[LargeFormat] lost in the carpet

[Richard Knoppow]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Les Newcomer" <lnphoto@twmi.rr.com>
To: <largeformat@f32.net>
Sent: Friday, February 07, 2003 11:30 AM
Subject: Re: [LargeFormat] lost in the carpet


>
> Uh oh here comes another war story from Les......
>
>
> In high school I got a job working for a one man shop that
repaired Radio
> controled equipment for the RC airplane hobby.  He was
also a second tier
> supplier of prototype electronics to Ford Motor Co.  I was
the kid that
> got to fill all of the PC boards for the Ford job.  My
'station' was with
> the rest of the company-one other employee- in his
basement.  The place
> had been finished as a rumpus room beofre he went into
business and he
> hadn't Hoovered the high pile carpet since.  I  think the
carpet was
> monotone but with 5 years of bits of wire both bare and
multi-colored
> insulation, it was a riot of pattern.
>
> One item that was spec'd was a 1 ohm .1%, non inductive
resistor.  He
> couldn't find it anywhere. So he spent the better part of
the day making
> one with a lenght of nichrome wire, a couple of bare
copper leads and a
> wheatstone bridge with his very expensive digital volt
meter.
>
> He laid two of these resistors on my desk next to the
iron.  Within 5
> minutes I had brushed one off onto the floor. Talk about
looking for a
> grain of sand at the beach!  The boss's blood pressure
was already up and
> if I spent any time on my knees he would have figured out
what had
> happened and fired me on the spot. Knowing that I was
doomed already, I
> did the only thing that came to my mind. I put the other
piece on the
> table and brushed it with my elbow, watching this
time..... it landed on
> top of the first.  Whew!!!
>
> Now whenever I start to open a shutter I make sure the dog
is locked
> upstairs the kid is at school or in bed and I lay white
butcher paper on
> the floor.
>
> Les
>
>
  I find with shutters and other small stuff its helpful to
work in half a printing paper box of the sort that 500
sheets come in. Its still possible for springs to fly off
into the forth dimension but its a lot harder to push stuff
on the floor.