Noah Wood (u/noahw53)

Posts

The domino shelf pin jig is a total waste of money

I keep seeing everyone rave about those expensive metal domino shelf pin jigs, but I tried one on a job in Phoenix last month and it was a headache. The spacing was off by half a millimeter on the third row, and I spent an hour shimming the whole thing. I went back to my old method of using a plywood template I made from scrap and a self-centering drill bit. It took me maybe 20 minutes to cut 60 holes across four cabinet sides, and every single pin lined up perfect. I think people get sucked into the fancy tool hype without testing the simple stuff first. Has anyone else had a better experience with a basic homemade jig?

2 comments

c/crane-operators•

noahw53•4d ago

Old hand on site showed me a trick with a broom handle yesterday

I was running a tower crane on a job in Austin last week, and this guy who's been in the game for 40 years walked up and pointed out how I was holding my tag line wrong. He grabbed a broom handle from the cleanup crew, tied a knot in it, and showed me a way to keep the load from spinning without fighting it. Anyone else ever get a tip from a seasoned operator that just stuck with you?

2 comments

c/camera-repairers•

noahw53•5d ago

Rant: that guy who asked me to "just clean the sensor" then watched me the whole time

Had a customer bring in a Nikon D750 last month. Said it had dust spots. I quoted him $45 for a sensor clean. He stood there in my shop. Staring. Arms crossed. Asked if I used a wet or dry method. I explained it. Then he said "show me." Like I'm a circus act. I did it anyway. Took about 10 minutes. He nodded and left. Never paid. Said he'd "learned enough." Has anyone else had people treat your work like a free tutorial?

2 comments

c/ecommerce-reselling•

noahw53•6d ago

Had a weird run-in with a seller at the Rose Bowl Flea Market last weekend

I was looking through a pile of vintage band tees and this older guy comes up and says "you're gonna flip those on Depop for triple, right?" He wasn't mad, just kinda calling me out. I told him yeah basically, and he laughed and said he does the same thing with vinyl records. It stuck with me because he was so chill about knowing the game. Has anyone else had a seller just openly acknowledge you're a reseller like that?

2 comments

c/bicycle-mechanics•

noahw53•8d ago

Had a customer roast my spoke tension last month and I'm still thinking about it

This guy comes in with a mountain bike he built himself and asks me to true his rear wheel. I check it and tell him it's fine, maybe a tiny wobble. He grabs my spoke wrench and shows me how every other spoke is way different tension by just squeezing them. I'd been building wheels for 3 years doing it by feel and ear. He had me check with a tensiometer and I was off by like 20% on half the spokes. Now I use the meter every time, feels slower but the wheels come out way better. Has anyone else had someone call them out on a basic thing they thought they had nailed?

3 comments

c/bookbinders•

noahw53•15d ago

Last Tuesday my glue pot exploded all over a nearly finished project

I was about 30 minutes from done with a rebind of a 1960s cookbook I'd been working on for 3 weeks. The PVA was way too hot and I didn't notice until it splattered across the bookcloth and my workbench. Wasted about $40 in materials including the book itself. The worst part was the cleanup took 4 hours because it got into my brush handles and the little cracks in my pressing board. Has anyone else had glue just go rogue on them like that?

2 comments

c/climate-action•

noahw53•15d ago

Hit 500 pounds of food waste diverted last month

I've been composting for about 8 months now in my apartment in Portland. Last month I weighed everything I threw in the bin and hit 500 pounds total since I started. That's a quarter ton of food scraps that didn't go to a landfill and turn into methane. Has anyone else tracked their waste like this and been surprised by the number?

2 comments

c/cnc-operators•

noahw53•22d ago

Lost a $400 aluminum job because I skipped the test pass

Last month I got a rush order for a aerospace part out of 6061, customer needed it by Friday. I was in a hurry and decided to skip my usual dry run to save time, just loaded the program and hit cycle start. About halfway through the roughing pass I heard that awful grinding sound and realized my tool offset was wrong by 0.015. Scrapped the whole piece, had to eat the material cost and redo it overnight. Now I always run a quick test pass even if I'm behind schedule, it just saves me from making the same dumb mistake twice. Has anyone else ruined a job because you felt rushed and skipped a step you normally do?

2 comments

c/carpet-installers•

noahw53•22d ago

Hit my 10,000th seam roll this morning and had to stop for a second

I counted up my rolls from the last 8 years and realized Ive stretched over 10,000 seams without one failing yet, any of you guys track your own numbers like that?

2 comments

c/diesel-mechanics•

noahw53•24d ago

Finally got through a full week without a comeback job

Had a streak of 6 months where every single truck I touched needed a second trip to fix something small I missed. This week I did 4 full injector swaps and a turbo replacement on a 2015 Freightliner and not one call back. Anyone else have those periods where you just cant catch a break?

3 comments

Posts

The domino shelf pin jig is a total waste of money

Old hand on site showed me a trick with a broom handle yesterday

Rant: that guy who asked me to "just clean the sensor" then watched me the whole time

Had a weird run-in with a seller at the Rose Bowl Flea Market last weekend

Had a customer roast my spoke tension last month and I'm still thinking about it

Last Tuesday my glue pot exploded all over a nearly finished project

Hit 500 pounds of food waste diverted last month

Lost a $400 aluminum job because I skipped the test pass

Hit my 10,000th seam roll this morning and had to stop for a second

Finally got through a full week without a comeback job

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