Bozos And Horror Stories

When I was at U of M hospital there were many instances of the staff electricans "improving" or "correcting" my designs. I always got the "credit", of course, and there was never any money in the budget to do it over. Never had that problem with the outside contractors, though. They always either did exactly what the drawings said or put through a change order request (which was usually sensible and got approved).
 
John Hasler said:
Good thing that the government licenses and regulates these guys to protect you against incompetence.
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I work in a State facility, these guys are State authorized vendors that are doing ths work. I can only wonder where else and how many jobs they have messed up. To havethem come back to fix their mistakes takes forever.
 
Not strictly machining-related, but many years ago, I worked for a local architect, and one of my jobs was construction administration, which amounts to periodically inspecting the contractors' work to make sure it conforms to the approved designs.

One time I went to a residential site and from the street, I could see something terrible was wrong. The roofing contractor had missed the outer corner of the building with the hip-rafter by nearly 8". Instead of, you know, fixing it, his crew went ahead and framed up the roof, and then proceeded to sheath it, and had even started cutting & laying the 5-E crimp steel roof... even though by missing the corner by 8", the one edge of the roof was more than 1.5 feet lower than the other side of the hip... guess they thought no-one would notice, LOL.

Another time, I remember we got a call on a hospital expansion project... the workers were supposed to be extending the parking lot, and had encountered a large (10') stone that needed excavating... Someone on the crew decided blasting was the way to go... and apparently had the right licenses, etc, because unfortunately he did have access to explosives... never got to see it, but I heard that the stone cracked into 3 major fragments, each several feet across... and sent them hurtling into the active parking lot they were extending... I understand they managed to total over 20 cars.
 
That's incredible. My father worked in the explosives industry (designing packaging and delivery systems for emulsion-type commercial explosives, among other things). I've had many discussions with him about the different types of explosive energy. What this guy used was "bubble" energy, which displaces rock. What he needed (other than a more appropriate solution than explosives) was shock energy, which would turn it into gravel or dust, depending on the specifics of the rock composition, how it was bored, the explosive composition, and how it was packed. Getting that wrong in mining and "large scale landscaping" (turning mountain islands into airports, for instance) is VERY costly. Nothing like turning a load of coal into pure coal dust instead of usable (and far less dangerous, short- and long-term) lump coal.

We went out to lunch today and he was telling me about some of those properties again, for context about one of his inventions. So funny to then read a real-world example of it being done wrong this evening. :)
 
Most of the so called electricians know better and have the training but choose to ignore the codes and specs. Sometimes to try and save money or make more money for for their employer. They look good when they get done in less time or use fewer parts than in the bid. I worked with a lot of these guys over the years. They're the heroes of the company and get the gravy jobs and it's never their fault when they get caught. Usually the project manager or estimator is expecting the cost cutting measures. I'm proud to say i never played the games and the customer got what they wanted or what they needed if I saw problems or improvements.
Glad I'm semi-retired and out of the field work.
 
Cross-posting from another thread because this belongs here. :)

Once I used JB Weld to do a thread repair on an aluminum motorcycle valve cover. I read a tip online about coating the screw in a thin layer of grease to keep it from binding to the epoxy. It was an unusual size banjo bolt for the oil feed line, so there was no helicoil-type insert available.

A tiny bit of epoxy made it into the oil feed hole and I starved the engine of oil. But I didn't know until I finished my rebuild days later, around 1:00 am. I couldn't wait, as I hadn't had the bike together in months. I fired it up, put my gear on, and rode out into the night.

For about 2 miles. Eventually the assembly lube proved insufficient and the engine siezed. And I got to push my 600 pound bike home for two miles, in July, in my full gear. And face my (now ex-) wife.

I haven't used that stuff much since then. Kind of left a bad taste in my mouth. :(
 
Well I just had one, Out in the shop using a small angle grinder with a wire brush to clean loose paint, and it caught an edge on the metal. Pulled out of my hand hit the floor with the switch locked on. Bounced up and caught my pant leg, went up my pant leg to about the knee before it fully entangled in the fabric. Then spun until it stalled out. Have a big spot on my leg now the is like road rash.
Though I was being safe had on my leather apron but it goes behind it when it hit the floor and bounced. also got my hand a little while trying to grab it to stop it on my leg. Ouch. that one hurt.
 
I hate that. I'm sure you've replayed it many times since then, recognizing where you should have acted differently. And those rough abrasions really suck.
 
Wire brushes on angle grinders were never a good idea. I had one kick back on me and wound itself into the sweatshirt I was wearing. scratched my chest up a little but mostly scared the crap out of me. I walked into the house with the grinder still hanking from my chest, had the wife help me cut it loose from the shirt. She got a good laugh out of it.
 
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