*Pft*

11th June 2008 – 8.23 am

Cor, it wasn't even 9 am before I had induced a failure in some expensive electronic equipment during formal vibration testing. It took me longer to set-up the test and update the test log than it did to run the test.

It's going to be a good day!

  1. 2 Responses to “*Pft*”

  2. *Pft* is a bit low-key as a noise of failure; *BANG* makes you feel more like you've achieved something. Or flames :-) The electron microscope used to fail with a tiny *tink*, but the most I manage these days is a muffled *sod* from next door if I do something Really Bad to the database.

    By BugBot on Jun 11, 2008

  3. Sadly, I pretty much imagined the *pft* noise, partly because our industrial shakers make more noise than the legal working limit, and partly because most electronic failures are silent. It's only when power rails fail that there is anything approaching an explosion occurs, and then there's a chance of smoke. Otherwise, electronics just tend to stop working. There have been a few items I've tested that have failed dramatically, and those have been mechanical failures, also without bangs.

    Now, as for *BANG*s, that's when our equipment fails. Yes, I've had our own gear blow up on me a few times too, and that has tended to be far more dramatic, what with 100 kW power amplifiers and water cooled magnetic coils failing. It's not as much fun professionally when that happens, though.

    By pjharvey on Jun 11, 2008

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