Rewiring in an "empty" and a plea for your spare Wagos

[pirate]

Nobody wants a full rewire in an occupied property, but here is an opportunity...and for those who love to extend cables to fix a new installation, this is your best chance ever!

Ferries delayed again after cabling blunder

Hundreds of electrical wires installed on a ferry at Ferguson shipyard are found to be too short.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[snowhead]

2 Days and it'll be done Guv and I'll get me best team onto it.

Delboy, get Rodney we're on to a big payout here.

 

[Dustydazzler]

I think this highlights the case that a cable is better being 10M too long than 1M too short

 

[SparkySy]

Indeed the old adage, "better to be looking at it than for it" springs to mind!

 

[brianmoooore]

HappyHippyDad wasn't involved in this by any chance?​

 

[littlespark]

It wasn’t the cables that were too short…. Somebody built the boat too long.

 

[Rockingit]

Indeed the old adage, "better to be looking at it than for it" springs to mind!

….I had that mercilessly drummed into me by my old chief and I’ve probably thanked him every day since!

 

[cliffed]

Seen so many cables too short, the old gaffer used to go mad with cables too long.
No one touches on that subject now, always leave longer

 

[HappyHippyDad]

HappyHippyDad wasn't involved in this by any chance?​

Cheeky fxxxxx! Fair point though!

My 37m error cost me £196 which I took on the chin. Imagine what these guys are out of pocket by!

 

[Rockingit]

Seen so many cables too short, the old gaffer used to go mad with cables too long.
No one touches on that subject now, always leave longer

It IS a fine balance, I'll agree. But a new-build where there's half a drum's worth of 'slack' hanging out of every single back box is a sure fire to make my red mist descend, too. Apart from the principle of the wastage it's also throwing away your profit. I did it with a lad I had on site years ago, went around after the first fix he'd done and snipped back to 'sensible' lengths, gathered up all the waste and made a pile, made him measure it all and do the maths, told him that would have been the Friday beers I'd have bought him.

 

[Lister1987]

Cables are fine guv, you didn't didn't tell us it was in metric/imperial

 

[Rockingit]

Cables are fine guv, you didn't didn't tell us it was in metric/imperial

I can't now remember exactly what it was but even fairly recently there was some massive space related cockup and upon investigation it turned out that half the American engineers has calculated using imperial, the other half metric and no-one had realised

 

[brianmoooore]

That was the Hubble telescope.

 

[pc1966]

The Hubble mirror was out be a tiny amount, so it had a monocle fitted.

Hubble's Mirror Flaw

Launched on April 24, 1990, NASA’s flagship Great Observatory has far surpassed its original mission goals. Hubble has more than doubled its 15-year life expectancy and significantly expanded our understanding of the universe while simultaneously unveiling new mysteries that prompt further...

www.nasa.gov

The big screw up with imperial/metric was the reason the Mars Climate Orbiter was lost:

How NASA Lost a Spacecraft From a Metric Math Mistake | SimScale

How NASA lost a spacecraft due to a mistake with metric units and unit conversion. Learn about the Mars Climate Orbiter incident.

www.simscale.com

But you can also see what are possibly the most expensive set of 24 bolts in history:

Earth Science Missions Anomaly Report: GOES/POES Program/POES Project: 6 Sep 2003

EARTH SCIENCE MISSIONS ANOMALY REPORT TO: GSFC: 100/A. Diaz, 100/W. Townsend, 100/ 400/D Perkins, NASA HQ: Y/G. Asrar, Y/M. Luther, Q/B O’Connor FROM: GSFC/POES Project/480/K. Halterman DATE: September 6, 2003 […]

www.spaceref.com

 

[brianmoooore]

So what units do these Yanks actually work in? I know it's inches, but is it inches, 1/10, 1/100, 1/1000 etc., which is effectively the metric system, but with a different reference length, or do they actually use yards, feet, inches, 1/4, 1/8, etc.
If it's the latter, it's no wonder mistakes occur.

 

[catdog1121]

Someone is going to be looking for a new job... What I find funny is the notion of two blokes pulling in the cables and find the first one is two short.. One guy turns to the other and says "I think this is too short", other bloke says "Meh, not my job" and they carry on installing the other 899 cables regardless...

