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Darkwood

Darkwood

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Right ... Just been nudged to set this up by Paul.M and sounds a good idea following recent threads I've done in the Arms..

Rules....No Offensive material... edit if required before posting as this is the public arena.
Anything to do with the trade or in and around it ...H&S pic's welcome.

[ElectriciansForums.net] Dodgy trade pictures for your amusement! - 1 Million Views!

I've posted this a few times and this is at a mates house following a kitchen refirb several yrs ago. :eek:mg_smile:

[ElectriciansForums.net] Dodgy trade pictures for your amusement! - 1 Million Views!
 
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Went to some industrial units to look at wiring in a portable toilet block and Static caravan, then went and looked at getting a supply for them.

I think I'll pass on this one :)
 

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LewisM said:
And this one from not to long ago where the main cable from the engine generator had been run on finger tight on phase A so it got so hot it melted out the lug
Click to expand...
Years ago I used to own a share of a Piper Warrior (160hp, 4cyl single engine). We had problems with the alternator tripping off - assumed to be the over-voltage trip* operating. After months of "we'll try ..." from the so called engineers, I called them up and said "I'm coming down, I'm going to strip, clean, and reassemble all the connections in the battery and charging circuit"** - note, not a "can I" but an "I am". Of course, they started with all the "we'll have to check your work" (I said "fine"), etc., etc. reasons why I shouldn't. When I arrived, they said "can you take it for a test flight, we think we've found the problem" - I did, and they had.
I was 'kin livid, and had it been down to me I'd have made quite a stink about it. There was a bad crimp on the alternator field connection - when it was high resistance, the regulator would crank up the field voltage to compensate, then when it went low resistance, it would cause a higher than needed field current which would trip the over-voltage protection before the regulator could turn the field down. It had been crimped with a pair of pliers, or one of those plier type crimping tools - cut connector in half, found flat oval cross section rather than squeezed down to a gas tight connection. The tell-tale was about an inch of the white insulation was grey. And for good measure, one of the mechanics innocently commented that he'd noticed that when replacing the alternator during one of their previous "we'll try ..." steps.
I don't know how much it cost us in parts and labour - for one bad crimp that one of their own engineers had noticed some time before this came to a head.

* Typically on these small aircraft, there is both a voltage regulator that controls the field current to maintain a constant battery/bus voltage, and an over-voltage trip that cuts the alternator field if the voltage goes above a certain threshold (to prevent a disconnected battery from frying all the electronics). Sometimes they are separate units, more typically both functions in one module.
Also, unlike cars, the alternator is not self-exiting - it's field comes from the battery/DC bus via a switch and an external regulator.

** I'd been asking friends and been advised that a common reason for this problem was a bad connection that caused intermittent connection, and hence intermittent alternator issues.
 
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LewisM said:
Yeah I’ve heard that general aviation has a lot of DIY daves.
Click to expand...
These weren't DIY Daves, these were supposedly professional "engineers" who certainly knew how to charge for their time !
It would have been nice to be allowed to do some of it DIY - we'd have made sure we did a better job.
LewisM said:
The planes I work on are slightly larger.
Click to expand...
Just a tad. Mind you, I've heard a few tales from that size of the business ...
 
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And not just the Engineers, I was present when the Engineer signed over the World Aerobatic champions Pitts to the pilot, but emphasised that after the service ( he was at lunch) he had not filled the oil tank, said champion said OK no problem I will do it before I take off, he duly taxied to the end of the field and as is his wont took off and went inverted, the oil drained out as he forgot to put the cap on, give him his due, he Chandelled the Pitts landed down wind and used the momentum left to taxi onto the apron, he did not come into the club house, just got in his car and left.
 
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Simon47 said:
These weren't DIY Daves, these were supposedly professional "engineers" who certainly knew how to charge for their time !
It would have been nice to be allowed to do some of it DIY - we'd have made sure we did a better job.

Just a tad. Mind you, I've heard a few tales from that size of the business ...
Click to expand...
smaller issues are often unreported for small private aircraft, the bigger ones it is harder to hide when you put the wrong size screws in the windscreen!
[ElectriciansForums.net] Dodgy trade pictures for your amusement! - 1 Million Views!
 
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LewisM said:
We still learn about that at work during human factors training pretty sure every screw was either the wrong length and/or diameter
Click to expand...
I bet it's part of the standard syllabus of "how not to do it" British Airways Flight 5390 - Wikipedia
Wikipedia also has a list of explosive decompression events - not just limited to aircraft. The 1983 diving bell/decompression suite accident is not one to read when about to sit down for a meal - or if squeamish.

In my line of work, we have similar sessions. Decompression is rarely a topic, the reverse is sometimes. There was some discussion around the office in June ... There have been others, USS Thresher being one that caused a rethink around design/safety standards.
 
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And the HMS Thetis accident caused all HMS subs to be fitted with a Thetis clip on the torpedo tubes, as did the (I think) the HMS Truculent colliding with an oil tanker making it mandatory to have a Truculent light on the bow when surfaced.
 
