Nigel. We were told to wear one glove when working as it should stop flow through the heart, This usually is hand in pocket for me. In the USA it's a bit better when <130VAC. Many guys have sheds. These being wood even when damp seem safer. I touched live in the workshop and took the RCD trip out. I didn't feel a thing as the workshop is wood. It obviously was enough current ( 30mA ). 10mA types exist if making a workshop supply. You could even make a 30mA trip more sensetive by having a leakage resistor live to ground. I would guess 6K2 ( 11W so as not to get hot ) at 120V would do it. It saves buying the special type. Be certain it's to the live or hot. Have a switch to use when needed. I guess I should't recomend this as it needs the next level of knowledge. That's the whole point. This stuff is dangerous. I was working on a 1000VDC design. My friend said I should use 800VDC for safety. I said 1000VDC was for safety as 1200VDC was the known to be unsafe area. I added, even 160VDC isn't safe. 50VDC is thought to be close to safe.
One thing I would say which needs no mentor. Really learn ohms law and how it changes for special problem solving. Kirchoff and Gause for example. To me Gause says problems can be solved by experiment and reduced to Kirchoff simplicity.
One thing I would say which needs no mentor. Really learn ohms law and how it changes for special problem solving. Kirchoff and Gause for example. To me Gause says problems can be solved by experiment and reduced to Kirchoff simplicity.
Jan. I think life is the mentor. Place yourself where it might happen. Richard our local repair man has a reputation for being tight with money. His partner has just passed away. I dare say he is the type who would like free help. Richard and I go to RETRA meetings. It's the association of electrical retailers. I get a free meal and Richard can drink as I drive. I have always enjoyed this realated trade, white goods electrical , brown goods hi fi. One day we did how white goods are recycled. It was genuinely interesting and involves plenty of crime. It was high power stuff. At the end all the retailers were saying I should drop in to see them when passing. I guess being a genuine friend is what works.
Hey Jan.Didden, great idea. I gave some thought to what I was asking someone else to be, and it does feel like a lesser load if the commitment is per diem or as scheduled help.
I have the opportunity to send my resume to a local performance outfitting company. These guys handle the repairs of their rental gear, including studio and stage equipment, commercial power amplifiers and visual/multimedia products. Are there any suggestions on how I should approach this situation? Things I should remember to include in my interview or resume/phone/email communications so that I can convey my passion, experience, and desire to work full time for 1 year or better? Thanks again.
I have the opportunity to send my resume to a local performance outfitting company. These guys handle the repairs of their rental gear, including studio and stage equipment, commercial power amplifiers and visual/multimedia products. Are there any suggestions on how I should approach this situation? Things I should remember to include in my interview or resume/phone/email communications so that I can convey my passion, experience, and desire to work full time for 1 year or better? Thanks again.
Look at the feedback entry points, are they close to hum sources (like filaments).
Power transformers need to be far from output transformers, same with chokes.
You can use a bigger filter capacitor in // for the power supply stages, this will eliminate ripple problems of the equation. : like you have an amplifying stage, you can double the capacitance, does it diminish 120h hum? if not move on. this can be clipped on temporarily, no need to solder, it can be quick.
Look for proximity of transformers to transistors/tubes, they can cause 120hz hum. 120hz is the rectified hum of a bridge or double diode rectification. look that this is well isolated.
If you are good with your hands and fixing bicycles etc it's worth saying. Many people are good on paper, but lack skills when doing things in real life. If you don't get the job ask them why. Often it comes down to they haven't got time to teach. The expession many used was " can hit the ground running ". If you are Dyslexic don't give it a thought. Many engineers are. The beauty of engineering is it is real, the rest of the World seldom is. Stage equipement is really great. From the little I know the golden age has passed ( C-Audio and other class AB amps ). That might be lucky for you as I believe fixing class D amps is usually board swaps like a computer. If you have a guitar amp learn it and talk about it. The boss won't care if you don't really know, He is interested you could learn. Passion is not talked about, it just is. BTW, you are very strong and know how to safely lift things. Do your best to tell the truth on that one.
One thing worth a thought is get a few eBay kits and build them. Do the best you can to make it look shop bought. If you came to me looking for a job that might impress more than you might think. It also lets you talk about it rather than you, and that's the best talking about you that you can do. The boss isn't looking for you to be the boss so questions will be mostly did you understand what you made. A JLH or Naim NAP140 clone kit comes to mind. Often you will be shown around, ask questions. Never ask what the wage is. Most people pay well enough and they should really be asking you to pay them, a University would.
