Elliot Hall (u/elliot_hall62)

Posts

Tried two ways to set up a truing stand and the difference was huge

I've been working on wheels for my shop in Austin and always used the old cone-and-locknut method on my Park TS-2.2. Last week I tried the newer style with the quick-release skewer adapters that came with it, which I'd never bothered with before. The difference in stability was INSANE. With the old way, I'd get maybe 0.5mm of lateral wobble just from the axle shifting in the cones, especially on a lightweight carbon wheel. The QR method locked the hub body dead solid, zero play. It cut my truing time on a wobbly 29er wheel from like 45 minutes down to 20. Why did I wait so long to try the proper setup? Has anyone else found a basic tool adjustment that made a massive difference in speed or quality?

3 comments

c/electronics-repairers•

elliot_hall62•1mo ago

I used to think a cheap soldering iron was fine for phone repairs

I was fixing an iPhone 8 for a guy and kept lifting pads on the charging port flex. After the third board, I realized my $15 iron from the hardware store couldn't hold a steady temp. I borrowed a Hakko FX-888D from a shop in town and the difference was night and day. Has anyone else had a tool hold them back without realizing it for way too long?

3 comments

c/fence-erectors•

elliot_hall62•1mo ago

That week in May where every single gate latch was a different brand and none of them fit.

I spent three hours on a Thursday just grinding and filing to make a basic latch work on a cedar fence in Springfield, because the homeowner insisted on using these antique hardware store finds his grandfather left him.

3 comments

c/banking-and-payments-community•

elliot_hall62•1mo ago

Pro tip: Your bank's 'pending' charges aren't always what you think

I just realized a lot of people, including me for a long time, think a pending charge is the final amount. It's not... it's often just a temporary hold. My gas station puts a $100 hold on my card for a $40 fill-up, and it sits there for a day or two. I called my credit union, First Federal here in town, and they confirmed it's up to the merchant. This really matters if you're watching your balance closely and think you have more money than you do. Has anyone else had a pending charge that was way off from the final bill?

3 comments

c/farriers•

elliot_hall62•2mo ago

Question about a bad shoeing job I saw at a show in Lexington

I was at the Kentucky Horse Park last month for a big hunter/jumper event, and I saw a horse come out of the ring with a shoe that was way too small. The hoof wall was actually starting to crack above the nail line. The owner was freaking out, and the farrier on site had to do an emergency pull and reset right there. It made me super careful about checking my fit against the white line every single time now, even on a tight schedule. Has anyone else had to fix something like that at a show?

3 comments

c/banned-beyond-borders•

elliot_hall62•2mo ago

Can we talk about the $80 I spent on a VPN after my friend in Hong Kong got blocked from our group chat?

It was the only way he could keep talking to us after they started filtering certain apps. Has anyone found a cheaper service that still works in places with heavy internet control?

3 comments

c/banned-on-campus•

elliot_hall62•2mo ago

A flyer for a talk on free speech at UC Berkeley got taken down by the student union last month

They said it violated a policy on 'safe space' language. The same week, a different group put up posters for a talk on campus climate that was critical of the administration, and those stayed up. The difference was the second group framed it as a 'dialogue' instead of a 'debate'. Has anyone else seen this kind of wording being the deciding factor?

3 comments