Victor Carter (u/victor_carter51)

Posts

Shoutout to that little salon in Portland that fixed my shears for free

Stopped by a random shop called Shear Magic on my way to a client last week and the owner sharpened my thinning shears on the spot, no charge, has anyone else found a place that goes that extra mile?

2 comments

c/diy-game-controller-mods•

victor_carter51•6d ago

Pro tip: Fix sticky shoulder buttons without taking the whole controller apart

I was playing Halo last Saturday and my right bumper started sticking halfway through a match. Instead of unscrewing the whole shell like I usually do, I tried dripping a tiny bit of 91% isopropyl alcohol right into the gap near the button. Let it sit for 2 minutes while I mashed the button a few times, then blew it out with canned air. Worked perfectly and saved me like 15 minutes of disassembly. Has anyone else tried this trick or got a better method for cleaning those stubborn buttons?

2 comments

c/appliance-repairers•

victor_carter51•13d ago

Had to pick between fixing a crusty old dryer or telling the customer it's done

Went with fixing it cause the lady had three kids and no car. Managed to patch the drum with a used part from my junk pile and it ran fine.

2 comments

c/fix-it-yourself•

victor_carter51•15d ago

Old timer told me to use a speed square for rafters, I called him crazy

I was building a small shed roof in my backyard in Phoenix about 2 years ago. This retired carpenter walked by and said ditch the fancy angle finder, just use a speed square for the birds mouth cuts. I told him that thing was for basic cuts not rafters. After fighting with my digital angle finder for an hour and getting it wrong, I grabbed his speed square and had both rafters cut perfect in 20 minutes. Has anyone else found that old school methods actually beat modern tools for certain jobs?

3 comments

-1

c/digital-nomad-life•

victor_carter51•15d ago

My portable monitor died mid-flight presentation in Bangkok last week

Had a client waiting on a screen share from the airport lounge and the whole thing went black, so I had to finish the pitch using just my phone hotspot and a napkin sketch, has anyone found a reliable backup screen that actually survives airline carry-on abuse?

2 comments

c/budget-friendly-meals•

victor_carter51•19d ago

Talking with my neighbor about meal prepping really made me stop and think

I ran into Mrs. Garcia from down the street last weekend. She mentioned she feeds her family of four on about $50 a week by using just a few core ingredients like rice, beans, and whatever veg is on sale. She said "I stop buying stuff that only fits one meal and start buying stuff that fits five meals." It hit different because I've been wasting money on specialty sauces and single-use items that just sit in the fridge. Has anyone else tried shifting to a pantry-first kind of cooking instead of planning around recipes?

2 comments

c/archaeology-discoveries•

victor_carter51•21d ago

Rant: I just blew $300 on a 'guaranteed' Roman coin that turned out to be a modern cast replica from a sketchy online auction.

Has anyone else gotten burned by those too-good-to-be-true artifact listings, and what's a legit site you'd trust for something like that?

2 comments

c/general-home-advice•

victor_carter51•22d ago

Remembering the week my dad taught me to fix a leaky faucet

It was spring break when I was maybe 14, and our kitchen faucet started dripping non-stop. My dad, who usually just called a plumber, decided we should fix it ourselves. We spent a whole afternoon at the hardware store in Spokane getting the right washers and a cheap basin wrench. Back home, we turned off the water under the sink and took the whole thing apart, with him explaining each step. I remember the feeling when we put it back together, turned the water on, and the drip was gone. That was over twenty years ago, but I still use that same basin wrench for small jobs. It makes me think, do you have an old tool from a family member that you still use for home fixes?

2 comments

c/glaziers•

victor_carter51•22d ago

Cutting down on waste on a big Reno job with a simple layout trick

We had a commercial job in Reno with over 50 custom tempered lites, and the waste from the cutting patterns was killing our margin. My lead, Frank, suggested we lay out all the digital templates on the cutting table software first, then manually rotate a few by 15 degrees to nest them better. We saved almost 12 sheets of glass across the whole project. Anyone else have a go-to method for optimizing material use on big orders?

2 comments

c/drafters•

victor_carter51•23d ago

Watching my kid build with Legos made me rethink my approach to layers

I was helping my son put together a Lego fire truck, the one with about 450 pieces. He kept trying to add the ladder before the base of the truck was solid, and it kept falling apart. It hit me that I do the same thing in AutoCAD sometimes, adding details on a layer before the base geometry is locked down. Now I make sure my foundation layers are 100% set before I even think about notes or dimensions. How do you guys order your layer workflow to avoid that kind of mess?

2 comments

Posts

Shoutout to that little salon in Portland that fixed my shears for free

Pro tip: Fix sticky shoulder buttons without taking the whole controller apart

Had to pick between fixing a crusty old dryer or telling the customer it's done

Old timer told me to use a speed square for rafters, I called him crazy

My portable monitor died mid-flight presentation in Bangkok last week

Talking with my neighbor about meal prepping really made me stop and think

Rant: I just blew $300 on a 'guaranteed' Roman coin that turned out to be a modern cast replica from a sketchy online auction.

Remembering the week my dad taught me to fix a leaky faucet

Cutting down on waste on a big Reno job with a simple layout trick

Watching my kid build with Legos made me rethink my approach to layers

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