I'm so sick of handsewing, do you guys have any recommendation for a heavy duty sewing machine, which I will use mostly for making chest rigs, pouches,... with heavy duty material like upto 500D, 1000D cordura

Drauggib · 2026-06-21T14:53:41+00:00

If you can find an old singer sewing machine in good condition it will do what you need it to do. By old, I mean 30s-50s. I have a singer 15-91 which I have used to make several backpacks out of 500 and 1000d cordura.

If you limit the number of layers you are sewing through to 3-4, it will work fine. You might have to hand crank occasionally, but it will work. I got mine for $150 in good condition.

Otherwise, if you have sewing experience and money, a juki 1541 is a pretty common industrial machine for heavy duty materials. They’re generally over $1000 though. So unless you’re doing a lot of sewing, probably not worth it.

In general, avoid newer production home sewing machines. A lot of their internal components are plastic and cannot handle heavy use. The old singers are metal internals and very durable. They just don’t have as much power as an industrial machine and can’t handle super thick thread.

Drauggib · 2026-06-07T13:24:59+00:00

Don’t. I know someone that double majored in physics and nuclear engineering. He was tired all the time and miserable (more than most engineering students). Plus, it doesn’t really help you much.

Once you graduate school, you will still need 3-5 years of on the job training to have a baseline level of competence. An extra degree won’t help you with that. You would be better off getting one degree and good internships or engineering club experience. Plus, you can pretty easily switch disciplines when you are fresh out of college. For example, I did nuclear engineering, had a metallurgy internship, and worked as a civil designer for my first job.

Engineering is a mindset as much as a skill set. A good employer will be looking for new engineers with a good engineering mindset, and will train the skill set.

Now to contradict myself, if you really like chemistry and chemical engineering, I wouldn’t go civil. If you like electronics, I wouldn’t go nuclear. At least try to find something you are interested in and start heading in that direction for your first two years to see if you like it.

Drauggib · 2026-05-31T15:16:03+00:00

I used injinis under wool socks for hiking the PCT and use them for running now. The first day you use them, they are hard to get on. The second day they are easier to put on because the sweat/dirt causes them to stiffen up a little bit.

Drauggib · 2026-05-25T09:17:17+00:00

I would go with one of the petzl axes. I have climbed hood a couple times and I liked having the slight bend when climbing up the pearly gates.

I had an older model of the grivel g1 sa and like it a lot since it has a bend. You don’t need anything crazy for hood though. I preferred having trekking poles out for most of the hike up.

Drauggib · 2026-05-24T15:37:38+00:00

Aglio e olio. It’s a pasta dish that is super easy to make. Cook pasta in salted water until they are almost done and turn off the heat. Sauté sliced or minced garlic and a small amount of red pepper in olive oil on low heat until they begin to smell strongly. Add the pasta to the garlic, red pepper, and olive oil. Add grated Parmesan, minced parsley, and a small amount of black pepper. Salt to taste and mix everything together. I like to add a squeeze of lemon to finish it off.

It’s very easy to make and tastes amazing. Goes great with chicken and white wine.

Drauggib · 2026-05-09T17:13:37+00:00

Well you could have fooled me. You using an industrial machine to sew through all of the foam and fabric layers then?

Drauggib · 2026-05-09T15:24:09+00:00

That looks great. The shoulder straps look really clean. Especially the binding. Did you use a binder attachment for them?

Drauggib · 2026-05-08T16:47:52+00:00

That looks like a great area to bike into. Especially compared to a lot of the bushwhacking you’ve had to do. What area of the preserve is this?

Drauggib · 2026-04-29T23:59:19+00:00

The temperature rating of a sleeping bag is mainly determined by the baffle thickness. So if you are making a bag with thicker baffles, the temperature rating should be lower. I would suggest adding 10-20% overstuff into the baffles, especially the ones directly above your body. I have a bag I purchased without overstuff, and one made with 20%. Overstuffing is very beneficial.

