Sigh... that moment when you realize you may be late because you need a new part

[andrew whicker]

What a pain.

Was welding the bottom of a railing (TIG) and kept getting porosity. And then more porosity. Grind. Clean metal. Inspect. Weld. Porosity. Go inside to eat and re-think life decisions. Grind. Porosity.

After trouble shooting for a while, I finally realize that the gas hose from the 'power adapter' to the hose is leaking gas. I promised a mid January delivery date. Now I get to see if my town has the part I need or if I have to pay an extremely high shipping fee to get one as soon as possible.

No big deal, just kind of lame.

sigh..

[Dave Lehnert]

Nothing like wanting to get a job done and no parts.

Guess I'm lucky. The area I live in, there is not much I cant get my hands on with just a short drive.
I needed a part once that a roofer broke putting the new roof on the house. I got the name off the part and called the company. My heart sank when the CSR person on the phone said there was only one place in the country that stocked that part and I would have to place an order. Turns out that company was about 15 min from the house.

I see you are from UT. A few years back we sent one of our Tech's from work out to service some equipment in UT. The closest hotel we could get him was like 45 min away. He called and said he could fix it if he had some Red 18 awg wire IIRC. We were puzzled and said "Just go buy some" His response was "you don't understand, Noting here to buy from" So I guess things are hard to come by in your area.

[Wayne Lomman]

The joys of project work. My current favourite as paint shop manager is to get an urgent job from the machine shop only to find they have been sitting on it for months and left me with 3 days to apply a marine paint system and get it cured instantly so goods can be delivered on time. (Coming to a port in California in the next few months.) Cheers

[Jim Koepke]

For me it is a half hour drive to the nearest place to buy any hardware. That is at a convenience/gas station that happens to carry a small selection of the most needed household hardware. Of course the prices reflect the convenience. To avoid 'emergency' trips, anytime hardware is purchased, a few extras are bought. There are boxes of various items in my shop to take care of most emergencies. A few things still pop up and require a search or ordering from a distance.

Currently our home heater is out of service because of a fuse block that heated up over the years and darkened the copper connections and deformed the plastic. During my younger years these things were made of porcelain and would likely survive just a short distance from ground zero of a nuclear blast. One could replace any heated contacts and be in service for another 50 years. Besides which the contacts were made of heavier copper and were not likely to deform from conducting electricity.

Now the replacement has me wondering if another should have been ordered to replace the new one in another 25 years. My plan is to try to remember to turn off the breakers and flip the Buss fuses end for end each year and replace them if they start to discolor.

jtk

[John K Jordan]

What a pain.

Was welding the bottom of a railing (TIG) and kept getting porosity. And then more porosity. Grind. Clean metal. Inspect. Weld. Porosity. Go inside to eat and re-think life decisions. Grind. Porosity.

After trouble shooting for a while, I finally realize that the gas hose from the 'power adapter' to the hose is leaking gas. I promised a mid January delivery date. Now I get to see if my town has the part I need or if I have to pay an extremely high shipping fee to get one as soon as possible.

No big deal, just kind of lame.

sigh..

I hate when that happens. Or when I find I grabbed the wrong filler metal. Duh.

I'm not sure which hose you mean (my TIG is down the hill in the shop and I'm too lazy, er, unable to look at it at the moment). Is it a short internal hose with special fittings or the hose from the cylinder to the box? If the leak is a pinhole can you cut and repair? Is it low pressure that you can fix temporarily with some "magic tape" or super glue? Can you borrow one from another regulator or welding machine?

I assume you don't have a welding supply store nearby. The local Napa auto parts store has been able to build almost any hose I needed, even a high-pressure hydraulic line for my backhoe - they carry a big variety of fittings, swaged or crimped.

JKJ

[Jim Koepke]

This brings to mind something my father told me about life in his younger days. He told me how way back then many farmers had their own airplane and a landing strip on the farm. When harvest time came around it was out of the question to wait a week or two for a part for a critical machine. If they had to they would fly to the factory to pick up a part and then fly home with it to keep things running.

jtk

[Ed Labadie]

A company I worked for sold a machine that had been sitting for a while. Never bothered to run it first. Customer installed it only to find bad bearings.....very, very expensive special bearings.

Customer called, expressed displeasure, asked if new bearings were in stock.

Yes, we have them. We're on our way.......

Less than an hour later a helicopter landed behind the plant......

Ed

[Perry Hilbert Jr]

A kindred rule has to do with what my grandfather and father always called "Jesus springs". tiny little wire springs that needed to be manipulated into place with 2 pair of fine needle nose pliers. Found out why the term "Jesus" one day when my grandfather experienced a lawn mower carburetor spring that went flying across the shop to oblivion.

There is also the odd thread bolt on farm machinery that falls into the tall grass out in a field during an emergency repair, especially when a thunder storm is forming on the horizon.