Seismic Audio 4 x 8 TRS TS insert snake - opinions?

[W. M. Hellinger]

Mark, are you sure about the 1/2" accuracy for stairs? Tread riser deviation of 3/8" is considered max, and frankly is sloppy, for most recognized codes. They should also be more level than a half bubble, which IINM is 1/8" to 1/4" per foot.

Well Craig, I have a theory:

 

You live in PA, I live in eastern WA state, so I can understand why you're seemingly confused about what constitutes craftsmanship... or at least how the term "craftsmanship" varies from region to region.

 

Here's my theory (right or wrong... flame suit on):

 

Lemme back the truck up a little to preface this with some possibly supporting evidence to my theory:

 

I'm of the impression based on observation that 50%+ of the houses in our local area have a "foundation" MOL comprised of some rotting corner posts sinking into a rock on each corner of the house. Furthermore, the construction of many of these houses are comprised of the lowest grade lumber available at the time of construction (being about 100 - 130 years ago). I've seen original kitchen cabinets in some of these houses that were literally constructed with reworked explosive boxes... and those are the good kitchen cabinets. And these are the "good houses"... because the lesser "quality" houses were bulldozed and torched years ago.

 

On to my theory: Ok... so we're a country largely comprised from the offspring of immigrants. If so, then who immigrated here? Yea, yea, yea... it was those escaping the tyranny of the old world. Right. I read that as: "Lemme guess? Things weren't working out for your forefathers back home, so they decided to risk their family, their spouse, and everything they owned (which might have been next to nothing) and their own lives to move to a better world... a world that doesn't even have roads, much less services... or any assurance of the ability to beat a living out of the land or society. Hell of a gamble if you ask me. I'll suggest that ethics, politics, religion... and all that other stuff is largely a matter of convenience for many (most... maybe almost all... except for some really whacked folks... and even then they might fall within this macro subset that may qualify for what I'm envisioning for a recreation of a realistic past). Ok... so I can't imagine that anybody in the old world got drunk and decided to pack it all up and move out west if they had a good job making prevailing wages... no, I don't think so. Hey, if you're fat and happy, the water's warm and the food floats by... and your position is relatively guaranteed for life... why would you want to move from that location? Sure... religion and politics... yea, yea, yea... but if you're the son of the son of the son of the son of a master craftsman, and your whole family tree owns a pew at the state church... I find it doubtful that you'd be looking for greener pastures 1/2 a world away. Therefore, I surmise that many who immigrated here did so cause stuff just wasn't working out back home... primarily because there was more month than there was money... primarily because they just weren't all that good at what they did to make money to see the month through... so they spent the rent check at a bar talking {censored} about how it ought to be... and finally got good and drunk and packed up the family and their best rock & stick and immigrated... and were well out into the Atlantic before the hangover kicked in... but by that time they passed the hangover off as sea sickness... and forged on thinking they were paying their dues for making the right, but tough decision.

 

Ok... so the real craftsmen enjoyed watching the hacks sail off to never-never land... and then the old world craftsmen cemented their position by making steel bearing tools contraband in the new world... which was a partial reason for the revolutionary war... so maybe some of the new world craftsmen eventually had the ways and means at their disposal (after fighting and dying to get it)... but I'll contend that the true hacks kept risking life and limb to find a fit somewhere "west"... in the new frontier... Missouri, then Oregon... oops... can't go further west than Oregon... so then the hacks migrated back east to settle in the unclaimed real estate nobody else wanted... like eastern Washington. Ok... so here they are in the badlands of eastern Washington state with their cattle, horse, hogs, and chickens... and some timber on their new homestead. Back east they're buying timber... well... they're buying good saw logs, cause that's what the craftsmen back there specify... and if the critters starve to death... we-all starve to death... so log off the good timber to sell to the easterners and raise some money and build a barn with the wood leftover that isn't worth hauling off. Ok... so the critters are housed for the winter but the better 1/2 is bitching about sleeping in cow{censored} (and she seemed to cop an attitude when I told her I couldn't much tell a difference in how we smelt)... so... sigh... I guess I'd better build a house... better round up a few rocks (or choice dirt clods)... and some scrap wood (cause that's all that's left)... and cobble something together... FAST... cause I really should be putting up hay instead of this stupid house building crap... but I do want to get laid again... someday... sigh... ok... a house it is... "there"... is that good enough? Oh, you want something beyond a packed dirt floor... ok... how about I lay some planks on the dirt? Ok? Can we go to bed now... I'm tired!

