When the job starts to go wrong, the hardest thing to do is to make the decision to start again and make a new piece rather than trying to rectify something that it is clearly wrong and will come back and haunt you further down the line. Once that decision is made, the rest is easy.

However, we never use the word "Scrap" as the faulty part is just waiting for a smaller component to come along.

Can anyone else relate to this?

John

yeah definately true, the thing is whenever i think of starting again i start to think of the amount of time i took doing the original, and that ill have to take that long again. obviously this wont be the case as id have the experience 2nd time round. oh well, brains are mysterious things!!!

Its horrible when you realise that there is no alternative but to go backwards by a couple of evenings work isn't it! Done the very thing this week! I'm pleased i did now because the quality is so much better second time around! Oh well, thats what its all about!!!

That's one reason why my car took too long to build... make a part, say "that'll do", then look at it a few days later and say "that doesn't look right".

Mind you, one of the hardest lessons I learnt was "when things just aren't going right, walk away and try again another time".

David

[Edited on 28/6/06 by David Jenkins]

Walking away is absolutely the right thing to do, I know it and I'm sure everybody else does too but it is the hardest thing to do. I spent a whole day trying to TIG weld a pair of aluminium radiator mounting brackets to a piece of flat sheet. I have always found T or fillet welds the hardest and by the end of the day I had made and thrown away six brackets. All of them burnt through. I eventually gave up. Next day I made two more and welded them with no trouble at all.

Queer isn't it?

John

My favorite one is when people refuse to pay for the right tool and "make do" with what they have

we have all done it - me recently whilst doing a TCA on my car - made do with a hammer and a crow bar to get it in place, rather than go for the rather expensive ratchet strap - next time i do it (looking a matter of weeks on the other car im going the whole hog and buying a ratchet strap

or the times when people have lifted engines without cranes, decided against that when my mate collapsed

why dont people buy/hire the proper tools! safety should be paramount!