When I was in high school, I worked summers in a machine shop. Simon
Novick, the head of the shop was an old world master machinist from
Poland, and a very fine and patient teacher. He routinely, almost
caually, machined items to within .0001 (but only when that accuracy
was needed). His mantra was as accurate as necessary, but no closer;
you have to make production.
For all his skill as a machinist, he knew nothing about electricity. He
always had an electrician do any wiring in the shop. But a day came when
he needed to test an air compressor he had rebuilt. No electrician was
available, so Simon himself wired a switch *across* the motor leads and
kept wondering why the compressor ran with the switch off and fuses blew
each time he turned it on.
I set that problem straight in about 5 minutes, and became the backup
electrician for the rest of the summer.
73,
Lenny W2BVH
Gregg mulder wrote:
Seeing all of these Stupid posts reminded me of one of mine. Another story of experimenting with our good
friend AC wall outlets. 1965, I was in the 6th grade. In science class we learned abt the making of Mr.
Edison's electric light. upon returning home I decieded to make my own ! I borrowed an old mason jar from my mom and
removed an old lamp cord from a dead lamp got a hammer es some nails and started to build ! You were supposed
to put the nails into a rubber stopper, wrap some nichrome wire between the nails, put the stopper in the top of
the jar, attach the power leads to the nails, and make light ! Well as luck would have it I didn't have a rubber
stopper, so i just used the metal top of the mason jar. I pounded the nails halfway into the lid shorting
them and carefully wrapped some wire around the nails. I lit a peice of paper on fire and put it in the jar es
secured the the lid to burn off the oxygen in the jar. then attached the 2 ends of the lamp cord t
o the
nails protruding from the top of the jar. I set the LAMP on the bed and went to plug it
in to the nearest wall outlet fully expecting to see light. when I plugeged it in I saw light
alright. Arcs en sparks from everywhere ! I blew all the fuses in the house, but not before
watching my lightbulb blow up, es the lamp cord melt onto my bed spread catching it on fire ! I
must have jumped 10 feet in the air ! I beat the fire out just in time to hear my mom yelling
what's going on in there ? I was still shaking when my mom entered the smoke filled
room. And although i was lucky to have not been electricuted, that episode did end my Edison
experiments. I was also pleasantly supprised that I didn't get a wippin when my dad got home from
work. Guess they figured i'd learned my lesson. And then there was radio
Hope u enjoyed one of my stupid moments. 73 Gregg WB8LZG
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