 

Within 1/2 a bubble of level? What the hell is this level thing you speak of? I've never seen a chainsaw with any such sort of thang.

 

Humm... come to think about all of this stuff... it seems like bottom feeding hacks have migrated far enough west to actually be in the far east now. I'm thinking if hack keeps migrating west, by the time it gets back around here... well... I'm thinking I'd better start working on my patent for a dump in a shoebox... as I'm suspecting I might live long enough to cash-in...

[JohnnyGraphic]

My 2 cents: 3 feet gets short VERY fast. I would rather get a longer snake and support/tie it off inside the rack. I would also rather spend a few extra bucks and know the gear is reliable and won't cause intermittent problems. Always a bad thing to trouble shoot a faulty wire. Or, go with the other suggestion of getting individual cables and tie them off/zip tie them.

 

That said, I have some very cheap bargain basement cables that I haven't had any problems with, but I do take good care of my gear. On the other hand, whenever I handle those wires, I'm always leary of breaking them or something they're attached to. They don't seem to fit the same as the higher quality stuff.

 

Johnny

[W. M. Hellinger]

 

http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1297164 i'm sure you have seen this already but if not it simplifies the stair process greatly. once you get the numbers down the only real concern is how to support the stairs at the top and bottom and then being precise with the tools.

 

 

Thanks.

 

um... how to sound positive about well meaning good advice that might be a moot point?

 

Concerning handing offered enlightenment to my contractor:

 

I've discovered that my contractor builds pole barns for a living... which he's really quite good at. Stairs don't compute for him... I'm not too sure he can read either... but he can trim off the top of a free standing 30ft. pressure treated pole with a chainsaw with the best of them. Stuff involving pencils, squares, levels, any angles beyond 0, 90, and 180 and reading... forget-it. I take that back... I think he can read cause he's usually thumbing through the local "Wheel Deals" sales mags during his morning warm-up coffee break, early morning coffee break, mid morning coffee break, late morning coffee break, pre-lunch coffee break, 2 - 3 hr. lunch break, early afternoon coffee break, mid afternoon coffee break, late afternoon coffee break, and when he's warming up his Dodge Cummings Diesel dually one-ton custom special crew cab deluxe pickup with the super gumbo mudder bogger tires, roll bar, 15ea. fog lights, class 1 tow hitch and sculpted leather interior... to head to the tittie bar when they open around 3:00pm... unless of-course it's Tuesday.... when he'd not back from the lake yet, or Thursday and he's getting ready to head to the lake... and the slap-dicks he leaves to look like they're doing the work when he's not there any other day but Wednesday... they can't pour piss out of a boot with directions written on the heel... unless they jamb a nail through their foot.

 

Oh... that's right... "Wheel deals" is mostly pictures.

 

Nevermind... the part about my building contractor possibly being able to read.

 

Stairs are a simple math problem to me... but... I say "never pass up an honest chance to go to the bathroom" and never pass up good information.

 

I just ordered the book.

[W. M. Hellinger]

 

My 2 cents: 3 feet gets short VERY fast.

 

Well... yea.

 

Any kind of decent fantail to main trunk transition involves about 6" shrink-tube... on each side... so there's a foot. The cordends involve approx. 2 - 2 1/2" ea.... so there's 4 - 5 inches. If you're making right angle connections with straight ends... an inch for the bend is reasonable... times 2, so there's another couple of inches. Functionally, we're talking about an 18" snake... or something... the critter is mostly horns and tail... not much beef between the two ends.

[monkeyland]

 

Thanks. um... how to sound positive about well meaning good advice that might be a moot point? Concerning handing offered enlightenment to my contractor:

 

 

haha...yeah i definitely was suggesting it for you not him. but really that little book has the answers. i spent quite a few years building houses and built my fair share of stairs. if you need it it's in there. the hardest part will be making a good set line up with a less than perfect take off and landing. but you will be fine...

