Fix a tool on the first day.

[ex-x-fire]

Anyone have a story about fixing up a shop's tool or equipment to make it usable, right after you started working there?
I started at a shop & their wheel weight pliers were useless in removing weights. They were like "what are you doing" as I put it in a vise sharpened the teeth with a file. It worked great then & no more pinched fingers from a slipping tool.
Seems like I remember the arms on the hoist I had in my bay were never lubed. I fixed that up too. Another place had a brake lathe that should have been scraped, the cutters wouldn't adjust without pushing on them. That was a real project.

 

[2ndGearRubber]

Numerous things. I've stopped doing so, unless it is 100% required for me to do my current job. Rotor lathe breaks, no more cutting rotors. Not my problem. Lift arms stick? Sledge hammer.



The business makes the vast majority of the profits off of my work. I am paid for the work I do. I have zero interest in fixing their stuff (for free, I might add). When they chip in on my tool costs, scan tool updates, consumables; I may be inclined to fix some of their things.

 

[racin72charger]

I've had to fix numerous tools at my dealership, always clock time for it too. When I first started there we had problems with our MDI modules (vehicle interface for the laptop), they used a USB cord for a connection. Both of our MDI's had the mini USB port broken because of careless techs and no strand relief. My boss was going to order another to replaced the two broken ones, I took them apart and ordered the correct parts to repair them and order some stand reliefs. They have been working flawlessly ever since.

 

[tjmonsen5]

After my blowgun shot water, I Drained about a full tank of water out of their compressor. Can't believe nobody ever did any Maintenance on it. I changed the air filter and the oil on it as well.

 

[CZ_Greatwrench]

When I was in the Army I was moved to a different motorpool. The first thing I was put on was a 10k forklift that was down for over a month that no one could figure out, they even put a new injector pump on it. I never touched a larger forklift before that but in about 20 minutes I figured out the previous mechanic left the plastic timing pin inside the new pump.

 

[RedneckWelder]

On our slower days we do shop equipment maintenance (yes we are paid for it as we are hourly)...it's part of the job, keeping the tooling in good working order and replacing it as necessary.

The hard part is tracking down parts for this stuff so it can be fixed.

 

[Gmonkee]

l work in a small indy shop. lf we don't fix all the little things we have to learn to work without them.

Recently a motor change on the compressor, greasing the strut spring compressors among a pile of other things. They make our days easier when they work right. We even modifed the stops on the ramps a while back.

lts all in a day's work.

 

[stikman56]

Yeah, I fixed the leaking jacks on the lifts right after I started the last job. I like fixing stuff, different stuff keeps my interest, rather that the routine same thing every day stuff like I usually do at work. It did get to the point though where they spent money on nothing and everything had some issue if it was a shop tool. It got tiring to say the least. It's hard to do your job when the stuff leaks, triggers are stuck on, coolant pumps won't pump any higher than 4 feet and on and on and on. Was a total PITA before it ended at that job. No wonder they went under.

 

[justme-]

My Brother in law is a dealership mechanic. At the last dealer he worked at they could do personal work after hours. He would swap tires, alignments, brakes and similar for me. The last time I went down when he was there as soon as I got there he informed me the shop compressor was down - went out at lunch and none of the techs could get the thing fixed and that he forgot to call before I drove out. His service manager said similar and jokingly said unless I want a crack at it... which I took him up on... and had it fixed in 15 minutes. pressure hose from the head to the tank pulled out of the compression fitting... took more work repairing the damage the techs did trying to get it together.

We do shop maintenance regularly at work - tho not a thing they had had done regularly in the past from lazy and/or unable staff. Fixed several tools and when I have down time I have a few more to check out. You may not think it's you're responsibility to fix company stuff, but let me tell you, I see someone using a sledge on a stuck item in our shop because they didn't feel the need to either report it's malfunction or grease/service the tool they'll be leaving unceremoniously. It's not my shop as in ownership, but it's all part of how I have a job. Everything you do or don't do affects the company and directly or indirectly your job.

 

[RedneckWelder]

My Brother in law is a dealership mechanic. At the last dealer he worked at they could do personal work after hours. He would swap tires, alignments, brakes and similar for me. The last time I went down when he was there as soon as I got there he informed me the shop compressor was down - went out at lunch and none of the techs could get the thing fixed and that he forgot to call before I drove out. His service manager said similar and jokingly said unless I want a crack at it... which I took him up on... and had it fixed in 15 minutes. pressure hose from the head to the tank pulled out of the compression fitting... took more work repairing the damage the techs did trying to get it together.

We do shop maintenance regularly at work - tho not a thing they had had done regularly in the past from lazy and/or unable staff. Fixed several tools and when I have down time I have a few more to check out. You may not think it's you're responsibility to fix company stuff, but let me tell you, I see someone using a sledge on a stuck item in our shop because they didn't feel the need to either report it's malfunction or grease/service the tool they'll be leaving unceremoniously. It's not my shop as in ownership, but it's all part of how I have a job. Everything you do or don't do affects the company and directly or indirectly your job.

I look at it primarily from the safety aspect- a lot of our tooling can be dangerous as hell to use if damaged, plus the job isn't going to proceed without it, so might as well fix it if able.

The good thing is my employers aren't skinflints, so if we need something new it gets purchased.

 

[PugetDude]

You may not think it's you're responsibility to fix company stuff, but let me tell you, I see someone using a sledge on a stuck item in our shop because they didn't feel the need to either report it's malfunction or grease/service the tool they'll be leaving unceremoniously. It's not my shop as in ownership, but it's all part of how I have a job. Everything you do or don't do affects the company and directly or indirectly your job.

Well stated.
+1 on this.

 

[redwrench60]

Sometimes if you don't fix some of the things that make you money you're only hurting yourself. Fix broke and move forward.

 

[scissorman]

I'm an equipment line mechanic for a construction rental company. We have a cabinet full of various pullers that most have been broken or damaged since before I started working there almost 4 years ago. I started buying my own pullers and such so I don't have to deal with broken or damaged pullers or needing to use a puller that might already being used by another co-worker. There is a limit though to how much i'm willing to spend on certain tools that should be a "shop supplied" tool so last year I told the regional service manager that if i'm expected to repair anything requiring a tool that I don't own and the shop tool is broken or damaged it WILL NOT get repaired and that I suggest a COMPLETE new set of pullers get purchased. Needless to say he had no idea that the pullers were broken or damaged and immediately ordered us a complete new puller set, and a new 40 ton hydraulic press, and a 48" pipe wrench and a few other various tools.

 

[bigcaddy]

It's all part of the job for me. I really don't know how they got along without me but everything has improved greatly once I started running things

If we are busy and a machine goes down, we are losing money and time because the people that specialize in fixing our machines take a few days to arrive and at least 1 day for serious emergencies. I'm not one to let a broken machine sit idle with the "not my job" mentality, especially when I can fix it

I've grown up around the machinery I work with so it's fairly easily for me to get it going again. When I first started my new job, I found tons of tools on the back shelves with repair tags that simply read " broken" and it was all simple stuff like brushes, triggers or other small fixes. The previous foreman couldn't fix an envelope with scotch tape so power tools and large machinery was out of the question.

My bosses apprecieate what I can do(saving them lots of money) and trust me with the shop without micro-managing every decision I make. I also make my own hours, within reason, overtime when I want and a ton of latitude on time off for vacation.