Home DIY

Advice sought;
What would you recommend to seal an mdf topped workbench covered in stickers?
I’ve been collecting these for a while so it’s been fun finally finding a destination to stick them.

Pre-stick I used an mdf sealer on the bench and had planned to use a clear ronseal varnish over the top of everything. After testing a sample area, it doesn’t seem to do what I want. I’ve read Shellac or epoxy might work....advice welcome.

1 Attachment

Grooves? I'm not helping am I?

I've just bought a 2 part extra tough satin acrylic varnish from Manns that might be what you want. I just couldn't deal with that on a workbench but it looks great as a thing.

Thanks @Airhead. Looks good. I might order a sample.
It is busy now but I’ll leave the other half of the bench clear for an area to ‘work’ from.

If you have any spare....?

Slowly slowly getting there. Took us 6 hours of fiddling with the IKEA rail to get 3 cabinets relatively straight and level.

1 Attachment

Or epoxy that would make it tough

Then you could turn it into a Craftypanda video and plague me with it on Facebook.

Put a dead tree inside it as well.

I would put a glass or acrylic sheet over it 🙂

I've just begun the painful process of undoing the ones i'd hung and 'levelled' only to find when installing the draws the whole run is leaning to the right - so the top is 3-5mm out from the bottom. Which is having a horrible impact on lining up the drawers.

Any tips? I think i'm ready to smash it to bits and cry

Don't your IKEA base cabinets sit on feet on the floor? The ones sold in Canada do.
The adjustable feet make it easy to level them.
I know the uppers hang from a rail.

How level is your floor?

Our lower unit came with the option to hang the back using just the front feet.
That's what we did and it worked fine.

I think we might have this too, I put a square inside and it is absolutely square. A spirit level on the side and it's not vertical but the top looks horizontal. I have no tips and honesty dont know if just being stupid or unreasonable with expectations of how straight they need to be

@davidual I'm sure they could but you can use the rail on the bottom ones. We almost didn't and still might get rid of it,but girlfriend was worried about it not being stable without it?

I thought that too but wasn't sure what kind of work goes on on the workbench.

Seems unlikely but I'll bear it in mind.

I think the rail is there to make the process easier - if you get that level then the rest should be i guess. Plus ikea's legs aren't exactly solid.

I'm a bit flummoxed by mine - the rail is level, the bottoms are level - but the sides are leaning so the cabinets are more like rhomboids.

Our floor is not level, which doesn't help, I'm hoping round two this evening after work may bring better results.

Trying to find this metal rail bracket thing in the picture for bike hooks to go into. Google failing me. Any ideas what it might be called?

https://www.jtmplumbing.co.uk/pipe-fittings-c433/slotted-channel-pipe-hanging-sytems-c342/jtm-pipeline-galvanised-steel-slotted-channel-click-into-listing-for-discounts-p10875/s41750?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=jtm-pipeline-slotted-channel-41-x-41-x-500mm-2-5mm-thick-size-slott-size-slotted-channel-41-x-41-x-500mm-2-5mm-thick-slch13&utm_campaign=product%2Blisting%2Bads&cid=GBP&gclid=Cj0KCQiAj9iBBhCJARIsAE9qRtB3majEoYTSVotI8fR9gXMNGkaZ9BLKtapl4KNwas3mKlhVGec8C4oaAietEALw_wcB

Thx!

rented house i'm in has a few rooms with dimmer switches, but the bulbs flicker like a bastard.
Is this likely to be a connection issue somewhere, or are not all bulbs created equal?
for what it's worth all the bulb fittings are bayonets.

Bulbs and dimmer switches need to be compatible. I looked into it at one point and quickly gave up. If you search this thread for dimmer you'll probably find some chat about it.

Are the bulbs LED? That usually causes issues when the dimmers haven't been changed to handle the lower load.

Looks like unistrut (which may be a brand name).

Bought a tool I've wanted for a long time. Rutlands on sale until midnight :-

https://www.rutlands.com/sp+premium-mitre-trimmer+R9600

Obviously useful for cleanly removing fingers of enemies.....

First check the bulbs are dimmable, it usually mentions in type so tiny somewhere on the box. Next work out how much draw the circuit has on it, i.e. 5w LED x 6 leds = 30w. If you feel brave look at the back of the dimmer switch module by safely removing the plate (do switch the power off to the circuit before you do that). There will be a range stated on the back of the module. As a tenant you will then know if you need to fit halogen, or complain to your landlord and have the dimmers changed to something like vpro.