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c/avionics-technicians•diana617diana617•2mo ago

Rant: I just hit 1,000 hours on the same old LRU bench tester...

It's this ancient unit we've had since I started, and the counter rolled over this morning while I was trying to get a comms box to talk. The thing is, I've probably fixed 300 units with it, but I've also spent at least 50 hours just smacking the side of it to make the display work... Has anyone else got a piece of shop gear that's more stubborn than the stuff you're fixing?
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4 Comments
mark_carr7
mark_carr72mo ago
Honestly, that sounds like a tool that's earned its keep. My old thermal camera has a flickering screen you have to thump, but it still finds cold joints faster than our fancy new one. That kind of gear has a weird kind of sense memory for the work. You learn its little problems and it just gets the job done. I'd take a beat up tester that works over a shiny new one with confusing menus any day.
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wilson.joseph
My dad's 1983 multimeter had a cracked case held together with black tape. The needle would stick at 20 volts unless you tapped it just right. He could diagnose a whole house electrical fault in ten minutes flat with that thing. The new auto-ranging one I bought him just confused him. He went right back to the old beater.
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robert_scott57
Ever think that thing knows your hand better than you do?
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max_torres44
@robert_scott57 probably trained his gear with percussive maintenance too.
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