When Testing at High Speed… Stand Back
Tonight was… educational….
This last few days my life has been COMPLETELY taken over by clinic (thank goodness VLSI got through the work-heavy part JUST in time) At some point I’ll throw some pictures up here of the whole machine, but for tonight I have a quick story before bed. A lesson perhaps…
When testing things at high speed… Stand back.
That’s it. That’s my pearl of wisdom. “Sure sure” I hear you say. “Anybody knows that” Well, I’m here to tell you I know it better than most.
Tonight I was testing out my shrimpy-spin-dryer and its new motor.(Think:giant salad spinner for shrimp. But sideways. And continuous. And powered. And with a taste for human blood.) Very exciting stuff. (You’re going to have to trust me on that.) Anyways, the thing spins up nicely the first time (mind you, I haven’t actually mounted the motor, I’m holding it in tension on the belt drive so I can see how the system works before going on) So I thinks to myself, thinks I: “Let’s open this thing up and really see what she can do…”
Upon reflection, when holding a 28lb motor in your hands with your head next to a giant role of mesh rotating at high velocity, this is not a wise thing to think.
Sooooo I change out some drive pulleys, forget to do some multiplication, and damn near decapitate myself. In the space of… oh I don’t know, maybe half a second my beautiful contraption goes from looking something like this:
(note: this isn’t actually my spinner, I took these pics AFTER the fact so this one is the wet separator version that was still intact)
To this :(
(note: the twisted mess of mesh on the top there was wrapped neatly around and pinned down. Also all of the hoops, such as the one in the foreground, used to be concentric around the drive shaft.)
All while I’m a good safe twelve inches away with both hands occupied holding this motor.
It was at this point that I decided mechanical engineering needs to be done between the hours of 7:30 am and 4:am. After 4am it is no longer a good idea. So knowing that, I’m off to bed. It has been… educational.
Filed under: Engineering, Mudd, Sleep Deprivation, Stupid on April 15th, 2007