A: Accept Nothing B: Believe No-one C: Check Everything

Somebody in the shop wanted a new lathe so they said the power feed clutch was burnt out in that one and management believed them.

My 4th rule is "only change and test one variable at a time". I learned that with computers and software but it also applies when I'm in my garage or shop. I really enjoyed your video, thank you!

I've just accidentally came across this vid. I served my Engineering apprenticeship at Boxford Machine Tools in the mid and late 60's. Wonderful place to work, full of characters. I remember machining parts for the prototype of this model of lathe in the toolroom, I'm nearly 74 now and would love to go back. My elder brother was the painter there, and most certainly painted this machine. By the way, it's very rare for those clutches to wear out, and they are very easy to repair.

Dam, you had a knob for five years and didn't play with it? Great self control!

Do not clean up as a first step. Dirt, stains, accumulation of dust, and other “messiness” often give valuable clues.

number 1 in my books - Understand how it works before its broken

Rule no. 2 VERY true. I acquired an old brush type electric motor from a redundant industrial fridge from a few doors away that for years had electricians replacing the brushes every six months. I looked at the wiring setup and noticed it was set up for 3 phase (we dont have a three phase supply in our small village). After a simple adjustment in the connection box, in 15 years I did not have to replace a single brush and the extra power was unbelievable. So much for experts!!!!

I thought the only rule of troobleshooting was "If you can't fix it with a hammer, the problem is electrical" ?

My personal favorite approach to solving any problem is attributed to the guy that ran Delco back in the 60s: "A problem well-stated is half solved." My method goes like this: state the problem out loud, in very specific terms as if you're explaining it to someone that is just walking into the scene. Chances are that at a certain point in your description you'll realize where the problem lies. 👍🏾

A friend of mine was an expert in electric forklift repair. One day I asked him, what is your secret to these repairs? He replied:"start at the key" Excellent advice.

I’ll be using this to remind my Industrial Electrical Maintenance students. Simple stuff first, always start at the beginning drawings to supplement pictures. Love your videos. Practical-and never boring. Keeping it in a vice.

5 years of givin it the ole hand job! 😆

These three tips are the bible of troubleshooting. Sometimes it's difficult to get away from the previous guys advice due to their being aggressively helpful. :-)

golden rule numero uno: LOOK FOR THINGS OUT OF PLACE.... rule number 5: factory parts can be DOA right out of the box, even sealed parts rule number 6: what is different that was recently changed troubleshooting is like building an engine, you need to verify everything is as it should be, not what you expect it to be as

I was a maintenance man for 22 years. 1. Listen to the operator. 2. Look for yourself. 3. Talk to other repair men.

Why is it so satisfying to watch a piece of metal being cut?

"I understand your frustration. Have you tried kicking it?" - Beavis

Well said! I spent 50 years in the maintenance and instruction of aircraft maintenance. While practicing as an aircraft maintenance engineer, I was required to troubleshoot many defects and as an instructor of aircraft maintenance I was required to instruct troubleshooting. Your steps 1and 2 are what I always presented to my students, however my third step was to consider the costs in resolving the problem. Then I would continue on to your third step which actually was my forth step. The need to say my third step stems from the expectations that aircraft are always expected to be perfect regardless of costs. This is BS don’t believe it.

But this really doesn't sort my windows 10 issue

So true! I'm doing repairs for fun for random people once a month (you have "Repair Cafes" in Canada?) and had all of these cases just yesterday. A guy had taken apart an electric lawn mower because it wouldn't work anymore. He went at it with several tools, checked motor coils with a multimeter aso. He pronounced it dead and had just screwed it back together to haul it to the dump in one piece. I asked him if I should have a look suspecting the safety trigger (he said he checked) because they get worn with time/misuse and just need a little bit more persuasion. Worked on first try... So a 1, 2 and 3 in one.

Him- The damn thing won't work! Me- did you engage the thingamajig? Him- yes, I'm telling you, I tried everything. Me- let me see this thing.... I walk over to the thing and engage the thingamajig and presto, it works. Pretty much the story of 80% of my troubleshooting woes 🐸

A machinist I worked for from southern illinois told me: "A good machinist never trusts anything" I live by that.

3 Rules of a technician. #1 If it aint broke dont fix it. #2 if it is broke check for warranty and have someone else fix it. #3 ask google how to fix it

Very Very true, especially on the guy before you........ I was once INSTRUCTED to do a top end rebuild on a non start car...... "apparently" no compression, i never double checked, why would I? the "Master Technician" had diagnosed it! Stripped and rebuilt her and alas, still no start! Long story short, it was out of fuel and the fuel gauge was stuck at half.... many, many, many spanners, screwdrivers, hammers and other assorted hand tools were banjo'd about the workshop that day i can tell you! thats the most expensive 5 litres of fuel anyone ever bought............ £1300! (about $1.2M if you are reading this after the US goes broke, or $2600 in '15 ) yup they charged the customer! and i promptly left! Needless to say that place went bust about 8 weeks after i'd gotten the fudge out of Rodge!

