Maker Pro
Maker Pro

POLL: What do you HATE to work on?

M

Matt J. McCullar

Jan 1, 1970
0
It seems that every electronics technician has at least one type of device
that he/she does not like to try to repair for some reason. Myself, I don't
like to work on microwave ovens. I have several technician friends who
don't like to touch television sets, but they're very good at just about
everything else.

Maybe it's something psychological, I dunno. You know how it seems that a
car will respond to the tinkering of anyone else except you? You can bang
your head on a circuit board for three hours, and someone will happen to
walk right up behind you, look over your shoulder, and point out the problem
instantly.

I've been on both sides of this, so I know at times all one needs is a fresh
pair of eyes. But I *still* don't like to work on microwave ovens! :)

Matt J. McCullar
Arlington, TX
 
D

Duncan Newell

Jan 1, 1970
0
Matt J. McCullar said:
It seems that every electronics technician has at least one type of device
that he/she does not like to try to repair for some reason. Myself, I don't
like to work on microwave ovens. I have several technician friends who
don't like to touch television sets, but they're very good at just about
everything else.

Maybe it's something psychological, I dunno. You know how it seems that a
car will respond to the tinkering of anyone else except you? You can bang
your head on a circuit board for three hours, and someone will happen to
walk right up behind you, look over your shoulder, and point out the problem
instantly.

I've been on both sides of this, so I know at times all one needs is a fresh
pair of eyes. But I *still* don't like to work on microwave ovens! :)

Matt J. McCullar
Arlington, TX
VCR's...hate anything mechanical.....lol...apart from printers i don't mind
them, VCR mechanism faults i hate !
 
R

Ricky Eck

Jan 1, 1970
0
Matt J. McCullar said:
It seems that every electronics technician has at least one type of device
that he/she does not like to try to repair for some reason. Myself, I don't
like to work on microwave ovens. I have several technician friends who
don't like to touch television sets, but they're very good at just about
everything else.

Maybe it's something psychological, I dunno. You know how it seems that a
car will respond to the tinkering of anyone else except you? You can bang
your head on a circuit board for three hours, and someone will happen to
walk right up behind you, look over your shoulder, and point out the problem
instantly.

I've been on both sides of this, so I know at times all one needs is a fresh
pair of eyes. But I *still* don't like to work on microwave ovens! :)

Matt J. McCullar
Arlington, TX

My Biggest thing is the NEWER VCR's. The older ones were ok. But the new
ones are so electrical. I had one I didn't even try on. It had ONE belt on
the whole thing. The rest of it was Electro Magnetic. The Video Head was
all driven by Electro Magnetic. My wife told me it was eating tapes. Well,
we can guess what that was. Belt and an Idler replacement. WRONG. It had
an idler I have never seen before, and no belts. I just put it back
together, and tossed it in the trash. VCR's are so cheap. Actually, the
price I expected to pay for a good VCR (That we hardly use anyways), I
bought a decent DVD/VCR combo unit. I would say the newer stuff is being
made so cheaply, it is a good challenge, or just not worth looking at. Who
remembers the good ol' days of consol TV's, Bad video, you pulled a card,
and replaced it with another. Boom, you were done in 10-15 minutes..:) LOL
Good Ol' Days...

Rick
Irving, TX
 
P

Peter Aberrant

Jan 1, 1970
0
it's funny you should ask
I used to love audio 30 years ago, now I hate it, they try and fit all the
electronics inside the volume control, and those multi-disc CD players get
right up my nose, sometimes I get so angry with them I see stars in my eyes.



Now you should ask what brands we hate how ever this might vary from country
to country

..
It seems that every electronics technician has at least one type of device
that he/she does not like to try to repair for some reason. Myself, I don't
like to work on microwave ovens. I have several technician friends who
don't like to touch television sets, but they're very good at just about
everything else.

Maybe it's something psychological, I dunno. You know how it seems that a
car will respond to the tinkering of anyone else except you? You can bang
your head on a circuit board for three hours, and someone will happen to
walk right up behind you, look over your shoulder, and point out the problem
instantly.

I've been on both sides of this, so I know at times all one needs is a fresh
pair of eyes. But I *still* don't like to work on microwave ovens! :)

Matt J. McCullar
Arlington, TX
 
L

LASERandDVDfan

Jan 1, 1970
0
NEC computer monitors. They perform great, but when they go wrong it's a real
pain to take the whole works apart to do circuit level work.

Audio tape decks. There aren't very many electronics to where you have to take
apart so much to get at a couple of belts.

Small cassette camcorders. A lot of small parts, a convoluted assembly, and
multi-layer circuits that are almost impossible to repair.

