Stress while tech-ing

[Reflex0283]

I just got an ebladed Outkast, but it needs a lot of TLC. I just tested the board, and while it works, I was super stressed the whole time because it would really suck if I accidentally fried the board or messed it up somehow. I'm still stressing about the rest of the eblade because I would hate to accidentally blow up the solenoid or lost some tiny part and not realize it. Does anyone else have these stresses or am I just overthinking it? Eblade parts are expensive on ebay...

[Frmrspec]

Eblades are mostly bulletproof.. only time I would get anxious is resoldering battery tabs, outside of that you don’t need to baby them.

[Reflex0283]

That's exactly what I have to do, unfortunately. I've done it once before on a Halo TSA, but I don't have the battery tab for the eblade. If you (or anyone else) has a single battery tab, I'll happily buy it from you for a reasonable price

[Frmrspec]

If you have to do that, I usually ditch the prongs completely and solder on a 9v harness

[Reflex0283]

Good point, I do actually have one of those laying around

[tyronejk]

My perspective is that if you're that deep into a project, it's because it was already fucked and you can't fuck it any more than fucked. So I don't worry about it.

[Reflex0283]

True, but I want a working eblade at the end of the day and any mistakes will only cost me more money

[russonti]

Yes absolutely, i stress about projects. And yes, i have absolutely messed projects up and made things worse. However, you shouldn't be scared nor give up. We all make mistakes and f things up but it's a learning experience. In a lot of cases i just put it on a back burner and take a break. Come back in a week, a month, 6 months, or a year when you're not so stressed (about that and other things) and pick it back up. You'd be surpised how easy you'll be able to overcome whatever obstacle.

I recently built a gaming linux pc console out of an old crypto minging apu card. There's not many people out there doing exactly what i am so info and help is minimal. I originally wanted to put SteamOs on it so i could have a Steam Console but i failed miserably. I resorted to Linux and that was still a challenge but worked for about two months until it started crashing and ultimately completed stopped booting without freezing. I put it off to the side for the last few weeks and now i'm back to my original game plan of hacking the bios firmware to try and finally install steam os.... I still suck and i am still failing. What i am trying to do can very easily brick and make this thing an expensive paper weight. Is that stopping me, nah. I am trying to take all the precautions and take it step by step as carefully as i can. I only work on it with a clear head. And when i am frustrated i know it's time to take a break and come back refreshed and maybe with a better plan.

You might land it first try, or you might break a bunch of stuff, waste a ton of time, and spend way more than you wanted. Irregardless, you'll feel amazing at the end. Honestly, the troublesome projects are the ones i feel the best if i make it to the end. But i also might be a masochist

[Buff_phroggie]

Brother, if you stress about spending $ maybe paintball, espically cockers, may not be the right place. Im less than a year out from my first autococker (a free trilogy sport) and I just got a quote for an anno on the wifes cocker of 650-700. We are in too deep.

[Trbo323]

No.

If it needs fixing, try to fix it, worst case scenario is you fail and it doesn't work, which is exactly where you are before trying to fix it

If I'm trying to modify something, maybe a little but I've been fixing stuff for long enough now that I know the chances of me fubaring it up enough that I can't fix it are really low

Sent from my motorola edge 2024 using Tapatalk

[boomersruckus]

I am like Turbo. I love to tech....anything, everything. Been an aircraft mechanic most of my adult life. From structures to electrical, if its on the airplane I was working on it. That carried over to motorcycles, cars, houses, markers, firearms, and toys. If it breaks, most of my circle brings it to me before trashing or replacing it. I know that if I take my time and use my patience, then there isnt really anything to worry about. Its when I rush that I make slight mistakes.
I love soldering. Been doing that since I was in highschool in the 90's. I am a flux whore. I can 100% non-flux solder but its a last resort. Markers are a combination of all the stuff I like to do, Pneumatics and electronics in one package.

