Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT
WCDT: 2311-2315 PLUS (5-11 November 2012) Weekly Comics Discussion Thread
MillionDollar Belt Sander:
--- Quote from: WAYF on 10 Nov 2012, 18:47 ---Does this mean that DSL wins forever for drawing the guest comic? ;D
Once again, my favourite bit is the $1.98 Drill Press.
--- End quote ---
Clearly Harbor Freight is having a sale. :-D
BTW:
Million Dollar Belt Sander refers to a factory machine I used to run years ago. If you ever notice, much stainless steel has a "brush finish" kind of like wood grain.
Well, the machine is basically a water-cooled belt-sander mounted over a rubber belt. It drags the sheet-metal under the spinning belt and the water keeps the metal cool. Sheet comes out the other side and we repeat the process over and over until we get a real fine finish.
We had a clankity-clank version of the machine that made that finish pattern on stainless panels for various products we produced. The owner decided that he needed to upgrade... which he did. He ended up spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on the finest imported metal-sanding machine, and the exotic sand-paper and "cooling fluid" for the machine.
After running it six months it developed all kinds of faults, failures and glitches due to that superior European Engineering. Well that had nothing to do with it it had to do with OUR company politics twords cleaning and upkeep... but anyway it shit the bed in the worst way and had to be rebuilt TWICE while I ran it.
In the end, they spent OVER a million dollars on a fancy belt-sander that was less reliable than a fire-damaged Renault at the bottom of the River Charles.
The irony is the company I migrated to after I got tired of the politics had a much simpler and more user-friendly finishing machine, which is still running at peak condition despite being 30 years old.
I find the concept of spending that much money on a machine that never worked as promised and broke down more than a 1 legged horse towing the space shuttle across Canada to be utterly absurd. I adopted the name as a reminder of whole episode and the lessons it taught me.
WAYF:
;D
This kind of story has always been a 'type' for me... I'm sure lots of people have stories about machines which have gone strong for decades, only to be replaced by something which is brand new and shiny, but breaks down mere months later.
But this story is by far the best variant I've heard.
MillionDollar Belt Sander:
I've seen it way too many times over the years.
The machines I own range from 20 to 70 years old, I have very few "new" machines in my workshop.
Pilchard123:
Si non confectus, non reficiat, as Vetinari would say.
StevenC:
Same with computer systems. A lot of companies still use software from times before windows.
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