A while back I was having a lot of problems with my tail stop lock slipping. I then made a new washer assy that worked well. Now that fell apart, JB weld didn't hold. I figured I'd order a new one. Then I got a brain fart and swapped the original locking washers from the rest and tailstock. Works like new. 

I always overlook the simplest fix and go for the most work!

 

 

7 hours ago, lew said:

I always overlook the simplest fix and go for the most work!

Me too!  I once troubleshot a cruise control system that wouldn't turn on.  Got my meter out, traced the missing voltage all the way back to the fuse that I should have checked 30 seconds into the job.  Did I learn my lesson?  Oh heck no.  I still do the same type of stuff.

41 minutes ago, PostalTom said:

troubleshot a cruise control system that wouldn't turn on

BTDT!

 

After the Navy, I got a part time job fixing TVs with a friend. He told me an elderly lady brought it in and there was sound but no picture. This was in the days of vacuum tubes. I immediately replace the high voltage rectifier- no change, then the horizontal output- no change. Measured voltages, checked capacitors- no change. After several hours of troubleshooting thru schematics, I walked around to the front of the TV and turned up the brightness control. We both had a good laugh out of that one! I told this story every year to my students. Never assume the problem- check everything for yourself

We had a young electrical engineer who was very intelligent. In the days of tube amplifiers. He had one he just couldn't fix. An old timer took one look and said "Its that piece right there" as he pointed out the problem. It look like an insulated wire going thru the wall of the amp. The engineer laughed out loud. He was told that it was a feed thru capacitor and it was bad. "Never ever heard of such thing"  We had a hard time to get him to believe such a thing was real. We had to replace them often.

18 hours ago, lew said:

I always overlook the simplest fix and go for the most work!

 

 

Yep! Right there with ya.

Kinda like working 1/2 a day on a lawn mower to find that it needs gas...