How a ratchet works?

[slant6billy]

So this is both funny and scary. My boss's kid has graduated engineering school. He went there on a baseball scholarship. So he now works with a few of my Generator specialist on gas turbines. I noticed on his cubicle name placard it says," RATCHET". I'm thinking he watched the cartoon transformers or acts like an angry woman- two modern definitions of Ratchet.

Neither! The kid did not know how to use a ratchet. So now it is his nickname. My daughters all know how to use a ratchet or most tools for that matter since age 7.

There is no hope for the world when 23 year old males can't figure out a ratchet.

I've gotten shamed by neighbors, family, and co-workers for not having my kids in every G- dam sport - 3 sports at a time. I get kids need activity, but they need knowledge of tools and craftsman's skills too. I guess the future is now and girls are going to need to know how to wrench with the male offerings out there

 

[rcmaniac791]

Engineering school, huh? My dad put a wrench in my hand when I was probably old enough to walk. Maybe even before then.

 

[7T8 Custom]

My .father-in-law always told me "There`s only two kinds of people in the world. People who fix things and people who pay people to fix things. If your smart enough you will get to the point in your life when you can choose to do either."

 

[jasperjacko]

Engineers don't have to build things, they "engineer" them so others can build them.

 

[kkritsilas]

Good engineers design stuff to be built easily, quickly, and economically. Most of the good engineers know exactly the processes involved, and the impact that their design choices will make.

Doen't mean that all engineers are good engineers, though.

 

[slant6billy]

I just think a person who goes into a technical field like engineering, would have some technical knowledge. I mean I wanted to just wrench all day and my parents forbid me to take autoshop. I guess you can say I got more cold Saturday mornings under the 69 Valiant than any class in school had. I was always wrenching- bikes, cars, motor cycles guitars, amplifiers. My tools are always dirty and unorganized. If it wasn't for my mad math skills, I'd be selling shoes like Al Bundy and driving a Duster. Peggy Bundy was hot in my opinion. All this stinking Engineering degree got me was sitting in a cubicle farm and making spreadsheets and bichslapping software engineers. Which is why by Friday I'm driven mad and Saturday finds me up early and headed out to an old iron junk yard where things make sense. It is my Zen, my Yoga, my meditation.

 

[Aspen500]

Hey,,,,,,my dad was an engineer (electrical, and an excellent one at that) and can fix about anything, especially cars. Well, not as much as he used to but give him a break, he's 86 years old now! My brother is a mechanical engineer and is just like me and dear old dad!

Show me an over complicated design and I'll show you a poor engineer. Show me a simple design that works perfectly AND can be repaired if it does fail and I'll show you a good engineer. From what I see on the cars I work on at work, there's a lot of bad engineers in the auto industry. LOL (especially if it says "Made in Germany" on it. Just sayin')

Heh-heh, it's not a RATCHET, it's a rodent manure.
Can't resist. A couple others are "the male offspring of a female dog" and "a rooster vacuum". Think about it

 

[Jack Meoff]

Not sure if this guy I saw at the auto parts store I go to was a bad engineer or not. He was at the service counter asking if they could check his oil on his Mazda. Not change it......check it.

I walked out and did it for him.

 

[kkritsilas]

In a past life, I worked as a test technologist and component specialist at a couple of electronics manufacturing facilities (now, of course, outsourced to China/Far East, or bankrupt). We had a mix of good and bad engineers, but it seems like most of the really good engineers were the older guys. The new grads would come into the production floor with all sorts of attitude, like they had an engineering degree and they knew it all. If they were bright enough to listen and learn, they learned something new every time they visited the manufacturing floor. If they kept up the condescension and the "I am so much smarter than you" attitude, I would just play dumb, and let them do their thing, all the time knowing they were screwing up. As time wore on (usually only took a day or so, maybe 3 at most), they would find out the hard way how much they didn't know.

I have gone up to recent graduates (they weren't engineers they were "hardware designers"), and pointed out to them that their designs for a new circuit board and the data sheet for the ICs they were using did not match up. "Hardware Designer" said to build it the way it was designed. I went to my manager and showed him the difference between the design and the data sheet. He went the the hardware design manager, who said to build the design as it was. We built some boards and sent them out to potential customers. Due to time constraints, operations went ahead and built up another 400 circuit boards before the customers had even tested the new design. Guess what? Units failed in customer hands (one of the possible customers was AT&T). Customers didn't order any of the new design, and the engineering group discovered that the design and the data sheet didn't match. Nearly bankrupted the company.

The auto industry is going through some of that. The Japanese make all new emplouess spend time on the manufacturing floor. Wonder if this shouldn't become standard here?

 

[Aspen500]

I've always thought the auto engineers should be required to at least do the maintenance items on the vehicles they designed and then MAYBE they wouldn't design some of them so,,,,,,,,,,,,,well,,,,,,,,,,,STUPID. Ever seen where the oil filters are on some cars, especially newer ones? WTF!? How about the Nissans that you have to disconnect the lower suspension arm so you can remove the lower caliper bracket bolt, to get that off so you can change the brake rotor (rear btw)? Just plain poor engineering.

It's not just new engineers, it's auto techs as well. In the 5 1/2 miserable years I worked at the Audi dealer we had 3 fresh out of UTI techs get hired. Out of the three, only one was worth a crap. The other two, like the engineers mentioned, thought they knew everything and wouldn't listen to (or ask for) any advise from the veteran techs. You'd notice them doing something wrong and would mention it to them, it didn't make any difference. After a while I decided to not pay any attention. The other tech from UTI was the opposite. He would listen to advise and, more importantly, ASK when he wasn't sure about something. For the past 2 1/2 years it isn't a problem. I work in a shop with nothing but veteran techs with anywhere between 10 and 40 years experience in the business. I think back to when I started out in 1985 at a Ford dealer. The guy in the stall next to me had been there for 30 years and I always took his advise because being fresh out of school I knew I didn't really know anything yet and a veteran tech was almost like a God.

Heh-heh, I did know what a ratchet was and how to use it though! lol