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Just a small job, replacing a 3 gang switch that was basically worn out...brushed steel, no fly-lead to backbox, and a mix of t&e and a flex...nice switch with the coms all at the top and L1 and L2 at the bottom, rather than the staggered pattern of the new switch...it all went swimmingly (DIF!)...here is a nice touch though, the original electrician typed out a nice key to what was what...
[ElectriciansForums.net] Dodgy trade pictures for your amusement! - 1 Million Views!


All very neat and self-explanatory, one 15A and the rest 5A...
and a very neat board too
[ElectriciansForums.net] Dodgy trade pictures for your amusement! - 1 Million Views!
 
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You know that time when you take a pic of the wiring, replicate it, even though the new switch is configured differently, connect it all up...and each switch does what it's supposed to do...then you realise it's upside down, so on is up and off is down, so you rotate the switch...all is good til she says "Oh, the left one is supposed to operate the lights on the right, and the right one is supposed to do the left ones..." and i said, "the middle one does the middle string, so that's good!" She wanted it back the way it was...so I undid the outer two and swapped them over, checked they were working, and all was well. I added a fly-lead from the chrome switch to the back-box, screwed it all back and...BANG! Yup, nipped a cable with the fixing screw...a couple of seconds of sparks and glows and the fuse blew...that's the fuse number 5, lighting, 5Amp...no, it's not, all the 5A fuses, which are in 15A carriers, are fitted with 15A fusewire...still, I'm glad the faceplate was earthed. Another 5 minute job, satisfactorily completed! Spot the nice curly tails from the bottom of the box!
Never mind...
"Oh, while you are here..."
FEK, what now?
This under-cupboard light isn't working...
never seen one before, but hey...finally worked out how to take out the lamp from the holder, and it's a GX53. Oddly enough, I don't have a spare in my bag...research shows that the 2.5W 6500k version she has is impossible to source...
I';ve ordered a 4 pack of 6W warm white...she'll never notice if i replace them all at once!
 
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pirate said:
This under-cupboard light isn't working...
never seen one before, but hey...finally worked out how to take out the lamp from the holder, and it's a GX53. Oddly enough, I don't have a spare in my bag...research shows that the 2.5W 6500k version she has is impossible to source...
I';ve ordered a 4 pack of 6W warm white...she'll never notice if i replace them all at once!
Click to expand...

Think I'd have aimed to replace the lot with slim link lights and amazed her with instant full illumination.
 
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I did that for my neighbour and she was delighted! Robus spear lamps, really nice. The old brown and beige fluorescent ones had melted end caps and had charred the underside of the cabinets...
12 of them replaced by 3 new ones...what a transformation!
 
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pirate said:
I did that for my neighbour and she was delighted! Robus spear lamps, really nice. The old brown and beige fluorescent ones had melted end caps and had charred the underside of the cabinets...
12 of them replaced by 3 new ones...what a transformation!
Click to expand...

Even the cheap LAP ones from Screwfix seem fairly reliable. I've put a few sets in on occassions where price was a big issue for someone elderly. Not heard of a single failure to date and everyone has been pleased with the difference between old and new.

LAP certainly wouldn't be a 'go to' or recommendation, but they do seem to be okay.
 
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pirate said:
You know that time when you take a pic of the wiring, replicate it, even though the new switch is configured differently, connect it all up...and each switch does what it's supposed to do...then you realise it's upside down, so on is up and off is down, so you rotate the switch...all is good til she says "Oh, the left one is supposed to operate the lights on the right, and the right one is supposed to do the left ones..." and i said, "the middle one does the middle string, so that's good!" She wanted it back the way it was...so I undid the outer two and swapped them over, checked they were working, and all was well. I added a fly-lead from the chrome switch to the back-box, screwed it all back and...BANG! Yup, nipped a cable with the fixing screw...a couple of seconds of sparks and glows and the fuse blew...that's the fuse number 5, lighting, 5Amp...no, it's not, all the 5A fuses, which are in 15A carriers, are fitted with 15A fusewire...still, I'm glad the faceplate was earthed. Another 5 minute job, satisfactorily completed! Spot the nice curly tails from the bottom of the box!
Never mind...
"Oh, while you are here..."
FEK, what now?
This under-cupboard light isn't working...
never seen one before, but hey...finally worked out how to take out the lamp from the holder, and it's a GX53. Oddly enough, I don't have a spare in my bag...research shows that the 2.5W 6500k version she has is impossible to source...
I';ve ordered a 4 pack of 6W warm white...she'll never notice if i replace them all at once!
Click to expand...
Was going to say that fuse box is nothing like the schedule draw up
 
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Quick update on Stranraer:
Don't bother! The only good thing is that drinks in the pub are amazingly cheap, and I had brilliant, inexpensive pub grub, but otherwise not worth the drive, imho.
 
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