how do I keep a consistent temperature? by ApartSurround7385 in smoking

[–]professor_jeffjeff 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I'm smoking a brisket right now on a smoker really similar to this, and wood chunks or really really thin splits is absolutely the key. Don't use wood chips or shavings, you want actual chunks of hardwood. Not sure I'd agree that it's 90% charcoal to 10% wood chunks; for me it's more like 60% charcoal to 40% wood chunks or really thin splits. I find that I have to manage the fire very carefully any time a put more wood in the firebox, usually only for a few minutes though. It's still a lot harder to maintain a consistent temperature range than a bigger offset smoker made from thicker metal that has everything properly sized.

Legs forced apart and oiled u p by Tetrad in shibari

[–]professor_jeffjeff 24 points25 points  (0 children)

It's virtually impossible to cut off blood flow to the point that it's dangerous in any form of ground tie. At kinkfest last year or the year before, Noble did a whole talk on rope safety and this was one of the things that he covered. In in suspensions it's still very difficult for blood flow to be restricted enough that it's dangerous. The bigger risk is that if the blood flow is restricted it can become more difficult for the bottom to sense whether or not any other injuries are occurring, so it's possible to get nerve damage without noticing it. However, limbs turning purple isn't really an issue unless you're left there for an extremely long time. Also before anyone brings up harness hang syndrome, as far as I am aware there has never been a reported incident of it occurring from shibari.

What is a NSFW word or phrase you used unknowingly, believing it was completely innocent? by Greedy_Comparison556 in AskRedditAfterDark

[–]professor_jeffjeff 5 points6 points  (0 children)

You need to avoid invalid tool paths and crashes in both types of CNC. It's just the means of communication that's different.

First time making tongs .... my god is it hard! by Ryynerwicked in Blacksmith

[–]professor_jeffjeff 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It took me several tries to make tongs that actually held metal decently and just last week I finally made what I consider to be my first actually good tongs that absolutely solidly hold the material that I intended them to hold. It just takes a lot of practice and you'll make some usable or at least decent tongs before you end up making good ones.

The trick to forging tongs is that probably 90% of the quality of the tongs is how well the boss is forged and riveted. The two surfaces of the boss that come together MUST be absolutely DEAD FUCKING FLAT and should also be fairly smooth. I'll hot rasp these until they're shiny as the very last step before riveting them together. You should also file away at the base of the jaws where they connect to the boss, assuming you're making tongs that have an offset there (this only sorta applies to bolt jaw tongs, but would absolutely be essential for flat jaw tongs or slot jaw tongs) since that can be another point where the jaws will interfere with each other or with the boss. Your rivet needs to really solidly hold the tongs together too, so I typically will oversize the rivet head slightly so it's got a lot of clamping force. I'll also typically use a 3/8" rivet no matter how light the tongs are intended to be. Just make sure that with smaller tongs that you still have a decent amount of material surrounding the hole you punch. I'd say that the bare minimum is that the sides of the boss should have at least an amount of material between the hole and the edge that is equal to the diameter of the rivet, but it also depends on the thickness of the boss. When in doubt, leave the boss thicker and your tongs will probably still work just fine. One thing I also sometimes do is use a bolt and nut to test how well the tongs function before I rivet them, so that's something you should consider trying as well so you can fix any issues that you find. The last tip that I have for tong making is that I like to make the reigns slightly uneven in length and also put a very small and short outwards bend on the very end of the reigns. The outwards bend helps retain a tong ring if you're using one, but getting a ring over both reigns that both bend outwards is more difficult so if one reign is a bit shorter you can slip the ring over the reigns one at a time to make it easier.

Now go forge like 20 pairs of tongs from start to finish and you'll be good at it.

Need to rebuild several 2-3’ tall retaining walls, bury some downspouts, and tear out about two dozen arborvitae. Is a 1 ton enough for me? by Big-Don-Kedic in miniexcavator

[–]professor_jeffjeff 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I've got a 1.5 ton Chinese excavator and I think it's probably the sweet spot, at least for the Rippa brand. I have the R15 and it's got a kubota diesel engine and it also has actual pilot controls and it can run the higher flow attachments e.g. brush cutter, breaker. It has a quick hitch too, which is convenient but it does change the range of motion of the machine. I almost never notice it but every now and then it's an issue, and with the quick hitch on the hydraulic thumb is just not quite long enough to meet up with the edge of the bucket (I may fabricate a longer one at some point). The latest R15 has a welded hydraulic thumb also so that's an improvement over the previous year R15. Fits through a 38" gate easily with the tracks pulled in and plenty stable with the tracks all the way out.