Anything cheap. For instance, real cheap TVs use a substantial amount of
surface mount parts in some very critical areas that are a real pain in the
rear to deal with. - Reinhart
 
L

LASERandDVDfan

Jan 1, 1970
0
You can bang
your head on a circuit board for three hours, and someone will happen to
walk right up behind you, look over your shoulder, and point out the problem
instantly.

I know that feeling.

One time, a technician friend of mine was trying to figure out why a Sony
camcorder wouldn't stay in REC mode when the red record button was depressed.
It would record only when you held it down. He took it apart to figure it out
and was stumped.

He was going to call Sony when I asked to look at it and I pointed out a record
button control function which was set to record when the button was held down.
Set it to where it would record with just a single push and that was that! -
Reinhart
 
N

N Cook

Jan 1, 1970
0
Matt J. McCullar said:
It seems that every electronics technician has at least one type of device
that he/she does not like to try to repair for some reason. Myself, I don't
like to work on microwave ovens. I have several technician friends who
don't like to touch television sets, but they're very good at just about
everything else.

Maybe it's something psychological, I dunno. You know how it seems that a
car will respond to the tinkering of anyone else except you? You can bang
your head on a circuit board for three hours, and someone will happen to
walk right up behind you, look over your shoulder, and point out the problem
instantly.

I've been on both sides of this, so I know at times all one needs is a fresh
pair of eyes. But I *still* don't like to work on microwave ovens! :)

Matt J. McCullar
Arlington, TX

My pet hate is where you turn the bit of kit upside down to remove the
bottom plate and there are say 6 screws , 5 are black and one is red.

electronic hints and repair briefs , schematics/manuals list on
http://homepages.tcp.co.uk/~diverse

Nigel, Diverse Devices,S outhampton, England
 
Z

Z

Jan 1, 1970
0
Peter Aberrant <[email protected]> said:
it's funny you should ask
I used to love audio 30 years ago, now I hate it, they try and fit all the
electronics inside the volume control, and those multi-disc CD players get
right up my nose, sometimes I get so angry with them I see stars in my eyes.
None of these problems with UK or US brand hi fi Linn SME Naim, Krell,
Mark Levinson.
 
Z

Z

Jan 1, 1970
0
Matt J. said:
It seems that every electronics technician has at least one type of device
that he/she does not like to try to repair for some reason. Myself, I don't
like to work on microwave ovens. I have several technician friends who
don't like to touch television sets, but they're very good at just about
everything else.

Maybe it's something psychological, I dunno. You know how it seems that a
car will respond to the tinkering of anyone else except you? You can bang
your head on a circuit board for three hours, and someone will happen to
walk right up behind you, look over your shoulder, and point out the problem
instantly.

I've been on both sides of this, so I know at times all one needs is a fresh
pair of eyes. But I *still* don't like to work on microwave ovens! :)

Matt J. McCullar
Arlington, TX
I hate working on anything:

A. Where the jumpers are too short and you have to make up new ones or
balance boards precariously.
B. Where the casing designer has not provided PCB holding slots for
servicing.
C. Where the service manual is expensive.
D. Where manufacturer specific tooling has to be purchased where
something more generic would have been just fine.
E. Which is tiny
F. Which has not had serviceability designed in.
G. Which has plastic clips which break.

Slip rings with Fibre optic.
Not keen on microwave ovens due to other peoples cooking greases.
 
W

William R. Walsh

Jan 1, 1970
0
Hi!

I really don't hate hate working on any one particular thing, but a few
things have become annoying over the years...like poorly designed items (or
ones not designed to be repaired) and overly cheap designs where (e.g.)
direct soldering is used instead of nice connectors.

If I had to name one thing in particular, it would be a lot of IBM monitors.
IBM was very creative at keeping people out of them and I've destroyed more
than one trying to get it open... :-(

William
 
L

LASERandDVDfan

Jan 1, 1970
0
Slip rings with Fibre optic.
Not keen on microwave ovens due to other peoples cooking greases.

Since you bring that up:

I hate working on electronics where bugs have taken residence inside them or
was obviously placed in an area where a lot of people smoked.

Talk about filthy! - Reinhart
 
L

LASERandDVDfan

Jan 1, 1970
0
Here's one for you.

Non-functioning electronics where servicing was attempted by the customer.

To add insult to injury, some of the parts could be missing. - Reinhart
 
H

hemyd

Jan 1, 1970
0
Matt J. McCullar said:
It seems that every electronics technician has at least one type of device
that he/she does not like to try to repair for some reason. Myself, I don't
like to work on microwave ovens. I have several technician friends who
don't like to touch television sets, but they're very good at just about
everything else.

Maybe it's something psychological, I dunno. You know how it seems that a
car will respond to the tinkering of anyone else except you? You can bang
your head on a circuit board for three hours, and someone will happen to
walk right up behind you, look over your shoulder, and point out the problem
instantly.