My friend is a very skilled engineer and if I am honest more the real deal version than me. He goes and gets a new job at the drop of a hat and hates them all. The truth is he never made a sucess of being his own boss. His job sounds very interesting to me and he is so lucky to have the skills.
I was in a hi fi show when a Japanees man chassed me down the corridor shouting my name. A FAL speaker had gone off centre. He insisted he had been told I could fix it. It was super easy. I just took the bolts down to a tightness where they could just move. I then spent 10 minutes tapping possibly with my shoe. He laughed and said it looked if I had been factory trained. I will never know who said I could do it. I met the guy from LAB47 as he was using them, really nice guy and product. And that's how you do it. All I wanted to be was helpful. This man's best friend was Mr Kondo.
I shouldn´t get into this again, but hey, I´ll try just once more.
From an experienced Engineer, Designer and Manufacturer point of view:
I guess not.
Will they teach you?
Very much doubt so; they want workload (competently) taken off their hands, too busy to teach anything, as was suggested in earlier posts.
To have them at least read your resume to the end and feel interested enough to call you for an interview, you should be able to include something like: "worked for 6/10 years at XXXX Service Shop, presentation letter available on demand, took such and such Course, was factory trained at JBL/Yamaha/Korg/whatever (those are 1 to 6 day courses to train Techs who do Warranty Service on their products)" , etc.
A Human Resources guy will instantly reject a "passionate" possible employee as a possible troublemaker or at least a hard to control one ... why bother or take a risk?
From an experienced Engineer, Designer and Manufacturer point of view:
Ok, *can* you repair them, on your own, unattended?
I guess not.
Will they teach you?
Very much doubt so; they want workload (competently) taken off their hands, too busy to teach anything, as was suggested in earlier posts.
not sure they are even hiring, I guess you are cold calling them and "hoping"
To have them at least read your resume to the end and feel interested enough to call you for an interview, you should be able to include something like: "worked for 6/10 years at XXXX Service Shop, presentation letter available on demand, took such and such Course, was factory trained at JBL/Yamaha/Korg/whatever (those are 1 to 6 day courses to train Techs who do Warranty Service on their products)" , etc.
Please *forget* the word "passion" when dealing with this ... Tech/Engineer types *shudder* about "emotions" applied to Tech Work, try "solid ... dependable ... can take orders and follow them ... comfortable with team work"
A Human Resources guy will instantly reject a "passionate" possible employee as a possible troublemaker or at least a hard to control one ... why bother or take a risk?
@JMFahey, my impression at this point is that the messages aren't getting through. The gentleman seems to believe the world works differently than it does and he doesn't need to school himself first. Speaking of that, I wonder how far he went in school, what the last classes and technical books he studied were, and how long ago it was. It would help to know of course, in order to give advice but seems unlikely he will say.
Some of my best friends repair or work in stage hire. All are the type of guys who really know stuff. Stage types often March to the sound of a different drum. Pull your weight is what matters. In the nicest ways they are a bit like pirates. Make no mistake, safety and working day in day out to impossible deadlines is the job. Paperwork also.
Something else. At the age of 4 my father hard to stop me looking at dangerous things. By the age of 7 I started to be able to do things. At 8 I had given a lecture at school on how electricity works which I suspect was as good as I could do now, better I suspect as it was easy to understand. The guys you see doing this work are like a "duck to water" . They just do it. I can't do football nor dance. My friend who has a PHD in electrical engineering thought he would dance. OK he is highly technical and can teach dance. It isn't what I will remember him for.
The passion thing can work. The strange thing is like beauty is has to be said of you. Passion is better than beauty as beauty is a gift. If someone rejects a person for saying they have passion I would say best not have the job. If someone said it to me I would test what he said. If I find people lie I don't really mind as that can be the quality that gets the job done. What I care about is safety. Lie about what you like as long as perfection comes into the building and testing.
I always remember passing a job interview for body scanners. The guy who interviewed me was a Cypriot. What I didn't realise is a company I worked for had trained him in the 1960's in Cyprus. It had been on Navy guns. A very simple logic idea to be sure a gun was ready. That almost got me the job. It was knowing the maths of inductance that did it. He said " most who work here don't know that ". As Marilyn Monroe said " We make our own luck".