The airplane maintainers always called the "organic error" a problem with the Stick Actuator or the Rudder Pedal/Control Stick Interface Unit. I've also found that a failure in a machine can almost always be blamed on a lack of maintenance, and that "good enough" probably isn't. And yea, if someone says "I already tried that!", do it again.. They are probably an idiot....

Just had a software test interview. Your 1,2,3, was that same. my experience is what works for hardware is true of software. Nice to see this lathe, first I ever used, and it was belt driven too.

I was walking down the street one day and a man was taking out his garbage. I noticed a new cordless drill on top. I asked is that drill good? He said no and that I could have it. Upon picking it up I noticed the speed slider on the top , I pushed it forward and the drill ran in both speeds and was perfect. The man said unbelievable, but you can have it I don't deserve it . Unbelievable.

1) watch KZfaq videos 2) attempt to fix 3) search Craigslist for repair guy

Amen brother I've learned when someone says"it don't work" to just shake my head and check it out anyway. People get offended sometimes, that is till they see me get it to work.

1. Hammer 2. Bigger Hammer 3. Buy a new one FIXED

I happen to work in one of the best fab shops in the world. We manufacture the things that scare other shops away. I will never tire of watching chips fly and arcs glow. it is therapy for the soul. Congratulations on "fixing" the beast.

Since I subbed a while ago I've picked up on these rules through your content and has made life around the shop a lot simpler. Everyone who does DIY shit and has more than a middleschool dropout edumacation should be subbed to your channel, man.

Here in the lab we've got three rules too Is it moving when it shouldnt? Apply lab tape Is it not moving when it should? Apply vacuum oil Is it leaking? Apply stopcock grease That covers pretty much everything. Also, I gotta send you some stopcock grease. Super super high gravity inert silicone grease. Its amazing. Evaporative emissions error on your car? Stopcock grease. Leaky carb pulling air and running lean? Stopcock grease. Sunroof leaking? Stopcock grease. Boat leaking? Stopcock grease. Horrible hand wound dressing a deer? Stopcock grease. Flies and leader not floating? Stopcock grease. Shits like a tube of success

When I was in the forklift business, we had a customer that was going through forklift tires once a month. The customer asked what do you think is wrong? I replied: "the operator head space is out of adjustment"

Might be in the coments all ready. ANY "WALK-UP" to any POWER FEED machine you didn't set up or are not familliar with, get the tool / spindle / AWAY from the work peice and the machines travel surfaces, BEFORE you turn on the spindle, and BEFORE You engage any feed. If the "Why" isnt obvious, I suggest some other type of endeavor.

KZfaq keeps throwing random informational videos at me. Can't help but feel more ready for life.

LTFW. Last thing fucked with is usually the problem.

The “rules” that I was taught by the old guys when I started my job. Rule 1, If it doesn’t move, and it is supposed to move, Grease it. Rule 2, If it moves, and it’s not supposed to move, tighten it. Rule 3, if it’s alive, and it’s not where it’s supposed to be, kill it. Rule 4, if it’s rusty, paint it.

I found your page a few 4 6 weeks ago. Love it can't get enough. My old man was a tool and die maker shortly after he left the military till the day he died. Watching you fuck around in the shop brings back tons of memories of me and the old man far back as I can remember. Keep fukkin choochin buddy!

That feel when you're watching from Halifax - England

When I bought my lathe (for a song and a dance and a half a glass of beer mind you), I was told the power feeds didn't work (either of them). First thing I did when I got home was try them (they were indeed broken), a couple hand built parts and some new half nuts and I have a great old lathe for basically nothing.

For machinery, always get a copy of the original manuals. Maintenance and adjustment procedures will be in it. Adding a vfd is OK, but not necessary. The motors originally built without frequency drives are not optimal for retrofit. Peak torque is @ operating speed (1750/3500 rpm), and below 60hz the motor suffers. Also, for example, if the motor is 5hp a larger drive is required to run below 60hz. 7.5 - 10 hp. Plus installing a vfd defeats the original safety stop system in the lathe, and a dynamic brake should be added. All metal working machines can be deadly and modifying them should be done by seasoned professionals only. BTW, nice lathe. Brits make some good machines.

