Cameron Taylor (u/cameron426)

Posts

My neighbor laughed at my rain barrel idea, then the drought hit

Last summer my neighbor Bob told me collecting rainwater was a waste of time for our small yard. After 6 weeks with no rain in July-August, my garden survived on stored water while his tomatoes shriveled up. Has anyone else had luck with rain barrels in drier seasons?

2 comments

c/comic-book-fans•

cameron426•18h ago

Finally beat my pull list backlog after 4 months of letting it pile up

So I had this stack (like 27 issues) sitting on my nightstand since March. I kept saying I'd get to them, but work and life got in the way, you know? Then last weekend I committed to reading 5 issues a day, which felt manageable. I made it through by Tuesday night (with some coffee breaks, obviously). Now my nightstand is clear and I actually remembered why I loved these characters in the first place. Has anyone else ever let their pull list get that out of control, or was it just me?

2 comments

c/chefs•

cameron426•22h ago

I used to think the chef coat thing was just for looks. Then a dishie corrected me after 5 years.

I've been cooking since I was 19, worked my way up through a few kitchens in Portland. Always wore a beat-up t-shirt under my apron, figured the white coat was just for impressing customers or whatever. Then maybe 2 months ago, a dishie named Marcos who's been doing this for like 30 years just straight up asked me why my chef coat was hanging on the hook. I said I didn't want to get it dirty. He laughed and told me that's exactly why you wear it - it catches the grease splatters and sweat so your skin doesn't. Said his grandpa had skin cancer from 40 years of line cooking without one. Showed me these little burn scars on his forearms. Now I wear it every shift. Has anyone else had a random piece of advice from a dishwasher or prep cook that totally changed how you do something?

2 comments

c/barbers•

cameron426•12d ago

Shoutout to the barber in Charlotte who showed me a quick fix for a slipped clipper guard

I was mid-fade on a client when my 1.5 guard popped off and took a chunk... I grabbed my thinning shears to blend the line and finished with a razor for texture. Anyone have a better trick for when a guard fails mid-cut?

2 comments

c/boilermakers•

cameron426•15d ago

That one boiler tube that fought me for a whole shift

Had a job replacing a bent tube in a water tube boiler up in Toledo, and the old one just would not come out. We tried the usual tricks, heat, a good puller, even a slide hammer. What should have been a two-hour swap turned into an eight-hour fight. Finally got it by cutting a relief slot with a porta-band (carefully, you know) to break the scale seal. Anyone have a better method for a really stubborn tube that's just fused in there?

2 comments

c/chimney-sweeps•

cameron426•15d ago

My old boss told me to never trust a homeowner's 'just cleaned it last year' claim.

He said that in 2012, right after I found a huge nest blocking a flue they swore was clear. Tbh, I've pulled out enough debris from 'clean' chimneys in Denver to know he was dead right. How many times have you guys found a real mess after being told it was fine?

3 comments

c/cnc-operators•

cameron426•15d ago

Just realized my coolant mix was off after a weird finish on a batch of 6061 parts

I was running a job for 50 aluminum brackets at the shop in Springfield last Thursday. The surface finish on part 15 started looking hazy and rough, almost like it was galling. I checked the tool, feeds, and speeds first, but everything was set right. Then I dipped a refractometer in the sump and saw the concentration was way low, like 3%. I'd topped off the tank with straight water earlier by mistake. I shut it down, mixed in the proper coolant, and ran the rest of the batch fine after cleaning the machine. Has anyone else caught a coolant issue by the finish before the tool actually failed?

3 comments

c/ai-innovations•

cameron426•16d ago

Just lost $300 on a 'pre-trained' model that couldn't handle my data.

The sales page made it sound perfect for my project, but it was basically useless for anything specific. Has anyone found a good starting point for custom models that doesn't cost a fortune?

2 comments

c/bookbinders•

cameron426•18d ago

Vent: My old shop teacher's paste recipe versus the one from the Chicago workshop

Honestly, I used his wheat paste for years, but it always felt a bit weak on heavier book cloth. Tried the cooked methyl cellulose method from that Chicago workshop last month, and the difference in tack and clarity is huge. It just holds everything down so much cleaner without any lumps. Anyone else have a go-to adhesive they swear by for full cloth bindings?

2 comments

c/camera-repairers•

cameron426•21d ago

That moment you realize the tiny spring you just launched across the room is the only thing holding the shutter together

Happened yesterday with a Nikon FM2, and I spent 45 minutes on my hands and knees with a magnet. Anyone have a better method for chasing down those little demons?

3 comments

Recent Comments

4h ago

Wasted $180 on a fancy desoldering station that barely works better than my old bulb

@michael_bennett11 I heard EEVBlog guys say the same thing about hot air stations.

2d ago

The trick that saved my book club from falling apart

Three groups I've been in tried the rotating pick thing and it fell apart every time. The problem was always the same-some people just didn't care enough to pick a book they actually wanted to read, so they'd throw out a random title they'd heard of and nobody was excited about it. Then you'd get stuck with a dud for an entire month and couldn't even complain until after you slogged through it. @harper_owens, I get the appeal of having everyone feel heard, but in my experience forcing each person to have a turn just meant some picks felt phoned in and the group lost momentum. Maybe it works if everyone is super passionate about choosing, but for my groups the whole "no complaining until it's done" rule just bred quiet resentment instead.

3d ago

Stop using the WRONG oil in hydraulic elevator buffers

Funny enough, I actually heard a building engineer say once that the whole '32-weight buys you time in the cold' thing is a holdover from old manual hydraulic systems that didn't have the same viscosity needs as modern elevator buffers.

3d ago

Stop wasting hours on tutorials. Try building something broken on purpose.

Huh, "shortcut" is a strong word for that approach. I mean yeah debugging IS how you learn, but I don't think breaking stuff is some kind of magical cheat code, you know? It's just one way to do it.

5d ago

Update: My grocery bill in Phoenix went down by $40 a week

The store doesn't really matter.