20240529 Bolting a Boltless Rack

 I need to set up the newly Wife endorsed Man-Cave as soon as possible. Right after moving in, the first priority is to have the 'stuff' organised and put away so that I can have some semblance of working space. I was shopping for another rack and since the first (bought through my Wife) was quite sturdy where each shelf was capable of supporting 400Kg.

 The original shelves were quite expensive and therefore, using the same spec, I decided to a cheaper alternative, where each shelf is capable of supporting half the weight. Not only that I had to solve the issue to someone being there to receive the big package. I mean this shelf is 6 feet tall and 5 feet wide. Which seller can ship their product to me within this week was my main priority. Because it would be ackward and too bulky to fit into my car. Not only that, this might be the straw which could break the camel's back; I am sure our Office is quite tolerant on Staff receiving packages but this is too big to put away.

  Anyway, I got them in under three days. Maybe it was the rain but one great thing about Shopee Xpress is that they would give the Customer a call before sending it over. The amount of huffing and puffing (that can blow a pig's house down) got me at least 20 feet before I had to ask for assistance. Yeah, I'm getting old.

The Before
This is the Man-Cave which is next to the kitchen and the stuff that you see is just a fraction of what I had accumulated. If I were to bring in the rest from the other two locations, I would need half the house.

I was quite surprised at how flexing the heavy package was. Opening it, I was quite dismayed that the four corner beams had to be joined, hence the eight short pieces. The wooden boards were about 5mm thick.

These are the four clips to join the eight corner beams together. Some of them we bent and because the metal was so thin, I can just use my pinkie to shape it back.

I had to re-think my steps as assembling this 200Kg version is quite different from the 400Kg version. All through the stages, the metal frames were swaying here and there. This is making me losing my confidence in the whole shelf.

OK, by this time, I am pissed. With sweat coming down like a waterfall and some from unknown pores too. What you're seeing here are the middle beams that will be used to hold the long horizontal beams together. Each level would have two of these. I had to use a pair of pliers to bend the tabs. Of course I can use my hands but I want this to be as accurate as possible.

The corner beams were starting to lean out. Good thing I decided to assemble the lower half first for strength. Seriously, while I was sweating like a pig, I really regretted buying this shelf.


The After
After one and a half hours, this is the result. Notice the difference?
The original rack was 6 feet tall, 5 feet wide. The current pos (piece of sh1t) is 5 feet tall, 6 feet wide. So, the new cabinet is jutting out and is almost touching the arch. And I cannot stack more stuff since the height is now one feet less. These are paper boxes and with our Malaysian weather which has high humidity, they will soften and eventually crumble.

 
Mush as I hate to say it, the original plans have now gone out of the window.
For a start, I don't have the L-Shaped table and the metal cabinet across it has been given to the wife. Only the original shelf (left) remains and if I were to keep the new shelf, the two Ikea Detolf display cabinets would have to move out. If I buy another shelf, I would have to decide where to place this stupid pos. and it would still cost me.

The Aftermath

I guess the next move would be to solve the issue of the current shelf which I am not too pleased about. Once that is done, the next issue would be to consolidate the remaining stuff which is about three times the volume. I guess I'll be at Amcorp Mall selling stuff that was accumulated over the decades...

No comments: