Today's screwdrivers

[squonk 41,589]

I am overhauling the mechanisms in the pneumatic tube system at the hospital I work at. These are similar to the systems banks use in their drive up windows but larger and more complex.

 

The older versions are a welded frame and just removing a motor is a matter of simply removing 2 11/32" nuts in the front and loosening 2 in the back. 

 

On the new extruded frame models which we have 6 of they changed the design. The 2 screws in the back are accessible with a tiny no. 2 Phillips and even tinier No. 2 hands. So I got a no. 2 bit, 15" 1/4 dr. extension and a 1/4" flex socket. Epoxied the bit into the socket and put the handyman's 2nd secret weapon (Electrical Tape) around the flex joint of the socket to stiffen it. I only need to turn the screws about a turn and a half to get the motor out. This way I can replace the motor with out removing the entire motor and dispatcher plate out of the wall. There is no way to get your hands in there with it inside the station.

Edited Wednesday at 06:38 PM by squonk

[ebinmaine 68,729]

6 minutes ago, squonk said:

This way I can replace the motor with out removing the entire motor and dispatcher plate out of the wall

Neat trick! 

[squonk 41,589]

2 minutes ago, ebinmaine said:

Neat trick! 

Save about 2 hours and the nurses don't get as cranky!! I'm swapping out entire assemblies and overhauling them and putting them back in another station. Saves about 8 hrs. of downtime

Edited Wednesday at 04:18 PM by squonk

[adsm08 2,214]

2 hours ago, squonk said:

I am overhauling the mechanisms in the pneumatic tube system at the hospital I work at. These are similar to the systems banks use in their drive up windows but larger and more complex.

 

The older versions are a welded frame and just removing a motor is a matter of simply removing 2 11/32" nuts in the front and loosening 2 in the back. 

 

On he new extruded frame models which we have 6 of they changed the design. The 2 screws in the back are accessible with a tiny no. 2 Phillips and even tinier No. 2 hands. So I got a no. 2 bit, 15" 1/4 dr. extension and a 1/4" flex socket. Epoxied the bit into the socket and put the handyman's 2nd secret weapon (Electrical Tape) around the flex joint of the socket to stiffen it. I only need to turn the screws about a turn and a half to get the motor out. This way I can replace the motor with out removing the entire motor and dispatcher plate out of the wall. There is no way to get your hands in there with it inside the station.

 

That reminds me if a rig I built about 10 years back to take rear door panels off the Gen 2 Escapes with the door closed.

 

The latches would work themselves screwy and get stuck halfway between child-lock and child not-lock which meant the door wouldn't open from the inside or outside, and the only way to open it was to remove the panel and pop the latch from inside the door. Problem is there is one big #2 screw holding the bottom of the panel, and it goes in vertically.

 

I ground down a bit and taped it into a very thin wrench I had. I was slow and not fun, but the customer's usually preferred paying the extra 1/2 hour labor to buying a $350 panel that I now didn't have to destroy.