You did what?
Staff -- Test & Measurement World, 5/1/2001
Too hot to handle
The day after we repaired an environmental chamber, it ran fine. But later, we found an oddly shaped blob of plastic in the bottom. To find out what it was, we tore apart the chamber again and discovered what was left of a screwdriver sitting on a heater coil. The heater had burned halfway through the shaft. The plastic was what was left of the handle. When the boss found out what we had done, he admonished us to keep better track of our tools. So we put the remains of the screwdriver on display in a prominent place so we would never lose track of it again.—Russ Forsman, Watertown, WI.
We brake for scopes
A company I worked for designed brake testers for the automotive industry. Cars would drive onto the tester and engage the tires in a set of rollers. A technician would run each vehicle up to 60 mph and then apply the brakes so a computer could record brake-performance data. At the auto plant, the tester dropped into a pit, so the rollers were level with the ground. But during development, the tester mounts on a frame 6 ft. off the floor.
One afternoon, a Cadillac was running high on the frame. Something caused the rollers to lock and the Caddy came off the frame at 40 mph. No engineers ever stood in front of the frame during testing, so the only casualties were an oscilloscope and two vending machines. I think the Cadillac was salvaged. At least someone said something about cleaning up the driver's seat. And from then on, operators made sure to carefully check the rollers.—David Snoek, Hudsonville, MI.
