Forums are slowly dying

[copyman]

By the way, I mentioned "true technician" in my prior post. Let me define what I think is a true tech (see below) Please add to the list.

A "True Technician" is someone who:

Goes to bed at night and can't sleep because there is an UNsolved issue with equipment they worked on that day.

Doesn't mind getting their hands dirty

Improvises and does what ever it takes to get a machine working, even if it's temporary until they come back with part.

This one really goes out there and is probably only me but I've oiled customers squeaky doors and chairs without them asking more than once. And over the years other small repairs with nothing to do with the copier. Not sure if that is being a true tech or just OCD

[JR2ALTA]

I go back a ways, and before CTN to d-net (for Kyocera)

1) Way less mom and pop dealers. Most companies now are Platinum/Diamond that get top notch support. (plus their own in-house IT guys)
2) Better machines
3)Retirees
4)Political a-holes
5) Not everyone keep up to speed with the new CTN revamped site, so just faded off.

[Hansoon]

This one really goes out there and is probably only me but I've oiled customers squeaky doors and chairs without them asking more than once. And over the years other small repairs with nothing to do with the copier.

I'm exactly doing the same and always believed I'm weird.
My daughter, a physician, told me I have definitely some OCD characteristics.........
😁

Hans

[Larhal]

I think you have to be OCD to be a good tech, one cant stop until the problem is solvef and defined.

[BillyCarpenter]

I think you have to be OCD to be a good tech, one cant stop until the problem is solvef and defined.

I can't speak on OCD but I believe it comes down to pride in our work and just not wanting to lose. Its us vs the machine and we refuse to lose.

Over the years I've run into a lot of lazy techs. When a problem gets tough, a lot of techs throw their hands up in the air and run away. It's true. It doesn't bother them at all to give up on a problem. It kills my soul.

[Larhal]

I can't speak on OCD but I believe it comes down to pride in our work and just not wanting to lose. Its us vs the machine and we refuse to lose.

Over the years I've run into a lot of lazy techs. When a problem gets tough, a lot of techs throw their hands up in the air and run away. It's true. It doesn't bother them at all to give up on a problem. It's kills my soul.

Could also be a generation thing. Got my S**T together when I was in the military and it stuck with me for all my life.

[BillyCarpenter]

Could also be a generation thing. Got my S**T together when I was in the military and it stuck with me for all my life.

You may be right. I've always kinda believed its something we're either born with or not. In any event, techs that don't push themselves above and beyond, never learn anything new and incomplete a bunch of calls for tech assist. And I hate cleaning up their mess because you never know what the fuck they did. LOL

[BillyCarpenter]

This may be a stupid question, but have you ever been hung up on a problem and gone to bed with it on your mind and woke up the next morning and soon as you open your eyes, you suddenly know the answer?

[Larhal]

This may be a stupid question, but have you ever been hung up on a problem and gone to bed with it on your mind and woke up the next morning and soon as you open your eyes, you suddenly know the answer?

Not a Stupid question. yes I have. Determined and I don't quit until the problem is solved and done. And sometimes my curiosity makes me dig deeper and investigate the failures further to determine the cause. Then I go to the Pub.

[copyman]

Also I bet a lot of the good "true techs" posting in this thread took apart things as a kid to see how they work. Back was I was young things were more mechanical. I remember my dad giving me the belt on my ass for taking my sisters radio apart and couldn't put it back together. Think I was around 7 or 8. I also built a lot of electronic kits. I actually have a large collection of UNbuilt Heathkits.

One other thing comes to mind about being a "true tech", someone who can fix anything around the house, or at least attempt to fix before calling in the expert

[copyman]

Ha-ha, this should be last thing that comes to mind about "true techs", when some techs retire they come back to these forums to help out. Slim, Syn, Black Cat, a few others I can't think of right now. Hopefully me soon
When most people retire from other trades they never want to see that work again!

[Aneurysm]

This may be a stupid question, but have you ever been hung up on a problem and gone to bed with it on your mind and woke up the next morning and soon as you open your eyes, you suddenly know the answer?

It's the shower for me, I remember solutions to obscure issues and come up with some great ideas in the shower?

[BillyCarpenter]

It's the shower for me, I remember solutions to obscure issues and come up with some great ideas in the shower?

I've heard that and also driving does it for some or so I hear.

[slimslob]

It's the shower for me, I remember solutions to obscure issues and come up with some great ideas in the shower?

I've heard that and also driving does it for some or so I hear.

I have had some strange ones over the years. Years ago in the days of the estat fluid machines I had Apeco Super Stats that would frequently wrap paper around the squeegee roller. At least two calls a week for each customer. Early one afternoon I had just finished at one customer and before I made back to my car they called again. Having no other calls for the day I decided to pull the exit tray and watch the paper going through the drying section. After about ten minutes I saw it. The wire guides that were supposed to keep the paper below the nozzles of the blowers deformed a little as the as warmed up. This allowed them to become just far enough above the nozzles for the bottoms of the nozzles for the paper to hit. Reshaped the guides and no more jams.

A few years back I was working on a production B/W with an intermittent error code from the finisher. While running copies to watch the finisher, I noticed that the copies were getting lighter. I traced that to the toner loading motor. Checked the motor and it had a short to ground. Removed the motor and manually filled the toner hopper and the finisher problem was gone. Apparently when the machine tried to turn the motor on it one of the power supply voltages was dropped enough to affect the finisher.

[Mako]

Perhaps too much politics and too little technical in the forums are disgusting people away..............?

Hans

I've watched a number of forums die completely after eliminating political conversations. Be careful what you wish for.