I've been on both sides of this, so I know at times all one needs is a fresh
pair of eyes. But I *still* don't like to work on microwave ovens! :)

Matt J. McCullar
Arlington, TX
I've been a tech at IBM for 29 years. Of all the machines I ever repaired
the tasks I hated most were - (1) replacing the front security grid on a
3624 automatic teller, which involved squeezing yourself into the machine as
best as you can and applying the %$#%%# stick on grid; (2) repairing 20 year
old system printers which had sound deadening foam inside the covers, the
foam by now having turned into a sort of a sticky gooey mess - OK if you
left it alone, but quite unpleasant when coming loose; (3) Servers and other
equipment either sandwiched amongst other machinery or garbage, or so high
up in a rack to make it inaccessible; (4) working on cash feed problems in
automatic tellers in convenience stores, supervised by security guards who
looked like they couldn't care what happened, with customers casting greedy
glances at the money..... I could go on, but these come to mind.

As far as electronic servicing, the things I hated were jobs were the
customer was after the cheapest deal possible, making me feel quite
uncomfortable.

Henry
Australia
 
J

Jason D.

Jan 1, 1970
0
Hi!

I really don't hate hate working on any one particular thing, but a few
things have become annoying over the years...like poorly designed items (or
ones not designed to be repaired) and overly cheap designs where (e.g.)
direct soldering is used instead of nice connectors.

If I had to name one thing in particular, it would be a lot of IBM monitors.
IBM was very creative at keeping people out of them and I've destroyed more
than one trying to get it open... :-(

How recent?

Many of IBM monitors are Samsung (E74's) or Acer E52). Both applies
to opening them. The best tool is the chemist's medium flat metal
spatula used to weigh or dumping out a lump of powders , mine has
dipped vinyl for handle. Very strong blade enough not to bend while
prying apart something yet fits through the slots to unhook the
plastic latches especially at top of these monitors. Pop with a push
then do next one then cover is off, this easy. The flat bladed
screwdrivers simply get wedged up in those narrow slots and not get
hooks unlatched without marking the casings.


But I don't like those that has too short wires to let you tip up
board for probing and let it stay there without falling down
especially in samsung projectors.

Ditto to some TVs with too short wires that has IR sensor and button
on (boards at front). I often had to take them out and reconnect them
while in service position.

Cheers,

Wizard
 
L

LASERandDVDfan

Jan 1, 1970
0
As far as electronic servicing, the things I hated were jobs were the
customer was after the cheapest deal possible, making me feel quite
uncomfortable.

God, I know that feeling!

"Can you fix this TV for me? A friend was going to charge me $20 but couldn't
do it. Can you do it for that much?" - Reinhart
 
J

Jason D.

Jan 1, 1970
0
Here's one for you.

Non-functioning electronics where servicing was attempted by the customer.

To add insult to injury, some of the parts could be missing. - Reinhart

Bingo!!

Once I had a newish 32" JVC (thinking still under warranty) with few
parts snapped off, punched speakers. It was kid. Owner paid up Good
thing our shop is JVC authorized too. Good schematics and not too bad
to fix. That wonderful JVC didn't blew up when powered up because of
good design in STRF-6626 SMPS. Simply replace all missing bits
ordered from the service manual and done with it.

Cheers,

Wizard
 
G

George S

Jan 1, 1970
0
Try overhauling a Touch Screen bar top game. I have to replace the CD-Roms
in them about every six months from Nicotine Death. The Merit Mega Touches
draw in cool air from venting in the bottom front of the machine. So all
smoke and dust hits the cd-rom first as it is drawn up over the monitor and
system board then out the exhaust fans on top.
 
L

LASERandDVDfan

Jan 1, 1970
0
Try overhauling a Touch Screen bar top game. I have to replace the CD-Roms
in them about every six months from Nicotine Death.

I can imagine, all that tar and crap.

Methinks the manufacturer of those systems ought to think of a sealed casing
for the CD-ROM drive or a filtration strategy to keep the air entering the
system clean of any smoke and tar. - Reinhart
 
L

L. Fiar

Jan 1, 1970
0
LASERandDVDfan said:
Since you bring that up:

I hate working on electronics where bugs have taken residence inside them or
was obviously placed in an area where a lot of people smoked.

Now you mention filth...
TV remote controls, with all the muck that gathers.
And, even worse:
Microphones on communications equipment. Truckers and taxi
drivers never learn not to speak with their mouth full of
pie.
 
L

L. Fiar

Jan 1, 1970
0
LASERandDVDfan said:
God, I know that feeling!

"Can you fix this TV for me? A friend was going to charge me $20 but couldn't
do it. Can you do it for that much?"

That has to be the most common hate in electronic repair, those wanting it
cheap... and ready yesterday :)

I had a really annoying one with a video...
"If it will cost more than £5, don't bother, I can get my friend to do
it."

Yeah, right.
 
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