I find these are good principles for troubleshooting. But I feel it should be 4 rules; and the first being “understand the system/equipment you are working on.” If you don’t have a solid understanding of what equipment is supposed to do you’re only limiting your chances for effective repair.

PICNIC error: Problem In Chair, Not In Computer.

Had the same thing when I bought a 4x4 from a friend. "That lever there that says low gear, dont use that". 2 years later driving up a hill at break neck speed with same friend "why don't you use low gear?"....... Son of a diddly

I watched this video 7 years ago when it came out, since adopting these rules I've not come across anything I couldn't fix with the right amount of research, tools, and effort.

Several years ago I was in the Army and living in the barracks. I was the "MacGyver" dude so everyone came to me with all their technical problems. One dude had just spent a gazillion on a high-end sound system and two VCRs so he could record tape to tape. He couldn't get the second vcr to show up on the television. So I listen to his logic and check all the settings on his amplifier and it all looks good. I can't find a problem. The wiring is a huge mess so I decide to unplug everything and start from scratch. It is then that I discover he never plugged the second vcr into his amp. And I tell him that. His responsee? "Yeah, but I have it set on VCR 2." Right, but you have to actually plug it in for it to work. He still isn't getting it. He knew to plug in the first VCR but he thinks the amp and second VCR communicate telepathically or something.

I fucking love this channel. Real advice and no bull. You're the first (and so far only) person I support on Patreon. Love the tear-downs and manly-man skills videos. Keep it up man, I'm always itchin' for a new video!

so basicly dont trust the assessments of other people nor yourself unless you remember it being tested in front of your own eyes like it was 2 minutes ago.

I watched a factory worker purposely destroy a machine,just because she needed a break. She stuck a screw driver in the die and slamo! junk. I told the boss but being she was related ( they all were) It fell on def ears. One time,they almost shipped the foremans son to another town because he crawled in a parts box to pass out from drinking. We heard him banging inside the already bound and labled shipping crate or he would have ended up on the truck. The ride on a fork lift woke him up I guess. They only gave him three days suspension.I witnessed many acts of vandalism and stupidity at the shops I worked at. No wonder US jobs ended up in other countrys.I fixed many machines that really were not broke,just badly adjusted. I threw out 31 computers that had nothing wrong with them. They were donated by a charity. Once the schools went on their own server,they just threw the donated ones out. Monitors,key boards you name it. I saw more waste going on. I salvaged a bunch of heavy duty sewing machines that were getting tossed,because they were not electronic. Nothing wrong with any of them. I gave most of them away.

I just realised i watched this years ago now im subscrbed and going through all your vids did not realise how good the channel was back then ( missed out a bit )

#1 do the easiest thing first. If you want to know the easiest, quickest, and probably safest way to do anything ask the laziest person in the shop.

I'll take your advice.✨👍🏻

That last shot is a thing of beauty! In electronic/electrical troubleshooting, I use an additional premise, which is "divide and conquer". Breakdown hugely complicated issues into bite-sized chunks. After finding the issue in one small area and correcting it, reassemble all systems together for a harmonic symphony. In circuit design, my method is "first principles". What is the original problem we are addressing? What is the simplest way to attack it? What facts do we know, and what methods can be used therefore that are applicable to a solution? Fixing things is fun, but "creating" is funnier. Funniest. Furriest.

One of the best videos I’ve seen on KZfaq, in a decade. Informative, funny, and to-the-freaking-point. Well done!!!

Reminds me of a time we were sent down to the south coast of England to rebuild a boat engine that was not producing enough power, ten minutes later we left the job after tightening the throttle cable! Not believing people, doesn't that make you a cynic? Works for me.

I laugh along with this Gent more so than any other of my subscribed channels.

Forgot Rule #1, know how its supposed to work before trying to figure out how its not working. 😉 you obviously did but often guys dive into trouble shooting without even knowing what its ultimately supposed to be doing.

I did support level maintenance for most of my military career. It didn't take me long to learn when Rule 2 applied and when I could believe that the site mechanics actually did what they said they did.

"It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer." Albert Einstein 😉

every lathe should have a warning label "caution: use of this machine may become addicting"

#5 DO NOT TAKE Bubba's word for it! He married his sister and is raising hit neph-son.

Thank you for being of the few people that are smart enough to properly position the phone/camera to get a good image. There are TOO many people that record video in the terrible vertical format. Cheers, friend!

What's wrong with the lathe. It's Too Small? Do you happen to drive an old 28 foot Cadillac??? Just Asking....

My father was John Muir the author of "How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive: A Manual of Step-by-Step Procedures for the Compleat Idiot". My dad got millions of people into fixing things.

