Betty nailed it - brush then vac is the way to go. That old timer wasn't wrong about scratching, but a good round nylon brush won't hurt a clay liner much. I do a light pass with a 7 inch poly brush first to knock the crust loose, then follow up with the shop vac and a crevice tool. The vac alone just polishes the creosote instead of removing it. That sticky layer near the top you mentioned? A vac won't touch that, you gotta break it free first. Only time I skip the brush is on those super fragile stainless inserts where the warranty freaks out about scratches.

Blown a fuse mid-cycle" sounds like you lucked out honestly. Having to re-zero everything from scratch is a pain but at least now you know your reference points are fresh and accurate instead of trusting gremlins from last month. I'd rather spend an hour setting home positions than chase a phantom 0.005" offset that's been drifting for weeks.

Aw man, tell me about it! I bought a cheapo laser level once and it was so off I might as well have been eyeballing it with my eyes closed haha. Ended up using it as a paperweight after I spent a whole Saturday redoing a patio layout that looked like a drunk snake. So yeah, $300 hurts but it's way cheaper than losing a weekend and your temper!

Nah, the wildest was some dude using a wet finger and a multimeter like it was 1850.

550 bucks I spent on a "heavy duty" vacuum sealer that broke after 6 months because I skimped on the actual bags and used cheap ones that leaked. @barbara399 that's exactly how they get you, the upfront cost looks like a deal but the hidden expenses are where they make their money. It's the same with printers and ink, or those cheap electric kettles that burn out in a year. The real cost is always in the stuff you have to keep buying to keep the cheap thing working.