Jessica Walker (u/jessicaw11)

Posts

Fellow collector called out my bagging method at a con last month

I used to always tape the flap of my comic bags down the middle, right over the barcode. This guy at Heroes Con in Charlotte pointed out that makes it a pain for shop owners to scan. Switched to taping the flap on the back side of the bag and it stays shut just as well. Anyone else make that switch or have another trick for keeping bags sealed without messing up the cover?

1 comments

c/blank-wall-art-fixes•

jessicaw11•3d ago

Tried washi tape borders versus actual cheap frames for my kitchen wall

I have this weird empty spot between my cabinets and counter in my apartment near downtown Austin. Last month I spent like $12 on a bunch of washi tape and made these geometric border designs around a few posters I had. Looked okay for about a week but the tape started peeling off near the stove from the heat and grease. Then I found some plain black 8x10 frames at the Dollar Tree for $1.25 each and threw in some old postcards I had laying around. The difference is night and day honestly. The frames give everything a clean finished look and they don't move at all. Plus I can swap out the art whenever I get bored without wrecking the wall. Has anyone else tried combining both approaches like tape around a frame or something?

2 comments

c/cnc-operators•

jessicaw11•17d ago

Just realized I've been tramming my vise wrong for 8 years

An old timer at a shop I temped at in Detroit caught me setting up a job and asked why my indicator was off center. He showed me a trick where you sweep the fixed jaw face first instead of the parallels. Said I was chasing the wrong zero the whole time. Anybody else have a basic setup habit they had to unlearn?

2 comments

c/analog-photo-share•

jessicaw11•20d ago

My Canon AE-1 shutter jammed mid-roll at a wedding last Sunday

I was shooting my buddy's backyard wedding with my Canon AE-1, the one I've used for years without issues. Everything was going fine until I went to advance the film after the cake cutting and the lever just STOPPED. Wouldn't budge at all. I tried winding it back and forth gently but nothing. Had to pack up my gear and tell the couple I'd scan the shots from the first half. Got home and opened it up in my bathroom dark closet. Turns out a little piece of the shutter mechanism called the magnet catch had broken off. I ordered a used replacement part online for $12 and spent two evenings fixing it with a tiny screwdriver. Has anyone else had a shutter fail on them at a bad time? How did you handle it?

2 comments

c/drafters•

jessicaw11•21d ago

Thought the whole 'paste vs liquid flux' thing was overblown... until my joints started balling up

I was always a liquid flux guy, figured paste was just extra mess for no reason. But last Tuesday I was soldering some tight connections on a control panel and kept getting cold joints. A buddy at the shop handed me his tacky flux paste and told me to try it. First joint with it flowed perfect, no bridging, no cleanup issues. I mean, I still hate the goopy texture but I can't argue with results. Has anyone else had a tool or hack they ignored for years that finally won them over?

2 comments

c/avionics-technicians•

jessicaw11•22d ago

Got chewed out by a senior tech for not checking pin continuity first

I was working on a King Air 300 nav antenna swap last Tuesday and just went ahead and crimped new connectors on the coax. The senior tech came over, saw what I did, and said 'you better check that coax for shorts before you button it up.' I pulled out my DMM and found a dead short on the center pin to shield. If I had installed it like that, the nav receiver would have been seeing a bad mismatch. Now I always continuity test every coax before I even think about terminating it. Has anyone else learned a similar lesson the hard way?

2 comments

c/carpet-installers•

jessicaw11•26d ago

Warning: that power stretcher adjustment trick backfired on me

I saw a guy on YouTube say you can set your power stretcher head to a 45 degree angle for tighter corners. Tried it on a bedroom install in Toledo last week and it left a weird ripple along the baseboard. Had to pull the whole section and re-do it. Anybody else had trouble with that angled head trick?

2 comments

c/botany-lovers•

jessicaw11•1mo ago

My Monstera almost murdered me at 2 AM last night

So I repotted this giant monstera in my apartment in Chicago around midnight because I couldn't sleep. I had the thing tilted sideways on my coffee table and the pot slipped right off, sending a cascade of potting soil and roots everywhere across my rug. Took me until 3:30 AM to sweep it all up, and now there's dirt caked into the fibers that I can't get out. Has anyone else had a plant project totally blow up in their face like this?

3 comments

c/career-advice•

jessicaw11•1mo ago

Found out 73% of job postings use AI to screen resumes before a human ever sees them

I stumbled on this stat from a 2024 LinkedIn survey while researching why my last 40 applications got zero replies, and now I'm wondering if I need to rewrite everything to get past the bots has anyone else dealt with this?

2 comments

c/auto-mechanics•

jessicaw11•1mo ago

I stopped using a torque wrench on lug nuts and it's been fine for 3 years now

I know everyone says you gotta torque every lug nut to spec, but after my 2002 Tacoma stripped 2 studs on the front driver side last winter, I just started using a regular breaker bar with a firm arm feel. I tighten them like I would with a wrench on an engine bolt, just snug with no extra muscle. Hasn't backed off once, no warped rotors, nothing. I do check them with a torque wrench every 6 months and they're usually in the 85-90 ft-lb range anyway. Am I the only one who thinks the whole torque spec thing is overkill for daily drivers?

3 comments