Addendum:what happened to the repair guys ?

[Billtodd]

Or tales from the repairman...

"Bill, can you look at our engraver..." The 'works' has an overpriced laser engraver (two actually , one on another site) it works ok but support has been crap and now they are insisting on an overpriced service contract etc.etc.

My initial guess was psu, and ,sure enough , on inspection the neg15v was dead. So, off I trot home , and order a replacement. At base, my brain catches up and I realized I should have checked for shorts, but 30w is usually enough to generate smoke and none was observed.

A day later I have new psu and pop in to the works to fit it . I remember to check for short and, bugger, the servo galvanometer , the only thing fed by this supply is the fault. It is a bastard to remove, but 'in for penny, in for a pound ' I hump it back to the bench. Service replacement for this thing is probably in the £1000 region , so worth taking a look.

On the bench, I quickly determine the X axis driver is the problem , and take a WAG that the amp chip is dead , of course none of my usual, or unusual suppliers have stock, but eBay comes to the rescue and a replacement ordered. The driver board is a compact double sided surface mount design, so is a sod to work on. The only safe way to remove the chip is the break it and pull the legs one at a time. Needless to say , this process exonerates the chip and I soon find the culprit is a large surface mount capacitor (in my defense m'lud, aluminium electrolytic caps don't usually go short).

The buzz words of 2022 was 'supply chain' so , of course, no one - anywhere, has them in stock, except a ebayer in hongkong ...

Weeks later I have the parts (I have never had a problem with HK suppliers , they always deliver - eventually). Fitting the bloody thing on the board is another nightmare, which is why I only replaced the dead one and not them all (I await a bite on the arse).

Off I trot back to the 'works' to refit the mirror head (which is as difficult to refit as it was to remove). I power up the machine and sweet FA , nothing powers up . On close inspection the standby supply is on and so suspicion rapidly falls on a 'service' board that weeks before was showing a oddly blank display . Somewhat vexed and very very annoyed, I take the service board back to the bench and reverse engineer it - this little f###er will stop the laser running when its on board battery dies and won't allow a restart unless it is reprogrammed . So, I bypased it!

This was all before Christmas and , since someone was kind enough to give me flu , it wasn't until yesterday, that I felt well enough to return to the engraver.

With the bypassed service board refitted, bingo it fired up, homed responded , to JR's (the operator) instructions , but no visible markers and no bloody lasering. !!#%%## the air was blue . Has the laser died?, Does it need a reset after the 'service' flag? - needless to say we have no information on this machine, I am working from experience only and at this point , I'm out. My throat is sore from three weeks of coughing and my arse is cold from sitting on the floor working on this piece of shit. I retire to the pavilion, injured....

At 01:00 hours this morning, after being able to ignore the elephant, my brain catches up. The laser was working, why should it fail? Could the mirror galvo be kicked off axis? I need to get eyes on the mirrors. So , as I imagined how I might contort myself into a position to see the things , CLICK.


I emailed JR...

"John,

Did you remove the lens cap?"

 

[majohnson]

No one wants to get their hands dirty. They all want to be investment bankers or attorneys. Girls don’t like grease under the finger nails. They know you’re broke, and if they marry you they can’t just sit home and have babies. And go shopping all the time.

 

[EPAIII]

What happened?

Appliances and TVs got so cheap that it is less expensive to just buy a new one. I am a "repair" guy. Did electronic and other types of maintenance for my entire working life, but for professional (expensive) equipment. You can't afford me to work on your home stuff. You just can't unless your last name is Gates, Rockerfeller, or Trump.

We are lucky there are still computer repair shops.

 

[Limy Sami]

They're driving forklifts at Aldi warehouses for £16.48/ hour (+ pensions and benefits etc etc), with no grief.

 

[???]

They are off leading a life without the satisfaction of making or fixing things.

 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Speaking strictly about machine tool building, repair and installation - It’s a hard life but it can be rewarding. Not some much in the financial sense but in the sense of achieving things that 99.5% of the general population would never be able to do.

It’s not valued so much because that 99.5% make the rules and they don’t know and don’t care.

Knowing what I know now I should have been saving up to retire at 60 because I would have been physically and mentally burnt out by then. Luckily redundancy and a cushy job in a high school at 55 saved me from being completely knackered !

Regards Tyrone

 

[DouglasJRizzo]

A few things I noticed:
1) Most folk want things "Made In America." - as they march off to the BMW dealer. Again. And buy stuff made overseas, again.
2) I'm shocked at how many don't know how to drive a manual transmission or change a tire. Back in 80s, as a young man, I could forgive the girls for this, but I'm talking about the guys!
3) The same folk that want "Made In America" also want environmental rules that are nigh impossible for industry, and also want industry zoned out of the town they live in.