When I took Small Engines in highschool, the teacher said "the first thing you check when diagnosing a non-running engine is, does it have gas?" Second thing, "does it have a spark?" Then he said "then you can start looking at all the other things". I apply that same type of thinking to cars when I work on them :D

Hello from Halifax, nice to see a proper machine still going and the company still going too!

Played this game at work recently. So the floor burnisher was not working. Weak pathetic crank, no chooch. So we charges the battery, charger says good to go, we hook it up, again, weak ass crank, no fire. So down to the parts store I go, orders a new battery. Get the new battery in next day, install it, strong powerful crank, no fire. Feck. Start checking connections, find that the line to the propane bottle, while fastened onto the bottle, has only been tightened about 2/3ds of the way, so it *looks* good, but its not pushed the seal on the tank, and no fuel is going into the machine. Tighten 1/3rd turn, quiet hiss of fuel, crank, fire, purrs like a kitten. This is all after a week, and 3 other people trying to 'fix' it.

3:50 Of course he's gone mad with power, have you ever gone mad without power? It's boring and no one listens to you.

Okay, bit late to this party but those little Boxfords are cracking little lathes. When I was at school the metalwork shop, boys only, had three of these. I raced Motocross and needed to do lathe types stuff, turning down, threading, chasing threads parting off etc. I couldn't afford a lathe, hell I couldn't even afford cameras or tyres! We my friend who shall remain nameless to protect the innocent would let ourselves into said metalwork facility and do stuff. We'd tidy the machine and put everything back as was. Happy memories and just shows that triumph over adversity is a great driver 🤪😆

I work for a fine lighting company and I have to go out on site to troubleshoot ceiling fans often. I never trust that when the Builder says the electrician's tested for voltage in the Box above. About half the time they have it.

always check your grounds

All too true. When I hear something was inspected, tested, "looked at", that's the first thing I go to - it's probably been fuckered.

I could listen to this guy talk all day. Wish I wasn’t an essential worker.

You sir are on point on human error. Watching this phenomena for 38 years.

Reminds me of a guy who completely changed his rear crankshaft oil seal while the engine was in the car. He was convinced it was leaking because oil was dripping from the bottom of the bell housing. Turned out to be a leaky oil sender. A $20 screw-in part! Hours of grueling labor for nothing.

rule no. 1 the customer always lies. rule No. the customer will always blame you.

That clean surface left at the end of the video is very satisfying!

Its been almost six years since this video was made....hope you're still breathing & learning. Anyway I just saw this vid and thought to myself....I'm going to help this fellow think better. That's right, but to what am I referring to....well you said "3 rules to troubleshooting," but then you provide three ways to implement courses of action. Relying on my education and personal experience fixing car and machinery problems I can say that troubleshooting and course of action are two distinctly different things. I know that in order to be effective at troubleshooting you must be able to first identify "what broke." After positively identifying what broke then you must conclusively know "why did it brake." Knowing exactly what broke and why did it brake is the process of troubleshooting anything that can brake and/or stop working. Now and only now can will any thinking person be able to implement course of actions....such as trying the easiest thing you can do to remedy the problem. A good example of this can be illustrated when a regular household lamp stops shining its light....it could be that the lamp itself broke, or the light bulb broke, or the electric supply stop working, etc. We just don't know, but the best course of action will be to "try the easiest thing" you can do....replace the light bulb! I'm not an electrician but I can say that 9 out of 10 times it will be the bulb and nothing else. Trying the easiest thing you can do is not troubleshooting ....trouble shooting came before when you were considering all of the things that could have broken. Don't rely on the guy that came before you and 90% of problems are human error aren't troubleshooting rules; they're no more than mistakes to avoid. So, here we are, for effective trouble shooting we must know what broke and why did it brake. Afterwards we can then begin implementing fixes starting with trying the easiest thing you can do. :)

KISS was the teaching of my time for fault finding and general engineering. Keep It Simple Stupid..... I cant believe you didnt play with all the buttons and nobs when you got it!! Every boy in his shed should do this, teach you to be so grownup and believe!

I like your 3 rules but before we get to repairs we need to figure out what the thing is supposed to do (read the manual?) and then look at what it does and does not do. Lastly, we need to be very observant as we move along because that will tell us WHY the darned thing went kaput and we can keep it from happening again!

Great stuff! It reminds of an old girlfriend I had, she drove a old manual Subaru and told me if I ever use it “the fifth gear doesn’t work, so keep it in fourth”. First time I took it I thought this is shit, and then shifted into fifth... it drove perfectly!! I couldn’t wait to get back and have a good laugh “with her”. She had that car for two years beforehand...

