized. still need to finishe the slide top part...

 

[Dleg]

Man, I bet the kids are going to love that!

 

[cement]

nice job RG :thumbs:

I built one similar to that when we moved in here. Then the HOA came around and told me that the slide had to be "earth tone" like what I submitted. (The green spiral slide did not fit so I exchanged for a yellow one) I told them to screw off so they served me with papers! We decided that we did not want the title encumbered so I go to home depot and ask them to mix me up some shit brown paint and I'm slapping it on under a full moon in february. damn that looked nice...

 

[Ritchie503]

Glad you got it together Slugger.

Road Guy it looks good... were the kids happily surprised when they came home?

 

[Road Guy]

Yeah the kids played on it a pretty good bit over the holiday, then we packed em off to my parents for 2 more days so they have to wait until Saturday to use it any more.

The dog has been hanging out in it though