happy days [Smacking machines to make them work - edited title]

this post by Yllaria made me wonder, what else in this day and age would benefit from a good whack upside? apart from a robot that attempts to clean the floor for you? an old CRT monitor maybe? but that doesn’t count because it’s all LCD and plasma nowadays. (whacking those won’t ever help right?)

CRT monitor definitely. Back when I did front-line tech support, I was down to voodoo or a right cross as my only two options to fix a misbehaving monitor. I told the user to look the other way, applied the right cross, and the monitor was fixed. I then told the user, “That’s very advanced skill at work there: do not ever let me see you trying that on your own.”

Monitor worked flawlessly from then on, AFAIK.

The starter motor in my car. It’s probably the solenoid that’s sticking, but twice in the last week I’ve had to give it a whack with my tire iron. Something tells me I should change it soon.

I have a weed whacker that requires some tough love before it will stay running.

Please use descriptive titles in GQ. I edited the title to indicate the subject of the thread.

Colibri
General Questions Moderator

Quantum Leap’s Al often had to smack his hand held computer to make it work right.

:smack:

Ah, percussive maintenance; the last hope of a desperate tech. Been there, done that.

The cold water solenoid valve on our washing machine stops buzzing when you whack the side of the machine with your fist good and hard. :slight_smile:

Case fans in many computers, especially in dusty environments, will eventually become noisy. They generally respond well to percussive maintenance for a while.

should have known there’ll be a term for it. looking it up on wiki turned up these two examples…

I bet those were some fun tests. :slight_smile:

The recent Space Station mission had an instrument package which ended up being mounted on a peg via percussive maintenance. And a friend of mine had a rocket payload that they were only able to get to launch via the same technique (I think it his case it was a switch that was stuck).

Vending machines. I hate machines that will not let you shake them until the thing you bought fell out.

Sure, some say, what if it were MY vending machine, would I want OTHER people to shake it? Heck no! BUT, if it were my OWN vending machine, and I bought something from it, I’d sure as heck shake it!

So in wanting to shake it, I am treating it exactly as I would as if I owned it.

Years ago, one of the TV networks - either CBS or NBC - had a technical directive about percussive maintenance.

If a panel meter was suspected of being stuck, you were allowed to tap it no harder than you’d hit the bridge of your own nose.

Back in the days when gauges and meter dials had analog needles, sometimes those needles get stuck, presenting a false value.

A sharp rap with the finger may be required to reassure the user that the gauge was not stuck.

(Beaten by gotpasswords)

My parents’ washing machine sometimes forgets to go into rinse/spin until you whack the top.

Two items.

I once had a car with a heater fan that would stick in an on-and-screaming-wildly mode. Solution was to whack it with a hammer or rock. It eventually went out, but whacking it worked temporarily. The kids loved it. Of course they were at an age to be interested by anything going on under the hood. Or anything screaming.

I once listened to a book on tape that had instructions at the end on a slap-it-flat-onto-a-table technique to be used if the cassette was sticking. If it persisted in sticking, you could send it for a replacement or notify the library to do so. I’ve tried it several times with my own tapes and I think it only worked completely once.

Not exactly the same thing, but the Apple III computer, of which Wikipedia says “in a technical bulletin, customers who were experiencing certain problems were instructed to lift the machine 3 inches (76 mm) and drop it in order to reseat the chips.”

My old CRT TV. Sometimes the picture crackles and pops when I’m playing a game. I found that a good open-handed slap on the side, about midway up, got it to reset itself real reet.

I very much suspect that my next TV will not respond well to that sort of percussive maintenance.