 

and when your done maybe you can start another business

[madjack]

Thanks. um... how to sound positive about well meaning good advice that might be a moot point? Concerning handing offered enlightenment to my contractor: I've discovered that my contractor builds pole barns for a living... which he's really quite good at. Stairs don't compute for him... I'm not too sure he can read either... but he can trim off the top of a free standing 30ft. pressure treated pole with a chainsaw with the best of them. Stuff involving pencils, squares, levels, any angles beyond 0, 90, and 180 and reading ... forget-it. I take that back... I think he can read cause he's usually thumbing through the local "Wheel Deals" sales mags during his morning warm-up coffee break, early morning coffee break, mid morning coffee break, late morning coffee break, pre-lunch coffee break, 2 - 3 hr. lunch break, early afternoon coffee break, mid afternoon coffee break, late afternoon coffee break, and when he's warming up his Dodge Cummings Diesel dually one-ton custom special crew cab deluxe pickup with the super gumbo mudder bogger tires, roll bar, 15ea. fog lights, class 1 tow hitch and sculpted leather interior... to head to the tittie bar when they open around 3:00pm... unless of-course it's Tuesday.... when he'd not back from the lake yet, or Thursday and he's getting ready to head to the lake... and the slap-dicks he leaves to look like they're doing the work when he's not there any other day but Wednesday... they can't pour piss out of a boot with directions written on the heel... unless they jamb a nail through their foot. Oh... that's right... "Wheel deals" is mostly pictures. Nevermind... the part about my building contractor possibly being able to read. Stairs are a simple math problem to me... but... I say "never pass up an honest chance to go to the bathroom" and never pass up good information. I just ordered the book.

 

Mark;

Congratulations. You are definitely getting down that "Andy Rooney curmudgeon" humor. Love it.

[Coaster]

oh come on mark, your post was way funnier before you removed all that funny stuff about you know who. hell if he cant read hows he gonna see you post?

[BeeTL]

 

Regarding the original question, I decided I like the general utility of an insert snake (labeled, wrapped, etc.), and although I would prefer a shorter length, I can live with and grow with a 15-footer of sufficient quality.

 

Mark, you just made another sale.

 

[W. M. Hellinger]

oh come on mark, your post was way funnier before you removed all that funny stuff about you know who. hell if he cant read hows he gonna see you post?

I plead the 5th... and this forum accomodates morning-after retractions (thank goodness)... because: even if the party who's the brunt of the slander can't read, I suspect there's computer transation software that converts words into pictures (which I'd like to see sometime... cause that should be better than mear words could ever hope to convey).

 

Actually... if such translation software doesn't exist... I'm thinking there's an opportunity... Because: Tuesday afternoon... a Dodge dually one ton crew cab super pickup TRUCK cruised past my shop... pulling like a 30ft. +++ cabin cruiser. We looked out the shop door at the parade and chimed in unison: "Contractor coming back from the lake." Then we got out the bi-nocks::: sure enough... on the passenger door was a magnet sign that read: "such & such construction LLC" We were laughing so hard it was hard to identify the dumpster load of drywall scraps & contractor tools heaped in the back of the Dodge dually... but some-how we managed. I'm thinking footage of that would be a good foundation for "spotting contractors in traffic" website. Oh... and from what we could tell with our binoch specs at 300 yards: the passenger in the Dodge dually contractor heavy hauler was grade A prime... really easy on the eyes and rounded out the package nicely.

 

eh... !

 

It's amazing to me how the heaped up pile of waste debris (a couple dozen 16ft.+ # 2 or better 2 x 12's, the better part of a unit of full sheets of 3/4" T&G plywood, busted open but otherwise unused magnum tubes of Liquid Nails, 6x pressure treated posts, a couple dozen 16oz. foam Starbucks coffee cups, 10, 15, maybe 20? empty cig packs, a couple 18" x 24ft. gluelam beams, a couple cases of air nailer nails & joist hangers & redcaps & on, and on, and on...) that pile of waste debris currently left in my front-yard for approx. 1 month since the first and only day of the contractors being "on the job"... that pile seems to be larger than the truck that the contractor supplier used to haul all the job supplies to the sight in the first-place. humm...

 

And how is it that no less than 6 Dodge Cummins diesel dually one-ton crew cab super pick-up trucks where parked on my lawn the day the contractor's crew arrived to get started and pick up the check... when the contractor crew only comprised 4 individuals???