When I worked for Telstra I had a few sayings that reflected my ethos for the way I worked and the pride I took in whatever task I was doing. No task was too trivial and no task was too complex - I always gave my fullest attention to detail in all things. The saying that springs to mind here is as follows: A good technician always uses the right tool. A good technician can also improvise when necessary..!! In my Telstra jobs I often came across work done by others where they had not used the right tool (we had lots of specialised tools) and in the process they had made a real mess of the job and it required further remedial attention to fix it properly as well as make it neat and tidy again. A recent task required me to transport a large 2.5m long piece of heavy hardwood to a customer. How do you do this when you own a luxury vehicle suited for domestic use? How do you do this without incurring the cost of renting a vehicle for a 30 minute drive from the timber yard to the customer? Answer = improvisation The photo shows my $20 solution to transport the piece of wood in my regular car without the heavy piece rubbing or leaning on any part of the interior. The back seats are folded down with an old towel used to protect the back of the seats.
Between the seats I custom made a sheet of 7mm plywood to fit around the seat leaning back with a "V" shape cut in the middle to support the 2.5m plank of hardwood. The bottom of the plywood rests on the floor and was very stable throughout the short journey. The 2.5m plank sat slightly diagonally from the front left of the vehicle through the supporting "V" to the back right so it was well away from me as the driver. Needless to say the idea worked perfectly and the task was completed quickly, safely and simply.
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While this isn't related to telephone wiring it does reflect how I like to see a finished job and it does involve extra low voltage electrical/electronics work - well within my field of expertise. Our workplace was donated a piece of redundant railway signalling equipment which had basically been thrown on the junk pile decades ago. It was dirty and dusty and didn't really do anything anymore, yet it was to become a display item in our workplace. I took the initiative to clean up the item and add some electronics so that it is now an interactive working display. The other side of the panel (see bottom photo) has some lights that used to shows various indications the operator would need to know when working at that station. I added an Arduino/screw terminal board (top right) and a relay board (bottom right) and connected it via the existing resistor board (centre left) to the existing LED's (light emitting diodes). The white wires (including LED's and resistors) were existing and have been neatened up, basically everything else has been added. With a suitable program added to the Arduino the interactive display item now sits in the office where visitors can watch the red, yellow and green lights change in a semi-realistic manner as if a (simulated) train was passing through the station, and also operate the switches in front of the panel to manually control the signals to stop a train or let it proceed. This has proved to be much better that just hanging the panel on the wall as it was, and has generated interest and discussion amongst office regulars and visitors. Above: The fully refurbished interactive display item ready to return to the office.
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AuthorAfter spending 22 years in the Telecommunications Industry, I've decided to keep those skills alive and offer my services to people needing assistance with small phone cabling jobs in the home or office. Archives
January 2024
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