The passion thing can work. The strange thing is like beauty is has to be said of you. Passion is better than beauty as beauty is a gift. If someone rejects a person for saying they have passion I would say best not have the job. If someone said it to me I would test what he said. If I find people lie I don't really mind as that can be the quality that gets the job done. What I care about is safety. Lie about what you like as long as perfection comes into the building and testing.
I always remember passing a job interview for body scanners. The guy who interviewed me was a Cypriot. What I didn't realise is a company I worked for had trained him in the 1960's in Cyprus. It had been on Navy guns. A very simple logic idea to be sure a gun was ready. That almost got me the job. It was knowing the maths of inductance that did it. He said " most who work here don't know that ". As Marilyn Monroe said " We make our own luck".
I don't know how it's done in your part of the world, but why don't you go and see them face to face, that always goes down much better here than sending resumes. Would you consider helping out for free?
I would love to share my perspective. Here is my first post in this thread.
In updating to current time, I have an extra year of experience.
Education:
Father, technician at HP, Agilent
MIT 6.002 circuits and electronics Open Course Ware taught by Anant Agarwal
Books:
Electrical Studies for Trades, 4th ed., Herman
Electronic Circuit analysis and design 2nd ed., Hayt/Neudeck
Advanced Electronic Troubleshooting, Cameron
The Ultimate Tone Vol. 1, O'Connor
In updating to current time, I have an extra year of experience.
Education:
Father, technician at HP, Agilent
MIT 6.002 circuits and electronics Open Course Ware taught by Anant Agarwal
Books:
Electrical Studies for Trades, 4th ed., Herman
Electronic Circuit analysis and design 2nd ed., Hayt/Neudeck
Advanced Electronic Troubleshooting, Cameron
The Ultimate Tone Vol. 1, O'Connor
A few responses.
JMFahey, you are always practical. Whether you know it or not, your message from May of 2017 became the backbone of my plan since its inception. I moved to NYC for 3 months in order to learn what it was like to live and work in a busy city. I applied for many electronics jobs and spent quite a bit of time learning the ropes. In August, I returned to W. Mass to rebuild from the ground up, earn more money, and begin marketing my services. I have received work from GC customers, thanks to my professional interaction with the Floor Manager and business cards. I now have half a leg in Holyoke, a city between Springfield and the many colleges of Hampshire County.
There is a difference between a man who leads from his intuition and one who is simply hard headed. Please continue with your constructive advice, it has value.
JMFahey, you are always practical. Whether you know it or not, your message from May of 2017 became the backbone of my plan since its inception. I moved to NYC for 3 months in order to learn what it was like to live and work in a busy city. I applied for many electronics jobs and spent quite a bit of time learning the ropes. In August, I returned to W. Mass to rebuild from the ground up, earn more money, and begin marketing my services. I have received work from GC customers, thanks to my professional interaction with the Floor Manager and business cards. I now have half a leg in Holyoke, a city between Springfield and the many colleges of Hampshire County.
There is a difference between a man who leads from his intuition and one who is simply hard headed. Please continue with your constructive advice, it has value.
Scott Wurcer, I wasn't able to attend any of the events you mentioned, but I am going to attend the MIT flea this Sunday, April 15th. Thanks for your comments!
The 1946 Rock'ola project did get finished by late spring. I designed for it a multi-stage vacuum tube preamp card, with a very small input signal in mind (this was researched, based on the type of cartridge "typically" used in this time period). During installation of the amp at the customers location, I learned that there was WAY too much gain. After tooling around for a second, the client and I learned that the amp would produce a very clean sound if the volume control was at 2 and the first stage grid leak was paralleled with another resistor. I took the amp home and completely modified it.
This was an excellent project. A while ago, I bought a Fluke 8060A, knowing that it had the capability of measuring in dB. While I have this tech available, I am still unsure of how I can use it properly to design and measure a gain stage.
...I learned for myself that if there is a project with a real target it is much easier (for me) to enter a new domain of knowledge.
The 1946 Rock'ola project did get finished by late spring. I designed for it a multi-stage vacuum tube preamp card, with a very small input signal in mind (this was researched, based on the type of cartridge "typically" used in this time period). During installation of the amp at the customers location, I learned that there was WAY too much gain. After tooling around for a second, the client and I learned that the amp would produce a very clean sound if the volume control was at 2 and the first stage grid leak was paralleled with another resistor. I took the amp home and completely modified it.
This was an excellent project. A while ago, I bought a Fluke 8060A, knowing that it had the capability of measuring in dB. While I have this tech available, I am still unsure of how I can use it properly to design and measure a gain stage.
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