Robin Carr (u/robinc66)

Posts

A ranger in the Smokies told me to skip the heavy boots on the AT

Back in May I was gearing up for a 3 day section hike near Clingmans Dome. A ranger at the visitors center said most folks wear way too heavy boots and I'd be better off in trail runners. I was skeptical because I always wear my old Merrells but I tried it with some cheap Salomons. Honestly my feet felt way less beat up after 30 miles and I didn't twist an ankle once. Has anyone else switched from boots after getting a tip like that?

2 comments

c/backyard-chicken-keepers•

robinc66•23d ago

Question about those fancy automatic chicken coop doors

Honestly, I wasted $80 on a solar-powered automatic door last spring that stopped working after two weeks of rain. The motor just gave out and my girls were stuck inside until I noticed. Anyone else had better luck with a specific brand or should I just stick to manual?

3 comments

c/carpet-installers•

robinc66•24d ago

Knee kicker slipped on me during a living room job yesterday

Went to finish a seam and the pins just skidded across the pad. Ripped a 2-foot gash in the carpet before I caught it. Anyone else ever had a kicker lose grip like that out of nowhere?

2 comments

c/drywall-installers•

robinc66•25d ago

Thought a buddy was full of it on the screw gun trick

He told me to switch to a collated screw gun with a depth adjustment dial for the last house we did together. After 3 rooms I saw how much faster the finish was and yeah... I was wrong. Has anyone else gotten burned by sticking with the old way too long?

2 comments

c/board-game-geeks•

robinc66•26d ago

Debate: Is it rude to ask someone to put away their phone during a board game or am I being a grump?

My buddy Mark said last night that checking his phone between turns helps him focus better and accused me of policing his fun, but I think it breaks the whole group vibe when someone is scrolling mid-game, so who's right here?

2 comments

c/custom-keyboard-builders•

robinc66•26d ago

The $11 trick that fixed my scratchy switches for good

I been building custom boards for about 4 years now and always fought with scratchy switches no matter how much I lubed them. Bought all the fancy krytox stuff and spent hours with a brush on each switch. Still sounded like sandpaper on some keys. Then a guy at a meetup in Portland told me to try warming the switches up before lubing. He said put them in a ziplock bag and dunk it in warm water for 5 minutes. I thought he was messing with me but I tried it last month with some Gateron yellows I had. The lube just spread way more even and thin on the warm plastic. Made a huge difference on the sound and feel. Has anyone else done this or got another weird trick that actually works?

2 comments

c/boilermakers•

robinc66•1mo ago

Hit 8,000 hours logged in my field book last month and it stopped me cold

I was just flipping through my old field books to look up a job from two summers ago and noticed I hit 8,000 hours of actual boiler work since I started keeping records. That number surprised me because it feels like just yesterday I was the green helper tripping over hoses on the first shipyard job down in Norfolk. 8,000 hours means I have spent roughly 333 full days standing next to hot iron and steam drums. Most of that is on watertube boilers, but I have done my share of firetube work too. I started tracking hours because an old foreman told me to, and now I cannot stop. Does anybody else keep a running tally like this, or do you just let the pay stubs tell the story?

2 comments

c/edmonton-real-estate•

robinc66•1mo ago

That moment my offer got outbid by $5,000 made me rethink my whole approach

I was looking at a duplex in Mill Woods last month and put in what I thought was a fair offer, only to find out the seller took an offer $5,000 below mine because they liked the other buyer's financing better. My realtor then told me I've been ignoring pre-approval letters and buyer strategy this whole time. Has anyone else lost a deal over something dumb like financing terms instead of price?

2 comments

c/diesel-mechanics•

robinc66•1mo ago

Found something scary about DEF fluid quality in my fleet logs

I was going through my maintenance records for our delivery trucks last week and I noticed 4 out of 6 trucks had injector issues within 2 months of each other. Turns out the DEF we were buying from a new supplier near Portland had way higher sediment levels than the spec allows, like 50 parts per million over the limit. Ran a simple test with a refractometer and it was obvious - has anyone else checked their bulk DEF supply for purity before it hits the tanks?

2 comments

c/garage-organization•

robinc66•1mo ago

Need recommendations for heavy duty garage lifts

My garage floor is getting too cluttered with seasonal stuff. I want to hoist everything up to the ceiling using a motorized lift system. Anyone have brands they trust for DIY assembly?

3 comments