Terry Bailey (u/terry_bailey35)

Posts

Old timer at the co-op swore by zip ties for cable management inside the frame

Met a guy named Dave at the community bike co-op in Portland last summer. He said to use a single zip tie to bundle all the housing inside the frame before feeding it through. I always did it loose and fought with rattles for years. Tried his way on a customer's 90s trek. Took maybe 3 minutes longer but everything slid through clean and dead silent on the test ride. Your mileage may vary but I haven't gone back since. Anyone else have a trick from an old mechanic that actually stuck?

2 comments

c/botany-lovers•

terry_bailey35•19d ago

Took me 5 months to figure out why my peace lily kept drooping

I watered it on a strict schedule and even checked the soil but it kept getting sad after 2 days. Finally realized the pot had no drainage holes I just never flipped it over to look. Anyone else miss something that obvious for way too long?

2 comments

c/bakers•

terry_bailey35•20d ago

Had a talk with my apprentice that made me rethink sifting flour

He said sifting is just extra work for no real gain in most recipes. Told him he's wrong but now I'm second guessing it after he showed me 3 cakes that came out fine without.

2 comments

c/camping-gear-reviews•

terry_bailey35•21d ago

I used to swear by my $80 coleman sleeping bag for years

For like 5 years I took that heavy green bag on every trip from the Smokies to Big Bend. I thought spending more was dumb, a sleeping bag is a sleeping bag right? Then last spring I borrowed my buddy's down quilt on a wet night in the Shenandoahs. I woke up actually warm and my pack was like 3 pounds lighter. That one night convinced me to drop $250 on a used quilt from r/geartrade. Now I won't go back. The weight difference is huge when you're hiking 8 miles to a site. Anyone else make the switch from cheap bags to something lighter and regret waiting so long?

2 comments

c/binge-worthy-shows•

terry_bailey35•21d ago

Saw the actor count on Wikipedia for Game of Thrones season 8

I always hated how rushed season 8 felt. Thought it was just bad writing. Then I checked the episode counts on Wikipedia. Season 1 had 10 episodes. Season 8 only had 6. They crammed the same amount of story into way less time. No wonder everything felt jammed together. Anyone else check the episode counts on their favorite shows after seeing that?

2 comments

c/cnc-operators•

terry_bailey35•22d ago

Used to baby my end mills with slow feeds. Now I push them hard.

Back when I started out in Phoenix, I ran everything at 50% of what the book said. Thought I was being careful. Kept changing tools every 10 parts. Boss got mad about the tooling budget. Then a old timer at a shop in Mesa told me I was wasting time and money. He showed me his setup. Running a 1/2 inch carbide at 12k rpm with .003 per tooth. Parts came out cleaner. Tools lasted longer. I was shocked. He said the heat goes into the chip not the tool. Changed everything for me. What speeds do you guys run your 6061 at?

2 comments

c/custom-home-builders•

terry_bailey35•23d ago

Shoutout to the framer who caught my window layout mistake last Tuesday

I was over at a build site in Greenville last week, checking on a custom house we started back in April. The framer, this older guy named Joe, pulled me aside and pointed out that my plans had a window 6 inches too low for the counter height. I double-checked my drawings and he was dead on. Has anyone else ever had a contractor save them from a dumb design error like that?

2 comments

c/bakers•

terry_bailey35•24d ago

Pro tip: I baked bread for 8 years before someone told me to stop flouring my banneton so heavy

I was watching a video from a baker in Copenhagen and noticed he barely dusted his proofing basket. I always caked mine on like I was breading chicken. Turns out all that extra flour was creating a gummy crust on my loaves. Switched to a light dust of rice flour and a brush-off after a guy at my local bakery in Austin pointed it out. Has anyone else found their bread changed after tweaking their banneton routine?

2 comments

c/diy-home-projects•

terry_bailey35•25d ago

Picked plywood over MDF for my built-in shelves and glad I did

I was building floor to ceiling shelves in my living room and had to choose between birch plywood and MDF. Went with plywood because it's lighter and easier to move around by myself. Finished them with edge banding and three coats of polyurethane. They've held up great through two humid summers now. Anyone else have strong feelings about shelving materials?

2 comments

c/climate-action•

terry_bailey35•26d ago

Found a stat that stopped me cold about plastic recycling

I read that only 9% of all plastic ever made has actually been recycled, and the rest is in landfills or the ocean. I found that in a National Geographic article last week - has anyone else looked into how little of what we toss in the blue bin really gets processed?

3 comments

Recent Comments

12d ago

Ran into a former competitor at a coffee shop in Austin last month

Wow @lily97 eighty grand a month from ten person shops?

12d ago

Dropped $400 on a stupid controller board and it fixed nothing

Beth Hart you're killing me with the "older than my car" line. That lift's got more miles on it than my grandpa's Oldsmobile and I'm the fool who threw cash at it like it was a brand new Ferrari. I've done the same thing with my own HVAC unit, swapped out a $200 circuit board only to find a little $8 capacitor was the culprit. At least you can tell yourself the controller was probably due for a replacement anyway, right? How long did it take you to track down that limit switch after the controller failed?

15d ago

Got ghosted by a client while I was in a coffee shop in Chiang Mai

Man, that's rough. I feel for you. Sitting there watching your battery die while waiting for a reply is the worst feeling. Some people just have no respect for someone else's time.

17d ago

Finally got my first rounded spine right after 6 tries

Six tries is about right for me too - my first five looked like a dog chewed on them. @nancy_davis I bet that spice jar worked better than all my expensive tools combined.

20d ago

The time I laughed at mood trackers in bullet journals until I actually tried one for 3 weeks

Yeah same here. Surprised myself big time after a week of tracking.