Yeah, "knot shock" is a good way to put it. I've seen that same thing happen on a few different brands, not just DeWalt or Ridgid. It's like the belt is designed to be the fuse, but if it frays and snaps from a hard knot, all that force still has to go somewhere. The plastic drive gear is often the next weakest point, and it's usually not something people think to check until it's too late. I'd give the input shaft a spin by hand and listen for any grinding before you button it back up. Could save you from having to tear it all apart again next month.

Heard this tip from a fermentation blogger once that really stuck: burping is like letting your ferment breathe so the good bacteria stay happy and the bad stuff doesn't get a chance to grow. Skipping it even one day can cause enough pressure buildup to crack a jar, especially with active ferments like ginger bugs or hot sauce. Personally learned that the hard way when a batch of pickles got moldy after I forgot to burp for just two days straight.

Man, I did the exact same thing when I started out. Overpacking the foil thinking more product equals better results, but it just turns into a muddy mess. Cutting back really forces you to be more precise with your application, and the clean up is way faster too. It's one of those habits that feels wrong until you see the finished product and realize you've been wasting money the whole time. Good on you for catching it early, a lot of people never adjust and just keep blaming their foils or the brand.

Man that's awesome, congrats! My local library has a similar setup with a push broadcast spreader and I swear it's checked out pretty much every weekend during spring and fall. I was totally wrong about people not wanting to use them either, I figured everyone would just fling seed by hand like my grandpa did. But once folks realized how much faster it is for a big lawn or garden patch, they got hooked. Our librarian told me they had to buy a second one because the first kept getting booked solid. It's honestly one of the smartest things libraries have done in years, saves people from dropping a hundred bucks on a tool they only need twice a season.

@rubys19 the lesson is buy a 4-foot level, saved my pirate deck too.