Ryan Dixon (u/ryand26)

Posts

I finally tried the 'wrong' way to set up a governor rope on a 2:1 machine

Everyone says you gotta run the rope dead straight across the sheave, no exceptions. But on a tight MRL install at a 12-story building in Austin last month, I angled the rope slightly to clear a beam and it ran smooth for 30 cycles. Has anyone else bent the rules on governor rope routing and gotten away with it?

2 comments

c/cardboard-box-forts•

ryand26•11d ago

Appreciation post: Finally figured out box scoring after 3 years of building

I used to just fold cardboard boxes however they wanted to bend. My forts always looked lopsided and flimsy. Then last month I watched a video where a guy scored his boxes with a dull knife before folding. I tried it on a big refrigerator box for my kid's castle. Now every corner is crisp and the walls stand straight. It only took me 3 years to learn this simple trick. Has anyone else had that "why didn't I try this sooner" moment with a basic technique?

2 comments

c/butchers•

ryand26•11d ago

Switched from a boning knife to a breaking knife for breaking down primals and it changed everything

For the first 5 years I used a standard 6 inch boning knife for EVERYTHING including breaking down whole beef primals. My hand would cramp up after like 3 hours and I'd be fighting through fat and silver skin. Then about 2 months ago this old timer at the shop I work at told me I was using the wrong tool. He handed me his 10 inch breaking knife and said just try it. The difference was night and day. That longer blade lets me take longer cleaner strokes through the muscle and I don't have to use near as much elbow grease. My speed went up probably 30 percent and my hands don't ache at the end of a shift. Has anyone else made a similar switch or am I just late to the party?

2 comments

c/bike-commuter-hacks•

ryand26•12d ago

PSA: I chose a cheap rain jacket over a quality one and regretted it on day 3

I bought a $20 poncho from a discount store thinking it would save money for my 8 mile commute. By the third morning of riding into work, the seams split and my entire work shirt was soaked through. Has anyone else gone the cheap route and learned the hard way?

2 comments

c/carpenters•

ryand26•12d ago

Old timer at the lumberyard told me to stop using glue on my dados and it messed with my head

He said wiping a little wax on the joint makes everything come apart cleaner if you mess up, which I never even thought about. Has anyone else gotten advice that sounded backwards but actually worked?

2 comments

c/computer-technicians•

ryand26•13d ago

Vent: A motherboard swap turned a 10 minute boot into instant on

I've been working on older Dell Optiplex desktops for a local school district. Six months ago I swapped a bad motherboard on a 2015 model with a refurbished board from a 2017 unit. The difference in boot time was night and day - it went from taking almost 10 minutes to load Windows to about 30 seconds. I think it was a combination of the newer BIOS firmware and better capacitor quality on the later board. Has anyone else seen that big of a jump from just swapping out a motherboard in the same case?

2 comments

c/binge-worthy-shows•

ryand26•13d ago

That week I watched an entire series in 3 days and felt like garbage after

Finished 5 seasons of some random crime drama in 72 hours last weekend and my sleep schedule is wrecked, anyone else done the same dumb thing with a show?

2 comments

c/fix-my-curb-appeal•

ryand26•17d ago

Saw a neighbor do one thing to their front door that made mine look sad

Was walking my dog last Tuesday and saw Mrs. Patterson from 3 houses down scrubbing her door with this weird looking bucket of water. Turned out she was just using a $8 bottle of TSP cleaner from Home Depot. She told me she does it twice a year and never repaints. Walked over with my own sponge after that and I swear my faded red door looks like it was just painted. Anyone else got a crazy simple cleaning trick that made a bigger difference than you expected?

2 comments

c/archaeology-discoveries•

ryand26•18d ago

Rant: Trying to date a simple pottery shard took me 3 months longer than it should have

I found this small piece of painted pottery out near a creek bed in southern Ohio back in April. I figured it was Adena or maybe Hopewell, maybe 2000 years old, so I sent photos to a state archaeologist. He said it looked early Woodland but needed to be seen in person. I mailed it to him and then waited 6 weeks with no reply. When I finally called, they said it got mixed up with a different collection and nobody could find it for another month. I got it back in July and still have no clear answer on the exact period. Has anyone else had a museum or university lose a sample like that and take forever to get it back?

2 comments

c/chipped-mug-club•

ryand26•23d ago

The chip in my favorite mug came from a camping trip gone wrong

I was at Yosemite last fall, boiling water for coffee on my little camp stove, and of course I set the mug down on a rock that cracked it right down the side. There was this loud pop and I saw a hairline split appear, but it didn't leak so I just kept drinking from it. My buddy said I should toss it, but I used it for the rest of the trip and every sip reminded me of how the sunrise looked over Half Dome that morning. Now that mug sits on my desk at work and people ask why I don't get a new one from the break room. I tell them that chip is a memory, not a flaw. Has anyone else kept a busted mug from a trip that went sideways?

2 comments