KamiCrit

I was looking for the project farm shoutout.

Torque is bolt stretch!

In some real deal applications like connecting rods on engines you can stick your head into. Techs will measure when a bolt has reached a correct torque spec when the bolt has stretched to certain dimension measured with a micrometer.

Torque is also very misleading depending on material. Steel bolts stretch in what feels very linear. Stainless steel bolts, when those are tightened up it's like hitting a wall going from loose to tight.

Click sticks (torque wrenches) also have something to say. Where you hold your hand on the wrench will affect the torque value. Usually there is a line on the handle showing you exactly where your hand should be placed and pulling from.

I work in semi heavy industry. The industrial grade consumer items are great, but usually heavy. The latest example I have is buying bookcases from Uline. Not cheap, not light. But full steel and can hold binders easily. Getting more shelves and another matching one down the road is also easy.

Flea markets are also another great source for well built items. Have had great luck buying industrial grade tooling and electrical test/measurement equipment there.

Surprised that they had to resort to fake reviews considering the quality of products they sold. What a rat race.

"Quality means doing it right when no one is looking." -Henry Ford

I wonder if battlefields of the future will feature kamikaze bug drones.

Picture looks like two 18650's or the likes of.

"Most people prefer the simplicity of plugging a M.2 card into a motherboard connector rather than mounting a separate drive and running cables to it."

I love that part so much, I'm a complete convert. Considering replacing SATA SSDs with NVMe SSDs just to reduce the cable load inside my rig. Just wish PCIe cards with dual NVMe ports were more abundant.

Bring on the light rail revolution. North America desperately needs more light rail options. High speed as well, but one step at a time.

"Remember to take all things in moderation"

Work ethic is great and shows through. But you don't get far ahead when you Karōshi [1] yourself. If it hurts, stop.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kar%C5%8Dshi

It's great that with some research and drive one can make something better and cheaper than the engineered factory version.

Time well invested.

I'm pretty sure “natural polished” pencils could make a major comeback. Dare I say for the hipsters? Could add an environmental spin on it as well.

Insiders everywhere.

Now that's a life.

At home I'm very proud of my triple monitor setup and second iteration of my hand assembled computer. The setup is built with ease of use in mind. To lazily chat with friends, unwind, and keep up with bleeding edge news.

When I leave my little tech temple, my mobile computer of choice is a flip phone. A substitute calculator and unit converter.

With no GPS it's great reading the land and people in it. Very occasionally I'll cheat and bum around in front of a cafe and use the tablet to find a spot but most plans are made at home on a printed map.

As stated in other articles here, it's great not having a slab fight for your attention with bleeps and red notifications while out on adventure.

TL;DR / Long story short: Be the friend at the restaurant conversing, not on the glass slab.

I still can't believe some tool & die maker machined a die large enough to house an entire plastic lawn chair.

The plastic component could also be acting as a mechanical fuse in case of overload. Like a shear pin.

My favourite "smart" dumb device has got to be single sensor electronics. The automatic hallway light to be exact. It's a piece of plastic with a photocell and a LED.

So long as it has power (but a battery backup would be simple enough) it never fails to turn on "if this, then that". Daylight savings, changing seasons, solar eclipse.

It's never a device I have to think about.

And at home depot they sell $80 IoT light bulbs demanding a property app.

Good article but I really wish they'd stick to one unit of measurement. And the world standard measurement at that.

Was hard from the beginning to understand the severity of the situation with no units denoted.

What has worked out well for me is a flip phone. The modern ones have all the offline smartphone features you need to get by. Call, text, alarms, calculator, camera. I have found it to be rugged, inexpensive, and one week battery life is a great selling point.

And when I get home to my computer, the refreshing relaxation of the internet is great.

Smartphones making people dumb, dumb phones making people sane.

I love Tesla and Elon Musk as much as the next person.

But isn't it a little crazy how much Elon is betting on 18650 lithium ion batteries.

I really hope I'm mistaken and they have a homemade battery package made up.

Well, sounds like it's time to spin up another Space Odyssey book. 4001 anyone?