Pet Peeves in the shop

I worked at a university shop in the dept of Metalurgy. I have to say Grad students were one of the biggest peeves there! Dont get me wrong very smart people who could explain the theory of things to you in a second but were completely clueless in a shop! A lot were foriegn students who because of financial or cultural status had ZERO experience with working with their hands (and heads) in the real world.

my job was to fix the gear they blew up! ....like:
The guy who wanted to measure the temp of a 600VAC heating element with a thermocouple touching it and wondering why the chart recorders kept blowing the front ends.
Experiments started after hours and then leave them running unattended while they went drinking at the pub. gives a whole new meaning to destructive testing!
My favorite was the guy who left steel blocks on the upper arm of a automatic hydraulic screw press that was measuring the compression and expansion limits of a sample. This by passed the limit switches and the press just kept raising the upper bar into itself!

Oh and the grad student who was skimming the skin of slag off of a pot of molten aluminum with a wooden stick. It caught fire so she ran water over the stick and then stuck it back in the molten metal! Thank god she was wearing full proctive gear. Her face shield was completely covered in the aluminum that exploded out of the pot when the water on the stick became super heated steam.

The peeve part was not that these people were not shop smart, but that because they were book smart, they thought they knew it all.
 
Reading this thread made me think what is going on around me every day at work.

I work only on CNC Milling centers, but there can also be dangerous and pointless peeves that I and many others don't like.
Firstly I there is only one guy working near me who does these things. I wonder how they haven't fired him yet.

I really hate it when he or anyone leaves chuck keys or vice keys on them. I know the machine wont start without someone pressing the start button,
but really...Are you that lazy, not to take them off? Don't you feel wrong when you leave them there?
Then at least once a week I hear a massive bang or heavy cut made by that same guy. And when I go and look what is wrong, he either crashed the tool in the vice jaws,
or facemilled the vice jaws. This is why I wonder how they haven't fired him. Destroying a 1000€ vices. So far he completely destroyed 2 brand new vices.
Both of them he left/forgot the key in the vice, told the machine to return to zero and then the vice key smashed into the chip guard door.
Some people fail to do the basic checks when doing simple things.

Oh and one other thing I hate.
When people working on CNC machines, press stop and then go to drink coffee or whatever during a break.

There are certanly more, but I just can't remember all of them.
 
Having worked in shops, and having my own hobby shop these are mine (written as rules for the peev-ees);


  1. If you are not too important to dirty it, then you can also clean it
  2. If you use it, put it back
  3. If you break it, replace it
  4. If you plan to use it, oil it with the correct oil
  5. PPE is not a joke - don't take mine because you forgot YOURS
  6. Pay attention to what's going on. If you are too tired / drunk / stupid, then you shouldn't be in the shop to start with
  7. The surface plate is not a bloody ANVIL :angry:
  8. You may have been the big dog where you are from, but this is MY shop so treat my equipment with RESPECT

Paul.
 
One of the older guys at our shop made up a bunch of signs on 8 1/2 x 11 paper and had them laminated and tacked them on the machines "If you have time to lean, you have time to clean". I always thought that was a pretty good reminder for some.
 
You got it *****. I know im turning into a sign freak but I have to. My latest "You break it or lose
it then Its gone" Using cutting torch for a hammer, not turning tanks off, not cleaning their mess, not
turning lights off (all cats see in the dark) like the old mans gotta pay for this stuff.

example; question of the week how can a my 26 yr old kid can break a 1inch drive ratchet????
there ya go and I will not replace it. period. why not rant its only cabin fever
 
the sign i liked was " clean up after yourself, your mom don't work here '
:rofl:
steve
 
tarmo120 said:
Reading this thread made me think what is going on around me every day at work.

I work only on CNC Milling centers, but there can also be dangerous and pointless peeves that I and many others don't like.
Firstly I there is only one guy working near me who does these things. I wonder how they haven't fired him yet.

I really hate it when he or anyone leaves chuck keys or vice keys on them. I know the machine wont start without someone pressing the start button,
but really...Are you that lazy, not to take them off? Don't you feel wrong when you leave them there?
Then at least once a week I hear a massive bang or heavy cut made by that same guy. And when I go and look what is wrong, he either crashed the tool in the vice jaws,
or facemilled the vice jaws. This is why I wonder how they haven't fired him. Destroying a 1000€ vices. So far he completely destroyed 2 brand new vices.
Both of them he left/forgot the key in the vice, told the machine to return to zero and then the vice key smashed into the chip guard door.
Some people fail to do the basic checks when doing simple things.

Oh and one other thing I hate.
When people working on CNC machines, press stop and then go to drink coffee or whatever during a break.

There are certanly more, but I just can't remember all of them.
Click to expand...
"This guy Sounds dangerous",how do you put up with him?
 
My pet peeves in the shop are that some knuckle head keeps loosing things. And he is a pig about cleaning up too. OH,,, wait I am the only one in my shop! I think the dog does it, he gets blamed for a lot.
 
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