Hello campers, I bet you’ve been dribbling in anticipation
of my December report so lets plunge straight in. After a quite a busy run up to December I was thankful for a
slow down in training assignments so that gave me time to catch up with admin
and sort out my workshop etc. I also managed to knock up a few training aids
I’d been hankering after for a while. One was an old motor out of a washing
machine with wires for the Field and Armature hanging out the side that I was
able to put in a terminal block and demonstrate how to reverse a Universal
Motor (reverse either Field or Arm but
not both). I can also use this on a DC supply to show how it gets its name.
The other is a swinging arm that can carry current along it while suspended in
a magnetic field (from a strong permanent magnet). The bar will of course move
according to current flow/field and is a perfect demonstration of “Fleming’s
Hand Rules”. With regard to fault-finding, how about this: The plasma TV
in our conservatory started playing up recently so Ted decided to have a go at
sorting it out. The symptoms were intermittent and included, pixelated view of
“Yesterday” channel, loss of remote control response and suddenly starting to
hunt for an input between “PC”, “Ext” and “TV”. For loss of remote control, I
figured could be just a faulty remote. For the other two conditions I had a
feeling that a poor aerial connection may be to blame so in I went and
manufactured a new aerial lead – no change. Re-terminated the aerial socket outlet
– no change. Metered from the socket to aerial – all ok. Now this is where it
gets interesting, I brought down a TV from the attic and plugged it in, guess
what? – same symptoms! Hmm. So I check the aerial connections again. Replace
the leads, again. Tried wrapping the leads round magnets to avoid any RF
interference. No change. In the end started to contemplate a séance but got in
a temper, packed away my tools and turned the light off to storm out– and it
all started working perfectly, even the remote! By trial and error I went on to
establish that one of the CFL lamps in the conservatory was to blame. A faulty
component must have been acting as a low-power “oscillator/jammer”. It just
goes to show how easy it is to get caught out. For January, I have training booked in for Melton Mowbray
(always makes me think of pork pies), Havant, Poole, Caerphilly and Lingfield
in Surrey. I even have a few days on my doorstep in Witney. There is of course a lot of interest in 18th Edition
training at the moment but Maintenance and Service training is going through
the ceiling (hence the electro-magnetic training aids). I recently had a
training assignment at a German company that manufactures motors to train their
staff. Talk about a tough gig. I was a bit apprehensive but I seem to have
ticked all the boxes as I have been booked for two further courses there! Have to start thinking about holidays soon, I really hate
this time of year from now until April it’s either dull, freezing cold or
precipitating down (I’m sure I’ve got that SAD wotsits). So I really do need to
get down to Spain for a bit of therapy. Anyway, time
to crack on. If you watch NCIS you will have heard of “Gibbs Rules” well here’s
a few of “Ted’s Rules”: #1 Be
reliable. #5 Be kind,
but don’t be a schmuck. #7 Don’t do
anything you don’t want to. #9 Don’t mix
with dickheads, liars and piss-takers (even if they are related). Adios mi
Amigos and Amigas, catch you on the flip side. |
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