On Tue, 18 Jan 2011 19:36:59 -0800, Rich Grise
wrote:

Don Foreman wrote:
On Mon, 17 Jan 2011 15:07:07 -0500, "Michael A. Terrell"

Jim, the MC68340 was on .015" centers, with 288 pins. I hand
soldered a lot of them on the test line, and changed a few by hand
rather than wait for rework to use their hot air station. Solder
bridges are no big problem if you run a thin bead of RMA flux down the
row, then put a drop of fresh solder on the tip of the iron. Hold the
board at a 45 degree angle, then run the drop of solder down the row of
pins.

Is the board tilted so "down" goes crossways over pins, or in the
direction that the pins point?

About 45 degrees; a little of both, plus about 45 degrees to Z. Think,
corner of board on bench, tilted back so you're looking straight at it
from your stool.

Cheers!
Rich

I think good electronic techs and modelmakers are greatly under-rated
and unappreciated contributors. They sure were at the corporation
where I worked as an engineer, manager and research puke for many
years.

Don Foreman wrote:
On Tue, 18 Jan 2011 19:36:59 -0800, Rich Grise
Don Foreman wrote:

Is the board tilted so "down" goes crossways over pins, or in the
direction that the pins point?

About 45 degrees; a little of both, plus about 45 degrees to Z. Think,
corner of board on bench, tilted back so you're looking straight at it
from your stool.

I think good electronic techs and modelmakers are greatly under-rated
and unappreciated contributors. They sure were at the corporation
where I worked as an engineer, manager and research puke for many
years.

I shouldn't have read this now - I just saw ST:TNG "Lower Decks," and it
made me emote. Here's the ep synopsis: http://sttng.epguides.info/?ID=341

Howcome they had to kill off the hot Bajoran babe? )-;

And then you come up with this - I think my head is going to explode.

Thanks!
Rich

Don Foreman wrote:

I think good electronic techs and modelmakers are greatly under-rated
and unappreciated contributors. They sure were at the corporation
where I worked as an engineer, manager and research puke for many
years.

Management puts us into one of two boxes:

1) Invisible
2) Dangerous



--Winston

Winston wrote:

Don Foreman wrote:

I think good electronic techs and modelmakers are greatly under-rated
and unappreciated contributors. They sure were at the corporation
where I worked as an engineer, manager and research puke for many
years.

Management puts us into one of two boxes:

1) Invisible
2) Dangerous


Three boxes:

3) Banned from engineering for life.


--
You can't fix stupid. You can't even put a band-aid on it, because it's
Teflon coated.

On Wed, 19 Jan 2011 12:43:59 -0800, Winston
wrote:

Don Foreman wrote:

I think good electronic techs and modelmakers are greatly under-rated
and unappreciated contributors. They sure were at the corporation
where I worked as an engineer, manager and research puke for many
years.

Management puts us into one of two boxes:

1) Invisible
2) Dangerous



WHAT? Management actually got something correct for a change?
thud

--
Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air...
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

On Wed, 19 Jan 2011 16:24:39 -0500, "Michael A. Terrell"
wrote:


Winston wrote:

Don Foreman wrote:

I think good electronic techs and modelmakers are greatly under-rated
and unappreciated contributors. They sure were at the corporation
where I worked as an engineer, manager and research puke for many
years.

Management puts us into one of two boxes:

1) Invisible
2) Dangerous


Three boxes:

3) Banned from engineering for life.

Being an incorrigable maverick, when I was a manager I took a
different tack. I tried to promote my high-talent techs to
engineering grades because their contributions deserved that level of
compensation and respect. A diploma does not make one an engineer any
more than a uniform makes one a soldier. Results are what count.
HR about **** a brick. You can't do that, they don't have the
credentials, yammer yammer. I said designing and prototyping
competition-beating products and winning patents looked like
qualifications to me, did they disagree and would they so advise the
results-oriented VP?

Wull wull wull ...

So they came up with a parallel career path called "technologist"
where the pay grades were the same as graded engineers up to a point,
like warrant officers and commissioned officers, W-1 thru W-4 vs O-1
thru O-4. A W-4 Chief Warrant Officer gets the same pay as a gold oak
leaf O-4 major or Navy lt cmdr. He has no command responsibility,
he's a technical contributor or operator.

Transition from technician to technologist was by no means an
entitlement with seniority, it had to be earned by merit and only a
few did.

My little band of mavericks confounded HR and some of management
because, as a group, we far exceeded all other org entities in:

percentage of non-degreed significant technical contributors
corporate technical achievement awards
diversity
percentage of veterans
percentage of members who'd won patents (all tech contributors)
retention (zero voluntary turnover)
projects completed on time within budget
having fun at work

Then there was a re-org that involved more politics than reason and my
skunkworks and I got nuked. But it lasted for 15 years and we had one
hell of a good time while it lasted.