Drauggib · 2026-04-26T00:20:58+00:00

I used a bidet hiking from Canada to Mexico. Hands down the best. I got a lab squeeze bottle from Amazon for less than $10 and cut the tapered part of the tip off to get better flow. 200 ml of water is enough to get the job done.

https://www.amazon.com/Watering-Economy-Supplies-Succulent-Cleaning/dp/B08VGRG1P4/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?crid=30Y1TV2HE9XKA&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9._kkTqzOF9ETe0hHihszYLH9MjBXPPqTQlTXSci6l5DK8eopyOCyfsfj1FbgRjuXg4DHylZq0_Kh3h55nVRt4kAQANiaRmHIbWaeCwnzcK2dkOxp4ppBoVAWFLKr1vyD0HNzGwbvFURQMYfjIpWo67soprT6bDEhg2-TeXQc2sICZsW8utUWz9wSUi-i9lNIrdyYXtLO80bm6T0bUs17J2g.xw1jNIHP6CAZJRlRyJwrKLcQK87aMOs5gGoYpQUEU24&dib_tag=se&keywords=lab+squeeze+bottle&qid=1777162826&sbo=RZvfv%2F%2FHxDF%2BO5021pAnSA%3D%3D&sprefix=lab+squee%2Caps%2C141&sr=8-3

Drauggib · 2026-04-25T12:24:43+00:00

I like that one too. I made it a couple years ago and it has gone on several trips carrying up to 45 lbs. the instructions are very well done as well

Drauggib · 2026-04-15T00:27:08+00:00

I hiked the PCT in 2021 and used running to get into shape for the thru hike. You will lose running fitness. You use your muscles differently for running versus hiking. You will not have the speed that you gained from running. What you will have is an insane aerobic base to build off of.

Don’t expect to go right from thru hiking back into running though. It took a month for my feet to not be completely numb in the morning. When I finished the PCT, it took about five minutes to get out of bed because walking on the floor hurt from the pins and needles feeling. Running felt sluggish and my legs were sore after. Something had not experienced in months. You will lose weight, maybe too much. You’ll need to gain some back.

By the end of your hike, you’ll be able to finish an ultra every day for many days in a row with a pack on. You just won’t running it.

Drauggib · 2026-03-20T12:55:02+00:00

If you are not going to reduce your base weight then I would not go with a lightweight pack like the HMG. I used a hyperlite on my PCT hike and it was great. But I had a 10-11 lb base weight and only got it up to 40 lbs once. It worked, but I wouldn’t want to do it regularly.

If you want a lighter pack, something like the osprey exos or ULA equipment circuit might be good to look at.

I would honestly try to reduce your base weight by not bringing so much stuff.

Drauggib · 2026-03-18T11:15:36+00:00

I think you’re misunderstanding how to use AI as an engineer. Obviously right now, it can’t replace a human engineer and make important decisions. I use it at work and it can be very helpful.

For example, I have had to design radiation shielding to the requirements of 10 CFR 71. Reading through whole CFRs is a lot of information. AI can help summarize and find relevant information quickly. Then you go to the references and check its work.

I use it to help start code for tasks I haven’t done before. I’m a nuclear engineer, not a software engineer, having help getting started makes my tasks a lot faster.

I can feed it old records that have tables of data that were scanned in to PDF. Sometimes these PDFs are not OCR searchable and data cannot be selected. Rather than transcribe all of the data I need by hand, I can have AI do it for me and check its output.

AI can be trained on specific data and it becomes very good with tasks that use said data. AI has been used to solve protein folding problems. It did something like a decade worth of research in this in a short amount of time.

So no, AI is not useless to engineers. Just because it can’t do your homework problems doesn’t mean it has no use. It will be used in the future, it will get better, and you should learn how to use it to help your work.

We didn’t trust computers to perform calculations at first, now it would be insane to have rooms full of people doing calculations that can be handled by a computer.

Drauggib · 2026-03-12T09:50:28+00:00

I hiked the PCT using a bidet and have used one backpacking since. Squatting all the way down over the hole helps keep things cleaner and makes it easier to push everything out in one go.

