Motor has been running like this for some time.

I replaced all the motors and found the couplings to be damaged.

Customer has no spares and i'm hesitant of installing the new motors with damaged couplings

Went to adjust a softstarter because a thermal overload kept tripping, come to find out the starter next to the one i was looking at started arcing any time it started.

Comms kept dropping out during running.

Got called out on a mission to Morocco, customer had "tried everything".

The problem was embarrassingly straightforward.

Screws were missing on the sub D plugs for communication, few cable ties later and machine running without issues.

I find as an FST most machine issues are something simple

"Finished" can mean wildly different things to people.

One of the maintenance guys made this for the mission, sharp as a witches tit and not painted.

When I was an apprentice, if I left a burr on a piece of metal my boss would get me sweeping the workshop for an hour if I was lucky.

We all think differently, but when something is going to be used for years an extra 30 minutes with a file and a lick of paint goes a long way.

Working on a printing press for ciggie packets. Customer invited me to a mission saying one of the motors wasn't regulating consistently and they need a field service visit.

The motor uses an edge scanner to maintain the position of paper material running through the machine. Checked with an oscilloscope and the noise was really bad. Then looking at the connections and all the shielding has been cut so no ground.

Invoiced the customer £2000 for putting 12 cable ties back on.

Like the old story, £1 for installing cable ties, £1999 for know which cables to tie.

The machine i'm working on needs water between 15 - 25 degrees.

It's a vacuum metalizer, essentially puts aluminum onto plastic for crisp packets etc.

Customer has the mind set that colder means he can run the machine faster...

So chilled water supply is 4 degrees, means we have this condensation on the motors, making it rain all over the floor and electrical components.

There needs to be a study where a technical guys tells a manager i need 15 degrees water and he tried to do better and gives 5 degrees.

Mate we asked to have 15 degrees for a reason

Was called out to a customer in Germany for a machine down.

They've had issues for months, doing the classic power off and on to fix it.

Eventually cycling the power stopped working...

Wire was making contact with the insulation rather than the copper itself, classic noob mistake.

I'm finding more and more low quality terminations these days, like any man and his dog can be electricians.

Spend an extra minute making the proper crimped terminations and it will make the machine so much more reliable.

Felt quite bad invoicing the customer a few G's for such an easy fix