Don Foreman wrote:

On Wed, 19 Jan 2011 16:24:39 -0500, "Michael A. Terrell"
wrote:


Winston wrote:

Don Foreman wrote:

I think good electronic techs and modelmakers are greatly under-rated
and unappreciated contributors. They sure were at the corporation
where I worked as an engineer, manager and research puke for many
years.

Management puts us into one of two boxes:

1) Invisible
2) Dangerous


Three boxes:

3) Banned from engineering for life.

Being an incorrigable maverick, when I was a manager I took a
different tack. I tried to promote my high-talent techs to
engineering grades because their contributions deserved that level of
compensation and respect. A diploma does not make one an engineer any
more than a uniform makes one a soldier. Results are what count.
HR about **** a brick. You can't do that, they don't have the
credentials, yammer yammer. I said designing and prototyping
competition-beating products and winning patents looked like
qualifications to me, did they disagree and would they so advise the
results-oriented VP?

Wull wull wull ...

So they came up with a parallel career path called "technologist"
where the pay grades were the same as graded engineers up to a point,
like warrant officers and commissioned officers, W-1 thru W-4 vs O-1
thru O-4. A W-4 Chief Warrant Officer gets the same pay as a gold oak
leaf O-4 major or Navy lt cmdr. He has no command responsibility,
he's a technical contributor or operator.

Transition from technician to technologist was by no means an
entitlement with seniority, it had to be earned by merit and only a
few did.

My little band of mavericks confounded HR and some of management
because, as a group, we far exceeded all other org entities in:

percentage of non-degreed significant technical contributors
corporate technical achievement awards
diversity
percentage of veterans
percentage of members who'd won patents (all tech contributors)
retention (zero voluntary turnover)
projects completed on time within budget
having fun at work

Then there was a re-org that involved more politics than reason and my
skunkworks and I got nuked. But it lasted for 15 years and we had one
hell of a good time while it lasted.

Good for you, and those involved.

When I first started at my last job, techs were not supposed to speak
to management or engineering, unless asked a question. My second week
on the job someone interrupted my work, to ask me a stupid question. I
looked up and asked, Who are you? Why are you bothering me? I have
work to do. He turned red and left, only to return a few minutes later
with my boss. My boss was red faced and asked me, "What the hell! Why
did you blow off the head of production?" I looked up and said, "So
that's who he is? He was interrupting my work, and didn't identify
himself. You told me that no information was to be given to anyone
without knowing who and what they were." Both turned bright red, then
the head of production started laughing. He admitted that he hadn't
identified himself, or gave any indication of who he was. My boss was
still upset, but I asked him, "Would you rather me talk to people, or
work?" He just turned red again, and walked away.

I was the most productive tech there at that time. I was transferred
to engineering at one point to prepare the company's most advanced
design from a couple hand built prototypes, into a manufacturable
product. I made design changes, wrote test procedures and built test
fixtures. I had a reputation for not taking 'NO' for an answer, and
doing the job right. I found out later that my boss had tried to
embarrass me and get me fired when he transferred me, but it backfired.
I forced manufacturing to refine their reflow process, and upgrade the
rework tools with things like requesting a sample of Multicore .015"
Rework solder from one of our vendors. As soon as the rework line heard
about it, (I cut had some six foot pieces for each of the ladies off my
spool) they marched into the ME office and demanded some for their
bench. Soon, it was all over the plant. That improved solder quality,
and reduced damaged traces. I went to management to complain about too
many solder balls under ICs. This was caused by the typical, We've
always done it that way! They were still buying the same paste solder
they had started Reflow manufacturing with. The balls were for 0816
surface mount parts. Then they bought a new reflow oven that could
store a profile per build. I ended up embarrassing my boss by the
improvements to the entire product line.


--
You can't fix stupid. You can't even put a band-aid on it, because it's
Teflon coated.

Don Foreman wrote:
On Wed, 19 Jan 2011 16:24:39 -0500, "Michael A. Terrell"
wrote:


Winston wrote:

Don Foreman wrote:

I think good electronic techs and modelmakers are greatly under-rated
and unappreciated contributors. They sure were at the corporation
where I worked as an engineer, manager and research puke for many
years.

Management puts us into one of two boxes:

1) Invisible
2) Dangerous


Three boxes:

3) Banned from engineering for life.

