Piper Allen (u/the_piper)

Posts

Swapped out my basic soft brush set for a custom one last month

I used to paint everything with the default Procreate brushes. Looked flat, always. Then a friend sent me a 12-brush oil painter set from MaxPacks. Now I blend textures way faster, especially on skin tones. Anybody else ditch factory presets for something better?

3 comments

c/camera-repairers•

the_piper•8d ago

Tried cleaning a Pentax K1000 prism with Windex and got a foggy mess

Last week I had a K1000 come through with a dirty prism, so I figured I'd use regular Windex like I do on window glass. Big mistake. It left this weird cloudy film that I couldn't wipe off no matter how many times I tried. Turns out the coating on those old prisms is way more delicate than I thought. Had to order a specific optics cleaner and spend an extra 45 minutes buffing it out with microfiber. Lesson learned the hard way. Anyone else wreck a part by using the wrong cleaning solution?

3 comments

c/backyard-studios•

the_piper•11d ago

My drum track got RUINED by a bad ground loop mid-session

I was tracking drums in my backyard studio last Saturday around 2 PM, finally getting a good take on a song I've been working on for weeks. Everything sounded great through my headphones, but when I played it back on my monitors, there was this LOUD 60 Hz hum that totally buried the kick drum. I spent like 45 minutes unplugging every cable and isolating gear one by one. Turns out it was my cheap power strip daisy chained into an extension cord running from the house. I swapped it for a Furman power conditioner I got used for $60 off Craigslist, and the hum disappeared instantly. Has anyone else had major noise issues from their power setup in a detached shed or garage studio?

2 comments

c/ask-anything•

the_piper•12d ago

Spent $150 on a cheap laser level and it burned me bad

I bought a no-name laser level off Amazon for $150 thinking I was saving cash. First job in Houston, it was off by a quarter inch over 20 feet and I had to redo the whole layout. Took me an extra day and cost me way more in time than if I'd just got a decent brand. Has anyone else gotten stung by a bargain tool that just didn't hold up?

2 comments

c/agency-management•

the_piper•12d ago

Vent: A senior partner told me to fire 3 underperformers and I waited too long

Last spring our biggest retainer client started bleeding hours and I had a senior partner at a Denver agency mixer tell me to cut the 3 people on that account who just weren't pulling their weight. I thought I could coach them up and kept them for 2 more months. By June we lost the client entirely, about $12k a month in revenue. Now I realize I was being nice instead of smart and it cost us big time. Has anyone else held onto weak team members way longer than they should have?

2 comments

c/carpenters•

the_piper•14d ago

Framing nail count debate - 3,200 nails in a single house or am I just slow?

I finished up a small ranch house out in Bakersfield last month and tracked my nail usage for the first time. Came out to exactly 3,200 framing nails for the whole thing. That got me thinking about whether that number is normal or if I'm over-nailing every junction. Some guys at the lumber yard swear you should always double every stud to the top plate for sheer strength, but then you look at the code book and it just says minimum requirements. I had one old timer tell me he's never counted a single nail in 40 years and just goes by feel. But another guy in my crew logs everything down to the screw and says it saves him money in the long run. Is there a standard number per square foot that I'm missing, or does everyone just eyeball it and hope for the best? Has anyone else actually run the numbers on their last project?

3 comments

c/agency-management•

the_piper•14d ago

Client asked for a "rebrand" but meant a new font color

Had a call last week with a local coffee shop owner in Portland who said they wanted a full rebrand. I spent 3 days pulling together mood boards, competitor analysis, the whole deal. Get to the meeting and she just wanted to change the logo from dark brown to light brown. I charged her for the full package anyway since she didnt give me clear specs upfront. Has anyone else dealt with clients using fancy terms they dont actually understand?

2 comments

c/appliance-repairers•

the_piper•18d ago

Had a fridge compressor flash over on me in a crawlspace in Tacoma

Ngl I was knee deep in dust working on a 5 year old Samsung and the compressor just let out a bang and a puff of smoke. Scared me bad enough I started wearing safety glasses every single time I pop the back panel. Anyone else had one do that without warning?

2 comments

c/carpenters•

the_piper•18d ago

Pro tip: skip the pre-sanded finish on trim, I learned this the hard way

I used to swear by pre-sanded polyurethane for baseboards, but after 2 years my living room trim in Denver started peeling in patches where the humidity hits. Now I just hand-sand with 220 grit between coats of oil-based poly, and it's held up through three seasons without a single bubble. Has anyone else found pre-sanded stuff to fail over time?

2 comments

c/arborists•

the_piper•18d ago

That week in July when every removal turned into a nightmare

Had a stretch last summer where three straight jobs went sideways. First one was a big oak that had a cable I didn't see, nearly took my arm off. Then a pine dropped a widowmaker from 40 feet up, missed my climbing line by maybe 6 inches. By Friday I was so on edge I nearly turned down a simple limb pruning job. Anyone else have a week that made you think about quitting for a minute?

2 comments