Nobody wants too much left over but always best to be too long than too short..

 

[nicebutdim]

So what units do these Yanks actually work in? I know it's inches, but is it inches, 1/10, 1/100, 1/1000 etc., which is effectively the metric system, but with a different reference length, or do they actually use yards, feet, inches, 1/4, 1/8, etc.
If it's the latter, it's no wonder mistakes occur.

Any Americans I've known have quoted measurements in the latter form.

 

[nicebutdim]

Cheeky fxxxxx! Fair point though!

My 37m error cost me £196 which I took on the chin. Imagine what these guys are out of pocket by!

I think 'these guys' are us taxpayers as I believe that yard was bought by the Scottish government.

 

[SparkySy]

Sounds about right taxpayers bailing out another f@@k up!
where is the slaps face emoji when you need it!

 

[Rockingit]

 

[HappyHippyDad]

I think 'these guys' are us taxpayers as I believe that yard was bought by the Scottish government.

Oh dear, So I'm having a dig at myself twice over

 

[nicebutdim]

Oh dear, So I'm having a dig at myself twice over

Hadn't thought of your post in that way, but good spot

 

[UNG]

The Hubble mirror was out be a tiny amount, so it had a monocle fitted.

Hubble's Mirror Flaw

Launched on April 24, 1990, NASA’s flagship Great Observatory has far surpassed its original mission goals. Hubble has more than doubled its 15-year life expectancy and significantly expanded our understanding of the universe while simultaneously unveiling new mysteries that prompt further...

www.nasa.gov

The big screw up with imperial/metric was the reason the Mars Climate Orbiter was lost:

How NASA Lost a Spacecraft From a Metric Math Mistake | SimScale

How NASA lost a spacecraft due to a mistake with metric units and unit conversion. Learn about the Mars Climate Orbiter incident.

www.simscale.com

But you can also see what are possibly the most expensive set of 24 bolts in history:

Earth Science Missions Anomaly Report: GOES/POES Program/POES Project: 6 Sep 2003

EARTH SCIENCE MISSIONS ANOMALY REPORT TO: GSFC: 100/A. Diaz, 100/W. Townsend, 100/ 400/D Perkins, NASA HQ: Y/G. Asrar, Y/M. Luther, Q/B O’Connor FROM: GSFC/POES Project/480/K. Halterman DATE: September 6, 2003 […]

www.spaceref.com

Reminds me of the Gimli Glider

 

[littlespark]

I found the problem….. they were using the middle tape measure…

 

[SparkySy]

I was told by my dad years ago if you measure something to cut, use the same measure to mark what you are cutting because of differences between tape measures!
I can't say much about differences in measurements, I've measured once cut twice too many times to remember them all!

 

[westward10]

HappyHippyDad wasn't involved in this by any chance?​

Got to be post of the month.

 

[brianmoooore]

Any Americans I've known have quoted measurements in the latter form.

How do you even use a calculator with measurements in that form?
In spite of being fairly ancient, I've never used imperial measurements in my entire working life, and even source tape measures that are metric only. Easy enough to get in these days of on line shopping, but before that I used to bring back a few every time I crossed the English Channel.

 

[DPG]

For anyone interested in these sort of errors I can highly recommend this book.

 

[nicebutdim]

How do you even use a calculator with measurements in that form?
In spite of being fairly ancient, I've never used imperial measurements in my entire working life, and even source tape measures that are metric only. Easy enough to get in these days of on line shopping, but before that I used to bring back a few every time I crossed the English Channel.

I don't mind using either. If a measurement works well with imperial, that's fine with me and if it works better in metric, that's also fine. What I couldn't be bothered with is fractional imperial measurements of less than 1/16" of an inch.

 

[pirate]

That'll be 2'3" and 2mm...
how much more accurate can you get?

 

[littlespark]

Imperial: that’s 1 inch

Metric: so 25mm? Easy enough to convert

Imperial: actually no… it’s 25.4 of your
millimetres

Metric: Ok… what about your feet? I’ve seen a ruler… it’s 30cm

Imperial: 12 inches? 30.48 cm I think you’ll find

Metric: A metre…. That’s the same as a yard!

