RANT THREAD?

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DianneB
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Location: Manitoba, Canada

RANT THREAD?

Post by DianneB »

We don't have a "rant thread'? We SHOULD! (LOL!)

I just spent three days re-plumbing the tender for my 1960s vintage LE American to provide a separate water feed for an injector and it necessitated removing the tender tank from the frame. The RANT is re-installing the truck when the tank is attached!

The pivot bolts for the trucks is not captive but will 'float' away from you while you are trying to get the nut on in an incredibly inaccessible space AND you can't get hold of the bolt to hold it in place! I have had the truck off before and usually spend nearly an hour trying to get that #### nut back on! (And exhausting my vocabulary of language that would have got my mouth washed out with soap when I was young LOL!)

The second time I had to remove the tank from the frame (while doing the plumbing) I took the time to drill and tap for a short bolt to hold the pivot bolt loosely in place so it wouldn't disappear while reassembling the truck to the tender! Well worth the effort!

Rant Mode: off

What "oversights in design" get your blood pressure up? :wink:
JoeKahan
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Location: Las Vegas, NV

Re: RANT THREAD?

Post by JoeKahan »

Plumbing causes tourette's.
Joe Kahan
C.E.O. Paradise and Warm Springs Railway
GE 23T Box Cab
Allen Chloe Project
M.O.W. Highrailer project
James Powell
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Re: RANT THREAD?

Post by James Powell »

Dad's spectacular special water pump design for my VFT loco. It would have been fine, had the bolts been far enough away to use a socket on them. They weren't... and they were quite long too. Oh, and the wrench- it had about 15.5 ' of swing.

To add insult to injury, the pump didn't work right either. So it went on and off a LOT of times before we gave up and built mk 2, which also didn't work...and then we went to mk 3, which used a more conventional installation.

The worst valve on the ship was the evaporator overboard discharge valves, which were at the waterline (so had to be shut when we were alongside), and required a thin person to operate them. Once, our vaps guy got stuck back there for about an hour, it ended in a drawing for the "Pat Trap" and the ""pool of sadness"

James
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Greg_Lewis
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Re: RANT THREAD?

Post by Greg_Lewis »

I just had to yell at my tools yesterday. They often misbehave and require some disciplinary action (my wife calls it Navy language). I was installing a horn relay in my gas/hydraulic switcher, which should have taken about fifteen minutes. But it took most of the day and involved at least 20 different tools (Just after I put everything away, I thought I should have made a list.). There were at least four different screwdrivers, three Allen wrenches, needle nose pliers, nut driver, wire cutters, terminal crimpers (and at least 11 crimp-on connectors), three drill bits, one tap, deburring tool, drill press, HV band saw, belt sander, small file, plus many more than I can remember, and two different runs to town to three different stores (12 miles r.t. each time). Plus I had to get my wife to help twice since I only have two arms.

Then there are those days when I get what I call the "reverse Midas touch," where everything turns to garbage. Fortunately, it hasn't happened in at least 24 hours.
Greg Lewis, Prop.
Eyeball Engineering — Home of the dull toolbit.
Our motto: "That looks about right."
Celebrating 35 years of turning perfectly good metal into bits of useless scrap.
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DianneB
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Re: RANT THREAD?

Post by DianneB »

You know, it is somewhat therapeutic to hear others have their trials and tribulations too! :D
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makinsmoke
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Re: RANT THREAD?

Post by makinsmoke »

I keep having to explain to the wife why it’s necessary for her to be within earshot when I’m having difficulties.

Don’t need her help, just a sympathetic ear.

In my experience application of “Navy language” has absolutely no effect if there is no one else there to hear it.
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Rick
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Re: RANT THREAD?

Post by Rick »

Ah design issues, they can be a challenge. I design and build custom automation machinery for a living, been doing it for 35 years now and still am always searching for that sweet spot that balances function/durability, ease of manufacture and ease of maintenance. Its a tricky target that lies somewhere between under and over engineered, and at times seems impossible to hit.
I have messed with cars all my life, everything from American , British, German and Italian. The first Mercedes V8 engine I rebuilt was a 4.5 liter from 1972. I didn't realize when I took the timing chain cover off that there were at least 10 different length bolts ( may be exaggerating a bit) that held it on. Now these bolts were not all that much different in length. Took me forever to find the correct bolt for a particular hole due to the fact the tapped holes in the block were tapped just deep enough for a particular length bolt. In my opinion this an example of over-engineering. Non captive bolts with no access to the head is under-engineered. Over or under-engineered they both can equate to the leading cause of "Navy language".
Rick

“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give." Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (1874-1965)
"Peace is that brief glorious moment in history when everybody stands around reloading". Unknown
Murphy's Law: " If it can go wrong it will"
O-Tool's Corollary: "Murphy was entirely too optimistic"
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Greg_Lewis
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Re: RANT THREAD?

Post by Greg_Lewis »

As Mark Twain once said, "Under certain circumstances, urgent circumstances, desperate circumstances,
profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer."
Greg Lewis, Prop.
Eyeball Engineering — Home of the dull toolbit.
Our motto: "That looks about right."
Celebrating 35 years of turning perfectly good metal into bits of useless scrap.
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NP317
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Re: RANT THREAD?

Post by NP317 »

And when all else fails and your frustration level peaks,
get out the cutting torch...

Then go purchase new replacement tools.
~RN
curtis cutter
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Re: RANT THREAD?

Post by curtis cutter »

NP317 wrote: Fri May 11, 2018 10:13 am And when all else fails and your frustration level peaks,
get out the cutting torch...

Then go purchase new replacement tools.
~RN
Everything falls to the gas wrench.
Gregg
Just let go of it, it will eventually unplug itself.
rkcarguy
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Re: RANT THREAD?

Post by rkcarguy »

Reminds me of working on my old chevy pickup when I was replacing the clutch and rear main seal. All of the bolts that held the cross member to the frame, had loose nuts on the other side, in between the top of the frame and the bottom of the cab and inside the tight corners created by the angle braces to the cross member. Years of rust, no idea of the hex size, can't see in there, and so on. Lots of bleeding fingers, bruised knuckles, and bad language. I will weld on nuts, tap holes, and in the case of a bolt that I'd like to be able to replace, I'll still weld some strips of plate on each side of the hex so it's captured. No through bolt/ loose nut connections allowed anywhere unless there is EASY access to them.
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DianneB
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Re: RANT THREAD?

Post by DianneB »

Reminds me of another one! Tiny hex-head nuts/bolts on models with no known wrench size! Not Imperial, not Metric ... British, maybe, they have some WEIRD sizes!
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