Post by Ron Rich on Mar 12, 2020 23:24:30 GMT
I wrote this in 2007-- ain't nothing's changed now that it's 2020 !
> I have a new theory on how "Electrick Stuff"
> works. This theory was called to my attention by
> the
> teller at my local bank. I'm not sure what prompted
> our conversation, but she mentioned her idea that
> all
> "Electrick Stuff" works on the fact that when these
> components "smoke" they are no longer any good. I
> then
> remembered that many components are made in a room
> where the air is tightly controlled. I explained to
> her that the air was clean so that no "dirt" could
> contaminate the product. We then went on to
> speculate
> as to how the smoke would get into the products. It
> was my theory that just the right amount of
> "smoke" must be introduced into the product at the
> time it was put into the heater for final
> assembly,
> after all, everything I can think of is heated to
> one
> degree or another. No ! , you say ? How about caps,
> you say. Yes ! I say. All caps have heat shrink on
> them---or a hot poured mylar--or how 'bout the
> "paper"
> style--no heat here, you say. O.K., but they had to
> press the ends together--that's gotta cause some
> heat,
> and, besides, those were made in the old days when
> they used a fireplace to heat the room. Maybe they
> blew just the correct amount of smoke into those
> things--how else would they be able to control the
> amount of microfarad's they put into them?
>
> Anyway all this discussion lead to the "smoke
> test" discussion. Somehow I began to explain
> that some people in my business would occasionally
> put
> an over sized fuse in a circuit, and apply power,
> in
> the effort to find the problem in that circuit. She
> asked "whats that ? I asked "what's what"? She said
> "over sized fuse"? I said "any fuse that is larger
> then the circuit is designed to have". She said
> "--it
> won't fit if it's too big". I said "no, I mean
> electrically too large". She contended that if the
> fuse would fit into the holder, it MUST be the
> right size.
>
> Fortunately for me, another customer entered
> the bank about this time, and even more
> fortunately,
> he stepped up behind me. I said "good by" and left
> the
> bank, as fast as I could.
>
> But, I have been thinking' this whole weekend
> about that conversation--and you know, the more I
> think about it, the "righter" it seems! The "smoke
> test" is sure based on this theory! I mean, why
> else
> would this test work? There must be some smoke
> inside
> of every electronic component! I can't think of
> one
> type of component that I have not seen in a
> "burned"
> condition. And I think that "Murphy's Law" may also
> apply here. Why else would it work fine in the shop
> (with the big fuse in it), and then "smoke" when
> the
> customer gets it (with the big fuse in it that you
> forgot to change )?
>
> This all leads to this conclusion (bet you
> are
> glad to see that, after having read this far!).
>
> ALL "LETRICK STUFF" OPERATES ON SMOKE. ONCE YOU
> LET THE SMOKE ESCAPE, THE "STUFF" (or whatever you
> want to call it), AIN'T NO MORE GOOD !!!
>
>
> Ron Rich
