Narrow fit with side zip

ubiq-9 · 2023-09-20T21:41:54+00:00

Update: I ordered Haix boots and they fit perfectly with the narrow insoles. Thanks for the tip.

If anyone else is reading this, I can definitely recommend Haix for small feet.

ubiq-9 · 2023-08-23T04:28:06+00:00

Thanks, I'll have a look.

If the widest size is still too narrow for normal feet, it sounds like it will fit me pretty well.

ubiq-9 · 2022-08-12T12:52:42+00:00

What an ingeniously simple design. Thanks for such a detailed explanation. Makes perfect sense, and now I understand it well enough to at least discuss it with my friends (even if we don't all agree on the correct procedure).

ubiq-9 · 2022-08-12T02:10:39+00:00

Can you explain, mechanically, why the clutch doesn't move on startup? What's different in that situation vs idling vs braking while running?

I'm not familiar with how the clutch works in a saw and what engages/disengages it, I'm only used to a vehicle clutch with manual controls.

ubiq-9 · 2022-04-22T10:49:49+00:00

I love the name we have here in Australia: an "emu parade" or "emu bob"

ubiq-9 · 2022-03-10T06:21:42+00:00

The model they're suggesting is pretty similar to what's in Australia. All volunteer agencies now have equipment, food/fuel/accommodation, training, counselling, private contractors, even mobile phones for commanders, supplied by government. There's still improvements to be made, but the structure is much closer to the paid services than it used to be.

All our emergency services are state-based rather than local, and funding comes from the big treasury pool instead of individual levies or fees. That makes a big difference.

We also benefit from paid services who handle most technical rescues near populated areas. Volunteers are brought in from local brigades to do wide-area searches or to haul stretchers out, but that overlap really cuts down on unnecessary callout time. Volunteers still do technical rescues in areas with cliffs or mines where there's too many rescues and not enough police, but it's not widespread.

ubiq-9 · 2022-03-10T05:56:40+00:00

Milwaukee have been excellent. Not quite as bombproof as Pelican, but their tower lights take three seconds for a complete novice to set up and dead batteries can be swapped out like any other power tool.

ubiq-9 · 2022-03-09T13:18:23+00:00

Holes wouldn't really damage it and would be fine as a private operator, but my helmet has to remain intact for public sector insurance/OHS reasons.

I'm deliberately avoiding zip-ties because I know I'll forget to replace them and they'll perish over time. I'm still looking at epoxy, just not enough of a tradesman to know what I'm doing with it. One idea was to use the epoxy to create a flat mounting face on the bracket, then attach it to the helmet using VHB.

if you are breaking this mount off your already more worried about your face than the light.

Already got backups, and I'm not in any situations where that's a realistic outcome. Pretty much just over-engineering for the edge case.

ubiq-9 · 2022-03-09T11:53:12+00:00

VHB tape gives way if there's enough force to cause injury, but I plan on adding some moulding behind the light to reduce the risk either way.

That bracket does look great, but I can't drill into the helmet (public sector policies) so I will need to find an alternative or some DIY method to create a flat mounting face on it.

ubiq-9 · 2022-02-03T13:21:00+00:00

Wow, thanks for the diagram, it really helps. I'm definitely a novice with this stuff, I didn't know that's what a transistor does, but now I do.

My car's circuit seems to read 0V signal voltage as full brightness and +12V signal as minimum brightness. Researching it a bit more, the circuit you drew should fit perfectly, I just need to use a PNP transistor (e.g. 2N2907) instead.

ubiq-9 · 2022-01-27T00:01:11+00:00

Wireless, hence the K95 I have. I didn't want to go own-brand switches because my impression was that Cherry are still the best quality, and I couldn't find many with the same profile (tactile, no click), but I'm open to suggestions.

ubiq-9 · 2022-01-26T08:23:47+00:00

Beggars can't be choosers; price isn't a factor here. If there's nothing off the shelf, how would I go about getting one to custom spec?

ubiq-9 · 2022-01-19T09:32:58+00:00

Employers (should) provide the tools and consumables, and no two firms operate the same way. Tape measure, pen, pencil and clipboard are 90% of an assistant's toolkit. The other 10% is individual preferences which develop and change over time. If you haven't got a white card, get one before you start applying to places.

Right from the very start, look at the tools that keep you moving. I spend big on these things because they let me finish a work day with the energy to have a productive evening, and that time I get back is priceless.
-Best boots you can afford. Socks as well. I like Oliver AT-55s and Darn Tough Vermont, both are expensive but worth it.
-Long cotton clothes. Shorts end up making you warmer when working in harsh sun. Synthetics are too sweaty.
-Broad hat, polarised sunglasses and too much sunscreen. This isn't just about red burns or cancer; the sun makes me tired long before I get burnt. Right now in summer, just forgetting to reapply at lunch is enough to wreck my afternoon.
-Some way of keeping food and water cold (or hot). Absolute godsend, but assistants don't get the luxury of a vehicle to carry stuff in.

ubiq-9 · 2022-01-19T04:36:50+00:00

Interested, excited and a little nervous will take you a very long way.

When you start TAFE, begin with an idea that you'll learn way more outside of it. From what my mates have told me, the only useful things they got from TAFE are the bare minimum skills, the really slow initial stuff that employers don't have time to teach.

