1st Gen Lunchtable Thread - General Discussion

Now that I thought I was gonna have to buy a new engine, I feel better about putting a few grand toward getting it really shipshape.

 

On another note, going to the doctor in this country is the biggest waste of time ever. I went in for a check up and basic blood work, and all I have to show for it is a $500 bill that apparently they never sent to my insurance. All that for them to tell you to get more sleep and drink water.

 

I mean, at your age yeah...assuming you're a healthy young adult. Those regular check ups become more important in 15ish+ years if you want to catch major issues early on.

 

Careful, getting it to 'shipshape' is a slippery slope...

This year has been a heavy maintenance year for me, and the entire time it has felt like 'I'm only $1500 away from it being perfect'. I think I'm in for around $6k in the last 12 months, and somehow I'm still $1500 away from it being perfect lol.

Obviously fix whats broken, but I would've been much better off with a 'if it aint broke' mentality

 

It def needs the rack and control arms and pinion seal, probably a new brake booster/MC too. I suppose it’s not all that urgent though.

 

well yeah the cost and system is another topic entirely, but that could be skating on thin ice talked about on here. My big thing is how hard it is just to see your PCP these days unless you make an appointment weeks/months in advance.

When I was a kid, urgent care was like the ER...you rarely went there, you'd go and see your family doc or primary care doc when sick. These days you need an appointment 3 months in advance to see them so it's just easier to go to urgent care.

 

Hi, you must be new here

 

I just got back from mine this morning.
Dr said "your lab work is great and improved from your last visit." You have better numbers than me.
The Dr is 1/2 of my age. Now if I could get rid of the arthritis in my knee. Back to the gym.

 

We have had a few new neighbors move into the rental houses on our street over the last several months, and at least 3 Teslas parked on the street regularly now.

I don't know why or what it is exactly, but something about Tesla drivers compels them to park as fucking close as possible to your front/rear bumper when street parking. It's like they think that because they have all those camera/sensor parking aids, they can park a few inches away from you and they don't see the potential problem in that. Seems to happen almost every time when I have to park on the street.

 

Let's see them talk their way out of a parking ticket come trash day

 

That was a pretty smooth lesson in verbal persuasion

 

The neighbor who called on the "dark Toyota" though...

Wasn't even the 4R, stupid Rav4 that was parked there earlier

 

@Kwikvette
Is a spool gun for welding aluminum a good option? Easy as mig?
I had never heard of it before, only ever heard of tig for aluminum, but I have some future ideas that require aluminum welding and my welder advertises spool gun capability

 

Absolutely!

It's cheaper than buying a whole new welder.

It's way easier to use versus TIG welding aluminum.

Downfalls though are, you don't have as much control as you do with TIG. I've used it for small repairs on thin aluminum, but it works way better on thicker stuff.

And depending on the brand, a cheap spoolgun will cause you a lot of headache regarding feeding.

Keep in mind one thing that is pretty common for anyone learning to run a spoolgun is melting wire on the tip. You can run it like you do MIG, but you'll sit your torch back a hair farther, not to mention it doesn't start welding right away as pre-flow begins before wire is actually fed, followed by post-flow at the end of your weld.

But yeah, spoolguns are super simple to use. I've got one for repairs along with a small bottle of pure argon.

 

Never did it myself but ive seen our welders use them to do aluminum in the field. Definitely not as pretty as tig but works well and was pretty quick

 

Good info thank you!
Didn't think about needing a different shielding gas so that's good to know.
Not knowing anything it kind of looked like it was a cheap gimmick, nice to know it is a real option

 

Been a thing for years actually.

They've just become more and more available as cheaper machines offer more options and add-ons.

Like I said, it's the cheap spoolguns that can give people feeding issues which is why some don't like it.

These are I believe my first ever welds on a spoolgun, and I had just learned how to MIG in general.





It's really simple.

 

The cleanliness of the aluminum can make a huge difference though

 

@eon_blue dude wtf it's been 65 degrees out here, I'm loving this shit right now

Can't wait until it's much cooler still

 

Yeah same here, this week is going to be a nice one. Supposed to get back up into the low 90s next week Usually how it is until Halloween though