That's a result of getting placed in 'box #2'.
AMHIKT

Being an incorrigable maverick, when I was a manager I took a
different tack. I tried to promote my high-talent techs to
engineering grades because their contributions deserved that level of
compensation and respect. A diploma does not make one an engineer any
more than a uniform makes one a soldier. Results are what count.
HR about **** a brick. You can't do that, they don't have the
credentials, yammer yammer. I said designing and prototyping
competition-beating products and winning patents looked like
qualifications to me, did they disagree and would they so advise the
results-oriented VP?

Wull wull wull ...

So they came up with a parallel career path called "technologist"
where the pay grades were the same as graded engineers up to a point,
like warrant officers and commissioned officers, W-1 thru W-4 vs O-1
thru O-4. A W-4 Chief Warrant Officer gets the same pay as a gold oak
leaf O-4 major or Navy lt cmdr. He has no command responsibility,
he's a technical contributor or operator.

Transition from technician to technologist was by no means an
entitlement with seniority, it had to be earned by merit and only a
few did.

My little band of mavericks confounded HR and some of management
because, as a group, we far exceeded all other org entities in:

percentage of non-degreed significant technical contributors
corporate technical achievement awards
diversity
percentage of veterans
percentage of members who'd won patents (all tech contributors)
retention (zero voluntary turnover)
projects completed on time within budget
having fun at work

Then there was a re-org that involved more politics than reason and my
skunkworks and I got nuked. But it lasted for 15 years and we had one
hell of a good time while it lasted.

Good on ya, Don. Sometimes intelligence and bravery
are rewarded.

You can bet all your people look back on that time with
great fondness and respect.

--Winston

On Jan 20, 9:01*am, Winston wrote:
...
Good on ya, Don. *Sometimes intelligence and bravery
are rewarded.

--Winston-

And sometimes they merely provoke envy.

Jim Wilkins wrote:
On Jan 20, 9:01 am, wrote:
...
Good on ya, Don. Sometimes intelligence and bravery
are rewarded.

--Winston-

And sometimes they merely provoke envy.

Yes, that is the normal response.

Most often expressed as the sort of destructive
behavior for which we discipline two-year-olds
and incarcerate teenagers for life.

In Industry, that arrogance and viciousness
is considered admirable, for some unknown reason.

--Winston -- That is, back when we had 'Industry'.

On Thu, 20 Jan 2011 06:01:06 -0800, Winston
wrote:

Don Foreman wrote:
--snip--
Then there was a re-org that involved more politics than reason and my
skunkworks and I got nuked. But it lasted for 15 years and we had one
hell of a good time while it lasted.

Good on ya, Don. Sometimes intelligence and bravery
are rewarded.

You can bet all your people look back on that time with
great fondness and respect.

Dittoes, Don. Congrats on creating an environment where you and your
fellow workers could thrive happily and be much more productive than
the typical corporate mice.

Damn the cubicles. Full speed ahead!

--
Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air...
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

On Thu, 20 Jan 2011 06:01:06 -0800, Winston
wrote:

Don Foreman wrote:
On Wed, 19 Jan 2011 16:24:39 -0500, "Michael A. Terrell"
wrote:


Winston wrote:

Don Foreman wrote:

I think good electronic techs and modelmakers are greatly under-rated
and unappreciated contributors. They sure were at the corporation
where I worked as an engineer, manager and research puke for many
years.

Management puts us into one of two boxes:

1) Invisible
2) Dangerous


Three boxes:

3) Banned from engineering for life.

That's a result of getting placed in 'box #2'.
AMHIKT

Being an incorrigable maverick, when I was a manager I took a
different tack. I tried to promote my high-talent techs to
engineering grades because their contributions deserved that level of
compensation and respect. A diploma does not make one an engineer any
more than a uniform makes one a soldier. Results are what count.
HR about **** a brick. You can't do that, they don't have the
credentials, yammer yammer. I said designing and prototyping
competition-beating products and winning patents looked like
qualifications to me, did they disagree and would they so advise the
results-oriented VP?

Wull wull wull ...

So they came up with a parallel career path called "technologist"
where the pay grades were the same as graded engineers up to a point,
like warrant officers and commissioned officers, W-1 thru W-4 vs O-1
thru O-4. A W-4 Chief Warrant Officer gets the same pay as a gold oak
leaf O-4 major or Navy lt cmdr. He has no command responsibility,
he's a technical contributor or operator.

Transition from technician to technologist was by no means an
entitlement with seniority, it had to be earned by merit and only a
few did.

