Do you ever have a bad week!!!!!

[Ian Rogers]

I must have had a moment... Not a senior moment but a complete senior week!!!

As most of you know, I work with mobile cranes.... Some years ago I wrote a very good crane simulation program in dos!!
It worked very well and seemed to be "one of the best" simulators I ever did... I have tried to port it to windows, but as I need access to the parallel port.. Unless I use a OCX driven port tool ( written by someone else without the full support I need ) I cannot replicate it!!

Here's the thing.. I have several panel PC's I bought a while back...

Loaded Dos onto one, Loaded an old Borland compiler I use, Found the program, compiled it and tada!! we're trucking.
All of a sudden the screen went black!! Quick check and it seems the CCFL invertor has gone south!!

Pulled it to bits tested the invertor and it started to smell !!! ARGH! the invertor (used) to be 5v input in my rush I fed 12v into it... Then only to realize that the invertor was the "dimming" type and all that had happened is the 5v PWM signal had fallen out!!!

So in haste I pulled another panel PC out of the box... hooked it up to hasty----- BANG---- ARGH!! I mixed the 12v and 5v again.. Another £400 down the drain... I contacted the shop I got the panel PC from and the could provide me with a new motherboard for £89... Next day I opened the new motherboard... Checked to see it will be okay.... Turned the panel PC upside down, undid the screws holding the motherboard in place... One was a little tight----- CRACK---- ARGH!!! the LCD snapped...

Should have stayed in Amsterdam £889.00 lighter and no simulator!!

 

[atferrari]

Wow! I feel sorry Ian!

 

[ericgibbs]

hi Ian,
You said in another your eyesight was not so good, perhaps its 'spec savers' time.

E

Or change over to this....

 

[Ian Rogers]

hi Ian,
You said in another your eyesight was not so good, perhaps its 'spec savers' time.

E

Or change over to this....

I've got that as well!!! There is quite a few JD barbeque sauces.. (WOW Another spelling the Americans don't like!!!)

 

[JimB]

It is a long time since I have had a cascade of failures like that, where everything you touch just seems to crumble into a pile of ...

I feel your pain.

JimB

 

[Ian Rogers]

On Friday I moved onto radio modules... I need to create a mesh network of nine radio's.... The company Cisceo do the XRF and I use them quite a bit... Distance is great and very low power!!! I phoned the company for a bit of support ( remember I have bought MANY of these things from them ) only to be told "We don't supply support over the telephone anymore... Sign on to our forum for support!!" I did and........... Still cant get on..

I have found Synapse SNAP.... They are scripted... Around the same price but I need to get better a python!!!

1 step forwards as they say......

 

[DerStrom8]

Last week really didn't go very well for me either. I designed a board for a piece of test equipment we use in-house. Discussed it with the engineers and technicians who used it the most, the software engineers that program the FPGA and the GUI, the managers in charge, etc. Had some of my coworkers in my own department look over the design and verify that everything was ok, and that there were no errors. I was confident that it was ready to go, so I wrote up a purchase req and had my managers sign off on it, and got the PCBs made (10 of them cost about $1500). Got them back a couple of days later and we assembled them in the lab. I took one to the printhead test lab (where they will be used) and hooked it up to the equipment. Plugged in the USB, and the computer mouse died. After some examination I realized there was a dead short on the USB port. I decided to use an external supply so that I could at least complete the testing. Other than the USB issue, there were no problems. I went back to look at the design and eventually discovered that the footprint I had used for the USB connector was mirrored, probably due to a poorly labeled "bottom view" rather than the standard "top view" shown in datasheets. The entire batch ($1500 worth) had to be scrapped.

I have been on a long-running project at work for another piece of in-house test equipment. There have been a lot of changes to the design in the process, so my coworker (who is on the project with me) and I have had to adapt frequently based on management's ideas of what the final product should look like. As soon as we think we have a final design, management decides to do it a different way, one which requires a complete redesign of the system. The other day I learned that management complained to my coworker saying "You seem to be having trouble meeting deadlines." Of course we're having trouble meeting deadlines, when management keeps changing their design requirements

It's been a very tough week, and there have been a few other projects that have kept coming back to bite me. I still enjoy my job and the people I work with are great, but it's definitely been challenging.

