There are Mechanics, and there are "Parts changers"

I remember similar comments from the 'elders' when I was an apprentik, it is a good way to think.

The same mindset applies in other areas. In my working life as an electronics techy, there were (and still are), many people who think that a starting point for a repair is 'change / replace all the capacitors' (or ICs) etc.

I'm hoping that type of thinking doesnt apply in the medical world.
 
" Mechanics and parts changers "

" hurry up and F%$k up "

" The time it takes to do it right, is always less than doing it over "

^^^^ takes a bit of nerve to stand your ground and work to these pholosophies :D

One place I worked at making rubber goods for the automotive industry was so behind with delivery schedules they were supplying one UK plant ( Ford ) by HELICOPTER just to avoid massive penalty clauses for non supply .... stopping the track was a big no no !

I walked into this scenario when starting my afternooon shift and from the very first minutes I had the plant manager barking in my ear asking " how long " ... saying " hurry up " .... " can't you fix it " ... " How long ... how long " ... etc etc

Told him all the above with an attitude of F / Off !!!! ....... leave me alone and I'll tell you when its done

Got it done ( broken rubber extrusion equipment ) and parts supply began again, phew !

Have to say it was stressful under the cosh of the need for speed but I thought back to my old apprentice chargehand who taught me it was better to go outside and have a cigarette / cup of tea than rush a job .... it became my watchword for my own apprentices over the years to such a pitch that they would use it as the excuse when getting caught for taking a sneaky break ... Lol !!!
 
Have to say it was stressful under the cosh of the need for speed but I thought back to my old apprentice chargehand who taught me it was better to go outside and have a cigarette / cup of tea than rush a job .... it became my watchword for my own apprentices over the years to such a pitch that they would use it as the excuse when getting caught for taking a sneaky break ... Lol !!!

Love it!!!
 
I am no mechanical expert but when I first converted my Commando to the Featherbed back in 1980 it was the first bike I ever built I was in my early 20s and there was no internet at all, I took advice from a mate who built his 750 Commando/Featherbed where I brought my Featherbed frame from and I built mine from the way I wanted it as his had a few problems with the things like the Commando motor not on an angle, his crank was lighten and polished but think it was way too light for smooth running and bad balance factor, but I was put on to a engine balancer who knew what I was building from my cam builder, so the mistakes my mate did I didn't make and I have a very good ridable and reliable conversion.
Yes I had a few minor failures and breaks but wasn't my fault from others workmanship and a few little mistakes I also made, but before I did anything I would think about it first before jumping into it, took me 2 years to build it from the parts of both Commando and Featherbed, I used what I could from both, I learned from my mistakes and found a better way of doing it from my mistakes.
When my not original rear sprocket/drum failed and where the outer circlip mount broke away I ordered a new sprocket/drum from RGM but while waiting for it I thought about it and took the old one to work, mounted it on the workshop lathe and using an internal boring bar machined the circlip groove deeper and put a larger circlip in (2 sizes bigger from a 38mm circlip to a 42mm circlip) worked a treat and that sprocket is still on the bike to this day, the new one is still under my bench, a 10 minute job on the lathe fixed it all because I thought about it while waiting for a replacement to arrive from England.
I been like this all my life, think about it before doing it will always work better than rushing into it where you will make mistakes as well fu ck ups and always admit it when things didn't workout as planned and learn by your mistakes, will save time in the long run.
Working as a T/A to maintenance fitters at a Tec College we did a lot of repair work from people who rushed into things or distracted when doing machining work and breaking machines or the jobs they were doing from people who should know better (ex trades who become teachers).

Ashley
 
I've learned a lot in 73 years changing parts making 30+ of my own motorcycles faster accelerating and better handling. Probably doing it all wrong though. lol

There are Mechanics, and there are "Parts changers"
 
Schwany said:
I've learned a lot in 73 years changing parts making 30+ of my own motorcycles faster accelerating and better handling. Probably doing it all wrong though. lol

There are Mechanics, and there are "Parts changers"
Click to expand...
Well you must have done something right to be still changing things after 73 years.
 
There are always "experts" who are more than willing for you to sacrifice the quality of your work to accommodate their immediate needs...so when hurry up and f%&k brings it all to halt they can be assured the onus does not land on them, whether their actions caused said problems or not.

Whenever I had such an expert crawling up my backside because the "important thing is to hurry" I had various techniques to reason with them which would usually shut them the hell up/down.
Sometimes this would lead to me not being brought back to work for said company but I always philosophized that " If I don't have any friends that are assholes so why the hell would I work for one ".
 
Last edited:
I am not a mechanic or an engineer. However I have done more engineering than most of the engineers with whom I have ever worked. My last job was 'on contract' project managing the development of an engineered product. My boss was an engineer. When I showed him my Seeley 850, he said ' I am impressed'. I have been fitting different motors into different frames for more than 60 years. When I build a bike, I build it in my head from experience before I buy any parts. When I bought the Seeley rolling chassis, I had raced against it when it was a Seeley Laverda 750. An idiot pulled it apart to make it go faster when anyone who looked at the exhaust system should have known why it was slow. By the time I got the frame, the fuel tank was badly corroded. I also wanted the Laverda 750 motor, but the guy who had it wanted too much money. Theoretically I owned that motor. I think the Commando 850 motor turned out to be better anyway - it is a lot lighter, and just as quick as the Laverda 750 would have become..
 
acotrel said:
I am not a mechanic or an engineer. However I have done more engineering than most of the engineers with whom I have ever worked. My last job was 'on contract' project managing the development of an engineered product. My boss was an engineer. When I showed him my Seeley 850, he said ' I am impressed'. I have been fitting different motors into different frames for more than 60 years. When I build a bike, I build it in my head from experience before I buy any parts. When I bought the Seeley rolling chassis, I had raced against it when it was a Seeley Laverda 750. An idiot pulled it apart to make it go faster when anyone who looked at the exhaust system should have known why it was slow. By the time I got the frame, the fuel tank was badly corroded. I also wanted the Laverda 750 motor, but the guy who had it wanted too much money. Theoretically I owned that motor. I think the Commando 850 motor turned out to be better anyway - it is a lot lighter, and just as quick as the Laverda 750 would have become..
Click to expand...
..... but NOT anyone would have known why it was slow!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top