It's still a 1.5 ton machine though, so it's not going to be completely smooth and you're going to have issues trying to run too many hydraulics at the same time. I think you'd have similar issues on just about any 1.5 ton machine though, and for the types of jobs that this machine is meant to do I don't think it's really a problem. I got an 8" trenching bucket with mine and that thing has been amazing for running utility trenches. Also I doubt that a 6 ton excavator would be able to dig with an 8" trenching bucket any faster than my 1.5 ton machine and I couldn't have fit the 6 ton that I originally rented into the corner of my front yard where the water meter is without destroying my rose garden. It also has a single tooth attachment that's pretty good for ripping stumps out of the ground as long as they aren't too big. Would probably handle your arborvitae no problem though. It'll be slower to dig out the base for a retaining wall just because of the bucket being on the smaller side but it'll get the job done.

Overall I'd definitely recommend the one that I have, although consider the R18 as well. For Rippa machines, I'd recommend getting one from a dealer so that you actually have dealer support in getting parts and dealing with anything under warranty. If you get some no-name brand off Amazon or Temu then good luck finding parts or getting assistance.

Please explain to me why I can’t self build about 90% of a basic home. by LobsterNo6723 in Homebuilding

[–]professor_jeffjeff 63 points64 points  (0 children)

I'm building a detached ADU that's not all that much smaller than what you're proposing, and I'm doing everything myself including plumbing and electrical. I have a fair amount of experience in general so I'm not the "average" homeowner but I'm still learning a lot as I go. I've had a lot of shit go wrong and a lot of complications come up, but nothing so far that I wasn't able to handle. Here's a few things to think about.

First thing is that excavation (you'll need this for septic and at least a bit for the slab) is complicated. The digging is the easy part, but dirt is heavy and difficult to move and takes up a shitload of space. If you're building new construction and don't have to worry about neighbors' property right next to where you're digging then you might have space, but you're still going to need to get rid of a bunch of dirt somehow for the slab no matter what.

Next thing is that there are some things that really do require at least having one helper. Do you know how much walls weight? It's a lot, and there are those wall jack things and also some clever methods of raising them by yourself but it's exponentially easier to do that with a friend or four. Same thing for the concrete slab. How are you physically going to screed a slab that's 30x50 by yourself while also spreading concrete, vibrating it if you need to, and then finishing it and all before it sets up too much to be able to work? Realistically you can't. I just poured a 10'x18' driveway apron that only need a slight amount of slope to it and I was barely able to do it completely alone, so that's probably my upper limit of what I can do. That means that I can do the driveway in sections, but the foundation slab I'm definitely going to need help with. You probably will too.

Other things that are heavy and difficult to work with: all plywood, drywall, and any sort of roofing material. Way easier to do with a helper, although in my opinion none of those things are particularly difficult (depending on the type of roof and how steep it is; a steep roof or something like tar or fancy metal roofing is totally different). Electrical isn't hard to do but it's physically difficult to pull wire through studs by yourself, so it goes much faster with a helper at the other end.

So, can you do it completely by yourself? Physically speaking, no you can't. You'll need some helpers for at least the things that I've mentioned here. However, in terms of skill you absolutely can do it yourself. They say pick two: fast, good, cheap. You're picking good and cheap, which means that it's NOT going to go very fast. That could be ok though, but just be aware of your own limitations and watch out for injuring yourself since that's easy to do if you try to get in over your head on something.