Imperial: I’m afraid not. A yard is 3 feet…. Or 36 inches… equates to 91.44cm.. Short by….

Metric: 4ft is 1200mm, 5ft- 1500, 6ft- 1800….. I know these!

Imperial: 1219.2, 1524 and 1828.8mm respectively.

Metric: what about kilometres? 1.5km to your mile

Imperial: 1.6….. actually 1.609344…

Metric: Shut up.

Imperial: ……

Metric: Temperature… water freezes at zero degrees, boils at 100…. Easy!

Imperial: 32 degrees Fahrenheit and 212 degrees….

Metric: How the hell….?

Imperial: Multiply by 1.8 and add 32

Metric: 32…. Why 32… oh never mind.

Imperial: What are you doing tonight?

Metric: Eating a quarter pounder, and might get a pint later

Imperial: smiles

 

[pirate]

That's so funny!
I love the interaction between metric and imperial
In a previous life, long ago, I used to have to measure feudal sites from the original title deeds...those guys were good!
300 feet, 2 inches...yup! Spot on, the original fences were still there!

 

[pirate]

Oh...miles...
vs nautical miles...
confusion there, for sure!

 

[littlespark]

Metric: Hello, computer…. So there’s 1000 bytes in a kilobyte? 1000 kilobytes in a Megabyte? 1000 Megabytes in a Gigabyte….. This is my language!

Computer: 1024

Metric: What?

Computer: it’s 1024 bytes to a kilobyte…. 1024 kilobytes to a Megabyte….

Metric: That’s stupid.

Computer: You are base 10, I work in base 2

Metric: So what’s a cookie?

Computer; Just a few bytes.

Metric: What’s smaller than a byte?

Computer: A nibble

Metric: You’re making this up….

Computer: Am not

Metric: Are too!

Computer: Dee too

Metric: Pardon?

Computer: Nothing.

 

[baldelectrician]

The Scottish Government are a laughing stock.

See this article on the ferry chaos in Scotland from the hands of a pro indy anti SNP writer.

HOW TO END THE MADNESS

A guest post from Professor Alf Baird. WHY SCOTLAND’S FERRY SYSTEM IS FAILING AND WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE TO FIX IT It might come as a shock to learn that one of the world’s most succe…

yoursforscotlandcom.wordpress.com

WHY SCOTLAND’S FERRY SYSTEM IS FAILING AND WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE TO FIX IT

It might come as a shock to learn that one of the world’s most successful ferry designers happens to be a Scotsman, yet his repeated offers to build and invest in ferries in Scotland have been rejected by the Scottish Government and its hapless ferry agencies CMAL and CalMac. Dr. Stuart Ballantyne, chairman of Australian-based Sea Transport Corp, is also the inventor of the now standard global ferry type known as the ‘medium-speed ropax catamaran’; ‘ropax’ is the industry term for a drive on/off vehicle and passenger ferry.............................. see link for rest

 

[littlespark]

Metric: And who are you supposed to be?

Time: I’m Time… and I measure in seconds.

Metric: OK, go for it

Time: Right…. So there’s 60 seconds in a minute…. 60 minutes in an hour….

Metric: I got it so far

Time: Then 24 hours in a day…..

Metric: 24? Ok. I see

Time:… in two blocks of 12

Metric: Riiiight…. I see the pattern now…. Then it’s what? 6…. 12??

Time: 7 ….. 7 days in a week

Metric: 7? Where did that come from?

Time: Then it’s 4 and a bit weeks in a month

Metric: Huh?

Time: Well it’s anything from 28 to 31 days in a month… It doesn’t really work from weeks

Metric: open mouthed

Time: Then 12 months to a year

Metric: Back to 12 again?

Time: Yes…

Metric: Anything else?

Time: Leap years… I add an extra day in the short month every 4 years

Metric: …….

Time: A decade is 10 years

Metric: A-ha!

Time: and a century is 100 years

Metric: A-HA!

Time: and 1000 years is known as a millennia

Metric: Should have been a Kiloyear…..