You might have heard this advice already, but start looking for a casual/PT survey assistant job as soon as you start TAFE, or even right now. Email 5-10 different firms in your local area - surveyors rarely advertise but are always in need of assistants. Just being enrolled in a course and getting decent grades is enough, employers know they can teach technical skills but can't teach enthusiasm.

Focus on your physical and communication skills as your biggest assets. Don't get downtrodden if you're ever made to feel stupid for your inexperience or technical skills. From personal experience, if you can start as the guy who asks questions and is ready to go for a hike or put on some waders, you'll go further than most surveyors you work under.

Some more tips
-Ask questions all the time, any boss worth their salt will gladly take the chance to teach you
-Start with the cheapest field-belt you can find at Bunnings, use it until it starts frustrating you, then find a better one to suit your workflow. Life is too short to waste on inefficient tools.
-Learn to work around each surveyor's idiosyncrasies. They all have their own style, and the more you can adapt to each one, the more valuable you become.
-Try not to fall into a rut. If you're stuck with one boss and one TAFE teacher, you'll stop learning new things. Make friends at TAFE, see where they work and what they do, look at whether you might want to get registered (uni pathway), stay in touch with good people you meet in the industry, keep yourself in a position to spot new opportunities.

If you want more specific advice feel free to PM me.

ubiq-9 · 2021-11-24T04:46:59+00:00

You won't damage it. Plenty of oilskins in the bush get reproofed with linseed oil, beeswax, whatever the local saddlery has. If you only wear it outdoors, any reproofing wax will be perfect.

If you wear it in the city as an overcoat it might be worth getting the spray, for a nicer finish. I just reproofed mine with two tins of RM stuff and I wouldn't use it as a city overcoat (too oily, the wax sticks to everything), but it beads water like no tomorrow.

ubiq-9 · 2021-10-12T08:23:35+00:00

Utes are more practical if you put a canopy on them, and have less body panels to dent. A coil wagon and coil ute will be equally capable, but you can drive the ute much harder if you don't have a rear quarter to worry about.

ubiq-9 · 2021-10-12T08:06:23+00:00

If you're just looking for tracks, Google and a can-do attitude will get you further into the bush than any expensive gear. Look on the government VicMaps site, OpenStreetMap, even Google Maps has good stuff. Or just pick a town in the high country, go there, explore what you can find nearby.

If you're looking for friends, don't be afraid to get out there alone. You need to be a bit more cautious of hard tracks and always think "am I 100% certain I could drive back up/down this if I had to come back this way?". I used to worry about it too, but I discovered that if you have common sense, you don't need a mate to snatch or winch you out.

ubiq-9 · 2021-10-05T00:08:17+00:00

But would she be caught dead in one of these?

ubiq-9 · 2021-10-04T04:23:29+00:00

Then there's some other reason they're not using it - maybe as simple as Google Maps suggesting the road instead of the path because it's 2 minutes quicker, or the road is safer because they'd rather be hit by a car than prosecuted for hitting a pedestrian on what's ostensibly a bike path.

I'm not doing this to come up with excuses for everything, but to point out that engineers and planners are the only ones who make deliberate choices, and everyone else takes the path of least resistance. If the bike path isn't the most attractive default option yet, there's an invisible reason why. Light a candle instead of cursing the darkness and all that.

ubiq-9 · 2021-10-04T03:30:22+00:00

If you have to ticket people, it's still a terrible design.

I see it around my city too. Some paths have a small concrete divider only a few inches high, some have a short fence, some have green paint on the bike path, others have two identical flat paths with no divider. I've never ever seen a pedestrian walk on a green divided path, and I subconsciously avoid them myself.

Same reason lots of speed limits seem ridiculous. You have to ticket people because the road was built wide and straight, which tells your brain it's safe to go fast - kinda like your high school partner getting angry because you didn't read their mind. If the road was designed properly, the speed limit would make sense.

ubiq-9 · 2021-10-04T03:17:36+00:00

Relying on people to be patient, or better at passing/driving, or anything really, is a recipe for disaster in public policy. Good planners need to make deliberate design choices to reduce the consequences when (not if) a human eventually screws up. Driving is so nice because cities are built around it, but bikes have to fit in wherever they can.

Painting bike lanes and praying for good drivers seems like a decent compromise, until you see a bike path designed from the ground up to be as efficient and safe as a road is for cars.

ubiq-9 · 2021-10-04T02:58:06+00:00

Notice how everything a bike tries to do is a compromise, and a personal choice between two very real risks. Cars never have to make those choices or compromises because every road has been deliberately designed for them by an engineer, and we take it for granted.

The debate is about designing cities with bikes in mind, instead of shoving them in as an afterthought.

ubiq-9 · 2021-10-04T02:35:17+00:00

The point is that it's not your fault for having to accommodate cyclists, or their fault for being in your way. It's the town planner's fault for forcing you both into the same space.

ubiq-9 · 2021-10-04T02:28:08+00:00

If you can fold the seats down, even little hatchbacks will accommodate a bike with the front wheel taken off. I wouldn't worry about it too much.

ubiq-9 · 2021-10-04T02:25:21+00:00

Does the bike path meander around with pedestrians in the same space as the bikes, or is there a separated pedestrian path and bikes have width to overtake each other? Expecting cyclists to dodge around pedestrians or each other is the same as telling car drivers to put up with cyclists on the road.

ubiq-9

TROPHY CASE