c/built-not-bought

Took the cheap liquid cooler gamble and lost, then won weirdly

I couldn't decide between a cheap air tower and a used liquid cooler for my old 1080 Ti, so I went with the liquid one off Facebook Marketplace for $60 less. Turns out the pump was dead and the previous owner just zip-tied it in place, so I spent 4 hours tearing it apart. I ended up using a spare CPU fan and a zip-tie mount I cobbled from a coat hanger, and it actually runs cooler than before, like 61C under load. The absurd part is my buddy walked in at midnight and asked if I was cooking ramen because of the thermal paste smell. Still, I'm kinda proud it works, even if it looks like a robot spider. Anyone else nursed a dead water cooler back to life with garbage parts, or am I the only one who should've just paid for the tower?

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price.alice•1d ago

That old machinist who fixed my vise with a washer

I brought a seized bench vise to a local shop in Dayton three years ago, ready to drop $80 on a new one. The guy behind the counter, must've been 70, looked at it for 30 seconds and said, "You're overthinking it, kid." He pulled a rusty washer from a coffee can, tapped it onto the threads, and handed it back working smooth. It's still going today, and I've never looked at a hardware store replacement the same way since. Anyone else had a stranger's simple trick save you a chunk of cash instead of just buying new?

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hall.ruby•5d ago

Three evenings chasing a fan curve that kept overriding my custom loop

My coolant temps were fine but the radiator fans kept spiking because the motherboard software was resetting every time I closed the game. Took me three nights and a forum dig to find a hidden power plan setting that was fighting my manual curve. Anyone else run into software fighting firmware instead of just using the BIOS?

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anthony_fox90•5d ago

Hidden 12V wire in my RV turned out to be a factory mistake from 1987

While rewiring my 1987 Winnebago last month, I found a 12V line running straight from the battery to the frame with no fuse. Turns out the original factory had a whole batch where workers routed the ground wrong, and my local RV shop in Albuquerque confirmed it was a known issue. Cost me two blown multimeters at $18 each before I figured it out. Anyone else find weird factory shortcuts buried in older rigs?

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stone.evan•6d ago

TIL a $15 bench grinder wire wheel saved my 1969 Honda restomod

Spent 3 weeks fighting rust on the frame rails with sandpaper and chemicals in my garage here in Portland, then borrowed a neighbor's bench grinder with a wire wheel and knocked it all out in one afternoon. Anyone else found that buying one decent tool beats a month of elbow grease, or am I just late to this party?

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torres.drew•8d ago

The one critique that finally fixed my fan curve setup

A guy at a LAN party in Austin watched my temps and said 'your fans are chasing each other, not the heat.' I switched to a single sensor curve instead of three separate ones, and my idle noise dropped by half. Anybody else had to unlearn their custom fan logic to get better results?

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miles_grant35•8d ago

The Saturday my 2nd gen RX-7 finally fired up after 14 months

After 14 months of chasing a no-start in my garage in Spokane, I swapped in a used ECU from a parts car on a whim and it roared to life on the first crank. Turned out the old one had a cracked solder joint that only showed up when it got warm, and I'd already replaced the fuel pump, coils, and half the wiring harness. Anyone else ever fixed a car with a part you almost threw away out of frustration?

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tylerw72•10d ago

The $5 thrift store drill that outlasted my new one

I picked up a vintage Craftsman drill at a garage sale outside Austin for 5 bucks just for the chuck key. My brand new cordless died mid-project last Saturday, and I grabbed it as a backup. That old thing chugged through 40 screw holes in cedar like it was nothing. The guy selling it said his grandpa bought it in 1974 and it never saw a repair shop. Anyone else holding onto old gear that just refuses to quit even after the fancy stuff fails?

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betty_scott18•14d ago

Old drill press from my dad's garage finally runs right

Spent last weekend tearing down a 1962 Craftsman drill press that sat for 20 years, cleaned the chuck and replaced the belt for about $25 in parts from a local shop in Akron. First test hole went through a 1/4 inch steel plate dead straight, no wobble, which shocked me because the spindle was stuck solid when I started. Anyone else resurrect a family tool with mostly elbow grease and cheap parts, or am I just lucky the bearings held up?

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charlesj46•17d ago

Changed my mind about liquid cooling after seeing the math

Always thought air cooling was good enough. Then a buddy showed me his loop temps on a 30 minute stress test. 15 degrees cooler under load. That's a huge gap for my CPU that was thermal throttling on hot days. Now I get why people spend the extra cash and time on water. Anyone else make the swap and notice the same drop?

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