All the engineers I know have to say “righty righty, lefty loosely” to figure out how to open a water bottle! My favorite is a navy “nuclear engineer” friend(engineering is like veganing they must tell everyone). I don’t know how many times I’ve had to fix things for him or tell him how to fix things.
Those #+%^ engineers!
- Thread starter AntiqueIron
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Believe me, I'm not one to defend engineers.
But, I do have family, and friends, that are engineers. (At least they are not lawyers). Guess who they call, whenever they need a problem solved with their own stuff?
However, many issues people rant over, are not actually the fault of the engineering department.
An engineer can easily design it, to include all the things that would make it easy to service, or even make it so it won't need to be serviced at all.
But, every part has a budget attached to it. Go over that figure, and, the budget department will reject it. Convince them, they have to increase the budget for that part, and they will expect someone to cut the budget on something else to pay for it. They may force engineering to have no option, but to use an existing part. And, refuse to allow engineering the money to make the changes, that would make a part more accessible in that application. Leaving to you, wondering why the engineers were so, "dumb"?
So, while it may seem like penny pinching, it all adds up when you have many hundreds of parts, and a budget that has to be met.
But, I do have family, and friends, that are engineers. (At least they are not lawyers). Guess who they call, whenever they need a problem solved with their own stuff?
However, many issues people rant over, are not actually the fault of the engineering department.
An engineer can easily design it, to include all the things that would make it easy to service, or even make it so it won't need to be serviced at all.
But, every part has a budget attached to it. Go over that figure, and, the budget department will reject it. Convince them, they have to increase the budget for that part, and they will expect someone to cut the budget on something else to pay for it. They may force engineering to have no option, but to use an existing part. And, refuse to allow engineering the money to make the changes, that would make a part more accessible in that application. Leaving to you, wondering why the engineers were so, "dumb"?
So, while it may seem like penny pinching, it all adds up when you have many hundreds of parts, and a budget that has to be met.
WinterDeere
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Good post, ray. Add to that the time to even evaluate and propose these changes, and the engineers are usually cut off before they can even start.
I have shipped more than one design with known problems, in my life. Every time, it was because I wasn’t allowed the schedule or budget to make the fix happen, not because I didn’t want to fix them. In most cases these were problems I inherited from predecessors, but also occasionally problems of my own making discovered too late in the game.
The schedule in the automotive market is brutal, with a need to release new models each fall probably routinely cutting short development efforts and debug time on new designs.
I have shipped more than one design with known problems, in my life. Every time, it was because I wasn’t allowed the schedule or budget to make the fix happen, not because I didn’t want to fix them. In most cases these were problems I inherited from predecessors, but also occasionally problems of my own making discovered too late in the game.
The schedule in the automotive market is brutal, with a need to release new models each fall probably routinely cutting short development efforts and debug time on new designs.
rontaki
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Those #+%^ bean counters!
BravoXray
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They're worse than the #+%^ engineers!
Redbug
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I noticed most of the zero turn mowers no longer have any way to rope start the engine if the battery goes dead.
My 1982 (?) Yamaha XJ400 was like that. One day I accidently turned the key switch past off, and turned the parking light (taillight) off. I must havr pushed that bike a mile or more around campus, before finally finding somebody who could give me a boost.
I bet it's really hard to pull start a larger 20+hp 4 stroke with or without a decompression valve imo. Quick backwoods hack I've used is remove screen guard on flywheel put a high torque drill with socket on flywheel nut it and use that as a starter with caution.
kenmbz
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When I was an engineer for the government, all servicing had to be taken into consideration.
Including how each component could be fixed or replaced in the field.
Knowing how much each of our devices cost, I could never see a car company even coming close.
The test boxes to trouble shoot some of our systems , which amounted to 2 boxes in this case, cost about a million to produce. For only a dozen devices out in the field.
Including how each component could be fixed or replaced in the field.
Knowing how much each of our devices cost, I could never see a car company even coming close.
The test boxes to trouble shoot some of our systems , which amounted to 2 boxes in this case, cost about a million to produce. For only a dozen devices out in the field.
WinterDeere
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Between the size of the hydraulic pump, the fact that mine runs rather heavy 15W-45 oil, and the relatively large Kawi V-twin engine, I’d guess that pull starting a ZTR would be awful difficult in all but the warmest of weather. Even my electric start struggles quite a bit on a fresh battery, as temperature drops.
