Trufuel WTF (not technology related)
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you can't just play dumb and act like we have always owned a plane.
She's on to you!
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She's on to you!
You have no idea. She went on to bring up my table saw, miter saw, band saw, when I set up my virtualization cluster, the six 24" LCD monitors that showed up on my desk one day, all the Arduino/electronics stuff, my welder, my big ass tool cabinet. Basically all the shit that I just bought and never brought up.
It's not that I think she is stupid or would not notice. It is just that the conversation would not change anything anyway. I still would have bought all of it. I like toys. Back when I spent my days running heavy machinery I always said, "Operators are just little boys who never grew up. Their toys and their sand box just got a lot bigger."
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my welder
Living in an apartment as I do now I have no place for welding equipment. If/when I move back into a house, though...
Where would be the best/most likely place to learn how to weld?
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Living in an apartment as I do now I have no place for welding equipment.
I presume you have an electric stove? They are 220V, you could plug a welder in there. ;)
Might want to stay away from flux welding and stick with something using a shielding gas to keep the fumes down. (Yes, I am kidding)
Where would be the best/most likely place to learn how to weld?
I learn differently than most people. I just immerse myself in something to learn. So I just do it and learn from my mistakes. There are tons of resources online. I say just learn the basic techniques from them and get to it.
I learned to weld from my father though. He is the one who made me the type to scratch his own itch. I remember wanting a go-kart so we built one from scratch. He thought that if I helped build it I would be less likely to abuse it and break it.
He was wrong, but that was his thought. My thought was, "I helped build it, so if I break anything I can fix it." Intentions vs consequences and all that. ;)
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Heh, I get a similar thing about the cost of items. My partner now knows how much engines and other parts go for so I can no longer get away with sneaking it in the garage and claiming it only cost 100 quid when she finds it.
I always found flying fun but I have zero inate ability, which is interesting as my father was a mil fast jet (and then transport) pilot and my brother is an airline pilot. It always confuses people when they see the engines and then find out I have almost zero knowledge about aircraft and only care about the engines in them
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http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/ is great for tips. As Polygeekery said practice is the best thing. If you have any fabrication companies near you it would be worth dropping in and seeing if they will let you have some scrap for practice. I scored a huge amount of scrap stainless from a local company that saved me a fortune.
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If you have any fabrication companies near you it would be worth dropping in and seeing if they will let you have some scrap for practice.
Great suggestion. A lot of them will give you random pieces that are too small for them to mess with, and you can easily learn from those without burning up a lot of money. We work with an architectural fab company that has given me a lot of pieces over the years for the various projects I have done. I really only spend money on wire, gas and electricity.
If you do decide to get a welder, stay away from the ultra-cheap ones. This is certainly an area where you get what you pay for. That is not to say that you have to spend a ton. You can pick up a Hobart for $500 that will run off of 110V if you do not want to weld anything over 3/16" and they are great little welders.
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Heh, I get a similar thing about the cost of items. My partner now knows how much engines and other parts go for so I can no longer get away with sneaking it in the garage and claiming it only cost 100 quid when she finds it.
She doesn't give me too much of a hard time because she knows that when I impulse buy something it is usually a good deal. For the tool chest, I walked in to Home Depot one day to pick up something and they had just rolled out last year's display model for clearance. I asked the guy how much and he said the whole package was going for $200. The replacement model was $600.
There is not much difference between the two.
Of course, then I needed more tools to fill it...so maybe it was not such a great deal? ;)
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If you don't feel comfortable learning by yourself, shop around. A local welding supply place gives classes ranging from just-fuckin'-around, to full-on certification. A local "art center" gives art-related welding classes, too.
Speaking of cheap welders, how about a fifty-year-old 220V/60A Miller buzz box that I bought for $60? Motherfucker's built like a tank, and is about as heavy. The only fix I had to make was to replace the leads, the insulation for which was totally gone in spots.
