📢

Posts

18
Cable Installers
c/cable-installers•harper408harper408•27d ago

Bought a 'universal' cable toner that was anything but

So I picked up this cheap toner online for about $35, thinking it would be a good backup. The ad said it worked on all coax, cat5, cat6, you name it. First job I tried it on was a simple coax trace in an old apartment building. The thing lit up like a Christmas tree on every single line in the bundle, even the dead ones. Spent a whole hour, maybe more, trying to figure out if I was doing it wrong or if the building was haunted. Turns out the toner was just sending signal through the shielding and crosstalking into everything. Had to drive back to the shop to grab my good one, which of course worked fine in two minutes. Lost the better part of a morning and looked like a total rookie in front of the customer. Anyone have a toner they actually trust that won't break the bank?

3 comments
22
Heavy Equipment Operators
c/heavy-equipment-operators•harper408harper408•28d ago

I used to think a quick visual check on the tracks was good enough before moving the dozer

I was working a site in Spokane last month, moving a D6 across some muddy ground. I gave the tracks my usual once-over, thought they looked fine, and started to roll. About twenty feet in, I felt a weird bump and heard a loud pop. Turned out a track pin was about halfway out, and the stress of the turn finished the job. The foreman came over, didn't even yell, just said 'You know, a pry bar and five minutes saves a five-hour repair.' He was right. I was so focused on the big picture of the job that I skipped the simple step of actually prying up on the track to check for loose links. Now I do that check every single morning, no matter what. Anyone else have a basic check they started doing after a close call?

3 comments
24
Butchers
c/butchers•harper408harper408•1mo ago
3 comments
13
Bicycle Mechanics
c/bicycle-mechanics•harper408harper408•1mo ago
3 comments

Recent Comments

27d ago

in

Vent: A customer's vintage Raleigh had a seized bottom bracket that fought me for two hours straight.

Man, heat is the only thing that works sometimes right? I fought a stuck seatpost for like three days once, finally got it with a torch and some wd-40 lol.

28d ago

in

My old foreman always said to double-check the panel's default code before leaving.

Classic installer move right there lol.

28d ago

in

My neighbor's kid just called my collection 'old stuff' and it got to me

My dad kept his old baseball cards in a shoebox under his bed. He didn't care about their value, he just liked the pictures and remembering where he got each one. That kid might see a digital copy as the same story, but it's not the same object. Your longbox has your fingerprints on it from twenty years ago. The screen doesn't have that. Honestly, he might get it one day when his own favorite things from now feel distant.

29d ago

in

Serious question, my switch to dried chickpeas was a letdown for my wallet

Forgot to soak my beans once, ended up with crunchy chili.

29d ago

in

Months of patience with a finicky camp stove paid off

My old Coleman stove had the same cold weather tantrums for two whole seasons. Of course the fix was turning one screw a quarter inch, after I'd already threatened to throw the thing into a lake. It's funny how the solution is always on some random forum page from 2009. I guess we all just enjoy a bit of unnecessary suffering before we finally google it.