On Wed, 02 May 2007 16:01:54 +0000, Joerg wrote:
> Spehro Pefhany wrote:
>> On Wed, 02 May 2007 14:32:05 GMT, the renowned Joerg
>> 
>>>>You can see titanium spacers, a special copper alloy sprue bushing,
>>>>leader pins, titanium tubular dowels, and such like even in just a
>>>>simple couple of plates.
>>>
>>>Cool! But electrical engineers aren't s'posed to do that stuff :-)
>> 
>> I'm always doing stuff I'm not supposed to. ;-) 
>> 
>> At least it has a bit of electricals in it (connectors, heaters and
>> thermocouples). 
> 
> Reminds me of a friend who had to do a field repair in Australia. When 
> he arrived the panel of the control box was already off. So he fixed it. 
> Then he closed the box by mounting the panel. BIG mistake. He was read 
> the riot act by a high-level manager. "What were you thinking?! That was 
> the job of the mechanic and he belongs to another union and now we'll be 
> in hot water there..."

I had a client tell me about his experiences at a trade show. On his way
to the place, he stopped and picked up about a half-dozen bottles of
booze, and about $500.00 cash. 

He got his booth set up _tout suite_! ;-)

Cheers!
Rich

Charlie Edmondson wrote:
> 
> Doesn't have to just be unions, just any beauracracy.  When working at
> UCSB, there were several times that a classroom problem would require
> 3-4 different departments to resolve - facilities to handle turning the
> power on or off, telecom to troubleshoot the data connection, my
> department (A/V) to remove and restore the equipment, and my own groups
> computer support group if the trouble was in the computers... 8-)



   I did contract A/V repair for three school districts years ago. One
of the smaller systems let me do anything, as long as I left a note for
their head of maintenance so he could inspect the work.  It was a year
before I saw him again. I asked how he liked my work.  He shrugged and
said, the first one was perfect, so I didn't check any of the other
jobs.


-- 
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

Charlie Edmondson wrote:
> 
> At least they had the forethought to put in the new cable trays so the
> new cable wasn't (usually... 8-) ) laid over the old cable.  Of course,
> everytime they took out a section of the old cable tray, they took
> SOMETHING down with it!


   You were lucky! A military TV station i rebuilt had a homemade cable
tray screwed to the ceiling.  It was made from scraps of used packing
crates.  The way it was hung meant that you had to pull everything that
was laced out of one end.  I recabled the entire station wile I was on
the air.  At one point I had a piece of coax run from the film chain
camera, looped through channel "B" of the master video monitor, and then
fed into the transmitter's video input while I pulled out a six inch
bundle of coax and audio cables.  Every addition had been laced to the
previous bundle, till I finally got down to the two control cables for
the studio cameras.  It took three days to clean everything up, and I
had to do it while the station mangler (manager) was on leave.  It was
fun doing live newscasts with the "Talent" tripping over bundles of
wire. ;-)


-- 
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

Michael A. Terrell wrote:

> Charlie Edmondson wrote:
> 
>>Then, as soon as the equpipment was switched over, they cut up all that
>>nice laced up cable for recycling... :-(
> 
> 
> 
>    What else could they do with it?  Have you ever worked at a facility
> with layer after layer of abandoned cables, covered by what was in use? 
> I've pulled miles of wire from sets of racks 20 feet apart where
> equipment was changed, and the physical plant wasn't properly
> maintained.  I refuse to leave any abandoned wire in place, if it is
> possible to remove it.
> 
> 
At least they had the forethought to put in the new cable trays so the 
new cable wasn't (usually... 8-) ) laid over the old cable.  Of course, 
everytime they took out a section of the old cable tray, they took 
SOMETHING down with it!

Charlie

Charlie Edmondson wrote:
> 
> Then, as soon as the equpipment was switched over, they cut up all that
> nice laced up cable for recycling... :-(


   What else could they do with it?  Have you ever worked at a facility
with layer after layer of abandoned cables, covered by what was in use? 
I've pulled miles of wire from sets of racks 20 feet apart where
equipment was changed, and the physical plant wasn't properly
maintained.  I refuse to leave any abandoned wire in place, if it is
possible to remove it.


-- 
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

Clint Sharp wrote:
> In message <SB2_h.6957$rO7.1033@newssvr25.news.prodigy.net>, Joerg 
> <notthisjoergsch@removethispacbell.net> writes
> 
>> Reminds me of a friend who had to do a field repair in Australia. When 
>> he arrived the panel of the control box was already off. So he fixed 
>> it. Then he closed the box by mounting the panel. BIG mistake. He was 
>> read the riot act by a high-level manager. "What were you thinking?! 
>> That was the job of the mechanic and he belongs to another union and 
>> now we'll be in hot water there..."
>>
> LOL, and that's what killed the UK computer industry. Electrical crew to 
> isolate the equipment, mech team to remove the equipment from the rack, 
> tech to fault find, wireman to solder the bits in, tech to test and 
> qualify, rinse and repeat, re-assembly was the reverse of disassembly in 
> the tradition of the best auto manuals. Unions sucked ass big time until 
> they got their nuts crushed by a certain woman in the 80s.

Doesn't have to just be unions, just any beauracracy.  When working at 
UCSB, there were several times that a classroom problem would require 
3-4 different departments to resolve - facilities to handle turning the 
power on or off, telecom to troubleshoot the data connection, my 
department (A/V) to remove and restore the equipment, and my own groups 
computer support group if the trouble was in the computers... 8-)

Charlie

Clint Sharp wrote:

> In message <Ey2_h.4869$uJ6.3135@newssvr17.news.prodigy.net>, Joerg 
> <notthisjoergsch@removethispacbell.net> writes
> 
>>>> What kind should I get
>>>
>>>   Unscented!
>>>
>>
>> ROFL!
>>
> Get the mint stuff if your equipment is likely to be used by smokers, 
> makes it much more pleasant for the service techs.


