Thursday, March 3, 2011

Oven's Last Stand

I spent all day today trying to get myself pumped up to go home and tackle the last part of my oven project.  I have to admit, this thing had gotten into my head.  So on the way home I cranked up "Back in Black" (the official Purdue get pumped song) and focused on the task at hand.  I got home, changed into my work clothes and headed down to the mess that is my basement and began working.  First, I sanded down all of the filler that I had to use last night.  That went very smoothly.  Next, I went ahead and put a coat of paint on because I knew that it had to dry before I could do much else.  The white went on great.  After putting on the white I had to touch up the one burner that I had to repair.  I got the black out and set to work.  To my horror, on the second or third brush stroke black splattered all over the white top.  I wanted to put myself into the fetal position and start crying, but I knew that a true Boilermaker would never do that so I sprinted upstairs and got a damp cloth and wiped the top down as quickly as possible.  After that little escapade I was beginning to think that this was going to turn out like yesterday.  Since I was waiting for the paint to dry anyways I decided to give the two of us a little time apart.  I went upstairs and had dinner with my wife.  After eating I went down to the basement with a renewed energy.  I put the hinges on and mounted the door.  It went perfectly.  All I had left to do was install the plexiglass and the latch.  I thought that I would go with the latch first.  I bought a latch about two weeks ago when I was getting all of the supplies for building this thing and wouldn't you know that I could not find it anywhere.  I spent 35 minutes looking for a 75 cent part.  Finally, I gave up and headed to Menards to buy a new one.  Part of me was starting to think that this oven secretly wants to stay at my house and become a permanent fixture.  I got the latch and a few other miscellaneous things (after all, I was in Menards and you can't leave there without getting something) and headed back to the house.  After returning I installed the latch without a problem and found an easy way to install the plexiglass.  After all of this time I am proud to say that I AM FINALLY FINISHED!!!!!  Of course, I did look at it and I thought about how I could install a light without much of a problem.  :)

Moral of the whole building an oven story:  When you think things are going bad you can always tell yourself "at least I'm not that crazy first grade teacher who was trying to build an oven for a silly raffle!"

I've added some pictures for anyone who would like to see what has given me all of the problems.  There are a lot of cool ideas that I had and would have liked to do differently, but I was working with donated items and a $15 budget that I set for myself.  What can I say, I guess I like to make things difficult on myself.  :)



3 comments:

  1. WOW! Very cool and totally worth all the work/trouble. I predict this will be the hot item for the auction. Love the pictures! It is so much more professional than I pictured. I am almost sorry the saga is over, now I will be anxious to read your new posts.

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  2. Ok, you win today--this rocks! The oven looks great, you made me laugh, and you didn't cry (Boiler Up indeed).
    So....what's up for tomorrow?

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  3. Wow! This is quite impressive! Someone is about to be a very lucky winner! I'd say this project was well-worth the effort.

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