Learned an interesting and handy new term the other day, kind of the opposite of unobtainium..

I wish I had any engineering ability. I do try to fix all that I think I can handle, and I usually still get myself into a jam.

We need more people like you!

Technical skill is in direct proportion to the amount of equipment you have ruined..

Which is a fancy way of saying that you learn more from what you do wrong than what you do right.

Arthur Clarke once said that in order to learn the limits of the possible you have to venture at least a short distance into the impossible. Well, I've ventured quite a way into the impossible and have taken copious mental notes on what does not work from sometimes quite literally painful experience.

On one technically oriented forum I frequent that deals with scratch built electric vehicles they have two relevant acronyms, KFF and KFH, they stand for Kentucky Fried Finger and Kentucky Fried Hand..

A KFF looks like this..



And a KFH looks like this..



So keep on trying, every time you screw up you learn something new about what does not work, most of us who are better at it have just had more practice in discovering new and sometimes painful ways to break stuff even worse than it was broken in the first place.

Ummmm, will you think less of me if I pass on it. My mouth is agape. Holy crap. I do not want KFF or KFH. Ever. Can I just learn the easy way and watch someone else do that????

But I can appreciate what you are saying....and I know it to be true. I will not forget the time that I took my dishwasher apart thinking that I would be able to find out what was wrong with it. I meticulously lined up the parts as I took them apart, and when I couldn't find where the problem was, I put everything back together and called a repairman. He was taking it apart and asked me who had been messing with it. I asked how he knew, and he said because "this piece was in upside down". Embarrassing! The lesson there was never to call another repairman who will humiliate me.....actually it was to put the pieces not only in a meticulous line, but also just how they came out.

So be reassured. However, my father once knew of a guy who was vaporized.

The dads worked with hydropower plants, megawatt stuff.

You had me laughing about how reassured I should be, then relating the story about a vaporized guy.

Atwater Kents, for example, often have 600 volts or so. Nothing that a 14 year old should be playing with, but probably good training for later life.

I remember once walking down a factory aisle when a power supply for one of our line of RF amplifiers, just a few kilowatts, blew up. Sounded just like a high powered rifle. We all hit the floor. Then we got up and laughed, since nobody got hurt. That thing scattered when it blew........

Scrapbinium....

That describes 80% of my projects.

I have always found pride as a fabricator. Owning a landscaping company with tools, trucks, and heavy equipment going down all the time, it became a necessary skill, and some of the "Eureka" moments are indescribable. I'm gonna try and remember both of your terms!

Here's a pic of one of buddies. He's a machinist, evil genius, and an Incredible fabricator. One day he got bored sitting at his desk, then 2 hours later he drove the country mile between his house and mine for a beer. You should see what he can do when he's serious!

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Often out of necessity but looks like your friend had some fun!

This is a Bridgeport computer controlled milling machine that was made in 1982, the original computer system was the size of a refrigerator and the magic smoke had long since left the building, electronically speaking it was pining for the fjords but the mechanical parts were still in pretty decent shape although it was stone ugly after decades of cutting metal. I got the machine off Craigslist for the price it would have fetched at the scrap metal yard, then after I disassembled, cleaned, sanded, repainted and reassembled the entire machine I retrofitted new control electronics and motors and a PC with custom software and a touch screen monitor to run it. You can see the PC up top and the control electronics are in the box behind the PC.

Basically this thing was a battleship anchor, now it works better than it did when it was brand new. It took me nearly a year to get the machine to this point, it's an effort about equivalent to a ground up restoration on a vintage car.

Oh, and other than the PC and the touch screen monitor I got off Craigslist the new control electronics were all made in the USA, the custom software running on the PC is also from the USA.



Here's what it looked like when I got it..

I know, that isn't what you wanted me to be in awe of, but wow.

And yes, I am impressed with what you did too.

Is that what you use it for?

http://www.mechmate.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1789

That bridgeport is awesome. I spent some time looking for a donor before I forced myself to realize that shop space was going to be a problem.

I'm in awe of those who can make something useful out of the junk being shipped here. They don't complain, just explain what they had to do to cudgel a repair to make the thing work. That's harder than making it from scratch.

I grew up in an era when public high schools taught students how to make everything from lamps to engines. That's been sorely lacking, and should be given more respect. The shade tree mechanic used to be one of your best friends, but the vehicles are now made with components that end up being disposal. You can't repair it without destroying the design.

It's interesting that because of the embargo against Cuba they learned how to cudgel the most basic parts to keep vehicles running. I feel that is where we're going in this country, as well.

I enjoy youtube videos of people re-using various things that would have gone to the landfill to make, for example, passive solar devices for heating water, heating the air in their homes, cooking or preserving.

I have reduced all my purchases and reuse everything before recycling. I encourage things that require more human interaction and reusing, like glass bottles in the grocery. Kudos to you and all our frugal fixers!