u/Krasnolaundry

I've been learning FreeCAD using some youtube tutorials, which has been great, but I'm finding that while I can follow along with the tutorials fine, I'm missing some of the context of why you do certain things in certain ways. I'd like to learn some of the logic behind the methodology so that I can better apply this stuff to my own models. Can anyone suggest some good youtubers for this style of tutorial?

Edit: Also open to paid courses if someone can recommend them as actually getting into the weeds of logic of FreeCAD.

Edit 2 because there seems to be a bit of misunderstanding of how I've phrased things. One example of the kind of info I feel I'm missing:

In the tutorials I've been doing they've sometimes been toggling construction geometry before using external projection to select elements, and other times they haven't, and haven't really explained why. So I don't really understand which instances it's better to do that and which instances it isn't. In my eyes both the operations were similar, and I don't really understand why they did it one time and not the other.

It's like the equivalent of following a baking tutorial and wanting to know why they put the baking powder in, not just that you have to put 1/2 a teaspoon into the bowl.

I'm on a macbook, using the gesture navigation style. While the other gestures work, the pinch gesture for zooming in and out doesn't. Anyone else encountered this?

For what it's worth, pinch gestures work elsewhere on my mac.

https://preview.redd.it/0r2fj63s0dih1.png?width=148&format=png&auto=webp&s=2aa855c25e9318c576b3cef95d432e247394143c

Can anyone recommend a local installer of the the free energy saving products (vent covers, exhaust fan seals) etc? The searches I've done result in companies that are Melbourne based and have some dodgy reviews.

I'm semi-self taught (have degrees in fashion design and fine arts, with some electives in industrial design, but I definitely have education gaps). Am wanting to work on some lamp designs, and want to make sure they comply to all safety regs to make sure I avoid any legal issues. Can you Aussies recommend resources that outline what is involved in making sure my designs are both safe, and meet electrical standards and regulations? Thanks!

Tip vouchers are supposed to come in July right? I've been patiently waiting for the new financial year, but my pile of crap really needs to go to the tip soon ha.

Hi, looking for the following:

- GP who is non-condescending, female-friendly, who has an attitude of 'let's figure this out', and who is willing to look at issues from a wider view. Who also doesn't mind that I have another doctor as my primary doctor for my chronic health issues. My main doctor is telehealth, but I need an in person doctor for things that require physical inspection, pap smears etc. TBH I'm ok with non-bulk billing if there's someone really good, because my health issues were ignored and gaslit since I was a teenager and have medical trauma as a result. I can't handle another dismissive doctor with a god complex.

- Dermatologist who takes you seriously. My previous derm experience was with someone who barely looked at the issue I had, which then proceeded to get worse. I have super sensitive skin and notice when things aren't right earlier than most people, so I need someone who will trust me when I say that something isn't right, and actually bother to at least have a look at it with their little magnifying glass, you know?

- Dentist. Tried Drummond St Dental and that was BAD.

I'm peeved. Almost a year ago I signed up for a free trial of Binge, and as soon as I realised there were still ads I ended my membership (or at least tried to). It was literally the same day I think. I clearly remember filling out the 'why are you leaving' form and expressing my irritation with a paid service still having ads. I also have a vague memory of the Hubbl service that's linked to Binge having errors with cancelling the subscription, and me sending a message through their online form to get this arranged. Then life got crazy, and I never double checked if the cancellation went through.

I've just realised they've still been charging me, and I seem to have no evidence of this cancellation or any communication regarding it in email or elsewhere. (Gotta love online forms which remove the paper trail). Any chance companies like that are legally obliged to keep records of customer communications, and is there a way you can request that file? Or if I'm just screwed with this one?

Anyone have a suggestion for an economically priced big bucket of paint stripper that will do the job of stripping most of a room's walls? I want to strip the paint off the wood panelling in the front room of my cali bungalow. Just did a test patch and it required 3 rounds of the Bondall one I have, which given how thickly you need to apply, I'd burn through something like 20-50 bottles of the stuff.

Would do a heat gun, but I suspect lead (have ordered test swabs to confirm, but I'd honestly be shocked if there wasn't lead).

I've been on a GLP1 for almost a year. I haven't been super on top of actually tracking my weigh loss, weighing myself maybe once every couple of weeks, and just wearing the same couple of outfits that aren't too loose because I don't want to spend a bunch of money on clothes that will be too big for me in a few months. I've still got all my 'big' clothes in my closet because I guess I don't really believe I wont need them.

