BS: Impact Technology and it's Application.

Subject: BS: Impact Technology and it's Application.
From: Acorn4
Date: 13 Oct 09 - 10:27 AM

My 8 year old PC started behaving very badly and appears to be on its last legs as it started to make weird noises and crashed. As it is an old machine I thought "nothing to lose" and gave it a couple of good thumps. It sprang into life again and although the fault returns intermittently, it has given me a chance to back up everything.

I find impact technology is also useful when a car park machine lets your coin drop straight through -a good thump will normally make it swallow the coin.

Does anyone else have examples of using this much under rated way of dealing with things.

Subject: RE: BS: Impact Technology and it's Application.
From: gnu
Date: 13 Oct 09 - 10:33 AM

Attitude adjustment through impact technology has many examples. But, always remember, safety first.

Subject: RE: BS: Impact Technology and it's Application.
From: olddude
Date: 13 Oct 09 - 10:41 AM

I have an old cartoon on my desk that has a guy with a sledge hammer standing over his computer that reads "strike any key when ready"

Subject: RE: BS: Impact Technology and it's Application.
From: Joe Offer
Date: 13 Oct 09 - 10:56 AM

I had a brother-in-law who referred to a hammer as a "maximum force adjusting tool," and so I never let him fix anything at my house...

I'll admit that I got a cassette player going last month with a good whack, but usually I add a little WD-40 and black electrical tape to make it look like a professional job. My favorite tool is compressed air - it fixes all sorts of things.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: Impact Technology and it's Application.
From: olddude
Date: 13 Oct 09 - 11:02 AM

Or as my friend Garry always teases me with the line
"If I had a hammer ... there would be no more folk singers"

Subject: RE: BS: Impact Technology and it's Application.
From: Acorn4
Date: 13 Oct 09 - 11:02 AM

I often wondered about the possibility of its application in education!

Subject: RE: BS: Impact Technology and it's Application.
From: Bill D
Date: 13 Oct 09 - 11:07 AM

Many years ago, I had a 2nd hand TV which just hated to come on and deliver a picture. I 'convinced' it by applying a hard-back book to its top right-front corner...with slightly more force than you'd use to swat the dog with a newspaper.
   Kept that TV going for about a year....


(I also had a coffee mill which grew more reluctant to start....had to really pound on the little plastic switch. When if finally quit, I tool it apart to see the problem.....and realized it was only a bent piece of copper with a little corrosion. I sanded it down and bent it UP again with tweezers, and VOILA! Works like new now.)

Subject: RE: BS: Impact Technology and it's Application.
From: gnomad
Date: 13 Oct 09 - 11:08 AM

I had a CD player which ran for years that way, you just needed to lift the front right corner about 1 cm, then release it sharply. It seldom worked without.

I like the story of the owner of a machine, who queried an engineer's bill;

"£50 for just coming here and tapping the machine once with a hammer, which I could have done myself! It's a rip off!"

"OK, I'll send a new bill."

New bill =          To percussive maintenance £0.01p
                     Travelling               £10.00p
          Knowing what to hit, and how hard £39.99p

                                 TOTAL DUE    £50.00p

Subject: RE: BS: Impact Technology and it's Application.
From: Bill D
Date: 13 Oct 09 - 12:25 PM

Oh...and that reminds me of my first car, a 1951 Chevy, which I bought used in 1957. I drove it for 6 years, and then it just simply quit....wouldn't respond to attempts to start it.

It sat beside my apartment until the city noticed and had it towed away. This was going to cost me 'impound' charges. I told my father who then mentioned it to his trash collector, who said maybe he'd buy it! Wow!
So we met this guy at the city impound lot, and the old man looked under the hood and said "try to start it". I did...click, click...nothing. The guy got a wrench and reached in and went "bang, bang" on something. "Try it again.." I did...click, click...still nothing.
"Ok...once more...and hold the key ON" I did, and he went BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG BANG, BANG, BANG on the generator..(no alternator then)...and..."roar", it started! He gave me my $50 and drove MY car away! *sniff*...


"Knowing what to hit, and how hard"

Subject: RE: BS: Impact Technology and it's Application.
From: gnu
Date: 13 Oct 09 - 01:16 PM

4 Ford company wagons all the same... old crescent wrench beneath each front seat. A few times a week, when stopped for traffic, the starters would engage. Procedure was to smack the solenoid next to the battery.

No... speaying them with silicone did not help in cold weather.

Subject: RE: BS: Impact Technology and it's Application.
From: gnu
Date: 13 Oct 09 - 01:22 PM

Joe....

Subject: RE: BS: job descriptions
From: gnu - PM
Date: 13 Jul 02 - 05:26 AM

For sale : hand-held local impactory device and hand-held extendable automatically retracting imperial/metric linear measurement/conversion device. Nails not included.

Subject: RE: BS: Impact Technology and it's Application.
From: Newport Boy
Date: 13 Oct 09 - 01:36 PM

One of my favourite minor scenes from the Ealing Comedy film The Ladykillers.

