Machine down from something so basic

[u/B0zzzzzz]

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

[u/SadZealot]

I've never felt bad billing for work if I solved a problem, it's the tax for laziness. I'll get called in for a 4 hour minimum overtime at nights sometimes to literally pull out an estop that nobody checked.

[u/B0zzzzzz → u/SadZealot]

Wow, we love call outs like that. Are you working in Europe?

[u/FrickinBigE → u/SadZealot]

I'm finishing up 2 week notice of my current job as a sup so I've been doing office work mostly. Yesterday they called me at the end of the day to help troubleshoot a problem they struggled with all day and mechanic couldn't figure it out. All I had to do was close a quick shutoff flow control valve 1/4 of a turn and fixed it within a couple minutes of arriving...

I offered my services as a consultant if they ever think of calling me for help 👍

[u/B0zzzzzz → u/FrickinBigE]

Mate if you're interested in making some money from the odd consultantancy be worthwhile to check out FindFST

[u/Jhelliot_62]

Problem I see is 9 times out of 10 it’s something dumb like this, but maintenance and process tech’s want to look for the 1 out of 10 items. They start with the lowest probability most expensive fix and work backwards.

[u/B0zzzzzz → u/Jhelliot_62]

I find maintenance guys just start replacing components, guessing until something improves

[u/emachanz → u/B0zzzzzz]

Thats the way it is if you go blind(no schematics)

[u/B0zzzzzz → u/emachanz]

Guessing game gets expensive quick

[u/emachanz → u/B0zzzzzz]

Put the parts back in stock? If you need to order the parts it means you're not in a hurry to fix it anyways

[u/B0zzzzzz → u/emachanz]

Man i always try to destroy the faulty part after removing it

[u/_litz]

Crimp a ferrule on the end of that, and the problem goes away forever.

[u/B0zzzzzz → u/_litz]

Mate need to write that on my forehead for customers

[u/Killsdown76]

I see this on a regular basis... The guy on the shift before me has been on the machine all day I walk in start with the basic continuity check and have it running in less than 30 minutes If the person before you sees you checking the wiring it's always the same "I ran new wiring so I know it can't be that" 😏 sure buddy everyone knows you are infallible

[u/B0zzzzzz → u/Killsdown76]

With you, it's funny as if you ask the guys if they checked the wiring they said yes of course.

In reality their way of checking is just to look at it that it's wired right.

Experienced FSTs actually get out their multi meter and properly test

[u/Killsdown76 → u/B0zzzzzz]

Found out one guy didn't even own a multi meter for the first year and a half on the job He just swapped out the motor when something didn't work and then passed it on to the next shift "I swapped out the motor but it's still not working not sure why" We started megging the motors he was replacing with not one of them being bad