Argos, mutter, grumble...

[The Medway Handyman]

Installed a couple of Argos items last week. When I say installed, I mean hung on the wall.

First was a large mirror. Two 'upside down keyhole' brackets with a recess behind them. Simple. Measure the distance between them, divide by 2, mark centre line on wall, draw horizontal line, drill 2 accurate holes.

This method of fixing is generally a PITA because you have to get the holes 100% spot on - there is no adjustment or 'play'.

Distance between fixing centres? 91.5cm. Divide by 2 = 47.75cm! FFS why not just make it 92 cm? Or 90cm?

Next practical joke by Argos - No:8 gauge/4mm screw (surely the most common screw size used?) won't fit the 'kin hole! I've been caught like this before so I tried it first. Had to use No:6 screws - great for a heavy mirror.

Next item was a coat rack with shelf above. Same 'upside down keyhole' brackets, same problems.

Got that on the wall, slight 'tug' to make sure its secure - and it came off in my hands.

The 'upside down keyhole' brackets were secured to the wooden coat rack with 2 x No:4 x 3/8" screws. To hold three coats FFS!

Replaced with some 'proper' screws & jobs a good 'un.

Do the idiots who design this s**te ever actually try fixing one to a wall?

Or is it all a plot to annoy handymen?

[Bob Eager]

. . .

Not to mention that the screws and plugs 'included' are always pathetic.

[Alan]

In message , The Medway Handyman wrote

3 off shelf brackets. I used one as the master to mark out the position of the holes to drill. On attempting to fix the brackets I then found that each had the holes in a different place!

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Because it's actually an imperial dimension? 36 inches?

[Tim Streater]

Try 45.75cm, Our Dave.

And yes, that is 36.02", so a yard, within measurement error.

[Ian Jackson]

In message , Alan writes

I helped my son put up his large-ish bathroom mirror. The kit had a thoughtfully-included template for marking the positions of the fixing holes. Unfortunately, the dimensions were about 3/8" wrong - not quite close enough to use the holes we'd so carefully drilled in the wall, and not quite far enough away to drill a new ones.

[Unbeliever]

Nothing new here, he usually makes bloody great mountains out of molehills.

That's the problem with TMH bragging about his 'professional' work, he makes himself look rather dim as it usually turns out that the 'amateurs' here usually know more than he does.

[ARWadsworth]

I wondered when you would make a post:-)

[Bob Eager]

His jealousy never abates.

[Brian Gaff]

This sounds very similar to toothbrush holesmanship as written by Frank Muir for Peter Sellers in Balham. The little holes are put in manually, or in other words twice a year.

I must have had a CD rack from CPC made by the same bloke as your brackets, as the left side cheek had holes for the rods that went at the back, the right side did not. Brian

[geoff]

More a matter of missing the bleeding obvious - as we are all wont to do at times

[Chris Holford]

In article , The Medway Handyman writes snip

91.5/2 = ????

[dennis]

Its OK he uses cranked screws.

[ss]

I did one a couple of years back for my son, a big heavy mirror took 2 to lift it. The recessed holes on the back of the mirror couldnt be marked out on the wall and there was no template and no room for adjustment, so accurate measuring called for but with the weight of the thing we had to go into the brick behind the plasterboard, even then I wasnt sure it would hold up. I think I checked my measurements about 10 times. Previous posters are spot on, they need to make the fixing of these items user friendly.

[The Medway Handyman]

Sorry, typo. Actual measurements were spot on :-)

But you highlight the point nicely, much less chance of user error if the fixing centres were directly divisible by 2.

[The Medway Handyman]

We went metric in 1973 :-)

[charles]

so. You still buy measuring tapes in feet/inches as well as meters - and our american cousins still use inches.

[PeterC]

Never! - he's a married man.

[Owain]

I went back to imperial in 1985 :-)

Owain

[Man at B&Q]

How do you think that would help?

92.00 or 90.00 are the same precision as 47.75 and no more difficult for someone who knows what they are doing to measure and mark out accurately.

Only certain ines.

MBQ