A locksmith I used to know. Says "You can do the job, and they can't. That's why they call you. And you got to charge em for it."
That nylon rod bit sounds like you want to be careful what you're doing.
"Stormin Mormon" wrote in message news:pjsno.7161$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe08.iad...
There is an old parable in the electronics service industry that goes something like this:
A person has an expensive piece of electronics equipment that is not working correctly. He calls the repair center and the next day a repairman shows up. He looks at the symptoms, removes the back cover, gets out a screwdriver and makes an adjustment inside. The equipment works perfectly again. He submits the bill:
Repair expensive electronic equipment. Total $100.
The customer shouts, "That is outrageous! All you did is make an adjustment inside." The repairman takes back the bill and writes a new one:
Adjust expensive electronic equipment $1, Knowing what to adjust $99, Total $100,
David
Next time you're at the supply house, pick up a tube of Leak Lock. You'll never be without it again.
I remember many summer days in southern Indiana, working construction, that were like that. We all had to watch each other, and when somebody STOPPED sweating, lead them over to the water cooler and make them take a long break.
Some decades ago, I heard the same joke. But it was a steam locomotive, and two taps for buck each. Knowing, $998.
A locksmith I knew. Got a rush call to open a car, guy had to be to the airport. Having opened several of those, the locksmith knew which tool, how far into the window, and in which direction to go. As he was reaching into the car to recover the keys, the guy hollered. "Forty bucks! I'm not going to pay you forty bucks... for.... THAT!!!"
Locksmith threw the keys back in, and started to walk off. After some begging, the locksmith relented, and opened the car a second time. Now, the bill is up to $80. Me, I am not that heartless.
Thanks. Looks good. Wish they would make some in a spray can, self penetrating. Just spray it onto a leaky TXV or gas thread, and walk away. And while I'm dreaming, make me an adjustable crescent flare wrench.
I've not been in Indiana. But, I've seen workers like that.
Unfortunately, I was in the Military, and on active duty. The recommended procedure wasn't working, and we had a lot of complaints about TVs with a vertical roll, all over the base. It took over 15 minutes per try to do it by the book. Adjust it, fire up the transmitter and run the tests after five minutes. Shut it down. Wait a few minutes and then shove the shorting stick into the HV power supply. Then repeat. We had been following the book for over two days. Finally I got fed up and removed the end cap so I could close all the safety doors and stepped inside. Ten minutes later we had exactly what we needed, and the other engineer shut down the transmitter and discharged the power supply. Needless to say, I trusted him with my life.
You only make a mistake like that once. Then they scrape what's left of you off the equipment & the walls.
BTW, some of you other Veterans might get a kick out of this:
I was out working in the hot Florida sun one day. In an hour I drank three two liter bottles of ice water, and still stopped sweating. It took another bottle of water, and two bottle of soda before I cooled down. Damn, that was scary!
I once had a girlfriend who had custody of a 16-year old kid, whose dad bought him a brand-new pickup truck, as an abseentee parent bribe or whatever. He locked his keys in it. We called a locksmith, who was an off-duty cop, and went out to watch him pick the lock. The guy was poking around and poking around, and we kind of got lost in conversation; we had wanted to see him pick the lock. Well, after about 10 minutes of this, we were all thoroughly distracted, he said, "Well, it doesn't seem to be working here - let me try the other side." Before any of us clued up and thought to chase him to the other side of the truck, he had the lock picked in about three seconds.
I was rather saddened that I didn't get to see how it was done. )-;
Thanks, Rich
I'd have probably poured one of the bottles of ice water onto my head, at least until my scalp was cooled to 98F. :-)
Thanks! Rich
I was working out in The Marshall Islands when I had the first kidney stone to put me in the hospital. I had been working inside a hot building that we were remodeling for the missile range when I got nauseated and felt like I had a bad gas pain. It wouldn't stop so I hopped on my bike and peddled to the island hospital where a dye injection and X-ray confirmed a kidney stone. I've had several more, two I passed on my own and another in a hospital. I drink lots and lots of water now and haven't had another in a dozen years. I only wish kidney stones on really mean and nasty people, not your typical mild asshole, it's too cruel. 8-)
TDD
Locktite makes a penetrating locker but when you have something apart, a thin coat of Leak Lock on the mating surfaces and all your problems are solved. I use it on all mechanical connections, it will even hold screws in place.
TDD
So your the idiot that puts that crap on service port caps. :-(
"Martin H. Eastburn" fired this volley in news:oucno.178326$ snipped-for-privacy@en-nntp-09.dc.easynews.com:
Ordinary residential refrigerators do NOT have compressor crankcase heaters!
LLoyd
"Steve" fired this volley in news:i7jnnt$fns$1 @news.eternal-september.org:
I figured out out just fine, Steve.
He tallied up the other work at $500, then said he'd charge another 500 just for the refrigerant.
I had a compressor replaced on a 5-ton AC for a total job cost of $700.00 (and it happened to be under warantee, so we only paid about $300 of that).
The R-22, labor, windshield time, the gauges, the micron gauge, the vacuum pump (all of which I own, too) were ALL in that $300.00.
LLoyd
Especially since most refrig take about 6 ounces.
Nope, nope, nope, not me! I use the appropriate sealer in the appropriate places. I once did a lot of commercial glass work and automatic door installation and service. That's the sort of thing Loctite and Nylock nuts were made for. The Leak Lock for the air fittings on the pneumatic door systems. Those old Stanley air doors sounded just like the doors on Star Trek, do you remember those? Just about every grocery store had the damn things 30-40 years ago. Most of the pneumatic and hydraulic door operators have been replaced by 90 volt DC drive units. Folks would be amazed at the technology that goes into those ubiquitous automatic doors they wander through everyday. 8-)
TDD
Red, no doubt :-)
Trivia note- on the original show, they got lots of letters from architects and engineers wanting to know how they got the automagic sliding doors to open and close so fast. They were well faster than what was commercially available in 1960s. It was all a fakeout- the door slides were done by stagehands, pulling or pushing on cue. I suspect the dubbed sound effect for the opening and closing may well have been from a Stanley of the era. They stole sound effects from lots of places, and then tweaked as needed. One of the early torpedo sounds was the sound you get from hitting the web of a loose steel I-beam with a hammer. Back in that pre-computer era, all the sound effects were artisan work like that.
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