Re: Suspension losses

On Sun, 5 Jan 2025 05:40:18 -0500, zen cycle
<funkmasterxx@hotmail.com> wrote:

On 1/4/2025 6:20 PM, Jeff Liebermann wrote:

I was the idiot who found a solution to the broken potentiometer
problem.  Between the knob/turn_counter and the pot was a short shaft
extension.  I machined a few of these and added a plastic shear pin.
If they hit the end of rotation and break the pin, all they had to do
was rotate everything full counter clockwise, push the pin out of the
hole, and replace it with a new pin (or toothpick).  The reason I was
an idiot was because I had found the solution, I sentence to working
overtime retrofitting all the analog computers with shear pins.

>
I worked with a curmudgeonly older engineer many years ago who quipped
"do a shitty job well and it's yours forever".

True.  However, that wasn't the problem.  No sooner had I demonstrated
my solution, the calibration lab (and repair) manager was accosted by
literally everyone involved, each of which had a better idea.  Since
everyone was also busy with something else and therefore could not
spare the time to prototype and test their ideas, and since I had
somehow managed to find some time to build and test my idea, and since
the manager didn't want anyone wasting their precious time working on
the problem, it was logically determined that I should be the chosen
one to build and test everyone else's ideas.  Swell.  Just what I
didn't need.  Somehow, the Dean of Engineering became involved
(because blaming the Iraqi exchange students for creating the problem
was politically incorrect) and ordered that everyone working on it
should find something else to do.  My good enough solution was
declared "good enough" and installed on all the Helipots that showed
damage (i.e. held together with electrical tape) until we ran out of
parts.  I wasn't involved and moved on to (create) bigger and better
problems.


--
Jeff Liebermann                 jeffl@cruzio.com
PO Box 272      http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Ben Lomond CA 95005-0272
Skype: JeffLiebermann      AE6KS    831-336-2558