Despite the fact that I know intellectually that I've lost 25kg, I wasn't quite comprehending how much I've lost. I decided it was finally time to buy a few cheap pieces of clothing to get me through, because my 'main' skirt has gotten so loose I can pull it down without undoing the buttons.

So I went to Target and realised I had zero idea of what size I was. When I started the GLP1s I was realistically a 22/24 maybe. I stopped buying anything that required me to acknowledge that, like jeans, and would buy loose fit dresses in smaller sizes to delude myself. So I convinced myself to try some things in smaller sizes, even though anything smaller than an 18 felt ridiculous. I picked up some 16s and 18s, and a couple of 14s as a kind of hail mary 'imagine if these actually fit ha ha' kind of thing.

Guys, I FIT INTO SIZE 14 JEANS. Not just one fluke pair - 2 separate pairs, and even crazier, one pair was from the petites section and the other was a pair with no stretch from the Lily Loves section which is targeted towards a young demographic and tends to have smaller sizing. They fit EASILY, and the cut just looked right and good - no gaping, no weird bunching fabric. It really felt like I was living in a daydream. I haven't been a size 14 in about 15 years.

I've also just crossed the threshold from obese to just overweight, which is also such a relief. I feel so much better. I feel like I can walk around and do basic stuff like tie my shoes without my extra weight making things harder for me.

To be honest, I think any weigh loss from here is going to be hard to get my head around, because the absolute smallest I ever was in my adult life was a size 12. I have been overweight to obese since I was about 10 years old. The idea that it's possible for me to be in a normal healthy weight range in the not too distant future still feels so impossible, because I don't even know what it's like to experience that. And I've really struggled with feeling guilty about the cost of this medication since I got up into the higher dosages and can't do click counting to save money. But today's experience was so worth it, and is proving that even though I haven't been perfect, I'm still getting results.

Keep on going guys.

This might seem like a weird question, but it's something that has always made cleaning my shower and/or bath feel super awkward and like I'm not doing right - what do you do with your feet? Do you wear shoes? Do you own, like, a separate pair of shoes just for cleaning your bathroom? Because you don't want to track those bleaching chemicals around the house right?

And even if you do wear shoes, what's your process to avoid getting the chemicals everywhere anyway? Do you have an old towel to step onto when stepping out of an active chemical zone? Do you take your shoes off at the door and have a plastic bag or something prepared for it?

I've just realised I was never really taught how to do this properly, and whatever way I try feels wrong, awkward and hard, and as a result I don't clean my bathroom as often as I should (which then obviously makes the difficulty level even harder when I do clean it). Can someone who is good at this talk me through the step by step process of cleaning their bathroom? I would be genuinely grateful.

I want to get a table saw for various reno/DIY purposes, but am a bit nervous about it due to how dangerous they can be with kickback etc. Would rather not lose a hand or my spleen if I can avoid it.

Anyone know if there's somewhere I can do a short course on safe table saw operation locally?

(Photos in post body)

One of my doors has sagged a bit, so I was going to do that trick where you pop the pin out, shim the door and then bend the hinge bits to realign them. After scraping a century of paint off the top and bottom of the hinge, both appear to be perfectly flat and solid, without a central pin? Confused. Are these hinges fixed in place or something? Any idea if you can take the two sides apart with these?

(Sorry for the bad pics, I don't have the best light in the bathroom, and also super awkward angles. But I've poked and scratched around both the top and bottom, and both seem to be fully solid, and don't appear to have any cap parts either. It's just the hinge teeth, with each alternating one connected to the alternating side of the door.)

(Also don't worry, I know the photos look like lead paint carnage, but I am being safe and wetting everything down.)

https://preview.redd.it/946hhmum6d9h1.png?width=1130&format=png&auto=webp&s=15929b9638d1dd946ab2325911d8630d16e7be6e

https://preview.redd.it/wg09yn2o6d9h1.png?width=776&format=png&auto=webp&s=6a0bcdc6c205dbab9c43934a0a4889617d514de4

(Bottom side)

(Top side)

In between the Audhd and my chronic health issues, I haven't been able to hold down a job for several years. I'm fortunate to have a supportive partner, so I don't have to stress about money (though the guilt of not contributing is definitely a factor, we're not rich, but that's a different post).

My form of contributing has been doing as much of the cleaning as I can manage, and also working on fixing up our house when my energy levels are high enough (I can manage a few hours a day on most days, but it's not reliable). I'm happy doing this, but I am objectively quite isolated.

I go for days without leaving the house leaving the house, and I've realised a big part of this is simply the spoons involved. To most people, the time and energy involved to get ready to leave the house is no big deal, but when you have a reduced capacity equalling less functional hours in a day, the act of getting ready feels like it uses up like 1/4 of my time and energy. And then being out in the world equals an increased drain on resources due to sensory stuff, unpredicability, and physical effort.

