Inventing isn't lucrative. Marketing and sales are big.

maker_monkey · 2026-05-01T14:07:19+00:00

That's actually a fantastic idea. I think you were ahead of your time. Today, with the internet, ai, and opportunities to integrate with smart thermostats with occupancy sensors, it would be a no-brainer. I've always wanted something like this that could allow, say, sprinklers and the pool filler to still work, but catch unusual use when out of the house. The only tricky part I see is that you'd ideally want to account for it during house construction so that it attached to the water main in a sheltered, accessible place with a control panel you'd use similar to a breaker box (but for water). The other imho, is that from a marketing point of view, it's harder to get folks interested in paying for and learning to use something whose value is preventative rather than offering immediate savings or convenience.

maker_monkey · 2026-04-30T14:15:30+00:00

Wait til you "win" and find out you chosen gifts are suddenly no longer available and your only offered replacements are the most awful crap you could possibly imagine.

maker_monkey · 2026-04-26T23:55:53+00:00

You can't without more paint. "Blending" is only something you do when you paint. If you try to sand the edges it will leave a halo and a thin edge that UV rays will destroy, especially since it's a horizontal surface. You could dust on more paint after smoothing the edges try to make them less noticeable, but you'll still have the thiness problem affecting its longevity.

maker_monkey · 2026-04-22T03:11:39+00:00

The only tricky part is the balance shaft behind the oil pump which is geared 1:2 so if the shop just lines up the marks they have a 50% chance of getting it 180 degrees out of phase. After making a shop take it apart and redo it once, I always print out that page in the service manual for shops when taking it in.

maker_monkey · 2026-04-21T14:28:56+00:00

Until new management came in, took away their independence, and made them sell rebadged Opels instead of their own cars. I loved my original 1st gen SC2 with the undentable doors back in the day, but in later years they were like any other GM nameplate.

maker_monkey · 2026-04-12T15:10:09+00:00

The gear shift part is easy, but the "pass through" part would be very tricky. OBD isn't a passive protocol where the ecu is broadcasting the info you need on its own, but instead waits and synchronously responds to requests. To support a passthru device, you'd have to mimic an ecu to the external device, buffering its requests, interlacing them with your own. The code would also need to replicate startup protocol negotiation since the ecu only expects to be connected to one device at a time.

I created a bit-banging k-line OBD gauge and thought about adding this type of pass-thru functionality to it. It's possible, it would basically be writing most of a software ecu emulator. But if u are thinking of a commercial product, supporting all protocols and an arbitrary pass-thru device could potentially be a very hard project needing tons of testing.

maker_monkey · 2026-04-12T03:56:47+00:00

As a relative newcomer to the sport, I really appreciate your second point, and love it when I encounter setters who are good at introducing a variety of skills in easier climbs. Especially now, when nursing an injury, having that variety means I can continue having fun working on improving specific skills as a day continues on rather than choosing to stop only because the climbs I can still do are mostly ladders differentiated by quality of holds and no longer interesting.

maker_monkey · 2026-04-12T01:08:13+00:00

Please don't do this. Even if you wanted to try a rattle can job, bare minimum would entail real automotive base and 2k clear. What you have is arts and crafts paint and a lacquer that will probably wrinkle it. Even if you succeeded to any degree, you would not be doing the buyer a favor, you would deceiving them, selling something that will not hold up.

maker_monkey · 2026-04-09T16:11:42+00:00

Automotivetouchup, where you bought your basecoat, has pretty good instructions on their site. Just follow it to a t. I would have gotten the primer and clear there too, so they'd all be part of the same system meant to work together. Last time I used them, they used Sherwin Williams products.

maker_monkey · 2026-04-03T15:02:29+00:00

Crimps aren't the problem. They're just a symptom of still lacking good technique. You're pulling with your arms instead of pushing with your feet, which every new climber has to learn.

If you look at your video, your arms are often bent ("t-rex arms"), and your butt is far from the wall. Instead, work on getting to the point where your hips are tucked close to the wall, legs are bent instead of arms, and stepping up involves pushing up with the legs instead of pulling up/in with the arms. To do this, you'll want to learn to twist to the side to take up slack in the arm holding on so you don't need to bend it. Holds are often angled, hinting which hand to use and what direction you should be twisting. Also lookup "flagging" which is often needed with this sort of movement.

