high gloss worktops

[fin]

well this job is bloody cursed lol.

worktops went off fine. but i had to wait hours today for a replacement jig as the one i hired had the insert fitted incorectly (its a trend jig with replaceable inner part. the screws were proud on one side and the routers guide bush missed the line on the other side.)

so on this job the hold ups soo far. the work top jig. (wasted half a day trying different ways to get by it before giving up lol)

the tiler having to be in a day and a half.

the oven housing being a nightmare. (having to move shelves into non standard positions to get the appliances to lign up even when they were supplied by homebase)

and the coustomer doing his own wiring (hes a sparkying lecturer and has done everything to regs ie all appliances into some kind of fused spurs and the fused spurs fixed to little off cuts of flooring set 2 inches from the wall. resulting in a pita to fit everything and having to have him there before appliances get fitted.)

one other thing. router cutters. i managed the female joint. the bolt recess. the exposed end for the lam strip. then the male joint and bolt recesses but only just. lots of smoke by the time i was on the recess.

is that all they will last? it was a trend cutter. i normally get a new one anyway just curious is all.

[speed]

maybe worth buying your own jig? i dont do tops often but i have my own jig, if i have to hire anything and know i will need it again one day i will just buy one( or get your employer to buy one) the half day you wasted would have payed for one.

for cutters as soon as heat gets in the cutter they deteriate quick.

i did a test and got 1 and half mitres out of one trend cutter on router speed 5 before it was burned out
new cutter turned down to speed 2 and got 2 mitres 1 straight join and a radius and it still feels sharp.

i only go 5-6mm per pass, nice and easy

for the curse, its not over yet, keep the tops covered until the jobs done because any scratch found will endup cumming back at you even if it was someone else,

[royaloakcarpentry]

Thats why you pre warn the client before hand when they choose gloss tops...............I am up front, that they scratch easy all will be done to protect until hand over but no promises.

I make your client spot on with having the appliances on fused spurs.

If you can't get an appliance to fit square then the best policy is to throw your screwdriver out the pram, swear and walk out for a fag. Then it will sit right as soon as you start again lol.

[fin]

maybe worth buying your own jig? i dont do tops often but i have my own jig, if i have to hire anything and know i will need it again one day i will just buy one( or get your employer to buy one) the half day you wasted would have payed for one.

for cutters as soon as heat gets in the cutter they deteriate quick.

i did a test and got 1 and half mitres out of one trend cutter on router speed 5 before it was burned out
new cutter turned down to speed 2 and got 2 mitres 1 straight join and a radius and it still feels sharp.

i only go 5-6mm per pass, nice and easy

for the curse, its not over yet, keep the tops covered until the jobs done because any scratch found will endup cumming back at you even if it was someone else,

Hi speed

yes your right im gonna price some jigs up. would welcome recomendations from you guys.

the router i had came with the jig (i need a router lol) it didnt have a speed control that i saw. was an old hitatchi model and was fairly well hammered.

well i was doing them in 4 passes so you would do them in more like 8 passes. ill try that next time.

yeah i fitted the tops and ill make sure there covered up until we leave lol

[fin]

Thats why you pre warn the client before hand when they choose gloss tops...............I am up front, that they scratch easy all will be done to protect until hand over but no promises.

I make your client spot on with having the appliances on fused spurs.

If you can't get an appliance to fit square then the best policy is to throw your screwdriver out the pram, swear and walk out for a fag. Then it will sit right as soon as you start again lol.

ohh yeah i dont mean he wasnt doing it right. just the awkwardness of having to get him to be there when we fitted the oven and microwave and other appliances so he could pull the wires into the fused spurs to wire them in

(im not actually sure there fused spurs to be fair. i always thought they were those switch things with the little red light.)

hes a spot on fella actually. weve done work for him before. just frustrating when im getting complained at for the job taking a bit longer when theres all the fiddly things to sort out.

ohh and i agree about the smoke idea. but just the having to move the shelfs down and the top one up over andhaving the middle shelf sit so theres the correct air gap etc. does take time. sometimes these jobs cant be just done (if you know what i mean.)

not as if its a big bloody kitchen either lol just an L shape. just extreme awkwardness for some reason.

[royaloakcarpentry]

Sometimes small kitchens can take longer than a large kitchen to do. Kitchens just take as long as they take and if you are taking longer then it is probably your boss who has fecked up by not being realistic. Some people don't take other factors into account like how much room you have, is it in a house or 1 bed flat on 7th floor.

Just had an awkward kitchen to do where Ikea surveyed it originally and charged £100 for not being able to read a tape or design properly. unfortunately the design then went to Howdens and they use Ikeas measurements. Doesn't take much brain power to know that changing a 500 base unit for a 600 washer dryer must have a knock on effect of 100mm!!! So I had to design the kitchen with what we had to work with. Firm I do a lot of subbing to informed the client the kitchen would take 5 days to do. Nice compact flat on the 3rd floor, so absolutely no room to work. Took 10 days to rip out, plaster ceiling, alter electrics, install kitchen units, 3 worktops mason mitred, alter plumbing, tile walls, tile floor and paint.

The one before that, for the same firm was a bathroom and kitchen at same time........7th floor one bed flat. I was asked after 7 days what the hold up was, why was it not finished.................ha ha feckety ha. The firm owner now realises he needs me to go to these jobs and advise him when they are priced up.

Take as long is it takes, Fin. I wouldn't give a monkeys how long you are taking as long as it is top end job at the end.

Trend jigs and trend routers is the way to go. My Trend jig for the worktops is the larger one which deals with breakfast bars aswell and has various radius cuts it can do. Spend a lot but you only need the one jig.

[speed]

roc i think all bosses are the same, they see half day as 2 hours and a day as half. get sent to a job and he says it will only take afew hours and you are there all morning.

for the jigs a company i work supplies a howdens jig and trend router, the router is not bad, lack of dust extraction tho, the jig is to be honest pants, the female pegs are about 6" away from each other at the beggining of the jig so arkward to line up propper, pegs flex also

for my jobs i use a festool of2200 router and a topform jig, the jig is great, they invented the first jig years ago,it also has proper pegs, only problem is mines mdf i did not know until it was delivered. when it wares out i will look for a laminate version failing that trend is the only other option imo

[fin]

yeah i know what you mean about kitchens like. its just stressing me out now lol.

cant seem to get stuff done for stupid jobs coming up.

and my boss......... is my dad. have you ever tried saying dad. your wrong. lol it doesnt work does it.

things that dont help though are having a kitchen table constantly in the way.

spending atleast half the time on this job on my own. its always quicker with 2 even if its a divvy to just hold stuff and sweep up.

i think ill be pricing jigs up now.

and since i dont have much use for a router bar kitchen worktops ill look out for an elu mof177e on ebay. they seem to be a decent enough router. ive used the dewalt equivelent dw625ek (i think)

ohh and roc. the kitchen is in a semi detached house. (i live in the northeast about 13 miles from newcastle) theres not too many highrise type places. and all the work we do is in standard houses. but still its been bloody slow going. and i know for a fact that the last kitchen i did is way better. just been hastlle after hastle on this one unfortunately

[fin]

finished finally the other day lol. worktops went spot on. apart from the jig disaster lol. ill have to check it next time if i hire one again incase they come faulty. lucky i had plenty worktop left