I don't want to be a shut in, and I hate how hard it feels to do these simple things. Like right now I need to take a package to the post office. It's a 20min walk there and back. That's a distance I don't have too much struggle with on a casual walk. But when it's an errand, even a low stakes casual one, I am so resistant.

Getting ready makes me anxious. Probably because of how often I used to forget something like brushing my teeth or leaving my phone at home etc when I used to work or go to school. I've pavloved myself into feeling like getting ready to leave the house is a high stakes thing with a high chance of failure.. So I tend to get ready in spurts, with breaks. Brush my teeth - break - get my clothes - break - get dressed - break - etc etc. So the whole thing ends up taking an hour or more depending on how anxious I feel. And then there's recovery after. So what should have been a 30min thing at most turns into like 2 hours sucked out of my day. And given that I have 4-6 usable hours at most, that's 50 - 67% of my day gone.

I hate this. If anyone has tips for making leaving the house feel less burdensome I'm all ears.

I think our (pre-existing) wood burner has a draft around the flue where it meets the ceiling. It's a bit of an issue because we've been battling the neighbour's insane amounts of smoke that comes directly at our house, and I presume it's getting into our ceiling cavity and then leaking into our living room. (No need to comment about the neighbour issue, we're in the process of trying to find out the owner's details (tenanted), but need to minimise the smoke in the house in the meantime).

Wondering if it's ok to just seal with some fire-rated sealant, or if there's some kind of fire-proof insulation foam/wadding that we can shove around it? I assume we'll have to take the ring down to that properly. Or is this something that can only be done by a licensed plumber?

Random question, but I figured it was worth an ask. I'm thinking about turning some of these boxes (Kmart and Spotlight both stick them, probably some other stores too) into filament storage boxes with some window sealing foam. Because the plastic is quite flimsy I expect they still wouldn't seal properly without extra clips on the long side. Before I bother trying to model something, figured it was worth asking here because one of you may have already done something like this.

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(Victoria in case it matters)
tldr: who is responsible for enforcing chimney/residential smoke pollution regulations? Local council has told me they don't enforce chimney regulations. EPA website says to report to local council.
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We recently bought a house in a regional Victorian town, and now that winter has set in we've realised we have an issue with the neighbour's chimney (I think it's a potbelly stove). Essentially, from what I can gather as someone with no expertise in the area, their chimney does not meet code. The top ends well below the top of the roof line, and is between two roof peaks, which results in smoke being funneled between the two roof sections and getting trapped in our yard, which then also works its way inside.

For context, during the fires over the summer our town got super smoky, but we could barely smell it inside because our house is actually pretty well sealed for a weatherboard house. With this smoke from the neighbours, it's so thick that our yard is in a haze. I'm currently sitting in my living room with my new powerful large air purifier wearing an old covid mask because it's so smoky in here, and my throat still hurts.

I reached out to council to try and find out how to deal with this, and they've told me they don't enforce chimney regulations. So... who does? Surely some agency has to, because it's messed up if people can just build chimneys willy nilly and cause health issues to their neighbours as a result.

Unfortunately the house is tenanted, so I can't just have a chat with owners, because I don't know who they are. And tbh even if I did, would many people really shell out to rectify and issue that wasn't affecting them but was affecting their neighbours?

I guess worst case scenario I could offer to pay for half or all of the work, but I don't really think I should given that issue is that their property is not up to code.

Council's best offer was that they can help with mediation, but wtf is the point of regulations if there is no one to enforce them?! Am I missing something here?

Any advice? I'm choking here.

We've just bought a house and need to get a few electrical things done. Any tips for working with tradies? Ie finding good ones, knowing what a fair price is etc? Like, is negotiating expected or is the price firm?

How much do you expect to pay for something like getting bathroom ceiling light changed to a heating light fixture, or installing a new light fitting where there currently isn't one?

Anything you wish you'd known before hiring an electrician for a job?

In my personal opinion, one of the things that makes tile paint very clockable is how obvious it is that both the tiles and grout have been painted. I'm going to be renovating in a couple of years, but in the meantime I'd love to change the colour of my kitchen backsplash, but I definitely do not want that solid white gloss over tiles and grout look.

Wondering if anyone's successfully either masked off their grout when painting, or gone in after the fact to either regrout or paint a different colour, and had it look convincing?

Also curious whether there are any textured tile paint options out there? All I've seen are the flat gloss options which just look like, you know, paint.