Things I've learned the hard way . . .

[asdalton]

Re: Things I\'ve learned the hard way . . .

[ QUOTE ]
JimH said:
The act of taking some things apart generates an extra part, which you will notice when the thing is all back together and appears to be working normally.


[/ QUOTE ]

I've heard of this one before. The corollary is that if you take apart and reassemble something enough times, you will eventually have two of them. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[PhotonWrangler]

Re: Things I\'ve learned the hard way . . .

If you happen across a hot soldering pencil, make sure you pick it up by the handle.

Sometimes rustproofing is not getting rustproofing.

In a battle of wits, never enter the fight unarmed.

 

[BC0311]

Re: Things I\'ve learned the hard way . . .

Great stuff! So many of these apply to so much of life in addition to electronics.

 

[VidPro]

Re: Things I\'ve learned the hard way . . .

electrolytic caps have the polarity shown for a reason, try and follow the polarity
(gee is was just a little reverse power, but it sure did pop loud)

heat shrink CAN be slightly expanded, when you dont have any big enough.

solder wick is a pain, but it might be better than heating the part, and throwing it on the ground quickly to slop the solder off it /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif if there is enough solder, the solder sucker is the best though.

meter set on OHMS is a bad way to test polarity and conduction of the ends of a battery. (wont tell you who i learned this from

you can fast charge rechargables as long as they dont fast Overcharge.

when making curcuits, 95% of the parts, are there to fix the deficiencies and problems of the 2 needed to do the actual work

programming is easy, debugging till it works exactally right is both time consuming and near impossible, but dont ask microsoft to do it /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[diggdug13]

Re: Things I\'ve learned the hard way . . .

My dad ALWAYS said: "you get what you've paid for, buy cheap get cheap" and as always I've seemed to prove him and his sayings right.

doug

 

[greenlight]

Re: Things I\'ve learned the hard way . . .

Don't give flowers to someone else after they were given to you...

 

[KevinL]

Re: Things I\'ve learned the hard way . . .

[ QUOTE ]
wmpwi said:
13. The flame that burns twice as bright actually does burn half as long.


[/ QUOTE ]

So appropriate about lights and cars. A car enthusiast told me a while back "There's no such thing as a low-consumption high-performance car - if you want her to MOOOOOOOVE she's gonna drink". I could say the same thing about the lights.. crank up the power to the business end and do expect runtime to fall. Where's my USL again?

My other additions..

1. Better to buy a $50 piece of gear from the get go than buy a $10 piece of gear five times. Learned this many years back with cheapo computer mice that were lucky to last two weeks - literally.
2. The ONE single time you do not have a light with you is the time you are guaranteed a blackout. I was at a place that lost power for five minutes, the person that was with me said that was the only time he decided he wouldn't need a light. Well, guess who was carrying the U2.. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif it was only five minutes, but what a cannon that U2 is in pitch blackness. I dialed it down to level 4! (coming from someone who never sets it lower than 6, not while my lithium ions are in it)
3. A Surefire official Z60 lanyard is $12. A DIY paracord lanyard and McGizmo clip is less than $4. Sure makes that $270 flashlight you lost for the lack of a lanyard look cheap now.. lanyard it or lose it!

 

[PhotonWrangler]

Re: Things I\'ve learned the hard way . . .

If you're doing close-up soldering work and you have long hair, pull it back first. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif

 

[chmsam]

Re: Things I\'ve learned the hard way . . .

1). A great warranty on a piece of crap just gets you a newer piece of the same crap when you replace it -- get the good version upfront.
2). The piece of crud version will cost you less. However, it probably won't hold up your when life could depend on it, or when it just plain would come in real handy -- get the good version upfront.
3). When you look for quality also look for practicality. If it isn't there when you need it 'cause it's not carryable, what good is it, regardless of the cost?
4). Too pretty/rare/collectable/valuable to carry versions are nice. The ones you can use when you really, really need 'em are the ones that you really, really appreciate.
5). The pain in the butt you get from carrying too much stuff goes away pretty quick when you save someone from having a disaster, large or small, and you get the "Oh, so that's why you've always got that with you! Thank you!" Especially true when you see the "I'm gonna get me one of those!" look in their eyes (true addicts love to spread their addictions). And even better than that when the soon to be addict is really hot! Hubba, hubba! Chicks do like geeks!

 

[KevinL]

Re: Things I\'ve learned the hard way . . .

chmsam just wrote the definitive text on the rationale behind EDC /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

You just can't say it any better than that!!

 

[Reaper]

Re: Things I\'ve learned the hard way . . .

