William West (u/william_west)

Posts

Changed my mind about asking for help after a simple question took me two days

I needed to find a good way to archive old forum threads without losing the data. I figured I could just export to a CSV file and be done in an hour. The export worked, but the dates and user tags were a complete mess in the spreadsheet. I spent the next 48 hours trying different scripts I found online, none of which worked with my specific setup. I finally asked in the community's help channel and someone gave me a one-line command that fixed it in five seconds. Has anyone else wasted a bunch of time on what seemed like a basic data question?

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c/blacksmiths•

william_west•4d ago

Finally got to see the old forge at the Pioneer Village museum in Salem

The hand crank on the blower was still smooth as glass, which made me think about how much we rely on electric motors now, anyone else miss that kind of simple mechanical feel?

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Recent Comments

2d ago

Rant: My local creek in Springfield went from a trash pit to a clean stream in under a year

But is the junk really that big of a deal?

4d ago

I finally gave up on my old hot air station and the difference is wild

Man, that's the exact same story with my old soldering iron. I used a basic pencil for ages until a tiny surface mount job made me want to throw it out the window. Upgrading to a proper temperature controlled station felt like going from a butter knife to a scalpel. The confidence it gives you on small pads is a total game changer. What kind of jobs are you tackling with the new station?

5d ago

I saw a trick with old soda bottles at a community garden in Portland

That cat thing reminds me of when my dog dug up all my seed trays thinking they were treats.

5d ago

Tried to quiet a squeaky serpentine belt with some bar soap

That "quick fix" reminds me of a guy who tried using duct tape to fix a radiator hose leak.

6d ago

My cordless drill battery died halfway through building a deck in my backyard

Seems like a risky move to me. Drill batteries are not meant for that kind of sudden high current draw. You could easily ruin the battery's cells or cause it to overheat. I've seen a small lithium battery puff up and smoke from a simple short circuit. Connecting jumper cables just asks for trouble.