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Just Old Al
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Re: More Stuff

Post by Just Old Al »

jwhouk wrote:Whenever I tell a joke I feel like a clumsy dog.

Y'know, because of the awkward paws.
Ain't that a bitch.
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Dave
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Re: More Stuff

Post by Dave »

jwhouk wrote:Whenever I tell a joke I feel like a clumsy dog.

Y'know, because of the awkward paws.
Well, you might want to turn this into an advantage, and a new post-retirement career. Go into dog breeding and training.

I understand that among recreational bird-hunters, there's a thriving market in English Pointers, that have been raised specifically for the purpose of hunting murres, guillemots, and puffins. These birds are terribly hard to locate after you've shot them, if you don't have such a dog with you. If you do, all you have to do is send the dog out, wait until it "freezes and points". The bird will be some distance right in front of the dog - all you have to do is walk in the direction of the aukward paws.
ShneekeyTheLost
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Re: More Stuff

Post by ShneekeyTheLost »

jwhouk wrote:Whenever I tell a joke I feel like a clumsy dog.

Y'know, because of the awkward paws.
Nah, less canine and more vulpine...

You know, excusing the social fox paws?
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AnotherFairportfan
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Re: More Stuff

Post by AnotherFairportfan »

The Pun Jar is waving a rolled newspaper.
Last edited by AnotherFairportfan on Fri Sep 07, 2018 9:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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TazManiac
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Re: More Stuff

Post by TazManiac »

"Auk!, Auk!"...
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AnotherFairportfan
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Re: More Stuff

Post by AnotherFairportfan »

Goddamn autocorrect.
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Alkarii
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Re: More Stuff

Post by Alkarii »

I finally took the time to shoot my AR-10... And I was a bit disappointed. The bolt catch doesn't work properly, which may or may not have been why I wasn't able to get the bolt to lock open on an empty magazine. While I was able to get it to lock open with an empty when I pulled the charging handle, I need it to lock open after firing, which wasn't happening no matter how much I adjusted the screw on the gas block.

NOW I know that DPMS can't make a decent rifle, it would have been nice to know that before dropping so much money on it.
There is no such thing as a science experiment gone wrong.
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GlytchMeister
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Re: More Stuff

Post by GlytchMeister »

How do returns work with guns?
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Alkarii
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Re: More Stuff

Post by Alkarii »

Well, it seems to be a defective bolt catch, which is easier to replace on an AR-10 than on an AR-15, because it uses a hex set screw instead of a roll pin. I'll probably just have to order one that has a longer catching surface and drop that in place.
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TazManiac
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Re: More Stuff

Post by TazManiac »

As I might have replied in another setting: "It aint Broke, it's a chance to Upgrade!".
Alkarii
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Re: More Stuff

Post by Alkarii »

Yeah, pretty much. What I don't get, though, is that I'd gotten it to work before with no problems.
There is no such thing as a science experiment gone wrong.
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Dave
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Re: More Stuff

Post by Dave »

Alkarii wrote:Yeah, pretty much. What I don't get, though, is that I'd gotten it to work before with no problems.
Everything mechanical goes through some sort of break-in when it's new. Possibly the bolt catch was right at the short or narrow end of the manufacturing tolerances, and the metal it rides against is at the wide end... and the slight amount of wear from the initial few operations buffed off enough of the machine-tool-marked surfaces so that it no longer engages properly?

Lots of interesting discussion out there about DPMS and others of the other manufacturers who aim for the lower-price end of the market. Lesser materials, poorer fit-and-finish, and more variation from piece to piece seem to be the prices. Any manufacturer can turn out a duff unit from time to time, but the odds of a bad one sneaking through seem to be a lot higher at the "bargain" end of the market.

As TazManiac says, it's a chance to upgrade (selectively) when you find a bit that just Doesn't Cut It.

PSA seems to have an interesting rep... loads of flexibility and options, if you're willing to do the build yourself.
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AnotherFairportfan
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Re: More Stuff

Post by AnotherFairportfan »

When i was working at Micromeritics, they had a board - an LN2 temperature control board? Can't recall - that had been designed by an engineer who apparently used the optimistic end of specs for all the components. {He was no longer with the company, though not, apparently, over that}

The result is that periodically i had to get all of one component - i think an SCR {it HAS been more than thirty years} - and test every one of them to find the ones that were BETTER than the spec so they could build working boards.