 

[telectrix]

well, there's 10 chains to a furlong. is that metric?

 

[UNG]

The Scottish Government are a laughing stock.

See this article on the ferry chaos in Scotland from the hands of a pro indy anti SNP writer.

HOW TO END THE MADNESS

A guest post from Professor Alf Baird. WHY SCOTLAND’S FERRY SYSTEM IS FAILING AND WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE TO FIX IT It might come as a shock to learn that one of the world’s most succe…

yoursforscotlandcom.wordpress.com

WHY SCOTLAND’S FERRY SYSTEM IS FAILING AND WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE TO FIX IT

It might come as a shock to learn that one of the world’s most successful ferry designers happens to be a Scotsman, yet his repeated offers to build and invest in ferries in Scotland have been rejected by the Scottish Government and its hapless ferry agencies CMAL and CalMac. Dr. Stuart Ballantyne, chairman of Australian-based Sea Transport Corp, is also the inventor of the now standard global ferry type known as the ‘medium-speed ropax catamaran’; ‘ropax’ is the industry term for a drive on/off vehicle and passenger ferry.............................. see link for rest

That article makes interesting reading I just wonder how Nicola defends the Scottish governments decision to take the route they have

 

[baldelectrician]

That article makes interesting reading I just wonder how Nicola defends the Scottish governments decision to take the route they have

This is why I have left the SNP, too many people who won't listen to good advice from people who know what they are doing

Despite what people think of Alex Salmond he did take on board ideas from others- for example had Scotland voted Yes in 2014 he had lined up assistance from the Norwegans who told him he could copy their method of operating the oil and rescoursces (and borrow some people to help us set it up)- they get 35% more per barrel of oil and don't subsidise oil companies.

 

[Vortigern]

Recently had to buy Steel for kitchen extension, sadly 6 cm short. Had to buy another one. Anyone wanna buy a spare I beam? This was due to original measurement inner wall to inner wall changed as the brickwork was leveled up, it was leaning in originally. £30 per cm mistake.

 

[littlespark]

What’s the scrap value on that, vortigern?

 

[Vortigern]

Zilch apparently, so just rusting away, can't move it alone.

 

[pirate]

How long is it? Could you cut it up into manageable lengths and I could join it up again later?
My builder, years ago when I was having a conversion built to my house, was putting in an RSJ and at the exact point of hoisting it into position the architect arrived. He looked at the beam and said it looked too small...measured it and it smaller than the engineer had specified, so he made them take it out. Builder was not happy. He had this lying around in his yard and thought if he could get it installed then board it out no-one would know. Had to watch his every move after that and eventually sacked him and his electrician.

 

[nicebutdim]

How long is it? Could you cut it up into manageable lengths and I could join it up again later?
My builder, years ago when I was having a conversion built to my house, was putting in an RSJ and at the exact point of hoisting it into position the architect arrived. He looked at the beam and said it looked too small...measured it and it smaller than the engineer had specified, so he made them take it out. Builder was not happy. He had this lying around in his yard and thought if he could get it installed then board it out no-one would know. Had to watch his every move after that and eventually sacked him and his electrician.

About what I'd expect from the majority of builders.

 

[baldelectrician]

About what I'd expect from the majority of builders.

That's why we do NOT work for builders- company policy

Never had a good experience working with builders. They want you to cut your cost to the bone and then add a massive margin to your invoice to make you look dear to the client.
They also miss so much when quoting

 

[nicebutdim]

That's why we do NOT work for builders- company policy

Never had a good experience working with builders. They want you to cut your cost to the bone and then add a massive margin to your invoice to make you look dear to the client.
They also miss so much when quoting

They aren't all bad and some are excellent, but the numbers are against it and probably best not working for random builders.

 

[Rockingit]

I've only ever had one postive experience with builders, and that was a private developer doing a small group of 4-5 luxury ones where the 'base' install was agreed on price as part of the build/sell but the buyers (off plot) were freely able to request modifications and extra's, direct with me, with a 10% tip to him. THAT was gentlemanly and everyone came out a winner. The rest of them over the years were nothing but trouble!!