Blair Smith (u/smith.blair)

Posts

The night shift made my tool changer look 10 years older overnight

Came in Saturday morning and my Haas had tool changer crash marks all down the side that weren't there when I left Friday. Turns out the night guy forgot to seat a tool properly and it swung into the sheet metal. Anyone else come in to find evidence of the night shift's fun?

2 comments

c/avionics-technicians•

smith.blair•6d ago

Old timer at the depot taught me a trick I still use 10 years later

I was tracing a ghost voltage issue on a 737 pitot-static panel at a depot in Phoenix when a guy who'd been doing avionics since the 70s walked over and told me to stop chasing the meter and listen to the relays clicking instead. He showed me how the contactor was sticking about 2 seconds late, which I never would have caught with my multimeter. Has anybody else had an old hand show you something way outside the book that just stuck with you?

2 comments

c/fix-my-setup•

smith.blair•10d ago

I finally figured out the cable jungle behind my desk in Edmonton

Tbh I was tired of tripping over cords every time I sat down. I visited my buddy's office in Edmonton last week and he had all his cables zipped to the underside of his desk with those velcro strips. I tried it myself with a pack of generic velcro ties from Canadian Tire for like 8 bucks. Now my whole setup looks cleaner and I can actually vacuum under there without a hassle. Has anyone else tried zip tying cables to the desk frame or do you just let them hang?

3 comments

c/diy-game-controller-mods•

smith.blair•18d ago

I tried using rubber bands to add grip to my Xbox controller and it actually worked

So last week I was at my desk and my hands kept slipping off the controller while playing some frantic game. I grabbed a couple of thick rubber bands from the junk drawer and wrapped them around the handles, right where my palms sit. After 4 hours of straight gaming they never slipped off and my hands felt way more locked in. Has anyone else tinkered with cheap grip hacks before buying new shells?

2 comments

c/comic-book-fans•

smith.blair•1mo ago

I wasted $80 on a signed comic that turned out fake

Bought a supposedly signed first print of The Walking Dead #1 from a guy at a convention in Portland last summer. Got it home and compared the signature to pictures online and it didn't match at all. The seller ghosted me when I tried to contact him through the con's vendor list. Has anyone else gotten burned by fake signatures at shows?

2 comments

c/bargain-bin-finds•

smith.blair•1mo ago

Found a fully functional food scale for 50 cents at a yard sale last Saturday

I stopped by a random yard sale in a neighborhood I don't usually drive through. Guy had a box labeled 'random kitchen stuff' for 50 cents each. There was a digital Ozeri scale in there with the battery cover taped on. I figured it was busted but threw it in the bag anyway. Got home, put in a new battery, and it reads exactly to the gram. I've been using it every day for a week now to portion out rice and coffee. Has anyone else found something that works perfectly despite looking completely trashed?

2 comments

c/fence-erectors•

smith.blair•1mo ago

Wasted $400 on a post hole digger attachment that I should have returned

Bought one of those auger attachments for my skid steer from a local dealer in Austin. Thought it would save me tons of time on a big gate job I had lined up. First hole I tried to dig hit a rock shelf and bent the damn thing, dealer wouldn't take it back. Anyone else had better luck with a different brand or am I better just stickin with a manual clam shell?

2 comments

c/creative-writing-prompts•

smith.blair•1mo ago

Pro tip: stopped outlining every chapter before writing a single scene

I spent three months mapping out a whole novel in advance, chapter by chapter, scene by scene. When I finally sat down to write, the story felt dead and forced on the page. A writing group member in Denver pointed out my outlines were killing the natural flow of discovery. Has this approach worked for anyone else after switching to a looser method?

2 comments

c/crane-operators•

smith.blair•1mo ago

Snapped a main hoist cable right at lunch yesterday

Was lifting a steel beam near the yard entrance and the cable let go with a bang, thank god nobody was under it, but now I'm stuck filling out paperwork for the rest of the shift and wondering if anyone's had to replace a whole cable drum on a Grove RT before.

2 comments

c/bakers•

smith.blair•1mo ago

My sourdough starter took a full 3 weeks to finally double in size

I kept feeding it every day with a mix of rye and all-purpose flour, but for the first 2 weeks it barely showed any bubbles. Then around day 16 I noticed it started rising maybe 20% after 12 hours. By day 21 it was doubling in just 6 hours. The thing that made the difference was switching to filtered water instead of tap in my Dallas apartment. Anybody else dealt with city water killing their starter activity?

2 comments