Your Rule #3 has a handy acronym in the IT world: PEBCAK (Problem Exists Between Chair and Keyboard). Easily modifiable for anything, just change the letters C and K to fit your needs!

In many fields rule 3 is called an eso error (equipment smarter then operator)

Great vid mate !! I've locked those 3 rules in my skull jelly !! Have an awesome day !! Chris.

i always read the manual. one time my old lady laughed at me for reading the manual to my stanley coffee mug. but i read that you should preheat your mug with hot water before putting your coffee into it. common sense i suppose, but i hadn't thought of it. glad i read the manual.

Your 3 steps are good advice. Had a PhD laser physicist give me a MacIntosh receiver once. He said it had no sound and that a young EE from work had tried to fix it and failed to get it working. I opened up the receiver and saw that it used transistors rather than tubes and that all transistors were socketed. Pulled the transistor data sheet and discovered the young EE must have pulled all the transistors and then reinstalled them rotated by one pin. I installed them all correctly and turned the receiver on. It had sound but there were dropouts when I adjusted the volume. Sprayed the potentiometer with some circuit cleaner and viola - it worked fine. Sold it for $250.

I have no idea why the KZfaq algorithm has put this in my feed. I'm incompetent with anything more complicated than a hammer, and I'm not great with one of those. Anyway- the reason for posting is because it's relevant to this video: I flashed a new ROM to my phone a couple of weeks ago. It didn't go particularly well, but I managed to get to a point where I had a phone with a working, custom ROM. Until yesterday, it got stuck in a boot loop. It would get to a certain point and then just shut down. I spent this morning and some of this afternoon reading others' experiences of this issue, what migfht be the problem, working out what order I was going to try fixes. I was as informed as I was ever going to be, and part of me was thinking of what replacement phone I would be getting if none of this worked. I checked that my PC had the most current versions of ADB and Fastboot, and plugged the phone into an onboard USB (not the USB hub) for added peace of mind. That's when the phone gave a different response to the one I've been having for the last 24 hours. It said "Charging - 1%"...

"I forgot to plug it in," said everybody, sometime.

"we're gonna take this little knobby and JAM it downwards"... I'm sorry, are we all missing the single greatest line from this video? Yes, the rest is gold, for various reasons. But... he who can confidently call it a "little knobby" and get away with this is god level. Coming from running a tool shop for two years... I'm an engineer, and if my toolmakers ever told me that the little knobby didn't fix the problem, 1000% would believe them, no questions asked. Same guys that once threw a piece of tool steel at my head for giving them decimal dimensions on a print. Lesson learned....

The final close-up of that lathe turning gave me a big warm-fuzzy - always miss my days in the weld/machine shop here. Having all that stuff to play with was pretty damn cool! Cheers bud!

1.5 Check the gargle machine for a list of easy things to try

Son of a diddly? Lol. Is this guy organic Canadian? Love it diddly.

Why did i find lathe work soooo!! satisfying especially when making off a face such as this end clip.

Yes, these ARE the top 3 tips for troubleshooting. I can't count how many times I got a phone call asking for the single most expensive part the client could think of and I usually get there to double check then fix the problems with my hands and a screw driver or just a long speech to the operator. Pretty much sums up all 3 tips right there...

Somewhere, across the youtuberverse, This Old Tony is tucking his lathes in and telling them a story about the boogeyman named Uncle Bumble.

In the sled/atv shops we used to call most problems a steering nut issue. :-) And NEVER depend on someone elses diagnosis!! Colin

I find that when thread cutting on my Southbend lathe (similarly fitted with the little clutch knob) I can feather it so if the saddle is going to hit a stop it will set it to do that and then while the knob slips I can back out the cutting point...works great. The slip clutch is metal plates only so not mauch chance of them "burning".

I have the long bed under drive version..exactly the same lathe that I used in metal shop at school in the UK in 1958-9..... I'm in NZ now, and my Boxford (which is really a licence built South Bend) has been a bit abused, but not used much. It also sported metric conversion gears which are handy, on an imperial lathe as a lot of stuff has metric threads these days. That friction clutch needs oil to work properly, oddly enough....they don't work if they get dry (buggers them up too!).... The only real lack for the Boxford is a limit of 21mm through the headstock spindle. For my gun work I would do with a bit more, but up to that limit it's fine. I did manage to fit a 'spider' on the outer end to steady stuff like gun barrels. There's damn-all room to fit one, and I had to modify the gear cover to accommodate it but it was a worthwhile addition for other long work held in the chucks. The only thing I didn't get was a set of outside jaws for the 3-jaw chuck, which is an old Bernerd and I doubt I could find a set now. A great machine for its day, and still good today,