you try to fix things that aren't broke. I turned on my DC yesterday to make a quick cut at the RAS...it didn't start. Worse, there were no lights on the remote box (shop built with voltage and amperage readouts). Always jumping to the worst possibility, I took the remote down down (it's mounted high on the wall) and started trouble shooting. Everything looked good, I then checked the DC outlet for power...nothing. Just as I was getting ready to open the sub panel I looked at the breaker...it was turned off. I had tripped it to do some maintenance on the dust bin sensor a couple od days ago and apparetly failed to turn it back on. So after remounting the remote box and reconnecting everything it was working fine...and I was kicking myself in the butt.

If that's all you got, you're doing well, Fred.

My 18V Milwaukee impact has been missing for a month.

As they say Robert it's in the last place you had it😅 Seriously I spend more time looking for tools than working most days

BTDT, @Fred W. Hargis Jr

2 hours ago, Fred W. Hargis Jr said:

I was kicking myself in the butt.

Don't feel so bad. EVERY maintenance/repair/QC/diagnostic method I've ever seen starts with "make sure power is on". I've seen literally millions spent on equipment when a simple "is it on" check would have cost pennies.

Lamont......

HAlf my project time is spent looking for the tool I just had in my hand

Can't fix it if it ain't broke.

2 hours ago, Larry Buskirk said:

Can't fix it if it ain't broke.

Whatever it is can always be "fixed". ( a lifetime in repair and maintenance, the things that I've seen are nightmare fuel )

17 hours ago, Wichman3 said:

Whatever it is can always be "fixed". ( a lifetime in repair and maintenance, the things that I've seen are nightmare fuel )

BTDT, and still doing it!

But if it ain't broke we can't fix it.

17 hours ago, Larry Buskirk said:

BTDT, and still doing it!

But if it ain't broke we can't fix it.

I had just stopped working at a restaurant, when one of the busboys decided to make an extra strong cleaner/sanitizer, so he mixed bleach and lime-away. Clouds of chlorine gas and he dropped instantly, out cold, one of the slightly built waitresses went in to drag him out, she dropped . Restaurant evacuated, fire department showed up and dragged the two out; no permanent damage to either, but the FD was there in about two minutes, darn lucky.

That's what I'm referring to: it ain't broke but some knuckle head tried to fix it and messed it up worst than what it was.

While in the Army we had radio remotes. They used six, D sized batteries for a total of nine volts of DC power. Some genius decided 9 volts was 9 volts; so they talked the chain of command into splicing in a 9 volt "snap cap" because the batteries were lighter and less expensive. What no one in this whole mess failed to see is the difference in - current -. These radios remotes used several electromagnetic switches that needed a high current source to hold the contacts in place. The result was hundreds (or more) pieces of equipment with damaged internal components, and no one wanted to be the one held responsible; so we wended up with repair techniques such as - "drop onto packed earth (dirt) from a height of 3' (waist high) to knock the contacts loose. Sounds silly, but it worked. Again, it wasn't broke and someone came up with a way to break it, resulting in more work in the end.

Now I'm going to have nightmares for a week. :(

7 hours ago, Wichman3 said:

it ain't broke but some knuckle head tried to fix it and messed it up worst than what it was.

Reminds me of the time when I was still an apprentice pipe-fitter at an automotive manufacturing plant.

Person that was in charge of testing the chemical levels in the machining coolant decided they would top off the water level in one of the coolant tanks on Friday evening.

They forgot to turn the water off which resulted in that area of the plant being flooded with about three feet of water when we came in on Monday morning. The Journeyman I was assigned to at the time was new to that area, and didn't have a clue what to do. I had been assigned to that area before with another Journeyman and the Maintenance Supervisor asked me if I knew what to do. I replied yes but you'll have to see if what we called the "Stink House" had enough room in the sludge tank for me to pump it all out there. Luckily they did, so I went with that Journeyman and showed him what pumps, and valves we had to set to pump it all out. Had to put waist waders on to get into that area due to 440, & 660 volt circuits having been submerged in that area. Took about three and a half hours to pump the mess out.

Needless to say the area didn't get any machining done that day (two shifts) as the Electricians had to dry out the control panels before the machines could be started.

On 10/16/2026 at 8:46 PM, Wichman3 said:

it ain't broke but some knuckle head tried to fix it and messed it up worst than what it was.

We see that a lot at work. Lots of phd's running around and assuming since they are highly educated in one field, they have the best idea in any field.

The internet says the Germans have a word for this:

Verschlimmbessern - The act of making something worse when intending to improve it.

I do enjoy the traditional German method of slamming words together to make new words. Very practical even if it ends up with an awful lot of consonants!

Even funnier, I ran that word by a native German speaker I know (a phd astronomer) and she had never heard of it. I bet the mechanics in Germany know all about it.