How did stuff become so difficult?

[Nurse Julie]

I get to play with electrics / electronics every day.

I have a lovely job tomorrow, I have to re-establish the magnetic field in an MRI scanner which involves slowly taking the electromagnet inside up to just over 500 Amps. The windings have to be cooled constantly with liquid Helium at -269 Degrees.
What could possibly go wrong.

I used to spend a lot of time in mobile MRI and CT Scanners looking after unconscious patients, the only piece of electronic equipment I could understand  was the clock that told the time 😳😳😳

[bobv7]

I get where you’re coming from Bob, but at 60+ have learned what’s obvious to me ain’t so to others. And having been involved in instruction / examining much of my working life (er, thanks Bryan!) the best way to ensure a worst outcome is ridicule / belittlement etc.

This year I joined a Moto Guzzi forum as it’s all ECUs, mapping and crap that I’m totally at odds with. I managed to cope / maintain dignity (just!) - but by god is that forum different to this. I rarely look at it or post now; it is generally good, but alas prone to too much testosterone & outbursts such as, “You fucking muppet, I told you 3 posts ago it was the xxx switch”.
I can really do without fellows’ being bullied; that is what is so good about this forum of Steve’s and ‘us lot’.

You should give www.guzziriders.org a try. Good bunch and no bullshit.

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

I get to play with electrics / electronics every day.

I have a lovely job tomorrow, I have to re-establish the magnetic field in an MRI scanner which involves slowly taking the electromagnet inside up to just over 500 Amps. The windings have to be cooled constantly with liquid Helium at -269 Degrees.
What could possibly go wrong.

Nice, reminds me of when I worked at Associated Octel at Ellesmere Port - the Hall of Castner-Solvay cells ran at 25,000 amps D.C. at around 3 volts the buzz bars would pull your feet towards them if you were daft enough to wear steel capped boots. It was great for magnetising your socket sets - it was pulling them off that was difficult.lol

[philward]

I get to play with electrics / electronics every day.

I have a lovely job tomorrow, I have to re-establish the magnetic field in an MRI scanner which involves slowly taking the electromagnet inside up to just over 500 Amps. The windings have to be cooled constantly with liquid Helium at -269 Degrees.
What could possibly go wrong.

Nice, reminds me of when I worked at Associated Octel at Ellesmere Port - the Hall of Castner-Solvay cells ran at 25,000 amps D.C. at around 3 volts the buzz bars would pull your feet towards them if you were daft enough to wear steel capped boots. It was great for magnetising your socket sets - it was pulling them off that was difficult.lol

45 years ago I worked in a telephone exchange and a fitter was joining the old buz bars to the new ones (they where only 50v I was told but huge amperage) and he dropped his spanner across the + & - and it fell to the floor in TWO pieces!

[SteveW]

I have lost count of the times I have gone to hospitals to remove things stuck to the front of the scanners.
Chairs, trolleys, bins, floor polishers. Despite the signs on the door saying no metal.

It’s not an easy task removing them, takes around a day.

My colleague has even had to go abroad to remove a gun 

[MrDavo]

I saw a thing on Autumnwatch last week about how birds and fish use the earths magnetic field for their built in satnav, I can imagine the roof at Macabethiele's place of work being covered in lost pigeons!

[Athame57]

Nice, reminds me of when I worked at Associated Octel at Ellesmere Port - the Hall of Castner-Solvay cells ran at 25,000 amps D.C. at around 3 volts the buzz bars would pull your feet towards them if you were daft enough to wear steel capped boots. It was great for magnetising your socket sets - it was pulling them off that was difficult.lol

When I was a steward on the good ship Armadale in 79/80 me and the pantry boy used a hefty magnet left by an engineer to magnetise the officers cutlery, it was hilarious! 

[MrDavo]

Now this thread has unexpectedly drifted into magnetism, can I recommend a magnet on a telescopic stick as essential for everyone’s toolbox.

I’ve had one for years, and have used it for everything from fishing part of a ring compressor out of open crankcases, to finding hidden rot in cars I subsequently didn’t buy.