If you have an AMI motherboard {one that's twenty-five or more years old} take a look at the diodes and electrolytic capacitors on it. They are installed with their anodes at the end marked by a square pad on the board.

The first board they designed somehow was laid out that way. The first batch they got from the fab had all the polarised components installed backward because of it.

They explained it to the fab ... and later discovered it was easier to just continue designing all their newer boards the same way to keep from confusing the fab.

And another thing at Micro: If they still use Molex connectors in their products, i'd bet they still install the wrong pins in them.
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Dave
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Re: More Stuff

Post by Dave »

AnotherFairportfan wrote:The result is that periodically i had to get all of one component - i think an SCR {it HAS been more than thirty years} - and test every one of them to find the ones that were BETTER than the spec so they could build working boards.
I had one like this hit a few years ago at TiVo... a handful of systems were crashing in "impossible" ways. All I could see that the crashes had in common, was that they all implied that the hardware's "mutex" mechanism wasn't working correctly.

It turned out that an earthquake in Japan had knocked a bunch of semiconductor factories offline for a few weeks, and the usual DRAM memory supplier had been out of stock. Purchasing substituted another model of DRAM chip, which meet the DDR2 timing specification. The CPU we were using ran right up to the very edge of the spec, especially for the atomic test-and-set instruction that the mutex mechanism used... and on some systems on a Thursday when the moon was full, the CPU was just a hair faster than the memory, and Bad Things Happened.

The really scary engineers are the ones who do a design, and depend on parts working well beyond the manufacturer specifications, and say it's ok because "We tested and measured a bunch and they work ok that way."

If you do this, the day will come when the manufacturer changes their process, or Purchasing sources a batch of "identical" parts from a different manufacturer, and all Hell breaks loose. The new parts meet the original specification just fine, but they don't work in your circuit. (And, if you're really lucky, you're the poor junior engineer who has to work overtime to clean up the mess.)
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Atomic
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Post by Atomic »

Maybe a "for comparison" story about Government contracts...

It seems (at least some) designs the Govt signs off on are To Limit rather than Or Better specifications, because that's so much cheaper, you see. The consequence of this is new parts carry the full rated load just fine, since they're new. However, things age (surprise!) and become less able to handle the load. And since the design wasn't to Or Better, there's no cushion for aging. So that 5 amp fuse which carries exactly 5 amps eventually gives out. Strangely, the whole rest of the circuit is still in spec, so you replace the fuse, and gradually it blows out again, sooner this time. And again, and again...

So, the old head Electronics Tech has a cure for all the new guys to understand and learn about this situation: He installs a 20 amp fuse and turns it back on. Gentle hum, louder hum, way loud hum, and finally, brzzzt, pop(s), and puff(s) of smoke. He pulls the fuse and tells the newbies to find and replace the parts that blew. Problem solved for the next few years -- until those parts age...
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Alkarii
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Re: More Stuff

Post by Alkarii »

I'm thinking the issue with my AR-10 is the bolt carrier itself, because the area just below the bolt, where the catch is supposed to contact the carrier, is really thin, less than a millimeter, so there's barely anything to catch. I'll have to look at the carrier for the AR-15 I'm building for comparison.

Edit: Yeah, the carrier for the 15 has a bit more for the bolt catch to, well, catch. At first, I thought the slope under the front of the carrier wasn't supposed to be at an angle, but it looks like they just ground it too much.
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jwhouk
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Re: More Stuff

Post by jwhouk »

This one is for Dave:

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Typeminer
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Post by Typeminer »

jwhouk wrote:This one is for Dave:
:shock: That's just . . . just . . . so PERFECT!

Slainte! :mrgreen:
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Dave
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Re: More Stuff

Post by Dave »

Well, if you lack a hot knife with which to cut your butter, and if you have a lot of butter to cut, this probably makes very good sense.

On the other hand, it may qualify as a cow tool.
ShneekeyTheLost
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Re: More Stuff

Post by ShneekeyTheLost »

Dave wrote:Well, if you lack a hot knife with which to cut your butter, and if you have a lot of butter to cut, this probably makes very good sense.

On the other hand, it may qualify as a cow tool.
I dunno, I hear chain-saws are pretty good...
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