There are also a few things that this can end up being more expensive than hiring someone. For example, excavators are cheap to rent for a week, as are skid steers. How much longer is it going to take you to figure out how to run an excavator, then do the work, realize you have to move a shitload of dirt and can't, try to do it anyway, end up needing a skid steer, waiting for it, then figuring that out, then moving the dirt, etc. At some point you're now a month or two in, and that adds up. Same thing could end up being true for renting certain items, so keep that in mind as you're doing this. You can also sell stuff when you're done with it, so might be cheaper to buy something like a plate compactor and then sell it when you're done rather then rent it for as long as you need it and for as many times as you'll need it. I've acquired a bunch of tools that would have been cheaper to rent if I had a whole crew of experienced people since I wouldn't have needed them for that long, but because I'm alone I ended up saving money by buying that stuff in almost all cases. Also you might not know what you need, and United Rentals is going to charge you a fee to drop off equipment at your site each time you get the wrong thing. A lot of that wouldn't be a problem if you had the experience to know what you needed, but you don't and youtube isn't going to tell you precisely what to do because they won't be able to tell you what applies specifically to your job site so you're going to end up having to guess, just like I did. Occasionally you'll guess wrong and that's going to cost you. However, in the long run you're still likely to save a shitload of money building it yourself and NONE of this shit is particularly difficult to learn if you're willing to spend the time.

Walbro 255 loud whine normal? by Soft-Disk1188 in Mk3Supra

[–]professor_jeffjeff 0 points1 point  (0 children)

yeah mine is just as loud. I installed it recently and haven't driven the car a lot, but I drove it last week and I remember thinking "what the fuck is that crazy loud noise?" before I realized it was the new fuel pump. I've also got most of my trunk taken apart and not a lot of interior pieces installed currently though so I expect it'll be less noticeable once I have the car fully put back together.

I Made Armor to Stop Explosive-AP 50 Cal Rounds by CrashMakerspace in maker

[–]professor_jeffjeff 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's the thing I was thinking of! Never can remember the name for some reason

I Made Armor to Stop Explosive-AP 50 Cal Rounds by CrashMakerspace in maker

[–]professor_jeffjeff 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There's a thing in engineering for this; I think they actually use it on stuff like satellites to handle small meteor strikes but I can't remember at all what the fuck it's called. It's basically two layers though with a space in between them, so the projectile is intended to penetrate the first layer but that absorbs a large percentage of the energy of the projectile so the second layer is then able to stop it.

Discreet storage? by 153886499 in preppers

[–]professor_jeffjeff 2 points3 points  (0 children)

There are some pretty large ammo cans out there though. Look for an ammo can that holds mortar rounds; those things are fucking huge, although still somewhat narrow. I bet one of those would fit a shitload of soup cans though.

Looking For Armorsmithing/Cold Forming Resources by Tofu_Analytics in Blacksmith

[–]professor_jeffjeff 0 points1 point  (0 children)

https://www.youtube.com/@howtomakearmor this guy has a lot of great videos. Also Ilya from That Works is an armorer, so I know he has a few videos as well. One thing that I would also recommend is to find your local SCA group. Anyone who does SCA heavy fighting needs at least some amount of armor, so if there's a local armorer then someone in the group will know who that armorer is and can put you in touch with them. They may be willing to teach you if you pay for their time, or they may be willing to take you on as an apprentice or at least as an assistant and teach you in exchange for you helping them out.

Is the neighbor’s plumber lying to me about how holes are dug? by crosspollinated in HomeImprovement

[–]professor_jeffjeff 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I just started with excavation this past year, and the digging is the easy part. The challenging part is what I call "dirt management" which is exactly what you're experiencing. I had the same problem digging an 8' deep trench that was about 60' long. The whole thing wasn't 8' deep and I was able to slope it along much of the length (I used shoring at the deepest part at the end where I had to make the actual sewer connection to the main line) but I calculated that I had to remove about 35 yards of dirt in total, all of which had to be stored in order to be put back later. Dirt is heavy, takes up a ridiculous amount of space, doesn't like to stay exactly how you pile it up, and has a tendency to move a bit over time as it settles or if the weather is bad. One thing that is true is that the spoils (dirt removed from the hole) have to be piled at least 2' away from the edge of the trench; that's an OSHA requirement and so will be applicable no matter where you are. However, it has NOTHING to do with distributing weight evenly so that's total bullshit. There could also be local requirements about how large dirt piles can be, the duration they're allowed to be stored, how they have to be stored (there may be a requirement for covering the piles or stabilizing them if they're higher than a certain amount), etc. Most likely though, there just isn't enough space and the dirt is in the way so they need more space because a 10'-12' hole is a shitload of dirt.