It's industrial gear and here in the US there's no smoking anymore in 
that field :-)

-- 
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com

Joerg wrote:

>> You can see titanium spacers, a special copper alloy sprue bushing,
>> leader pins, titanium tubular dowels, and such like even in just a
>> simple couple of plates.
>> 
>> 
> 
> Cool! But electrical engineers aren't s'posed to do that stuff :-)

Those of us who are "Systems Engineers" do have to do that stuff as well as
the electrical, electronics and software. I also do:-

    Ultra High Vacuum
    Cryogenics
    Transport Logistics
    COSHH Assessments
    DSEAR Assessments
    Microwave Plumbing
    Water Systems Plumbing
    Carpentry
    Model Making
    Librarian 
    Document Registrar
    Finance Manager
    Mechanical Assembly

-- 
********************************************************************
Paul E. Bennett ....................<email://peb@amleth.demon.co.uk>
Forth based HIDECS Consultancy .....<http://www.amleth.demon.co.uk/>
Mob: +44 (0)7811-639972
Tel: +44 (0)1235-811095
Going Forth Safely ..... EBA. www.electric-boat-association.org.uk..
********************************************************************

Charlie Edmondson wrote:

> Joerg wrote:
>
>> I have seen <20 year old harnesses where half of the tie wraps have
>> failed and their pieces were flying about in the bottom of the box. That
>> would absolutely not be a good thing in an aircraft. In contrast I have
>> never seen a harness where lacing has failed and some were north of 50
>> years old.
>> 
> I remember laced cable trays from my days in Telco.  It was considered a
> fine art to have 3-4 layers of cables in a tray, all neatly tied down
> with no kinks or crossovers.
> 
> Of course, they were paying the price for all that craftsmanship!

Seen some installations where a group of 9 cables (~100 pairs each) were
box-laced together and were free standing vertically from the ground floor
to the 1st floor part of the exchange. These cables fanned at the top of
the stand. True art.

-- 
********************************************************************
Paul E. Bennett ....................<email://peb@amleth.demon.co.uk>
Forth based HIDECS Consultancy .....<http://www.amleth.demon.co.uk/>
Mob: +44 (0)7811-639972
Tel: +44 (0)1235-811095
Going Forth Safely ..... EBA. www.electric-boat-association.org.uk..
********************************************************************

Charlie Edmondson wrote:

> Joerg wrote:
> 
>> Jim Stewart wrote:
>>
>>> Joerg wrote:
>>>
>>>> martin griffith wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> On Mon, 30 Apr 2007 13:00:37 -0700, in comp.arch.embedded Joerg
>>>>> <notthisjoergsch@removethispacbell.net> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> C is going to be handled. SPI? I2C? Other?
>>>>>
>>>>>> Talking about high-tech here: Does anyone know where to get wax 
>>>>>> rope for making cable harnesses? Couldn't find it on Digikey or 
>>>>>> Mouser. Or am I just too freaking old?
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> http://uk.farnell.com/jsp/Cable/Cable+Accessories/PRO+POWER/81400000/displayProduct.jsp?sku=3058669 
>>>>>
>>>>> http://uk.farnell.com/jsp/Cable/Cable+Accessories/ALPHA/LC+134+500YDS+WHT/displayProduct.jsp?sku=1213871 
>>>>>
>>>>> last one if from Newark
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Ah, thanks! Didn't know it was called lacing cord these days. We 
>>>> used to call it wax rope or harness cord. Digikey is out but Mouser 
>>>> has that as well. They even got it in black, I only knew the white 
>>>> stuff. Cool. 10c/yard is kind of highish but those 500 yards will 
>>>> last a long time.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Most aircraft supply shops carry Koroseal
>>> lacing cord.  It's still used for behind-
>>> the-panel avionics lacing.
>>>
>>
>> Aha! Cool. Because we have a local runway almost next to the house so 
>> I could waltz over there and see if they've got any.
>>
>> I have seen <20 year old harnesses where half of the tie wraps have 
>> failed and their pieces were flying about in the bottom of the box. 
>> That would absolutely not be a good thing in an aircraft. In contrast 
>> I have never seen a harness where lacing has failed and some were 
>> north of 50 years old.
>>
> I remember laced cable trays from my days in Telco.  It was considered a 
> fine art to have 3-4 layers of cables in a tray, all neatly tied down 
> with no kinks or crossovers.
> 
> Of course, they were paying the price for all that craftsmanship!
> 
> They were converting the office from the old SxS equipment, which was 
> expected to last for centuries to electronic gear with lifetimes of 
> decades.  The new equipment was expected to change too often to tie down 
> the cables, so the new paradigm was to have a the cables loosely laid in 
> what can best be described as a rat's nest over the racks.  To get to 
> the frame, they ran new cable trays above the old ones, and just laid 
> the new cables any which way in the tray.
> 
> Then, as soon as the equpipment was switched over, they cut up all that 
> nice laced up cable for recycling... :-(
> 

Sad. There are good reasons why lacing is still required in many 
mission-critical applications. When looking at aircraft cable harnesses 
it becomes quite obvious why.

When I did wax rope lacing I didn't think it took me longer than 
"modern" methods. It's probably an acquired art just like knitting. I 
still don't understand how my wife juggles those needles.

-- 
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com