"Spinner Stupidity"
by Bob Pastorello, February 5th, 2003
If you've ever spent a dollar to save a dime, then this tale will make you smile....
This is a true story and is offered here for your enlightenment and encouragement about our great hobby....
This tale is about Dave Brown Products, his service, and sense of humor.
Many of you read with interest, no doubt, my posts on the IMAC list about "how to drill a backplate". I got several VERY excellent replies, and will work to have that information available on my "Tips" pages soon.
In the meantime, though, I need to tell you about how a disaster was recovered by a great guy, with a terrific sense of humor....
When I decided to drill my shiny new Dave Brown 5" spinner, I really thought "this will be a piece of cake. I have the drill jig, drill press, AND a gen-u-wine 10 mm drill !!" What I *didn't* think about was how I can do something INCREDIBLY stupid trying to work in the model shop after a hard day's grind at my job. You've already guessed, but keep reading anyway....
SO. About 9:00pm, I finally get out there to do a little drilling. I got the backplate, drill jig, c-clamp, wood blocks, and set up the drill press. Remember that 10mm drill bit, too.
Put it all together, did some test drilling in an OLD backplate used for this purpose, and I was ready to go. Drilled a PERFECTLY centered and very accurate 10mm hole. Checked it on the drill jig. It was a little snug, so I thought, "well, maybe I put the wrong drill in the press. Let's see what I have. Ah...there it is...the OTHER large drill bit I own (not here anymore -BP)...I must have grabbed the wrong bit."
Chuck key and larger bit in hand, I removed the 10mm from the drill press, and very nicely installed the larger drill bit. Drilled my little test hole. Everything perfect - jigged up the DB backplate, rrrrrwwhhhmmmm, a new hole. Centered, smooth. Boy, this is GOOD !!!
Dropped the backplate on the ZDZ 80 shaft and OH MY GOD!!! WHY is there a 1/16" space AROUND the shaft??????? WHAT HAVE I DONE????
Well, I can tell you that about six seconds later, the SEVEN-SIXTEENTHS drill bit that I took OUT of the drill press went sailing across the yard/alley, and out into parts unknown. Okay, so that was a bit reactive....but the yelling and 4 letter words just didn't make me feel any better about my stupidity.
In case you haven't figured this out, a 10mm HOLE will not fit a 10mm jig, because there's no clearance. Duh. I'm a HR Trainer, not a machinist. When I found the hole snug, I ASSUMED I had the wrong bit in the drill press, grabbed the next larger, not remembering that it was for my Taurus motors at 7/16ths, and without giving it a thought drilled the wrong center hole.
Of course, undaunted by such sterling success, I figured I could work around that by just making certain the six-bolt hub holes were right. Well, I didn't have a 10MM bolt to wrap tape around, and DIDN'T ever ONCE think about using the shank of the 10mm drill bit and wrapping IT, so I started kluging together this weird array of a broken 10mm prop hub, some clamps, a few screws, and I had a deal I could put on the drill press and drill the six hub holes.
I drilled ALL six off center, because the kluge of prop hub and bolts SLIPPED. Just slightly. Enough that I had to enlarge two of the six holes. Of course, THAT meant that I would have not-a-clue where "center" was, so I just turned out the light, went to bed, and vowed to never touch a drill bit again.
Next day was brighter, the sun was out, work was tolerable, so I thought, "what the heck? Why not call Dave Brown, confess, and try to problem solve this?" I called, he was on the phone from Sally in about a minute, I confessed, we both laughed our asses off for a bit, and then he VERY good-naturedly found a spare 5" backplate, and offered to drill the center AND all six holes for the ZDZ 80 from his CNC setup. You don't think I refused, do you???
I would have paid almost ANY amount within reason to get me out of this mess, but Dave is just a guy that likes to have us happy, so he charged me $20 for the backplate AND drilling, and $5 shipping/handling. Everybody reading this should QUICKLY recognize that such a price is a mere pittance of the real value...think of the grief and sanity HIS work will mean for me!!!
You could do a lot worse than have a manufacturer have a sense of humor like Dave, and be so helpful. By the way, the backplate arrived ONE week after my phone call. That's pretty darn good.
The moral of the story? If you MUST be stupid, and inattentive, at least screw up products that have vendors like Dave Brown who will bail you out of the carnage.
Is this a GREAT hobby community, or what????