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| The control panel has to fit through the hole... |
Louis Shalako.
I've been alone in the shop since about
October, and the routine cleaning jobs sort of fall by the wayside. A bit of
help makes a big difference. What's interesting is the empty shelf. With a
shit-load of totes, you can't really get in there without pulling them
out--something which offers a real psychological hurdle, to a certain type. Or maybe I've just been putting it off.
With several freezers pumping out heat, a/c
goes in pretty early in our #superdough
shop. I put one in today, and the next one goes in when I get a chance.
What I need is a surplus of time, or
doughballs. We do have some help, for however long or short that lasts...
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| Sweep out them corners... |
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Routine Maintenance.
The challenge with the control panel, is that it has to go back in through the hole in order to get the cover off. For that reason, I pull the knob off the timer, and I've also been thinking of grinding a little section to make the hole bigger. The gearbox tends to pick up grease and stuff it into the top of the chamber, to the extent that grease is coming out of the upper bearing on the main shaft. This is actually different from the pulley shaft. All I can do is try and get that out with a bit of paper towel, poking it around with a screwdriver, hopefully keeping that off the drive belt. Okay, looking at the duct tape on the micro-switch for the stop button: the wire broke off, the metal tab is still in the slot, along with the tip of a jack-knife, which I broke off trying to get the metal tab out. All I could do was to shove the wire in and hold it with tape. For safety, the machine will not run without that wire attached, in a simple feedback / safety loop.
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| The PDF has links right to the store. |
So, there is current going through the stop button. Push the button, it kills the current. This shuts her down, and it won’t start up as there is a relay on the start button. It’s a momentary switch, no matter how quickly you lift off, she will not restart herself. Even with the carriage lever in the ‘up’ position, the lever has a micro-switch which must be engaged or she just ain’t going to go. The mixing bowl sits in the carriage, clamped in due to the forces of torque, with heavy dough and that big spiral hook going around to mix it.
Try explaining this to someone who honestly believes we should spend $12,000.00 on a brand-new machine. Why don’t we just try to learn how to operate the one we have, right…??? Right?
We had a little problem with the machine. It made noise, it spat a little grease, we destroyed a couple of loads of pizza dough due to contamination. Unfortunate, but it happens. Here's an interesting thing. We've been pumping grease into the machine for fourteen years. The machine makes a noise, we put grease into it. I asked the Boss where does the grease go? Where does all the grease go, ladies and gentlemen. Of course the Boss didn't know. The answer is that it doesn't go anywhere. Every bit of grease that we ever put in there is still in there: no wonder the thing is shoving grease out the top end, no wonder it goops out and scares the hell out of us once in a while...I haven't put grease into the machine since December 2022. I poke the grease in the gearbox down with a screwdriver. I wipe the grease off the screwdriver with a paper towel. I have been removing grease for over a year and a half at this point...the machine runs fine.
Yet any little problem is serious, but then this is how we make our money.
There is a company in London, Ontario, who will charge $220.00 to drive down to Sarnia, have a quick look, and then turn around and go back to London, at which time we get to set up an appointment, an appointment for them to again charge $220.00 to come down again, and maybe do something with the machine. Presumably, this would involve taking it apart in some exploratory operation. Assuming they find anything at all, they would put it back together again, duh, go back to London, order some parts, at Darwin knows what kind of a price. Then they would come back, charging $220.00 just for the drive, and spend Darwin knows how long taking it apart, sticking in a new part which it may or may not actually need, and which may or may not actually solve the problem, and after that, we’re on our own again. The hourly rate is comparable to any auto repair shop, or any service in the mechanical trades. In other words, it ain’t cheap.
We’re already on our own, and my way seems to be a bit cheaper, ladies and gentlemen…the truth is, no one really wants to fuck with the machine. It’s a greasy job, and the truth is, the thing runs fine. In that sense, they’re absolutely correct. Why fuck with it if you don’t have to.
***
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| Duct-tape the hell out of it... |
Quick Notes.
The motor runs on 110V, the electronic guts run on 12V, which means there is an internal power supply of 12V. This is probably a simple step-down coil, as for the relay, you can hear it ‘snap’ when you push the start button.
The motor has a thermal overload. Overload the machine, the motor gets hot and automatically shuts down. It won’t start up again until it cools down sufficiently. This scares the shit out of the employees, but just try and get them to carefully weigh the load.
Just try to get them to try and not run the machine constantly, fuck, slow down, finish one job before you start the next. Its simple human nature: they figure if they go fast, they can clear the building a half an hour early and still get paid the same. Fuck, if we wanted them on piecework, we would have asked for piecework.
Like I said, it’s only human nature, which is sometimes incomprehensible when you consider that if you stick around for another half hour, wash a few totes, sweep a bit of floor or whatever, you would get another half an hour’s pay…you’re always complaining about money, right…
Try telling them that.
It’s like they just can’t listen sometimes.
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| It's not that hard. |
END
Resources:
Louis Shalako has books and stories available from iTunes.
Thank you for reading.
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