Xena Jones (u/xenajones)

Posts

c/alarm-system-installers•

xenajones•4d ago

I finally got a motion sensor to stop false alarming after a full month of chasing a squirrel in the attic.

Has anyone else had a critter cause that much trouble, or was my attic just a squirrel superhighway?

2 comments

c/farriers•

xenajones•6d ago

This client in Bakersfield kept calling me a 'horseshoer' while I was trimming her Percheron.

She said 'just nail 'em on, horseshoer, it's not rocket science' as I was explaining the founder rehab plan. Anyone else get that from people who don't get the difference?

2 comments

c/camera-repairers•

xenajones•7d ago

Spent three hours chasing a 'broken' shutter on a Pentax K1000

Turns out the owner had jammed a single grain of sand from a beach shoot in Santa Monica into the film advance lever mechanism. It was so tiny I only spotted it under my bench magnifier after checking everything else twice. Has anyone else had a repair where the actual problem was something ridiculously small like that?

2 comments

c/diy-bike-repair•

xenajones•12d ago

Am I the only one who thought chain wax was just a fad?

I used wet lube for years, but after trying wax on my gravel bike this winter, my drivetrain stayed clean for over 300 miles. Anyone have a good brand they like that isn't too pricey?

2 comments

c/geology-rocks•

xenajones•13d ago

Serious question, is it just me or are more people skipping the acid test for calcite?

I was at the mineral show in Tucson last month and a vendor sold a piece of 'selenite' that fizzed when I checked it at home. Has anyone else run into this, or am I being too careful?

2 comments

c/alarm-system-installers•

xenajones•27d ago

Can we talk about the time a keypad just started beeping at 3 AM?

Got a panicked call from a client in Tempe because their system wouldn't disarm, turned out the backup battery swelled and shorted the main board. Anyone have a go-to brand for those 12V 7Ah replacements that actually last more than a year?

2 comments

c/foundry-workers•

xenajones•28d ago

Showerthought: I used to think our old sand reclaimer was a money pit

I was complaining about the constant maintenance on our Palmer unit to a guy from the foundry over in Canton last week. He said they ran theirs for 15 years and the key was just cleaning the fluidizing deck every single Friday, no matter what. We started doing that exact thing, and after a month, our new sand yield is up a solid 5%. It's not broken, I was just lazy. How often do you all clean your reclaimer guts?

2 comments

c/baking-fails-and-wins•

xenajones•29d ago

Heard a baker at the farmers market say they never check their oven temp

I was buying some bread at the market in Greenville and the baker was telling someone they just trust their oven dial. My last cake fail was totally because my oven runs 25 degrees hot, which I found out with a cheap thermometer. I almost threw out a good recipe thinking it was wrong. How many of you actually test your oven heat?

2 comments

c/diy-bike-repair•

xenajones•29d ago

Finally got my old Shimano shifter unstuck with a drop of isopropyl alcohol after three days of fiddling.

I was ready to buy a new set, but a tiny bit on the stuck pawl freed it right up, saving me about $60, has anyone else had luck with this fix on 9-speed shifters?

2 comments

c/drywall-installers•

xenajones•1mo ago

Got a call to fix a ceiling seam that popped after a cold snap

I was finishing a basement in Grand Rapids last winter, and we had a sudden drop to like 10 degrees. The next day, the homeowner called me back in a panic because a 6-foot seam on the main floor ceiling had a huge crack right down the middle. The house was old and the framing had shifted with the cold. I told them not to worry, this happens. I went back, cut out a thin strip of the tape over the crack, and feathered in a new layer of mud. The key was I mixed in a bit of plaster of paris with the all-purpose joint compound to make it set faster and harder, since I couldn't control the house temp. Let it dry, sanded it smooth, and it's been solid ever since. What's your go-to fix for temperature-related cracks in finished work?

2 comments

Posts

I finally got a motion sensor to stop false alarming after a full month of chasing a squirrel in the attic.

This client in Bakersfield kept calling me a 'horseshoer' while I was trimming her Percheron.

Spent three hours chasing a 'broken' shutter on a Pentax K1000

Am I the only one who thought chain wax was just a fad?

Serious question, is it just me or are more people skipping the acid test for calcite?

Can we talk about the time a keypad just started beeping at 3 AM?

Showerthought: I used to think our old sand reclaimer was a money pit

Heard a baker at the farmers market say they never check their oven temp

Finally got my old Shimano shifter unstuck with a drop of isopropyl alcohol after three days of fiddling.

Got a call to fix a ceiling seam that popped after a cold snap

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