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And I still haven't woken up dead!
if you do wake up dead give us a shout okay? because any warning of the zombie apocalypse is a good warning.
:-P
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Did the reply bug pop up again? I am pretty sure you mean to reply to @FrostCat?
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No, no bug. Yeah, I suppose I meant to respond to @FrostCat, although I was going for the third-person you really.
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Like the royal we?
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Another suggestion for when you learn how to weld: Do not be afraid of the amperage control. When you first start out, you will be very likely to keep the amperage too low. The welds will look better like that, but you will get no penetration. Keep turning up the amperage until it starts to blow shit apart, and then dial it back.
Funny story from back in the construction days: We were laying pipe and the ground conditions changed on us. We needed spade teeth on the small bucket to more efficiently dig through the sloppy ground, but we did not have any. So our mechanic (who I had a very interesting dynamic with...) came out with a piece of plate steel and a portable welder to weld on to the rock teeth. He starts welding it on and I said something about his amperage being too low to get penetration on the teeth. (large masses of metal function like heat sinks and just suck the heat out of the weld) He makes some smart ass remark to me to mind my own business and shouldn't I be back at the office. All in good fun, we were friends.
He spent 45-60 minutes welding the plate on. He was soaked with sweat from welding in full protective gear in 95F heat. As soon as he was done I walked over with a sledgehammer and hit the plate and it popped right off.
"Now, turn the amperage up and do it right this time."
He gave me a look that could have melted steel and I thought he was going to kill me with the slag hammer.
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He gave me a look that could have melted steel and I thought he was going to kill me with the slag hammer.
Yeah, and I bet a jury wouldn't have convicted him, either.
But sometimes people just have to learn that shit the hard way.
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Do not be afraid of the amperage control
I wondered if I'd ever get decent welds until I got enough travel speed to crank my welder up a bit more.
A foot pedal is also a great investment for TIG even though they are pricey. You'll find it invaluable if you do thin-walled pipe.
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Texting drivers in 4-wheeled vehicles are the instant death monster machines motorcyclists need to watch out for.
That's true for not only motorcyclists and pedestrians, but other drivers of four-wheeled vehicles, too!
Why isn't
DRIVE THE CAR FIRST!
taught and re-emphasized in every driver's ed class on the planet?
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Operators are just little boys who never grew up. Their toys and their sand box just got a lot bigger.
The only difference between men and boys is the size of their toys.
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DRIVE THE CAR FIRST!
You can't have a phone call, you're driving.
You can't text, you're driving.
You can't operate your electronic navigation, you're driving.And if the passenger sitting next to you is unable to shut up if something happens on the road (Not warn you, just shut up. Voluntarily.) they should probably not be allowed into a car unless gagged.
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And if the passenger sitting next to you is unable to shut up if something happens on the road (Not warn you, just shut up. Voluntarily.) they should probably not be allowed into a car unless gagged.
You have apparently never been married.
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And if the passenger sitting next to you is unable to shut up if something happens on the road (Not warn you, just shut up. Voluntarily.) they should probably not be allowed into a car unless gagged.
And I know of just the thing:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scold's_bridle
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DRIVE THE CAR FIRST!
It is. You also can get an expensive ticket in most places if you're distracted.
People don't give a shit because enforcement sucks.
They also teach that the left lane is a passing lane only and you should move over if you're in it and not passing. People don't do that either.
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They also teach that the left lane is a passing lane only and you should move over if you're in it and not passing. People don't do that either.
That should be an offense that is enforced via corporal punishment, or perhaps preferably the death penatly.
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Or Dave Barry's concept: atomic land torpedoes on the cars of trusted drivers.
EDIT: wow that column was written when we still had the national 55 speed limit, if you're wondering what the bit about the "secret speed limit" was. Washington State was one of the many where nobody actually enforced a 55 limit, we just put up the signs to make the Feds happy.
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And I know of just the thing:
You're a sick human being. That must be why I like you.
