Nathan Burns (u/nathanb71)

Posts

A guy at the star party in Flagstaff said my camera settings were washing out the Milky Way.

I was at the Nightfall Star Party last month, trying to get a shot of the core with my Canon R6. This older guy with a huge Dobsonian telescope walked over and just said, 'You're blowing out the highlights, kid.' He showed me on my own screen how my 30-second exposure at ISO 6400 was turning the dust lanes into a white blob. He had me drop to ISO 1600 and take a 90-second shot instead. The difference in the raw file was insane. Has anyone else had a simple tip completely change their astro processing?

2 comments

c/everyday-tech-hacks•

nathanb71•16d ago

Can we talk about how a smart plug fixed my printer for good?

My brother-in-law was over last month and saw my old printer flashing an error light, and he just said, 'You know, those things just need a hard reset sometimes.' I plugged it into a smart plug I had lying around, set it to turn off for a minute every night at 2 AM, and it hasn't given me a single error since. Has anyone else tried this with other finicky gadgets?

2 comments

c/boilermakers•

nathanb71•17d ago

Overheard a welder at the supply house say he never uses a grinder on his root passes

I was picking up some 7018 rods at the local Airgas yesterday and this old timer was telling the counter guy his method. He said, 'If you get it right the first time, you don't need to grind it, just wire brush and go.' I've always been taught to grind everything smooth. It made me think maybe I'm overworking some joints. Has anyone else tried skipping the grinder on roots for pressure work?

2 comments

c/commercial-divers•

nathanb71•19d ago

Tried a different way to keep my comms cable from snagging on a pier job

Working under a busy marina dock last month, my surface comms line kept getting caught on every barnacle-crusted piling. After the third time I had to surface to free it, I was losing my mind and daylight. I grabbed a cheap pool noodle from a nearby store, cut a slit down its length, and wrapped about 15 feet of the cable in it. It floated the line just enough to keep it off the structure. Finished the inspection in one go after that. Anyone have a better method for dealing with lines in heavy overhead clutter?

2 comments

c/canadian-housing-chat•

nathanb71•21d ago

Back in 2018, I had to pick between a condo in Hamilton or a townhouse in Burlington.

The condo was newer and cheaper at $425k, but the townhouse had a small yard for our dog. We went with the townhouse, even though it stretched our budget. Looking at prices now, that extra $75k we spent feels like a bargain compared to today's market. Anyone else make a tough call like that a few years back and feel weirdly lucky about it now?

2 comments

c/concrete-finishers•

nathanb71•25d ago

Remember when we'd just hose down a slab to keep it from cracking?

Had a big driveway pour in July last year where it hit 95 degrees. The old timer I worked for years ago always said to just wet it a lot, but that was making a mess and cooling it too fast. I tried spraying a light fog with a garden sprayer and then covering it with plastic sheeting right away, just like the book says but I never did. It kept the water in way better and stopped those surface cracks. What's your go-to method for a hot day pour now?

3 comments

c/carpet-installers•

nathanb71•26d ago

Had a weird moment last week with a seam in a sunroom

I was finishing up a job in a big old house in Tacoma, laying this patterned wool in a sunroom with huge windows. The light hit a seam I'd just made at about 3 PM, and for a second it looked like a perfect line, but then the whole pattern shifted and it just vanished. It made me realize I've been judging my seams in shop light for 20 years, not in the room's real light. How do you guys check your work in different light before you call it done?

2 comments

c/appliance-repairers•

nathanb71•27d ago

Finally got a handle on those new Samsung ice maker calls

This past week felt like a real win after months of getting beat up by the same problem. I must have had six calls for Samsung fridges making a loud grinding noise and no ice. Every time before, I'd replace the whole ice maker unit, and two months later the customer would call back with the same issue. On Tuesday, a guy in the Brookfield area showed me his fridge and I decided to really dig in. I pulled the ice maker out and found the little plastic gear that drives the ejector arm was completely stripped, but the motor was fine. Instead of the whole $180 part, I found a repair kit online for $22 that was just the gear and a new arm. Put it in, tested it for a full cycle, and it worked perfectly. I've done three more like that since and saved those folks a ton of money. Has anyone else tried these specific gear kits, and do they seem to hold up over time?

3 comments

c/furniture-finishers•

nathanb71•27d ago

Vent: My uncle swore by using a heat gun to strip old varnish

My uncle, who did this for 30 years, always told me a heat gun was the only way to strip old varnish without hurting the wood. He said chemical strippers were for people who didn't know better. So I tried it on a 1920s oak dresser I was fixing up. I spent a whole afternoon on it, and it worked, but it was so slow and I kept scorching the wood in spots. I had to sand those marks out forever. Last month, I got a good modern stripper, the kind that gels, and it took the varnish off a similar piece in about 20 minutes with no burns. I feel like I wasted so much time. Has anyone else moved away from the heat gun method for certain jobs?

2 comments

c/foundry-workers•

nathanb71•27d ago

Rant: The old foreman at the Trenton plant told me to 'just pour it hotter' when I flagged a cold shut.

I argued the mold temp was the real issue, and he just walked off. Anyone else run into guys who think heat fixes every flow problem?

3 comments

Posts

A guy at the star party in Flagstaff said my camera settings were washing out the Milky Way.

Can we talk about how a smart plug fixed my printer for good?

Overheard a welder at the supply house say he never uses a grinder on his root passes

Tried a different way to keep my comms cable from snagging on a pier job

Back in 2018, I had to pick between a condo in Hamilton or a townhouse in Burlington.

Remember when we'd just hose down a slab to keep it from cracking?

Had a weird moment last week with a seam in a sunroom

Finally got a handle on those new Samsung ice maker calls

Vent: My uncle swore by using a heat gun to strip old varnish

Rant: The old foreman at the Trenton plant told me to 'just pour it hotter' when I flagged a cold shut.

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