The Gomez file

This morning at work I had to file down a part in repairing a machine. The user of this particular machine had broken a bearing and, rather than back off on the pressure which was on the bearing or even taking a minute to check why said bearing was not working, said user increased the pressure until he had caused damage to the bearing holder. So rather than simply needing a bearing replaced I now had to file down the warped part of the bearing holder so that it would work. Sometimes people make a repair job more extensive and expensive when they don't just stop what they're doing and try to consider why their machine isn't working as it should. Customers, eh?

So I had to file down the bearing holder before replacing the bearing. This required a rather large file as there was a large flat area which I needed to smooth. I secured the part in my vise and began filing.

The job went well. I believe what helped was that I channeled my inner Gomez in applying the file. You know that scene in the old Addams Family TV show where John Astin (who played Gomez Addams of course) is filing away at something, and sneering as he did so? That was me around 10 AM today, sneering at that part, knowing that it would succumb to my will.

This afternoon, well, I get to make my model trains crash.