If heavy duty means “lets you carry more weight in your bed and tow more” do not do it unless you actually have weight in your bed or tow a lot. To do this, the springs have a higher spring rate which makes the ride very hard unless you’re loaded.

You’ve discovered cold brew!

If you have the time there’s no harm, but you’re probably going to want to disassemble the steps to repair it halfway well.

Depending on the weight of the person/people who will be be using it, you might want to rethink the design or make the steps out of something thicker/beefier. Since the two treads are essentially cantilevers, the riser and torque is all that’s prevent the far end of either step from collapsing. I don’t think a butt joint is good enough here, even if it has a backer (as the pictures show). A finger joint between the treads and the riser, with many smaller fingers, is probably your best bet. You’ll probably want a table saw and a jig/slead to cut them, unless you’re familiar with a good alternative and/or have the skill and time to do it with hand tools.

IMO there’s little need to buy new in the computer world unless you want to do something silly like have a snapdragon x laptop or have the disposable funds to go the gaming rig route.

My desktop is a retired business workstation, a HP Z420. I bought it for $250, installed a smaller SSD ($100 new) for the OS + apps, upgeaded to the “best” Xenon that fit the socket ($150 used), upgraded to 64 GB RAM ($107 used, yay ECC memory being dirt cheap on the used market), and a 1070TI ($225 used, purchased just before covid).

It’s more than fast enough for my needs still.

This was all about 4-5 years ago, so you could probably do even better with more modern hardware.

Do you live in a warmer climate and/or have radiator heat? From what I’ve read, carneverous plants like higher humidity and Midwest winters + forced air make for a pretty dry house.

Also, be careful with bottled water. They all have some level of minerals in them to get their flavor profile. That said, if you’ve been doing this for any period of time carry on!

Look more closely at the scales ;)

Thanks for both replies, they were very informative!

Hair color changes with age. My mother in law and wife were both blond when they were kids, but their hair slowly turned browner with age. They both highlight their hair to split the difference.

We have two fairly young kids. Their hair is pretty light blond on the top layers, but their bottom layers are quite a bit darker. I suspect the biggest contributing factor beyond genetics is sunlight. Both of them spend a pretty good amount of time outdoors when the weather permits.

I try to keep my writing somewhere in the middle. Easy examples include intent, which is sometimes more important than the explanation itself, as well as outlining alternative ideas/approaches and why they weren’t used.

I greatly appreciate insight into the thought process of others and try to pay it forward.

It’s still in need of some voicing and shaping

How do you voice it without the guitar assembled? I imagine there must be some technique there, but I have no idea what it is.

little kids

If the kids are truly little this would be an OK move from the US. However, schools in Puerto Rico teach in Spanish which would be a struggle for kids who are not fluent.

If there’s a sudden boom in prison construction in the next few years I’ll reconsider of course

You work in what now 🤨

Sarcasm aside, I am genuinely curious why you would leave this here. Is your work related to something with prisons?

I hope you get a decent answer. When we last visited 10 years ago a similar idea passed our minds.

I did some poking around at the time out of curiosity. From what I recall, a decent amount of manufacturing moved there in the 70s to claim made in America, take advantage of cheaper labor, and take advantage of some tax incentives. The incentives were phased out and manufacturing started leaving. Wikipedia .

I am not sure what their economy is like these days, but as with all moves a chunk of it is going to come down to the work you can/want to do and the jobs available, but with remote work living somewhere like Puerto Rico does seem appealing.

I suspect you’re going to have the usual island pain points (hurricanes, expensive imports, limited economy, a large swath of the economy tied to tourism) and benefits (consistent weather year round, natural beauty which PR has a ton of, beaches, interesting culture).

Again, I really hope someone with first hand experience chimes in - even if the moved in the other direction from the island to the mainland.

Keeping a woodworking hobby from devolving into tool collecting can be a trick.

This can be true of most hobbies, lol. Amusingly, three others of yours fall into that pattern.

Electronics? If only I had a bigger power supply, higher speed/more channel scope, hot air station, logic analyzer, etc. Guitars? I have friends and coworkers who play. No one only owns one guitar, pedal, amp combo. Gardening? I have quite the setup in my basement to get seeds going, but I live in zone 6 and need to compensate some for the short growing season. Cooking can also be it’s own equipment rabbit hole.

Beyond that: Cameras? Choosing which brand of body to use, sensor size, lens collection, tripods/flash/accessories. If you play a tabletop game do you really play a tabletop game or are you looking for an excuse to make and paint minis? 3D printers can be just as much about messing with the printer as actually printing things.

I think it’s important to recognize the pattern so you can consciously decide if you want to fall into it or avoid it. For some people, the collecting around the hobby is even better than doing the hobby.

Factories will win this hands down, especially when you’re building large/complex items. It looks like the distinction might be “single building” vs “complex or buildings”, but VW’s Wolfsburg plant is 70 million square feet. The largest plant I’ve been to isn’t on that list, but it’s still over a half mile wide - all under a single roof.

https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/infrastructure/g2904/7-of-the-worlds-largest-manufacturing-plants/

Digitally? Unless that’s off limits in this situation. I’m sure there are analog paths you could take too, I just don’t know what they would be

Snow tires are way more beneficial than 4WD/AWD. As already said, 4WD/AWD will help you avoid getting stuck, but it can’t help you with stopping or turning.

Just take it easy the first snow. Brake early, corner slowly, don’t go too fast. It seems like everyone forgets how to drive on snow the first time it snows, which results in more of a mess.

Disclaimer up front: I have very little background in any of this.

Why not do three exposures on three different prices of paper with a color filter in front of each? Green pigment gets the green filter, etc.

Good luck. The company I work at has the exact same problem. Since each system tends to be owned by a different org, and the systems all meet the owning org’s needs, you’re going to be in for struggle.

Woah, those bullets. I didn’t know you could do that.

Great post too!