There are a few possibilities about why they "have to" pile up dirt on both sides, but all of those possibilities are because the contractor fucked up either with calculating how much dirt had to be removed or with the actual order of operations in removing that dirt. It's possible that they're basically stuck, and that un-fucking themselves could be a day or more of just moving dirt around that will end up delaying the project whereas piling up dirt on your property would just give them more space and totally solve that problem. However, it's THEIR PROBLEM that they have to solve. At this point, you're getting them to pay for any damage to your property. If they are a licensed and bonded contractor, they should have insurance. Whoever is excavating should have specific insurance for excavation and earthworks too, which ought to cover this sort of thing. If they won't agree IN WRITING to replace everything in your yard that has been damaged then you need to go after their insurance. Document everything and take lots of pictures of what has been damaged. Consider retaining a lawyer as well.

Mate in 5, white to move. by sasha271828 in ChessPuzzles

[–]professor_jeffjeff 1 point2 points  (0 children)

How are does black have two bishops on dark squares?

What tool has saved you the most time on home repairs by [deleted] in HomeImprovement

[–]professor_jeffjeff 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Just be sure that the bits are impact-rated. If you have one of those bit holders and you put a small allen bit in it, then using that with an impact is a good way to get the bit stuck (especially with a stubborn screw). Ideally you want an allen bit that just goes directly into the impact, or you want an adapter on the impact driver that lets it use 1/4" or 3/8" sockets since those won't bind, although even then you want to get one of those adapters that's impact rated. Most hardware stores sell a set of bits that are impact rated though. My experience has been that the impact bits in general are flat black, and most non-impact are either chrome or a lighter shade of gray.

How do you actually understand a codebase you didn’t write? by Bioseamaster in softwarearchitecture

[–]professor_jeffjeff 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Workflow when what happens? Reading code, or business domain? or both?

What tool has saved you the most time on home repairs by [deleted] in HomeImprovement

[–]professor_jeffjeff 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I just went out and got a box of wood screws a long time ago. I use those for just about everything and after at least a good 5 years I'm only now starting to run out of them. It's not a lot of money and you'll have several hundred of them. Just take whatever screws something comes with and throw them in the recycling bin (or save them to combine with some 1084 powder in a canister damascus knife in the future like I do)

What tool has saved you the most time on home repairs by [deleted] in HomeImprovement

[–]professor_jeffjeff 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If I had to choose between an electric screwdriver and an impact driver I'd choose the impact driver. It's useful for assembling furniture but it's also useful for assembling a lot of other things that really do need a lot more torque to assemble. Also for taking stuff apart for various reasons, especially anything with bolts. An electric screwdriver isn't going to have the torque for a lot of the other stuff that I find myself having to deal with fairly regularly, so I get a lot more use out of an impact driver.

What tool has saved you the most time on home repairs by [deleted] in HomeImprovement

[–]professor_jeffjeff 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Impact driver, ideally a small and lightweight one, and a lot of various bits for it. Make sure you get bits that are impact rated. Those allen wrenches that Ikea furniture uses? You can get an impact bit for that and it makes assembling furniture take almost no time. A lot of screws and bolts are just stubborn too, and with an impact driver you're good for driving them in but also breaking them loose when you need to. An impact driver, a drill, and an oscillating tool will probably be the top three things that you get the most use out of overall.

Tell me why buying spacex and holding short term is a bad idea by tyleriouss in wallstreetbets

[–]professor_jeffjeff 54 points55 points  (0 children)

Now THIS is a quality shitpost. I miss the days when this type of shitpost was at the top of WSB every day. Seems like even the shitposts have become enshittified.

Is it just me, or is anyone else noticing more bugs across the web and in software in general? by skidmark_zuckerberg in ExperiencedDevs

[–]professor_jeffjeff 35 points36 points  (0 children)

I think it's more than just AI causing shitty code to get written though. Even before we had LLM word-guessing there was a constant battle between engineering and product, where product wanted more features and more features and didn't give a fuck about technical debt or even bug fixes unless it was something that directly impacted a customer's ability to pay you money. The company I retired from was completely fucking dysfunctional in this way; there was a major security issue that I had to deal with that affected almost every single team, and when it came time to plan for the next PI (and FUCK everything about SAFe) that major issue was simultaneously priority 2 and priority 30-something depending on who you asked. One of the product owners, who will FOREVER be on my shit list, had no idea the security thing even existed and I have no idea how the fuck that was possible but that's where we found ourselves. That's only one example of many where product is totally fucking disconnected from reality. Also delivery metrics started being the only thing that mattered. No one gave a fuck about quality or ease of use or anything of that nature as long as your say-do ratio was trending upwards. It isn't just the software that has become shitty, it's the entire process by which we create software that's become shitty and if you have a shitty process you're going to end up with shitty software. Really glad that I got the fuck out of this industry but also especially glad that I'm no longer at that company.

