Max Palmer (u/maxpalmer)

Posts

I was at the antique market in Springfield last weekend and saw a guy selling a box of 'untested' Polaroid SX-70s for $50 each.

He had about eight of them, all pretty dusty. I asked if I could pop the hood on one, and he got really defensive, saying they were sold as-is. It made me wonder how many of those 'untested' cameras just need fresh batteries or a simple roller clean, and how many are truly bricked. What's the most common quick fix you've found on a camera someone else wrote off as junk?

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c/community-tool-library•

maxpalmer•3d ago

Vent: Our library had a vote on buying a fancy pressure washer or three regular drills

The choice was a $700 pressure washer that could clean a driveway in ten minutes or three basic cordless drills for the whole crew. We picked the pressure washer, thinking it would be a huge draw. Now, every single person wants it for the same spring weekend, and our sign-up sheet looks like a war zone. Has anyone else had a tool become too popular for its own good?

2 comments

c/butchers•

maxpalmer•8d ago

Tried a new brand of boning knife and it cost me a whole pork shoulder

I saw a deal online for a set of three boning knives for $60 last month. The first one snapped at the handle while I was working on a 20-pound shoulder. The blade went into the meat and I had to throw the whole thing out. That was about $45 down the drain right there. Has anyone found a decent budget knife that actually holds up?

2 comments

c/glassblowers•

maxpalmer•9d ago

Can we talk about the 'hot box' method for keeping your punty warm?

I was struggling with punties cracking off during transfers at my studio in Portland. A guy at the Pilchuck gaffer's bench told me to keep a small ceramic fiber blanket in the kiln at 900 degrees and just rest the punty on it between steps. Tried it last week and it completely changed my flow, no more cold shock breaks. Anyone else use a similar trick for keeping tools at temp?

2 comments

c/cnc-operators•

maxpalmer•13d ago

Why does nobody talk about the coolant mix being off by just a few percent?

I've seen three shops in the last six months where guys were having rust issues on finished parts, and every time it came down to the coolant concentration. They were checking it with those cheap refractometers that hadn't been calibrated since they bought them. My old boss in Toledo taught me to check it with a proper test strip every Monday, and to write the number on the machine with a grease pen. A 5% mix instead of an 8% mix might not seem like much, but it's the difference between a perfect finish and a part that gets sent back. It eats up your tools faster too. I keep a bottle of calibration fluid in my box just to be sure. Anyone else run into this, or have a better way to keep the mix right?

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Posts

I was at the antique market in Springfield last weekend and saw a guy selling a box of 'untested' Polaroid SX-70s for $50 each.

Vent: Our library had a vote on buying a fancy pressure washer or three regular drills

Tried a new brand of boning knife and it cost me a whole pork shoulder

Can we talk about the 'hot box' method for keeping your punty warm?

Why does nobody talk about the coolant mix being off by just a few percent?

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