If you break it while attempting to fix it.....good. Thats a lesson to be learned. Even better if you dont though Got to break some eggs to make an omelette.

[RhoXi]

This discussion reminds me of the words of my favorite youtube gunsmith, Mark Novac. "If you wanna learn how to do something, just pick up some tools and start screwing up." Mistakes will happen but they are just as important as the successes.

For example, this past weekend I was attempting to re-install the fuel tank in my project car. We got it in and mounted only for me to discover I had forgot about the fuel return lines and the tank would need to come back out. So we re-uninstalled it and then found out the filler neck was cracked. 1 step forward, 2 steps back. While this was annoying and caused me to spend yet more money on a non-running car, two good things came of this: Firstly, it reminded me to pay closer attention to how things go together and secondly, if I hadn't made that mistake I would have found out the filler neck was cracked after I put gas in it which would have been a giant pain in the butt.

I guess my point is mistakes are good teachers. Yeah it sucks at the time but the lessons learned are invaluable.

[autococker04]

Give it a try. if it doesn’t work out, just put it in a box in the corner of your basement for a year then sell it as a “project”

[Cdn_Cuda]

I've taken a lot of markers apart, most of them I get back together and some of them will even work! As Trbo323 says, if it's already broke then what's the harm? I've had several markers that I can not been able to make work, or require parts that are too expensive to acquire in Canada (let's be honest, that's almost any part that needs to be shipped). I learn by doing and have made several mistakes, but good ol' MCB is usually there to guide me in the right direction. I'll watch the odd YouTube video as well if i get too stuck, but usually just dive in blind.

Now there are times when teching can be very frustrating. Chasing weird issues and hitting walls really can take down the zen affects of teching a marker, but when you overcome the issue and get it firing, it's a great feeling. Adding in music and a cold beverage often add to the zen experience for me and it can be quite relaxing, especially working on something easy.

[DocsMachine]

[cracks knuckles]

-To be perfectly honest, yes, there are times- not all times, thank the gods- where a project will stress me way too far out.

Not to toot my own horn too loudly, but I have a slight reputation for being able to pull off small miracles- fixing the unfixable or modding the unmodifiable. That's not to say that no one else has such skills, but in my case, it's literally my day job.

There have been all too many times where I had exactly one chance to poke that hole or mill that slot in exactly the right place, or to remove precisely the right amount of metal.

And yes, I've screwed up a time or two, and then had to jump through several hoops to try and fix it.

Or, similarly, there have been times where I've had all too many hours into a single part, and so each subsequent cut gets a little more harrowing each time. I will readily admit I have junked a part after having four or five hours into it. (Remember those Vee-Twins I made a few years back? I only junked two of them, in one case simply because I forgot to compensate for the edge finder.

On the other hand, I have been doing this as a day job for some twenty-seven years now, and there's little I haven't seen and fixed. Smeared JB Weld, stripped threads, stripped-filxed-and-stripped-again threads, misdrilled holes, mismilled parts, mismanufactured parts, bent parts, scored shafts, overuse of Red Loctite, rotted seals, Dremel "milling" jobs, lost parts...


A lot of this long ago stopped being "Oh god, what now?!?" and a lot more "oh, one of these again."

Doc.

[Ecapnation]

Am I the only one who works on paintball stuff to unwind? Hell I find working on my lathe zen like compared to most things.

[Reflex0283]

I love doing it, but there's definitely some stressful/frustrating times mixed in there

[Trbo323]

Am I the only one who works on paintball stuff to unwind? Hell I find working on my lathe zen like compared to most things.

Hell no you're not the only one. I have a TV on the wall of my workspace and a mini fridge for beverages. There's a hot tub in the room as well but it's not working right now

Sent from my motorola edge 2024 using Tapatalk

[Ecapnation]

I only am missing the stricken hot tub.... But yup. TV, fridge, comfy chair and my collection of bourbon.

[Reflex0283]

Turns out soldering is a lot easier when you have 5 hands

[Reflex0283]

It lives!