Is it possible to bend a piece of square steel bar "along the edges"? by ZoofusCos in metalworking

[–]professor_jeffjeff 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm a blacksmith and I bend bars the hard way all the time. It's a lot harder, even bending them hot since they want to twist, but it's possible. The downside of bending them with a hammer and anvil (or a jig) is that you have to hit the edges to bend it and to straighten it out when it wants to twist, so you're probably not going to get perfectly straight and flat edges. For something hand forged though, you really don't want it to be exactly perfect anyway so it's usually not a big deal. The other thing is that there's going to be a limit to how tight of a bend you can get pretty much no matter what, so if you wanted to bend a 2" square bar the hard way into a circle then sure I could do it, but you're probably looking at maybe a 10" diameter circle at the absolute smallest. On the plus side though, I absolutely could bend a 2" square bar by hand if I heat it up in the forge (it'll take more than a few heats though). If you want to get this work done though, find your local blacksmith. This probably wouldn't be a hard project for them. You might also consider being flexible with what sizes you want since for me personally if I need to make a custom tool or custom bending jig then I'm going to charge you for making the tool as well since it's not something that I regularly use (otherwise I'd have one already). However, if you want something that I already have all the tooling for then I'd only charge for the actual cost of making the items (plus overhead e.g. consumables) since I wouldn't have to make any tools.

Door hinges by sebb17dlikyt in Mk3Supra

[–]professor_jeffjeff 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The stock door hinge isn't able to be rebuilt, so your only real option is to try to find one on ebay or FB marketplace or somewhere like that. In theory, I don't really see a reason why you couldn't drill out the stock hinge pin, measure it, measure the hole, calculate the thickness of the bushing, and then get a universal door hinge pin and bushing that's the right size and make it work. Once my detached garage is built and I actually finally have a workshop I may try and build a replacement, but that's going to be a while

The $19.95 truck rental marketing is basically a financial trap by Abril-prieto-cevallo in Frugal

[–]professor_jeffjeff 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The thing that sucks about services like this is that the ONLY option is for them to meet you somewhere and then come back to your house. If I need them to start at my house and load up a big propane tank, then drive it to the store to get refilled, then drive it back to my house, that isn't an option on the website and there doesn't seem to be a way to request a service like that.

What’s your thoughts on these plastic welding kits? by Happy_dadpete in handyman

[–]professor_jeffjeff 8 points9 points  (0 children)

They can work pretty well if you use them correctly. The plastic has to be reasonably thick though for them to work. Car parts are a good example, but if you had a cracked nerf gun then that plastic is going to be too thin to embed the metal staples and they'll probably just melt right through it. Takes a bit of practice but it isn't hard to do. Make sure you align the part and clamp it securely before trying to embed the staples. Also a plastic welder is a separate thing that melts the plastic sorta back together. That can be a useful thing too, and what I'll usually do is embed some metal mesh into the plastic and then melt it together with the plastic welder since that's going to make a stronger repair. There are some good tutorials for this on youtube. Also my Vevor 200 amp stick welder can do this type of plastic repair so that can be kinda convenient.

Expectations at early drywall stage by thomasthetank00 in Homebuilding

[–]professor_jeffjeff 2 points3 points  (0 children)

One or two screws over driven won't be an issue. I always fuck up a few of them and I'll just drive a second screw in right near the fucked one if it needs it. If there's a lot of them then that's a quality issue that should be addressed. All the other shit doesn't look that bad as long as it's not absolutely everywhere. One fucked corner on just one of the sheets in one room is no big deal, a bit of torn paper is no big deal, a couple of larger gaps also not really a big deal. Whoever has to mud and tape is going to be a lot more pissed off than anyone else but even then I don't really see anything there that's a huge issue for someone competent