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It is one of the mythical Do Nothing Machines. Also known as a Standard Timing Model. Back in the old days when you had qualified mechanics and technicians out in the world and they were looking for a job they would go in to see the plant hiring manager and the plant engineer would sit them down in front of one of those things run it through a few cycles to show them that it did indeed work . Then they would lead them out and someone would scramble all the settings on the cams and linkages and then the prospective employee would have to make it run again...with a stopwatch behind them. No pressure. The old "Black Box Test" . Several large companies still use them. I recently started a new testing regimen for industrial mechanic candidates and the VP said...hey Ive got this thing in my office . It had gotten so bad before the economy collapsed that if you had a pulse and could fog a mirror I'd hire you , try you out and fire you within days if you were an idiot. Now there are actually qualified technicians out in the labor market so I get to be pickier.
 
I thought it was something from out of the Spanish Inquisition, but I wasn't expecting that... o_O


 
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and then the prospective employee would have to make it run again...with a stopwatch behind them.
Would show a prospective tech a circuit board with some problems on it. Would ask for them to identify the problem visually. Resistor that had heat issues, blown or swollen capacitor, broken trace. It astounded me how many could not identify the problems.
Guys would say they are experts at Autocad. I'd place them in front of a station. "What is the drawing area size?" They'd have to tell me. Then I'd say, OK, draw me a circle, diameter x, circumscribe it with a square and extrude the square by x. Then I'd say, "hold on" and unplug the monitor. Most were putzes. My only regret is that we wouldn't fire these guys when they showed they were sacks of rock.
Had one guy, cocky bastige, said he had a great job, what could our company do for him? He showed hint at talent. I said, if you're so comfortable, there's more money, less commute and you don't have to deal with union BS. We offered him the job. The guy was nothing short of amazing at everything he did.
 
Rube Goldberg test and development device post production prototype. :s0115:

Or are you asking about the Fluke Bead Probe I see in the background. I hate to think where you've been sticking that to test office visitors temperatures for possible Covid indicators. At least you have the can of disinfectant handy to cleanse it between uses. :s0001:
 
You are missing one of the tools to fix it. You have a crescent wrench and a combo open end and boxed end. The one tool missing is the hammer.
 
It is one of the mythical Do Nothing Machines. Also known as a Standard Timing Model. Back in the old days when you had qualified mechanics and technicians out in the world and they were looking for a job they would go in to see the plant hiring manager and the plant engineer would sit them down in front of one of those things run it through a few cycles to show them that it did indeed work . Then they would lead them out and someone would scramble all the settings on the cams and linkages and then the prospective employee would have to make it run again...with a stopwatch behind them. No pressure. The old "Black Box Test" . Several large companies still use them. I recently started a new testing regimen for industrial mechanic candidates and the VP said...hey Ive got this thing in my office . It had gotten so bad before the economy collapsed that if you had a pulse and could fog a mirror I'd hire you , try you out and fire you within days if you were an idiot. Now there are actually qualified technicians out in the labor market so I get to be pickier.
That's freaking awesome. I'd like to try my hand at that.
 

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