I remember, when I graduated college, I thought I'd interview with a big name company, and perhaps, take a break from machine shop life to try the other side of things. I sat in an interview where the young woman, from HR of "Mega Corp" was reading my resume and wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Eww..you worked in a machine shop?!" "Well yeah, that's how I paid for college," was my reply.. "Oh! Eww!" with a shudder. I remember boiling with rage to the point of being barely able to contain it. I ripped the resume out of her hand, and told her to go to the local mall and grab one of the kiddies from the stores, as she doesn't want to hire an adult. Grabbed my coat and stormed out. The look on her face made it so worth it.

 

[just Dave]

I think it pretty much comes down to being lazy and selfish.
Selfish people give little to no thought to future generations, even their own Grandchildren.
We are burning through everything including accumulated skills from generational learning.
“When things are going down the drain, you have to remember to enjoy the swirl.”

 

[Freedommachine]

They know you’re broke, and if they marry you they can’t just sit home and have babies.

Well, yeah lol. Women should be able to stay home, raise babies and manage the homestead if that is the life they want.

It requires finding a man who can lead. One who is dedicated, driven and capable of providing the resources and security necessary to sustain that life for his family. Marriage is permanent until death, those women are wise to be cautious in their selection.

 

[ratbldr427]

My background before I started at this company was automotive parts and a large part was rebuilt parts.
This industry was mixed somewhat, some companies did component rebuild and most just had parts replacers.
We have several lathes and mills and can make or rebuild most of the things that commonly fail.I do the majority of component rebuild and try to teach the new guys what I can but most are not interested.
The new supervisor came from our parent plant and they did very little rebuilding, had a local machine shop on call or on site to cover any machining. So I was told that when I retire they will not hire a replacement(machinist).I do mechanical repair also.
In the 32 years I've worked here I've never had what I call a 1st class mechanic hired. They are harder to come by than ET's. Some what understandable since they start off with formal tech training and modern equipment is all electronic control. Even the ET's are mostly parts replacers.
So the trend is not to have repair men, damn the cost ,replace the part.
When ever I documented cost savings above and beyond what is required of my job I have mostly worked for free, savings were above my pay.

 

[Garwood]

I do machinework for the repair guys regularly. And I also fix stuff for friend's shop's occasionally. Have you called the air compressor service companies lately? Holy shit! You better be sitting down! If it's anything more than an oil change they tell you it'll just be cheaper to buy a new compressor lol.

Repair guys are out there, but they charge a living wage or they own their own shops.

I'm currently resurrecting a few Eubanks high production wire cutting stripping machines and AMP-O-Lectric crimpers from the 1970's. Basically building a modular wire harness manufacturing factory to support our products. I don't have the books. Just messed around with them for about an hour to figure out how they worked. Got them sorted out and spitting out wire and I had a blast doing it.

 

[technocrat]

I talk about this kind of thing a lot. I have reduced it to there being a shortage of high quality customers. When there are not enough high quality customers, there is no incentive for new entrants into the field of high quality work and high quality product. After a generation or two, it largely disappears.

 

[William Payne]

Where I live using New Zealand dollars as an example. Say a machinist could earn $25, well the coffee shop in town is offering $28 to make coffee, plumbers are earning anywhere from $35-$50. Most of the "repair" shops closed down.

I love making stuff, I love fixing stuff. But I want to make money so that I can live my life and retire the way I want to, at the comfort level that I want to live in.

 

[ratbldr427]

No one wants to get their hands dirty. They all want to be investment bankers or attorneys. Girls don’t like grease under the finger nails. They know you’re broke, and if they marry you they can’t just sit home and have babies. And go shopping all the time.

I came to Jacksonville to study electronics; become an ET. Went thru the first stage and then we were to decide weather to go commercial or industrial. I was talking to one of the instructors and asked him which was the best path. He said that if you do not care about getting your hands dirty the industrial was the way to go ( that 's where the real money is) but if you have to be nice and clean then a tv repair shop is for you. When I asked how much they earn,tv repair, it was about what I was making at the car dealership on my day job! I lost interest about that time, besides I liked working at the dealership. That was in 1964. I wish I had completed the industrial course. But I never thought I would ever need it
Many years later 1991 I decided I wanted to work for someone else for a while, so I started here . Folding carton plant. Although the switch to electronics had been going on for a while it was just starting at this plant., we were just starting to switch all our MG sets to electronic drives and PLC's were coming on.
What I did learn those many years ago(and remembered) has helped me a lot in this job. I even have to help the ET's trouble shoot once in a while. Most don't have much mechanical sense and I have some of both.

 

[jim rozen]

" Marriage is permanent until death, those women are wise to be cautious in their selection."

Yep. Men likewise. Choose the wrong one, screw up, and she'll kill ya and collect the life insurance.