My little band of mavericks confounded HR and some of management
because, as a group, we far exceeded all other org entities in:

percentage of non-degreed significant technical contributors
corporate technical achievement awards
diversity
percentage of veterans
percentage of members who'd won patents (all tech contributors)
retention (zero voluntary turnover)
projects completed on time within budget
having fun at work

Then there was a re-org that involved more politics than reason and my
skunkworks and I got nuked. But it lasted for 15 years and we had one
hell of a good time while it lasted.

Good on ya, Don. Sometimes intelligence and bravery
are rewarded.

You can bet all your people look back on that time with
great fondness and respect.

--Winston

Oh yeah! I retired 12 years ago but I still see some of the crew now
and then. Mary corresponds almost daily with Jan, the wife of one of
"my guys".

Don Foreman wrote:
On Thu, 20 Jan 2011 06:01:06 -0800,
wrote:

(...)

Good on ya, Don. Sometimes intelligence and bravery
are rewarded.

You can bet all your people look back on that time with
great fondness and respect.

--Winston

Oh yeah! I retired 12 years ago but I still see some of the crew now
and then. Mary corresponds almost daily with Jan, the wife of one of
"my guys".

That is the way it should be.
Well done.

--Winston

Larry Jaques wrote:

On Thu, 20 Jan 2011 06:01:06 -0800, Winston
wrote:

Don Foreman wrote:
--snip--
Then there was a re-org that involved more politics than reason and my
skunkworks and I got nuked. But it lasted for 15 years and we had one
hell of a good time while it lasted.

Good on ya, Don. Sometimes intelligence and bravery
are rewarded.

You can bet all your people look back on that time with
great fondness and respect.

Dittoes, Don. Congrats on creating an environment where you and your
fellow workers could thrive happily and be much more productive than
the typical corporate mice.

Damn the cubicles. Full speed ahead!


They stuck you in a cubical? I had three 4' X 8' workbenches,
multiple carts stacked high with test equipment, a stereo microscope on
another cart, and industrial steel shelving loaded down with databooks.
They didn't have a cubicle big enough for all my stuff.


--
You can't fix stupid. You can't even put a band-aid on it, because it's
Teflon coated.

On Jan 20, 6:17*pm, "Michael A. Terrell"
wrote:
Larry Jaques wrote:

On Thu, 20 Jan 2011 06:01:06 -0800, Winston
wrote:

Don Foreman wrote:
--snip--
Then there was a re-org that involved more politics than reason and my
skunkworks and I got nuked. *But it lasted for 15 years and we had one
hell of a good time while it lasted.

Good on ya, Don. *Sometimes intelligence and bravery
are rewarded.

You can bet all your people look back on that time with
great fondness and respect.

Dittoes, Don. *Congrats on creating an environment where you and your
fellow workers could thrive happily and be much more productive than
the typical corporate mice.

*Damn the cubicles. Full speed ahead!

* *They stuck you in a cubical? *I had three 4' X 8' workbenches,
multiple carts stacked high with test equipment, a stereo microscope on
another cart, and industrial steel shelving loaded down with databooks.
They didn't have a cubicle big enough for all my stuff.


I had a room 24' square, possibly the largest office at MITRE, but
back by the boiler room like Dan Ackroyd's in Spies Like Us.

jsw

Jim Wilkins wrote:

On Jan 20, 6:17 pm, "Michael A. Terrell"
wrote:
Larry Jaques wrote:

On Thu, 20 Jan 2011 06:01:06 -0800, Winston
wrote:

Don Foreman wrote:
--snip--
Then there was a re-org that involved more politics than reason and my
skunkworks and I got nuked. But it lasted for 15 years and we had one
hell of a good time while it lasted.

Good on ya, Don. Sometimes intelligence and bravery
are rewarded.

You can bet all your people look back on that time with
great fondness and respect.

Dittoes, Don. Congrats on creating an environment where you and your
fellow workers could thrive happily and be much more productive than
the typical corporate mice.

Damn the cubicles. Full speed ahead!

They stuck you in a cubical? I had three 4' X 8' workbenches,
multiple carts stacked high with test equipment, a stereo microscope on
another cart, and industrial steel shelving loaded down with databooks.
They didn't have a cubicle big enough for all my stuff.


I had a room 24' square, possibly the largest office at MITRE, but
back by the boiler room like Dan Ackroyd's in Spies Like Us.


I had the left rear corner of the 200' * 200' building. I had more
space than three of the engineering offices, combined. The boss told me
he gave me that area because I was hard to get along with. I told him I
didn't like the people who took too many smoke breaks, and goofed off
when there was work to be done. They didn't like me because I generally
completed over 200% more jobs per week. When they would complain I
would tell them "I was hired to do a job, not win a popularity contest."



--
You can't fix stupid. You can't even put a band-aid on it, because it's
Teflon coated.