Matt

 

[Ian Rogers]

Luckily I only have ME to answer to!! But I do feel for you..

Tomorrow's going to be better, or I'll be in the hospital!!!

 

[MaxHeadRoom78]

What kind of back light inverters that cost £400?
I used to buy mine from DigiKey here in the past, around $20. - $30 if I recall?
Max.

 

[tcmtech]

I've been through bad days, weeks and months before. After a while you sort of get used to it and just let it slide off your back and accept it going to happen as a natures balance to all the good days we get and take for granted.

 

[Ian Rogers]

What kind of back light inverters that cost £400?
I used to buy mine from DigiKey here in the past, around $20. - $30 if I recall?
Max.

Panel PC.. Vortex86 with everything!!!

 

[Cicero]

Ah, dont get me wrong, but I love hearing that other people also make mistakes in their jobs. Makes me feel more human

Last week really didn't go very well for me either. I designed a board for a piece of test equipment we use in-house. Discussed it with the engineers and technicians who used it the most, the software engineers that program the FPGA and the GUI, the managers in charge, etc. Had some of my coworkers in my own department look over the design and verify that everything was ok, and that there were no errors. I was confident that it was ready to go, so I wrote up a purchase req and had my managers sign off on it, and got the PCBs made (10 of them cost about $1500). Got them back a couple of days later and we assembled them in the lab. I took one to the printhead test lab (where they will be used) and hooked it up to the equipment. Plugged in the USB, and the computer mouse died. After some examination I realized there was a dead short on the USB port. I decided to use an external supply so that I could at least complete the testing. Other than the USB issue, there were no problems. I went back to look at the design and eventually discovered that the footprint I had used for the USB connector was mirrored, probably due to a poorly labeled "bottom view" rather than the standard "top view" shown in datasheets. The entire batch ($1500 worth) had to be scrapped.

I have been on a long-running project at work for another piece of in-house test equipment. There have been a lot of changes to the design in the process, so my coworker (who is on the project with me) and I have had to adapt frequently based on management's ideas of what the final product should look like. As soon as we think we have a final design, management decides to do it a different way, one which requires a complete redesign of the system. The other day I learned that management complained to my coworker saying "You seem to be having trouble meeting deadlines." Of course we're having trouble meeting deadlines, when management keeps changing their design requirements

It's been a very tough week, and there have been a few other projects that have kept coming back to bite me. I still enjoy my job and the people I work with are great, but it's definitely been challenging.

Matt

First rev boards virtually always have problems, I wouldn't beat yourself up about it. In fact these days, I treat the first rev PCB as a complete prototype, I generally rush it out as soon as I can, and treat it like its going to have problems once I get it. I put on multiple zero ohm links to isolate different parts of the circuit, I sometimes add a few different designs of circuit subsections which I can then test their characteristics individually by populating the appropriate zero ohm resistors. This is particularly handy with SMPS design. So often you chose a controller from pure theoretical and cost parameters, then just have to make it work. If you've got a few SMPS designs on your current board, you can see the characteristics and chose what works best.
First thing to do is hook it up to a current limited bench supply, limit the current to a very low value and turn it on to pick up any shorts. Afterwards, when you get around to your Rev1 board, you'll have your Rev0 board to base it off, it will contain all the final values and have a much better chance of being 100% accurate.

I mean, boards are getting so much more complex these days, gone are the days of breadboard design. Everything is SMD. Think of a small board with 200 components, and possibly over 1000 connections. Even if its 99.9% correct, you still have one fault.