In the very run-down house, the old lady turns on the kitchen tap, picks up a hammer and hits the pipe a few times. Puts down the hammer, walks over to get the kettle, puts it under the tap - just as the water starts to flow!

The joke is repeated more than once.

Phil

Subject: RE: BS: Impact Technology and it's Application.
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 13 Oct 09 - 04:37 PM

If at first you don't succeed, try a bigger hammer.

Subject: RE: BS: Impact Technology and it's Application.
From: artbrooks
Date: 13 Oct 09 - 05:40 PM

Reminds me of a book I saw once called "1001 Uses for Duct Tape".

I once had a very nice bicycle, made by a guy named Angel Rodriguez in Seattle. It had an shifting problem - it would shift perfectly when in the stand but would skip gears on the road. Nothing I did seemed to work. I took it in to Angel, and he found a hairline crack under the front dérailleur clamp, which caused the frame to spread just a little bit when there was weight on the saddle, thus messing up all of the gear settings. It's nice to have an expert to fall back on, but I still think he killed a black chicken to find that!

Subject: RE: BS: Impact Technology and it's Application.
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 14 Oct 09 - 12:04 AM

Not exactly impact technology, but my new truck has the habit of turning on lights - headlights and sometimes interior ones - when "it" thinks they're needed.

The problem is that it doesn't turn them off when "I" think they're no longer necessary.

When the lights remain on after I shut down the engine and exit the vehicle, I find the truck resistant to the threat of impact, since shaking a fist at it does nothing. The only thing that seems to work is to fix the offending lights with a very stern glare, and mutter curses at it for about 20 to 25 seconds, after which it "gets the message" and slowly (as if to protest) dims the lights until they extinquish.

John

Subject: RE: BS: Impact Technology and it's Application.
From: EBarnacle
Date: 14 Oct 09 - 02:25 PM

Don't force it, get a bigger hammer. . .

Reported as a graffito on the wall of a Roman chariot shop.

Subject: RE: BS: Impact Technology and it's Application.
From: Joe_F
Date: 14 Oct 09 - 06:28 PM

As a cure for stupidity, rudeness is no substitute for assault & battery.

Subject: RE: BS: Impact Technology and it's Application.
From: GUEST,folk1e
Date: 15 Oct 09 - 10:33 AM

There is a scientific formula for this

E = MA



Effect = Mass (of Hammer) x Amount of Swearing

Subject: RE: BS: Impact Technology and it's Application.
From: GUEST,Edthefolkie
Date: 19 Oct 09 - 10:18 AM

Anyone who has owned a Citroen will have used impact technology at one time or another.

My favourite application of this was the BX which, if stalled at traffic lights, would not restart. I carried a large hammer to solve this problem - a quick bash on the starter motor always fixed it but this did lead to some funny looks, also one did tend to resemble Basil Fawlty.

As for 2CVs and derivatives......!! Have you ever heard of a car whose gearbox could unwind? Still love 'em though.

Subject: RE: BS: Impact Technology and it's Application.
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 19 Oct 09 - 12:12 PM

Joe Offer said, "My favorite tool is compressed air - it fixes all sorts of things."

I agree, especially if there's a jackhammer attached to the air hose.

Subject: RE: BS: Impact Technology and it's Application.
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 19 Oct 09 - 01:46 PM

Surely this is where the expression "re-boot" came from in the first placee.

Subject: RE: BS: Impact Technology and it's Application.
From: Bill D
Date: 19 Oct 09 - 03:47 PM

With MY voice, all I have to do is sing "Old Bangum" at the reluctant technology.

Subject: RE: BS: Impact Technology and it's Application.
From: Gurney
Date: 20 Oct 09 - 02:53 AM

Old story:
A motorist pulled in to buy petrol, and noticed that one of the side/park lamps was out. He kicked it, but without results. A rummage in the boot/trunk turned up a toy hammer from his son's 'tool' set, and the sharper impact jarred the bulb into operation.
When he tried to leave he discovered that the starter bendix gear had jammed, so he lifted the bonnet/hood and dealt to that with the 'hammer.' Success, and as he got out to close the bonnet, a mechanic hurried over to the car.
"Look mate, I'm not interested in the motor, but can I have first refusal on the hammer?"


The story has been around since you COULD kick sidelamps.

Subject: RE: BS: Impact Technology and it's Application.
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 20 Oct 09 - 03:06 AM

An elderly fellow who worked for the family business when I was a kid (we won't discuss how long ago that was) was stopped one night for "no tail light."

When he got out to look, the light was on, but the police person insisted it had been out moments before.

Police person applied a sharp rap to the fender and the light went out.

Police person applied a succession of additional sharp raps but the light refused to come back on.

"Pop" then had a hilarious time (according to the way he told the story at work the next day) accusing police person of false accusation, destruction of property, interference with innocent citizens, and a few other "crimes" in language best not repeated.

According to the story, it all ended with the police person not writing a ticket, and offering to pay the cost of repair if "Pop" would bring a receipt to the patrol station.

I haven't recently encountered an enforcement officer/agent quite that accomodating - or anyone since "Pop" quite so capable of making a tall tale sound like the absolute truth.

John