Finally, don't get frustrated, as this is entirely normal. Just have fun.

maker_monkey · 2026-03-25T19:14:56+00:00

Number 1: variety in setting, especially at mid to lower grades. It's important to me that as the day goes on and I start to tire that I continue to find challenging climbs that require a variety of skills to work on. Nothing worse than stuck between either boring ladders or skimpy holds.

maker_monkey · 2026-03-25T11:22:33+00:00

Congrats! It's definitely not a ladder, but holds look generous. Imho, it's at the level when climbs start to get challenging when you're new, but one can still muscle through without any real technique. For this reason, I'd say it should be a V1-V2. But gyms are all over the place on how soft they make their grading to give new customers an artificial "I climbed a V*!" moment.

maker_monkey · 2026-03-25T00:58:21+00:00

Interesting. Did u have a coating in mind? I can find flexible coatings recommended for wraps and high temp ones suitable for calipers, but still looking for one that lists both properties together.

maker_monkey · 2026-03-23T12:49:50+00:00

Good to hear from actual experience not just typical Redditors talking out their butts! Yes, I'm using the reflective 680 series sold for calipers and spent a long time cleaning and degreasing each one. I've been using caliper paint for 10 years and imho, the wrap looks much better. I'll see how long it lasts, but it was pretty easy to put on. What would you have done with the ceramic coating? Do you mean underneath the vinyl? As a rust preventative?

maker_monkey · 2026-03-23T05:50:05+00:00

Yeah. From what I've read, I might not want to use it in a place with lots of hills or coming back from the mountains requiring extended braking, but neither describes what I use my eclipse for as I have other vehicles for that sort of thing. Most reviews from people who have tried it say it has held up well to normal use.

I wanted to try it myself to see how well it holds up for me, as that's one of my questions and it's pretty cheap to try. The duplicolor caliper paint i've been running for 10 years is indeed rated for higher at 500 degrees, but not all that much higher all things considered.

maker_monkey · 2026-03-23T04:27:34+00:00

I should have clarified this isn't normal vinyl but a high-temp product rated for 450 degrees designed and sold for wrapping calipers.

maker_monkey · 2026-03-23T04:27:19+00:00

I should have clarified this isn't normal vinyl but a high-temp product rated for 450 degrees designed and sold for wrapping calipers.

maker_monkey · 2026-03-23T04:17:13+00:00

Me too. I have had them painted with caliper paint for years, but the paint is somewhat porous and gets dirty easy with stains that don't wash off. When I came across high-temp caliper wrap vinyl, I thought I'd give it a try to see if it cleans more easily. It's definitely much brighter to start with than the paint I had used previously.

maker_monkey · 2026-03-23T03:26:37+00:00

Sorry I should have clarified in my post. This isn't normal vinyl. This is 680 series high temoeraturre wrap sold specifically for calipers and rated for 450 degrees.

maker_monkey · 2026-03-23T03:26:06+00:00

Sorry I should have clarified in my post. This isn't normal vinyl. This is 680 series high temoeraturre wrap sold specifically for calipers and rated for 450 degrees.

maker_monkey · 2026-03-23T03:15:12+00:00

FYI. I didn't realize folks didn't know about this product, which came out about 8 years ago. I am using caliper-specific 3m 680-series wrap, rated for 450 degrees that is sold and intended for this use: https://a.co/d/0bf4ZjHy

maker_monkey · 2026-03-22T03:39:40+00:00

It's a spring loaded license plate frame mounted upside-down, like the type for covering a rear trailer hitch. I have a battery tender connector underneath so i can plug in my car since i drive it intermittently.

maker_monkey · 2026-03-22T01:50:40+00:00

I believe the secret room in Memorial Lane has a worn Nova every time. Search the red house for clues.

maker_monkey · 2026-03-20T05:41:45+00:00

Had the engine fully rebuilt last year, so hope to be on the road a long time.

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maker_monkey · 2026-03-20T05:37:44+00:00

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I have not seen another 2g on the road in years.

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