So I live in military barracks and i have a shitty fridge in my room. It started making this horrible noise, and out of desperation I landed a solid right hook to the side of it. Like magic, the noise stopped. This has happened numerous times in my life. Something is broken, and some brute force fixes it. What happens inside that could solve the problem from percussive force?
In: 239
In aviation we have this joke: “if brute force doesn’t work you are not using enough”
Now, all in all, force is not the answer to a technical issue. But sometimes you can fix even computers with impacts. The real deal is that as a technician you are supposed to investigate why the impact fixed it, and do a permanete proper repair, or replacement.
Most common reasons:
Air systems: air is dirty, dust and moisture can build up substantially thick layers onto moving parts to the point of clogging the part or locking a moving part. A hit can temporarily fix it by making the layer fall off. Real Fix: disassemble and clean it.
Mechanical systems: sliding parts tend to erode one another, dents may be created by friction and the part jams. A hit will move the stuck part away fro the dent. Proper fix: replace the worn out surface.
Noises: devices are subject to vibrations, and thermal expansion. In both cases, parts will contact one another, and make noise. Kicking it may move a part to a new location and the noise is not generated anymore. Proper fix: open the device, install Teflon tape to limit the chafing of certain parts, easy to spot, chafing makes a black dust as residue, if you see two parts in contact with back dust around the spot, separate the two parts, determine if they need to be replaced, if not, install Teflon tape so they stil stay in contact but without generating noise or wear. If the noise comes from a fan, check the fan for contact with case, fix it, check fan balance, if off balance, replace it. If bearing are the problems, replace those. For thermal expansion noises, generally Teflon tape is ok. For parts that may be bent or secured to a new position, do it. Never bend pipelines unless you are trained for that type of lines.
Always separate wiring from casing if found chafing. You may find this while fixing something else. Don’t ignore it. You see it you fix it. Fires and sudden failures will occur otherwise. Sooner or later and generally by Murphy Law, exactly when you need that device the most. Separation for wires may be physically displace it away or by inserting Teflon tape or similar protection tape. Paper tape and electric tape do not offer any long term protection from chafing.
Computers: bad news, if kicking it does fix it, it means thermal stress have cracked some contact. Your kick just managed to move that diode or whatever back to contact. It will fail again and again. Replace. Unless you are a professional repair man, you can just replace the whole computer. For computer I mean anything. From an I-pad to a thermal sight or radio or a weapon’s computer. Computer will never go back to be reliable by brute force or field repair. Even the simplest fix needs a professional shop repair. Or you get an even less reliable computer out of it. I bet as a military you would agree that a serviceable bow is better than a rifle that fires one day but not another. Scrap that computer.
For military use: you probably have to follow what I say in the spirit of what I say, but use whatever substitute you can find. Common sense and a bit of genius can do the trick.
Example: My fix for a tractor with an awfullly old battery, and a semi functioning starter, was to simply remove the protection of the shaft-mounted cooling fan, hit the fan with a log while my mate was holding the start button. It worked until we got a new battery.
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