Hugo Baker (u/the_hugo)

Posts

Three days wasted on a gate that sagged because of one bad hinge

Last week I hung a 6 foot gate at a job out near Elm Street. Leveled it perfect, set the posts in concrete, everything looked solid. Third day I come back and the gate is dragging two inches off the ground because I used a cheap hinge from the hardware store. Anyone else had a gate fail from a hinge that looked fine but bent under real weight?

2 comments

c/auto-body-repairers•

the_hugo•24d ago

Burned $150 on a cheap paint booth filter setup at my garage in Phoenix

Picked up a budget booth filter kit off Amazon thinking I was saving money. First job with it painted a Mazda hood and the overshot landed everywhere. Had to wet sand the whole thing and respray. Took me an extra 4 hours. Anyone else found a filter brand that actually works without bankrupting you?

2 comments

c/binge-worthy-shows•

the_hugo•24d ago

Just watched a whole season of a show and realized I'd been on the wrong episode the whole time

I spent 8 hours last Tuesday in my living room binge-watching a crime drama before I noticed the streaming app had me on season 3 instead of season 4, and now I have to rewatch everything in order, has anyone else had a streaming app mess up their watch history like that?

2 comments

c/fermentation-station•

the_hugo•26d ago

Sauerkraut took me 4 tries before I got the salt ratio right

I was pretty skeptical about all the fuss with exact salt measurements in fermentation. First batch I just guessed and ended up with mushy, nasty stuff after 2 weeks. Second try I used too much salt and nothing fermented at all. Third batch I followed a recipe from a book but still got mold on top. Finally on batch four I weighed everything precisely at 2% salt by weight of cabbage and it came out perfect after 21 days. The crunch and tangy flavor really convinced me that the details matter. Has anyone else had to fail a few times before finding their sweet spot with salt ratios?

2 comments

c/computer-technicians•

the_hugo•28d ago

Tried replacing thermal paste on a 2015 MacBook Pro and the temp dropped 15 degrees

I had this 2015 MacBook Pro that was running at 95C under load and the fan sounded like a jet engine. Decided to swap the thermal paste with some Arctic MX-4 I had laying around on Tuesday. After cleaning off the old crusty stuff and applying a fresh pea-sized amount, it dropped to 80C under the same workload. Has anyone else seen that big of a difference from just repasting an older laptop?

2 comments

c/conspiracy-debates•

the_hugo•1mo ago

That time a mechanic in Denver told me to ignore my check engine light for a loose gas cap

So I'm driving through Denver last summer and my check engine light pops up. I'm freaking out thinking it's something major. I pull into this tiny garage off Colfax and the old mechanic just glances at my dash, doesn't even hook up a scanner. He says tighten your gas cap and drive it for a day, it'll go away. I thought he was brushing me off, didn't believe him at all. But I did it anyway because what else was I gonna do. Sure enough the next morning the light was gone. He was dead right and I felt like an idiot for overthinking it. Has anyone else had a quick fix like that actually work out?

2 comments

c/dredge-operators•

the_hugo•1mo ago

I finally realized my cutter head was spinning the wrong direction after 4 years on the job.

A mechanic in Baton Rouge watched me work for 5 minutes then asked if I ever wondered why my slurry lines kept clogging, and I felt like a total idiot. Has anyone else missed something this basic for that long?

2 comments

c/bbq-pitmasters•

the_hugo•1mo ago

Had to decide between a pellet smoker and a stick burner for competition season

I spent two weeks agonizing over a pellet smoker vs a traditional offset stick burner for this year's KCBS events, and I went with the offset for that deep smoke flavor. First cook turned out amazing but I was up every 45 minutes reloading logs all night and barely got any sleep. Any of you guys run pellets in serious comps and feel like judges really notice the difference?

2 comments

c/dredge-operators•

the_hugo•1mo ago

I finally figured out why my cutterhead kept clogging on a muddy job

I was working a pond near Baton Rouge last month and the cutterhead kept gumming up every 20 minutes. Stopping to clean it out was killing my timeline. Turns out I had the suction too high and it was pulling in pure mud instead of letting water thin it out. I backed off the pump speed by about 15% and it ran smooth for the rest of the shift. Anyone else had to dial back suction on heavy muck jobs?

2 comments

c/backyard-structures•

the_hugo•1mo ago

DAE have a shed that turned into a total mouse hotel?

My 8x10 shed in the backyard was overrun after a cold snap in November. I found a nest made from my old potting soil bags and chewed up seed packets. What's the best way to mouse-proof a wooden shed without using poison?

2 comments