 

[DerStrom8]

Ah, dont get me wrong, but I love hearing that other people also make mistakes in their jobs. Makes me feel more human


First rev boards virtually always have problems, I wouldn't beat yourself up about it. In fact these days, I treat the first rev PCB as a complete prototype, I generally rush it out as soon as I can, and treat it like its going to have problems once I get it. I put on multiple zero ohm links to isolate different parts of the circuit, I sometimes add a few different designs of circuit subsections which I can then test their characteristics individually by populating the appropriate zero ohm resistors. This is particularly handy with SMPS design. So often you chose a controller from pure theoretical and cost parameters, then just have to make it work. If you've got a few SMPS designs on your current board, you can see the characteristics and chose what works best.
First thing to do is hook it up to a current limited bench supply, limit the current to a very low value and turn it on to pick up any shorts. Afterwards, when you get around to your Rev1 board, you'll have your Rev0 board to base it off, it will contain all the final values and have a much better chance of being 100% accurate.

I mean, boards are getting so much more complex these days, gone are the days of breadboard design. Everything is SMD. Think of a small board with 200 components, and possibly over 1000 connections. Even if its 99.9% correct, you still have one fault.

I have also used various zero-ohm resistors to change the functionality of the board, but in this case it was bound to fail from the start. At least I was able to complete testing (the FPGA module has its own USB connection, the one on my board was for power and feed-through to the module) and everything else works like a charm. Thankfully none of the mechanical fixturing/supports, enclosure, and off-board components (rotary encoders) have to be changed--only the PCB itself.

 

[MaxHeadRoom78]

Panel PC.. Vortex86 with everything!!!

You mean you cannot just replace the Inverter?
Max.

 

[Ian Rogers]

The invertor on this one is Okay.... The LCD and motherboard are ****ed!

The second was also privvy to too much voltage. That one is also gone BUT!!! the LCD panel is okay!

The third one.... Another ( part ) panel PC is now running so I have access to my sim software

So far this week we seem to be trucking again

 

[be80be]

Ian the ch340g chip I posted let's you add parallel port using a 25 cent chip. https://www.abclinuxu.cz/data/prilohy/8/0/208508-ch340ds2_e-9177667200158999136.PDF

 

[Ian Rogers]

Cheers Burt! I'll look into that!

 

[large_ghostman]

you can also get a win ce and dos emulator for win 7 it might run on that

 

[KeepItSimpleStupid]

Today, I melted a digital meat thermometer. Forgot to take it out of the meat. $20.00 USD for a replacement.

I hate when dental stuff gets out of control especially when you see a periodontist and dentist every 3 months. My periodontist retired and sold the practice to another guy who happens to have 3 offices in nearby states . All he seems to want to want to do is implants. The hygienist that I had for 10-15 years also left. It seemed like every time I went, a tooth would break shortly after my visit.

So after paying $13,000 USD to a grade school classmate (the restorative dentist) and a "no nonsense" oral surgeon; he teaches, I now have a new periodontist (time now in his care - about 9 months). My "normal" dentist does emergency dentistry for a local hospital, but does not do implants. The classmate did my first implant restoration in the mid 1990's.

The last two extractions were deemed relative emergencies - like within a week.

When I told the periodontist that his care was sub par and it cost be $13,000.00 USD, he just said anothe rpatient had to spend $45.00.00 US. He also got a bad posted review outside of his reach. The theme was: RLH. The Internet is good for something.

And that was "only part" of a bad year and a half" at least.

 

[large_ghostman]

I am trying to start a up market soap business (bit more to it than that), I saved and saved to get the Gas Chromatograph I needed but havnt been able to raise enough money to get the compressor and first gas cylinders! The deposit is a bit of a killer and the compressor funny enough is like those that dentist use, I need Hydrogen and Nitrogen Bottles but the outlay is taking ages to save up.
I have the rest of the stuff including the lab gear to make the extracts etc and I have a supermarket interested in using one of my products in house (it gets rid of the smell of fish and garlic from your hands) all my products are as natural as possible and I make real soaps not that melt and pour crap! mine take 7 weeks to mature