Pro tip: a 1980s Otis gearless motor taught me more in a week than a year of normal calls

Got called to a building in downtown Phoenix for a full motor swap on a unit from 1984. The prints were wrong, the parts guy sent the wrong brushes, and I had to hand-file a commutator for the first time in a decade. That whole mess, while a pain, forced me to actually trace every wire and understand the whole circuit instead of just swapping a board. Has anyone else had a nightmare job that actually made you a better mechanic?

3 comments

3 Comments

brooke52020d ago

Those brutal jobs are the real training. You don't learn the system when everything goes right, you learn it when every single part fights you. It's frustrating but it's the only way the good stuff sticks.

lisak2614d ago

My first year at the print shop, @brooke520, I had to run this old binder that jammed every ten minutes. Honestly, I wanted to throw it out the window. But after a month of fighting with it, I could fix any problem blindfolded. That machine taught me more than any new one ever did. Tbh the frustration makes you learn it inside out.

the_wren20d ago

Can't learn to swim without drowning a little.