Many of my tools are at least a bit magnetic, I’m not always sure how or why, but it can come in handy with tiny screws etc.

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

I saw a thing on Autumnwatch last week about how birds and fish use the earths magnetic field for their built in satnav, I can imagine the roof at Macabethiele's place of work being covered in lost pigeons!

Pigeons never stood a chance the Chlorine gas would get them first not to mention when the Autoclave safety diaphragm (think giant core plug) would occasionally burst (4/5 monthly) in a ball of flame. The farmer had to destroy all the cattle in distant fields and the firm paid out compensation for the loss of cattle, milk production and crops.

[Lobo]

Electrics are easy, you just have to be careful not to let the smoke escape.

Ha, that made me laugh Jonny... you don’t work for Boeing do ya? The B787 had early battery issues, with the potential of fire in flight. Part of the fix was an enclosed & sealed stainless / titanium box that vented all smoke / fumes overboard. Amazingly no diversion is required if any kind of (singular) battery issue comes up.

Bob - thanks for the Guzzi forum, will use it. Better understand the v7 bit...

[Greg65]

Big vote for an extendable magnetic probe, unless it’s a stainless steel washer that has gone into a black hole!

[AshimotoK0]

Well Macabethiel's recent post prompted me to Google 'Associated Octel at Ellesmere Port &  'Castner-Solvay cells' .... fascinating stuff .. a nice break from polishing 20 alloy wheel hubs & brake plates 

[ST1100]

I get called out to Honda dealerships were i am met by a 22 to 31 year old Honda trained technician standing with a laptop in hand and they can't find were to plug a 400 four in to the computer. I found this amazing that they have not been trained on carbs and points or they don't even understand a floating caliper 

Incidentally we have a thread on another forum about the demise in proper service these days... it has gotten really hard to find a shop with a decent, skilled and motivated bike mechanic, blessed with some common sense and not actually wrecking parts/assemblies on your motorcycle...
One of the core reasons and friend and I rented a "shed" (actually a big garage space), got tools, workshop manuals, proper bike lift, etc... I even just bought a tire mounting machine to get out the logistics-hustle and risks that they (again) damage something at a shop (scratched rims, dry wheel bearing seals, no Moly grease on drive splines, stripped threads, etc...) leading to expensive aftermath...
This January I'd bought a '07 NT700VA for my girlfriend/partner, brought it into our "burrow" to do the 36T-km/22Kmile service on it, and was shocked about the "forensic evidence" found while taking things apart for inspection & service...

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

Well Macabethiel's recent post prompted me to Google 'Associated Octel at Ellesmere Port &  'Castner-Solvay cells' .... fascinating stuff .. a nice break from polishing 20 alloy wheel hubs & brake plates 

It was 1967/68 when I worked in the process laboratory at Octel - it was an industrial placement for my four year degree course in Chemical Engineering at Bradford Uni. I had a lovely girlfriend Moya who I met at a YWCA dance she worked in the typing pool for Shell - I fell in love with her Luton accent her Dad had moved to the new Vauxhall Plant from Luton. Sadly when I returned to Uni I could not afford the travel costs so that was the end of the relationship - I still have fond memories.

Octel manufactured Tetraethyl lead as added to petrol back in the day before unleaded fuels.

[Primus]

I am encouraged by these replies.  The first 10 years of my working life was a Marine  Engineer followed by 35 years in engineering management where nothing phased me, although I once explained to someone who suggested that I might be quite clever, that mechanical/electrical issues can usually be overcome as long as you know someone who can help. (Contractors etc.).  The hardest part of the job was dealing with grown men who acted like children.  Anyway, I digress.  As I said nothing phased me and I was full of confidence in my abilities but having invested £6.5k (I don't know how you are fixed, but for me this is significant) of my pension into something that I have always wanted (750K7), asking a question that others may regard as basic gives reassurance.  Anything is easy once you have done it. Love the forum by the way.

Paul