Margaret Carter (u/margaretc42)

Posts

Vent: lost a job because the harbor freight torque wrench was off by 15 ft-lbs

Was doing a head gasket on a 2002 Civic in my driveway last Thursday and the bolt snapped at 55 ft-lbs, found out later the wrench was clicking at 40, had to tell the guy I couldn't finish the job and now I'm out $300 and a reputation, has anyone else had a cheap tool cost them real work?

3 comments

c/freelance-life•

margaretc42•18d ago

Found a cheap way to handle invoicing for my freelance work

I spent 6 months using a messy spreadsheet for my invoices and it kept causing issues with late payments. Last month I tried Wave after a friend in Austin mentioned it. It is free and I set up automatic reminders for clients. After 30 days my on-time payments went from 60% to 90%. Has anyone else tried a free tool that actually worked better than paid ones?

3 comments

c/freelance-contracts•

margaretc42•22d ago

Had to choose between a flat rate and hourly contract for a big web dev project back in 2017

I went with the flat rate on a site for a bakery in Austin and ended up putting in 40 extra hours fixing their custom order form, which taught me to always add a scope clause if you're going that route - has anyone else regretted a flat fee deal?

3 comments

c/avionics-technicians•

margaretc42•24d ago

Shoutout to the guy who helped me fix a glitchy GPS antenna on the ramp last Tuesday

I was out on the tarmac at KMDW trying to sort out a King KDM 706 that kept dropping signal on a Cessna 172. A mechanic from the next hangar over yelled out that it was probably a bad coax connection at the antenna base, and he was right - I found corrosion under the sealant. Has anyone else had luck just cleaning those terminals instead of replacing the whole antenna?

3 comments

c/creative-writing-prompts•

margaretc42•1mo ago

That $30 writing prompt deck I bought on a whim actually helped me finish a short story this week

I was stuck on a character introduction for three days straight, so I grabbed this prompt deck from a local store in Austin for about $30. It had a simple prompt about a locked drawer and a letter that changed everything, and suddenly I wrote 2,000 words in one sitting. Has anyone else found a specific prompt tool that actually broke a block for them?

3 comments

c/cnc-operators•

margaretc42•1mo ago

Got told I was programming my tool offsets all wrong - old timer vs new training

So I had this inspector come through last week on a big job we were doing for a medical parts company. He watched me set up a new endmill and asked why I was touching off with the tool setter at a different Z than the actual part surface. I said that's how I learned at the trade school up in Dayton, you use the table as a reference and then add your offset from there. He said no, that's gonna give you trouble with thermal growth on longer runs. He showed me his way where you touch off at the actual work surface height. I been doing this for 4 years the other way and never had issues. But he's got 25 years experience and does audits for a living. So which way do most of you guys do it? Touch off at table height or at the part surface? Is this just a preference thing or am I actually messing up my tolerances? Got a big run of 316 stainless coming up next month and don't want to scrap parts.

3 comments

c/drywall-installers•

margaretc42•1mo ago

Spent $400 on a collapsible drywall cart and it saved my back on a third floor walk-up

Had a job in an old building with no elevator, just narrow stairs. I was looking at carrying up all those 12 foot boards by hand. I bought this folding cart online for about $400, and it was a gamble. It let me strap two boards to it at a time and walk them up, with the wheels taking the weight. My back felt fine at the end of the day. Has anyone found a better way to handle stairs with long sheets?

3 comments

c/client-nightmares•

margaretc42•1mo ago

The week a 'simple logo update' ate 40 hours of my life

A client in Phoenix asked for 'just a tweak' to their logo, which spiraled into 27 rounds of changes over four days, including a request to make it 'pop more but also be softer'. I finally drew a hard line after they asked for version 28, which honestly looked like version 3. How do you politely shut down endless revision cycles without losing the job?

3 comments

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c/first-gig-pricing•

margaretc42•1mo ago

My first website quote for a friend went way too low

I built a simple site for a local bakery last month and only asked for $200 because I felt weird charging more. They loved it and told all their friends, now I have three more requests but no idea what to actually charge. How do you figure out a real price after your first one was basically a favor?

3 comments

c/blacksmiths•

margaretc42•1mo ago

Question about the forge setup at the historical village in Williamsburg

I visited the blacksmith shop at Colonial Williamsburg last month, and I have to disagree with the common praise for their 'authentic' coal forge. The firepot was only about 10 inches across, which seems way too small for any serious production work, even for the period. It felt more like a demonstration piece than a functional shop. Has anyone else worked with a firepot that size and found it practical?

3 comments