So another "odd" project in the shop last night.
Here's a little backstory:
My wife's grandmother had been sliding downhill lately, mentally as well as physically, after they put her in a care center a couple of months ago. Her kids (my wife's aunts/uncles) have been going through her home and getting it ready to sell. It's been hard for my wife to see this process take place and has sparked many, many conversations lately between the two of us about a couple's life together, what they collect over a lifetime, memories they share and things that were important to them and more importantly, what happens to the "stuff" when they are no longer with us. Our feelings are a bit more on the sentimental side as we are under a very similar mindset that whatever is in their home was important to them at one time and therefore should demand at least some consideration rather than saying everything needs to go the dump.
They did a lot of traveling, even when they had a young family and money was scarce, but they did it as a family and traveled via car then truck and camper. They took a LOT of pictures of their travels over their 75+ years of marriage and you can really get a sense of their love and devotion to one another. Unfortunately, no one wanted the photo albums so my wife took it upon herself as a grandchild to take the photo albums home, sort through them and divide them up to the corresponding children and their families. Let me say there were NUMEROUS photo albums all completely full. I mean boxes of them that were stashed in closets, under beds and cupboards that we hauled to our home. She sits down a little each night as time allows and over the weekends to sort through them and then has been working to get them in the hands of a member of each sub-family to do with them what they want. I have struggled to understand this because there seemed to be so much love in that family but yet now at the end, there is such a disconnect and almost resentment to some extent that some don't want the pictures and are almost cross with my wife for going through this process.
I hate seeing my wife in such mental anguish with little to no support and struggle through this on her own, so all I can do is be supportive as possible and continue talking about the good times she had with her grandparents and let her know that they really did have a big impact on me as well. Their love and caring for one another was a great example from the first time I met them just before we were married almost 36 years ago now. It has been good for me to look through the pictures as well and I've realized how many people I know from the pictures that her siblings don't, I kind of enjoyed these reunions, even when I was a much younger man. The stories we'd hear and the people we met were from a different era and one to really be admired and respected. They all had a big impact on my wife and I as we often joke that we were born a few decades too late. My wife says "we're old souls" and I want to think she means that in a positive way.
My wife and I feel we have the memories and we were there for them in life and it is not necessary to jump in at this point, so we've stood back and been observers for the past while. My wife did ask if we could drive over and walk through their home last weekend along with our son and his family just to have one last look. It was awesome to hear my son tell his wife stories about the smells he remembered and the food all laid out around various holidays and special occasions. My son wanted to walk out back and look at the yard as he remembers his great-grandfather grilling during 4th of July bar-b-ques and birthday parties and how proud he was of his yard and garden. He remembered where he parked his truck and camper alongside the house and how pristine he kept it, he remembered the patio table next to the grill, all of which are gone now. He would roll over in his grave if he saw what has become of his home and yard now.
I remember driving down their street and all the homes were well cared for and they had some great neighbors that really took pride in their properties. These were long time neighbors who all moved to the area around early to mid-50's and raised their families together. In my wife's grandfather's yard there was never a blade of grass out of place, every inch of the sidewalk and patio were perfectly trimmed and edged and there wasn't a single weed in the garden. His car was parked in the one car garage which was also well organized and clean and his truck, camper and small fishing boat parked outside along the house were always clean and had coverings on all windows and tires. It was evident he really took care of what he had, even though it was older.
My wife spotted her grandmother's ironing board leaning against the wall and shared a memory of how often she saw her grandmother standing at that ironing board ironing clothes. She then said it was in much better condition than our ironing board and she asked if we could take it home and use it. I noticed that it seemed to be quite old, but still in excellent condition so we took it home so I could check it out. Upon first inspection I noticed it would not stay at the proper height and knowing absolutely nothing about ironing boards turned to Google to see if I could figure out how it worked. I found similar ones online being sold as "vintage" but nothing really showing the adjustment or latching mechanism. I finally found an old document that showed a primitive drawing which revealed to me that there must be a couple of parts missing.
My wife was saddened when she came home from work the other night and I informed her that I thought some parts were missing but I may have a plan after coming up empty handed during some searching.
Last night I dove in and fabricated the parts and was able to revive the ironing board and give it a chance at a second life. My wife and I both have a special place in our hearts for older, well-made things and I was happy to have been able to save this piece from her grandparent's home and my wife's childhood memory which will hopefully provide her with some joy while using it.
Sorry for the long introduction, but now the repair. Keep in mind I am all new to ironing board repair.
My wife said she would be fine if I just made it work at a "fixed" height, but I really wanted to make it adjustable like it was originally.
This truly does have some classic styling though with the swooping curved and chrome legs.
Upon closer inspection I could not piece together how it was supposed to work but I felt there were some parts missing. The release handle is present but it wasn't contacting anything.
I thought about some form of ratcheting mechanism with a saw cut detent, then thought about a sliding rod and a waffle plate to capture the rod. I actually think this is exactly how it was supposed to function after finding a rather crude drawing online. I began by cutting a small 1" x .750" x .125" plate that would fit into the small slit in the framework. I would drill a slightly oversized hole in the plate that with the help of a compression spring would provide the "bite" on the .250" rod.
A .250" rod slid through the holes. Now to figure out how to make them work together.
My first thought was to spot weld the washers onto the rod which would hold all of the components together and allow for adjustment.
But I then was hit with the thought of how I would fish the rod through the holes properly if everything was one piece. Next thought was to make the rod a separate component that would thread onto the other. For this I put the rod in the lathe and threaded about an inch of one end. During a mock up run, I noted that the waffle plate really didn't "bite" into the rod enough to hold it tightly, so while it was in the lathe I spun it slowly and ran a file down the length to add a small "groove" or spiral depression in the rod in which the plate could fixate on and hold it firmly at any height. Turns out this works perfectly.
Next was to machine a threaded end in which to thread the rod into.
To keep the alignment as close as possible to the crossbar, I clamped it in the mill vise and machined a radius in it that would allow the rod end to sit tightly down on the crossbar.
Coming along.
Stay tuned for last of the repair.
