The Sherlock Holmses's of Engineering

I'd like to see more articles like this.

I like to see some more detailed excerpts from the book.

I'd like to see the spelling corrected to Sherlock Holmes'.

Glad you liked it. Changed the spelling, too. Thanks for pointing it out.

The plural of the surname Holmes is Holmeses.

I would also like to see more like this.

I work for a company that designs and manufactures flight simulators. One of the things I have done over the years is to troubleshoot problems once they have been fielded.....sometimes after they have been in service for a decade or so.

While it can be quite difficult and stressful (when the simulator is down, the customer is loosing money), it's also challenging and can be fun. Not only does it take me to different parts of the globe, my travels allow me to meet a number of interesting people and when (if?) I am able to resolve the issue, it's personally extremely rewarding.

I've always equated my task of troubleshooting with that of being a detective and even considered getting myself a deerstalker hat to wear on those trips.

Very cool. Sounds like a professionally very rewarding career!

Overall, yes. But it's not what I do 100% of the time. Maybe only 10% of the time now compared to 30-40% of the time about 15 years ago.

Can't have the hat without the pipe.

I did some of this when in the aerospace industry. Before the items went into service, that is.

I would be called in after the "quality" people, and project engineers gave up.

One that stands out was the case of mysterious random bumps in the bottom of the machined cavities in one side of a HF aluminum radio chassis that weren't noticed until after machining and plating.

It turned out that after the cavities were machined on one side, blind holes in bosses on the other side were tapped. The holes were drilled to the correct depth, but when the operator tapped them by hand the gun tap he used dented the bottom of the holes and caused the bulges on the other side.

Apparently I was the first one to notice this relationship.

We determined that the housing was OK to use, since it was a one-off and no mechanical interference would occur and electrically things were OK too.

It went into orbit and all was well.

Sorry if this is boring. All I have left are memories of the good old days.

Good stuff! Thank you for commenting!

I ain't bored