Not going to mention any name brands but I was considering buying a popular German sports car, and decided to read the service manual. A basic tune - up, changing of the spark plugs required lowering the engine and transmission. Many of the service procedures required lowering the engine and transmission. I ended up buying one of the best engineered sports cars on the road. It's Japanese...
I am pretty sure they put a tube down in the radiator to suck it out or something like that. The coolent was supposed to be the lifetime Dexcool. Go read on it if you want to see another GM disaster story.
That's amazing, Jack. I haven't heard anything like that. I do remember gas caps behind the rear license plate as a kid. I can't remember the model or maker. I thought that was pretty clever. If you not aware it was there, you'd never find it.
A friend of mine had a GM suburban diesel. There is no way to drain the radiator unless you pull it out or drill holes through 2 layers of frame. We ended up just pulling out the frost plug heater and letting fluid go everywhere. What a stupid design. My Toyota truck is far from perfect but the Suburban made the Toyota look great.
To rkinner: There are many industries who need your friend (or someone who can play the same role). Web sites come immediately to mind. There are many, many websites that are so terribly cluttered that they actually prevent the visitors -- who they so desperately seek -- from finding what they need. And what about wristwatches? How many of us have wristwatches that we can't re-set because we can't figure out the sequence of buttons that need to be pushed? Couldn't they eliminate a few needless features and make their products simpler? Sometimes, I wonder if anyone -- anyone at all -- has tried these products before companies push them out the door.
The comment about removing the rear seat to fill with gas made me laugh. My father had a 37 Chevy truck on the farm. Guess where the gas tank was... under the seat. To fill the tank, you swung the (bench style) seat cushion forward, and there was the filler cap, right in the center of the tank. Obviously nobody stayed in the truck while it was being filled.
A college buddy of mine worked for Collins Radio (now Rockwell Collins) in maintainability. He would check to see how many different tools were needed to disassemble a radio, that the diodes were al facing the same direction (where practical), etc. He was not welcome in many departments as a visit from him would probably mean a redesign. They were and still are known for their quality equipment and that commitment to maintenance was a key part of that reputation.
He eventually did get out of that job but still kept the reputation (his initials were GDB and the first two letters were representative of an expletive, you can fill in the additional letters).Regardless of his reputation, his was a integral part of the design effort that kept the company on bidders lists for demanding customers. Maybe we as consumers just aren't so demanding anymore.
By experimenting with the photovoltaic reaction in solar cells, researchers at MIT have made a breakthrough in energy efficiency that significantly pushes the boundaries of current commercial cells on the market.
In a world that's going green, industrial operations have a problem: Their processes involve materials that are potentially toxic, flammable, corrosive, or reactive. If improperly managed, this can precipitate dangerous health and environmental consequences.
With LEDs dropping in price virtually every year, automakers have begun employing them, not only on luxury vehicles, but on entry-level models, as well.
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 5
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A quick look into the merger of two powerhouse 3D printing OEMs and the new leader in rapid prototyping solutions, Stratasys. The industrial revolution is now led by 3D printing and engineers are given the opportunity to fully maximize their design capabilities, reduce their time-to-market and functionally test prototypes cheaper, faster and easier. Bruce Bradshaw, Director of Marketing in North America, will explore the large product offering and variety of materials that will help CAD designers articulate their product design with actual, physical prototypes. This broadcast will dive deep into technical information including application specific stories from real world customers and their experiences with 3D printing. 3D Printing is
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