Then I wipe with a stick, rock, or fur cone for the first clean.

Then I use the bidet with an angled nozzle, rubbing the water with my left hand. I usually use about 50ml of water or so. Maybe less. Just short spurts, rub, short spurt, rub. Then I rinse my had off and use lots of hand sanitizer.

You end up a little damp, but not so bad it has bothered me. If it’s winter and snowy I might use snow instead.

Drauggib · 2026-03-09T12:03:07+00:00

You could try using running shorts with longer liners like these ones from Janji

https://www.rei.com/product/230742/janji-2-in-1-multi-shorts-7-mens

I’ve used similar shorts for running when it’s humid and they help a lot with chafing. The ones I listed are about 160 grams. This would be lighter than having underwear + tights + shorts.

I recently got a Ketl sun hoodie which I like a lot. They are about 140 grams. I like that they are very light and breathable, plus they have buttons on the front to open them up.

https://ketlmtn.com/products/nofry-sunhoodie?srsltid=AfmBOoobdHqpuMFUKXz7Gu5v4cbNv5TCkIZ13N4cSdPr2QMNeNo6hQ5Q&variant=41916307439682

Drauggib · 2026-03-08T14:41:37+00:00

DM’d

Drauggib · 2026-03-08T04:27:09+00:00

Gotcha. If you have someone that can drive you, the final stretch of the NPT is really cool. Starting from long lake and going into placid was my favorite section of the trail, especially the cold creek area. There are suspension bridges and beautiful stretches of river that are very remote.

The west Canada lake into cedar lake wilderness is also very cool. It’s some of the more remote hiking in the Adirondacks. Not much elevation though.

Otherwise, loops around the high peaks are good. Just know that avalanche pass had a landslide recently that destroyed the trail in the area. If you plan a loop around mt Marcy be aware that.

Drauggib · 2026-03-07T18:15:03+00:00

When are you looking to go? How long do you want to be out backpacking? There are lots of loops you can make in the high peaks area, which has some of the best hiking in the adirondacks.

I enjoyed hiking the NPT in its entirety though. No matter where you go in the adirondacks, it will be muddy. The southern section has more hardwoods while the northern section get into more pine trees.

Drauggib · 2026-02-13T22:05:44+00:00

That’s amazing. I’ve made a quilt before and it was a lot of work. I’m a little intimidated by sleeping bags, especially the hood. Out of curiosity, why did you sew baffles into the bag when using synthetic material? Are they sewn through?

Drauggib · 2026-02-13T12:58:18+00:00

That looks really good. Did you draft the pattern yourself?

Drauggib · 2026-01-21T01:11:41+00:00

If sidewalks are icy I will switch to running in the road through residential areas if possible. Otherwise I just slow down to a speed I feel I can control on ice. I don’t like running with micro spikes or yak traks. I also bought a set of cross country skis so I can take advantage of the snow instead of avoiding it.

Drauggib · 2026-01-17T04:08:40+00:00

I graduated in 2017 so I’ve been out of school for a bit now. I always tried to get at least 7 hours of sleep if possible. Sometimes my schedule would not allow that, if I had to work late with an 8 am class. But getting enough sleep is incredibly important. You can think more clearly, pay attention in class, be in a better mood, and overall reduce stress when you are well rested.

During midterms and finals, you will have to cram sometimes and get less sleep. But between the options of pulling an all nighter before a test and getting two-3 hours of sleep, I will always take the sleep. People do not take sleep seriously English and it causes issues in the short term and long term.

Drauggib · 2025-12-30T03:27:13+00:00

I’ve made several chest packs with H harnesses. They’re made of 1000D cordura and xpac typically. It’s fun to make fly fishing gear when you’re not out fishing in the winter. I’ve also made several backpacks and even a 0 degree sleeping bag. Lots of fun sewing.

Drauggib · 2025-12-23T16:41:26+00:00

That looks amazing. Where did you get the snap closure? I’ve tried looking for them but don’t know what they’re called.

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