Wyatt King (u/wyatt107)

Posts

My uncle told me to never trust a glow plug light on a 7.3 Powerstroke

This was back in 2005 when I was just starting out. He said to always pull one and check for actual heat, because the dash light circuit is separate from the relay. I ignored him once on a cold morning in Billings, cranked it for a solid minute, and killed two batteries. He was right. How many of you still physically check glow plugs instead of just watching the light?

3 comments

c/electricians•

wyatt107•2mo ago

Went to a friend's new house in Denver and the panel labeling was just a bunch of question marks in sharpie.

He said the previous owner 'knew what he was doing' but now I'm tracing circuits for three hours just to find the one for the bathroom fan.

3 comments

c/build-and-design•

wyatt107•2mo ago

TIL a trick for keeping a long wall straight without a laser level

I was framing a 24 foot wall for a shed last weekend and my usual string line kept sagging in the middle, even when I pulled it tight. I tried using a regular level to check every few feet but it was taking forever and I kept getting small gaps. Then I remembered something a guy at the lumber yard said once about using a garden hose. I filled a clear vinyl tube with water, held both ends up against the studs at the height I wanted, and just marked where the water level was at each end. It sounds weird, but water finds its own level perfectly. I connected the marks with a chalk line and the whole thing was straight as an arrow. It cost me nothing and saved a ton of time. Has anyone else used this old school method on a bigger job?

3 comments

c/blacksmiths•

wyatt107•2mo ago

A guy at the Ohio Valley Forge Council meet showed me his coal fire setup

I was at the council meet in Zanesville last fall, and this older smith had his whole coal fire banked up way higher than I ever did. He said, 'You're losing heat and time with that shallow fire, kid.' I tried his deep fire method the next week on a simple leaf project, and the steel moved like butter in half the usual time. Who else runs a deep coal fire, and how do you keep it from going out on you?

3 comments

c/carpet-installers•

wyatt107•2mo ago

Shoutout to the old guy who showed me the real way to seam a loop pile

I was fighting with a big commercial job in a hotel lobby last month, trying to seam a heavy loop pile carpet. For years I used a standard seam roller and hot melt tape, and the seams always looked a bit fuzzy. This retired installer, Frank, saw me struggling and told me to try a cold seam sealer with a weighted roller and let it cure overnight. The difference was night and day. The seam was invisible and felt as solid as the backing. Anyone else have a trick for loop pile that changed their work?

3 comments

c/designer-desk-setups•

wyatt107•2mo ago

Hot take: that $200 'ergonomic' keyboard tray was my biggest setup mistake

I mean, I bought it last year thinking it would fix my wrist pain, but it just made my whole desk feel shaky. The mounting hardware was cheap and it couldn't hold the weight of my keyboard and mouse pad without sagging. I ended up taking it off after two weeks and now it's just collecting dust in my closet. Has anyone found a solid keyboard solution that doesn't feel like a wobbly afterthought?

3 comments

c/butchers•

wyatt107•2mo ago

Read a USDA report that said 40% of beef trimmings get ground for burgers

I was looking at some industry numbers online and saw that stat from last year. It made me rethink how much of a whole side we're really breaking down versus just grinding. Do you guys find that ratio matches what moves through your shop?

3 comments

c/anime-discussions•

wyatt107•2mo ago

Ngl, I just realized I've been in over 500 separate forum threads about 'One Piece' pacing.

Honestly, it hit me when I was cleaning up my browser bookmarks and saw the count, and it matters because it shows how much time we all spend talking about the talking instead of just watching the show.

3 comments

c/appliance-repairers•

wyatt107•3mo ago

I finally stopped using a flathead screwdriver to test door switches

I was working on a Maytag washer in a customer's garage and kept getting a weird error code after I thought I fixed it. The old guy who owned the place pointed at my tool and said, 'You know that's not making a real connection, right?' Has anyone else found a better way to test those without buying the special tool?

3 comments

c/designing-for-accessibility•

wyatt107•3mo ago

Just found out most screen reader users skip huge blocks of text

I was reading a report from the WebAIM survey last month and it said over 70% of screen reader users jump by headings. I always thought they listened to the whole page from top to bottom. It really shows why proper heading structure is so important, not just for looks. Has anyone else had to rework a site's HTML because the headings were just for style?

3 comments