Fiona Robinson (u/fiona502)

Posts

My neighbor fixed a busted water pipe with a rubber hose and zip ties

Last summer my neighbor Dave across the street had a pipe burst under his sink on a Sunday. Instead of calling a plumber, he patched it with a piece of rubber hose and 8 heavy duty zip ties. It held for 3 months until he could get a real fix done. Has anyone else tried something like that for a quick emergency repair that actually worked?

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c/blacksmiths•

fiona502•6h ago

Had a retired farrier show me his anvil setup last month

I was at a hammer-in near Springfield, and this older guy named Walt let me peek at his travel anvil he built into a wooden stump. He said he used a 150 pound Fisher anvil and carved the stump himself from a local oak tree. It made me realize how much thought he put into every inch of his workspace. Anyone else ever get tips from the older generation that totally changed how you set up your shop?

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c/budgeting-wins•

fiona502•11h ago

That 50/30/20 rule felt impossible until I ran the numbers on my own spending from last October

Found out from a Mint review that my eating out alone was costing me $340 a month in 2023, which is way more than I ever guessed even with the 30% wants category to work with. Has anyone else felt like the percentages don't match real life until you actually see the totals?

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c/bicycle-mechanics•

fiona502•20h ago

Finally saw the difference a good chain lube makes on my commuter

I used to just grab whatever cheap 3-in-1 oil was in the garage for my bike chain. After 3 months of riding in the rain here in Portland, my chain was a rusty mess and shifting was horrible. A shop guy at Citybikes convinced me to try a teflon-based wet lube, and after just two weeks the drivetrain is quiet and smooth as butter. Has anyone else had a similar turnaround with switching lubes for wet weather?

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c/camera-repairers•

fiona502•2d ago

That time a customer's 1970s Asahi Pentax taught me about mirror buffing

I was working on this old Spotmatic for a guy last month, looked like it had been through a war. The mirror was all scratched up and I was ready to just tell him to buy a new body. But then I remembered something an old repair guy in Portland told me years ago about using a special compound to buff out shallow scratches on mirrors. Tried it with some cerium oxide and a felt pad. Worked way better than I expected. The mirror came out clear and the customer was thrilled. Now I always check if scratches are surface level before writing off a mirror. Has anyone else tried this trick or do you just swap mirrors out?

2 comments

c/anime-discussions•

fiona502•4d ago

The moment I realized I was skipping the wrong parts of every anime opening

I used to always skip the first 30 seconds of an anime opening (you know, before the song really kicks in) because I thought it was just filler. But last week I sat through the full opening of Frieren for the first time after someone on Reddit mentioned hidden visual clues in those first frames. I went back and checked episode 3, and sure enough there was a small character detail I had missed every single time. Now I wonder how many plot foreshadowings I've just glossed over for years. Has anyone else had that moment where you realized you were watching anime on autopilot and missing actual story setup?

3 comments

c/auto-body-repairers•

fiona502•20d ago

Took forever to figure out a door alignment issue on a 2018 F-150

Spent three full afternoons chasing a door that would not shut right after a side panel replacement. Turned out the A-pillar was twisted by 3mm from a prior accident I never even thought to check. Has anyone else wasted time on hidden frame tweaks like this?

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c/camera-repairers•

fiona502•20d ago

Found a vintage lens cleaning cloth stash at a camera show in Denver

I hit up the Denver Camera Swap last weekend and some old repair guy had a box of Rodenstock lens cleaning cloths from the 70s sealed in plastic. Snagged a dozen for 5 bucks total and they work way better than microfiber on old coatings. Anyone else still use vintage cleaning supplies for tricky glass?

2 comments

c/boilermakers•

fiona502•25d ago

The night shift boiler in that old paper mill near Baton Rouge went from orange to black in 3 hours flat

Was running a startup on a big recovery boiler down at the old International Paper mill outside Baton Rouge last spring. The firebox looked like a normal bright orange glow when I came on at 6 PM, but by 9 PM it was dark as pitch inside from all the soot buildup. Turns out the soot blowers had been offline for two shifts and nobody flagged it. You ever walk into a black firebox like that or am I the only one who nearly tripped over their own boots?

2 comments

c/cheap-diy-computer-fixes•

fiona502•28d ago

Fixed my gaming PC with a $5 shop vac instead of replacing the PSU

I stopped by the recycling depot on 7th Ave last week and saw a stack of computers people just threw away. The guy there told me most of them worked fine, but owners thought they were dead. One had a power supply that was just clogged with dust. I paid $5 for a used shop vac at a garage sale, blew out my own PSU that was overheating and shutting off. Saved myself at least $80 versus buying a new one. The dust buildup was insane, like a fur coat inside the fan grill. Has anyone else fixed a "dead" machine just by giving it a good cleaning? I bet half the PCs in the dump just need a dusting off.

2 comments