And, no matter how careful you are----------
Murphy will show up eventually and say "GOT YOU".

 

[Lynx_Arc]

Re: Things I\'ve learned the hard way . . .

Buy cheap stuff to loan others so your good stuff won't vanish.
Don't buy a 3 year extended warranty that costs only $10 less than buying a new one because technology will make it cost $15 less by the time your warranty would have replaced it at 2 years and 11 months.
You always stock up on stuff you never use and use stuff you never stock up on, then you stock up on stuff you used all of it up and never use it again.
Instruction manuals.... don't. The only stuff with parts lists have expensive parts you cannot get, while cheap stuff has cheap parts but no parts lists.
It is always the 50 cent part that breaks in the $100 item that renders it useless and it always breaks when they change designs to get around the breakage problem with the 50 cent part and the warranty expires, so you have to buy a $80 assembly to replace the 50 cent part and everything it connects to. I once had a broken nylon bushing in a transmission and the dealer quit carrying them at $2 each. I needed 4 of them. Instead I had to buy new shifting forks with new nylon bushings for $125 to fix the problem.

Buying the latest and greatest lasts only long enough for you to pay it off and have it be obsolete and start messing up and the next latest and greatest has the fixes for the problems of the last version.

If you find a bargain everyone wants it, if you pay full price everyone only wants one when the price goes up or it is discontinued. If you buy something to resell nobody wants it until you find a use for it then everyone wants one and nobody makes them any more.

Everyone thinks you are a nut for carrying extra stuff, but the same people are the first to remember you have it in your pocket when they need it, then a few weeks later they think you are a nut again.

 

[PhotonWrangler]

Re: Things I\'ve learned the hard way . . .

[ QUOTE ]
Lynx_Arc said:
Buying the latest and greatest lasts only long enough for you to pay it off and have it be obsolete and start messing up and the next latest and greatest has the fixes for the problems of the last version.


[/ QUOTE ]

A corollary to that is to never buy serial #1 of anything. Remember the first Mazdas? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif

 

[MaxaBaker]

Re: Things I\'ve learned the hard way . . .

DOn't try to look for something you lost when it's actually in your hand (or around your neck, or behind your ear)! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif


I did that with a CPF light pen today. I was looking all over the place for it when it was behund my ear the whole time! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ohgeez.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/poke2.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/drunk.gif

 

[PhotonWrangler]

Re: Things I\'ve learned the hard way . . .

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/yellowlaugh.gif I've done that, MaxaBaker. "Where the heck are my glasses?.... O, wait." /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ohgeez.gif

 

[gadget_lover]

Re: Things I\'ve learned the hard way . . .

1) When you drop the soldering iron, let it fall. Only Jedi Masters grab the cold end.

2) You can't really drop a 500 degree bolt before the blister forms.

3) Sanding a part in a disk sander can bring the temperature up to 500 degrees. See #2

4) Never try to blow the saw dust out of a spinning drill bit when you have long hair. (learned in 1971)

5) If you run a part beyond the designed specifications, one or more of the other specifications will be invalidated.

6) You can build it fast, cheap or high quality. Pick any two. If you add enough luck you can get all three.

7) Murphy was an optimist.


Daniel

 

[kongfuchicken]

Re: Things I\'ve learned the hard way . . .

biking-wrist guards/padding+small cliff=bad, scar on the elbow bad...

 

[KevinL]

Re: Things I\'ve learned the hard way . . .

[ QUOTE ]
Reaper said:
And, no matter how careful you are----------
Murphy will show up eventually and say "GOT YOU".

[/ QUOTE ]

I once remarked to a colleague, "No matter what the $#*( we do, the bullet with our name on it will get us"

His reply was great - "Well, try to make it a small bullet then."

We've worked to minimize the damage wherever we can.


Speaking of the bullet with our name on it, I've always believed in laying in not just one, but FOUR different backup plans. This is a tremendous amount of redundancy to be sure. At work, I care for and feed a mission critical database. To put it bluntly, nothing happens without this system. Work literally grinds to a halt, as it did during a failure that took out both the primary system AND three of my backups... but the 4th saved me.

 

[Mednanu]

Re: Things I\'ve learned the hard way . . .

Anytime you handle a firearm, check the breach first before doing anything else.....even if you just saw someone else check it two seconds earlier; check it again. Never trust the other guy's judgement who supposedly just verified that breach was empty...the stakes are just too high.

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/xyxgun.gif

 

[brightnorm]

Re: Things I\'ve learned the hard way . . .

Always keep a plunger in the bathroom.

Brightnorm