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atomic land torpedoes on the cars of trusted drivers
Cattle catchers on cars would work also. Perhaps reinforcement of the front fenders so you can execute the PIT maneuver without damaging your vehicle. Whatever works.
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Touchə
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In NZ, we had a volleyball net in our yard, and one day a hedgehog got caught in it after it had fallen down. It did not end well.
Still, it was interesting, since where I'm from, they don't exist.
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Still, it was interesting, since where I'm from, they don't exist.
Tasmanian devils, but no hedgehogs?
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Goddamn reality, getting in the way of my jokes.
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Mostly we have rainclouds.
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And apparently a trail.
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It's a long trail; we've got the name, but only because we were the destination. Most of it is in other places.
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Mostly we have rainclouds.
And hipsters, and marijuana, and starving artists, and...and...and...
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Not any good ones though. ;-P
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Maybe they only have crap ones and great ones.
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Could be. When I was at Intel, I noticed Yahoo was next door.
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My wife is getting nervous as I keep reading about planes and flying.
It's as easy as 1-2-3!
They also teach that the left lane is a passing lane only and you should move over if you're in it and not passing. People don't do that either.
I hear the rule in the EU is "Rear-ended? Passing lane? 100% your fault." Much higher compliance rates.
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It's as easy as 1-2-3!
That's a definite marketing gimmick. Buying anything is as easy as 1-2-3. For most people the problem would be step .1, having $189K to spend on a toy.
That is all that is, a toy. 300nm range? If I buy a plane, I would consider 2,000nm as a minimum.
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That is all that is, a toy. 300nm range? If I buy a plane, I would consider 2,000nm as a minimum.
Step right up and put up your deposit...you can get one in September 2018.
These idiots should hire a couple of extra workers so they can keep up with demand.
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As I understand it, the EMC on a modern high-compression engine will retard the spark timing to avoid detonation if it senses it beginning to happen, meaning that the engine will always run at the highest effective compression that its current fuel can support without knocking.
It does retard the spark timing, but it can only detect detonation if it's happening. That's bad.
If you never actually ask for maximum power, it's quite possible to get away with lower-octane fuel indefinitely
Sure, but who wants to do that? Boring!
By the way, there certainly exist motors with an unadjusted compression ratio optimized for 95 RON fuel. Putting 98 in one of those is probably not going to make the EMC do anything different with the timing than it would for 95.
No, it's as useful as putting 95 in an engine built for 91: it does nothing.
10% ethanol
Adulterating fuel with ethanol should be a crime. It doesn't help the environment, it damages vehicles, it's less energy dense and ethanol is for drinking!
That shit used to bug me every time I visited Sydney where E10 seems to be mandated. Now I drive a diesel so while I still hate it I'm not personally affected. We can get unadulterated fuel here so my wife's car is fine and we don't travel in that car anymore.
fuel is complicated, let's go shopping
Haha, let's start a tyre thread next!
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I hear the rule in the EU is "Rear-ended? Passing lane? 100% your fault." Much higher compliance rates.
Excuse me while I sew my sides back together :P
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Chlorine Triflouride... It is also hypergolic with such things as cloth, wood, and test engineers, not to mention asbestos, sand, and water — with which it reacts explosively
Chlorine trifluouride: if you think something's non-flammable, you're just not trying hard enough.
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I go through quite a lot of the stuff in my turbine engines. Works fine in diesel engines too if you add a bit of lubricity enhancer as it's 'dryer' than diesel (obviously illegal in the UK due to the tax situation on JET-A).
It's not illegal provided you pay the road fuel tax yourself (and aren't exceeding pollution limits). People have legally fuelled vehicles on used cooking oil (which they can get for cheap because otherwise the fast food place has to pay to dispose of it) by paying the right tax.
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Chlorine trifluouride: if you think something's non-flammable, you're just not trying hard enough.
AKA “Nope. Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope. I'm out of here right now…”