Things You Have Seen Apprentices Do

[securespark]

This is from the States, but it prompted me to think about what silly things apprentices do. Have you got any stories to share?

 

[ericmark]

Never mind the apprentice, I remember being given plans to mount a box, one getting to the location I realised fitting the box would mean one could not access the valve with a huge operating wheel as it would be behind the box, so reported this, told to mount it anyway, but don't put in all the screws, and we will need to move it, and will get paid extra to relocate the box.

I saw this with many things, with tray work stopping and then continuing other side of a pipe for example.

Some one had clearly made a mistake, be it the planner, the pipe fitter, or the electrical team don't know, but one is given a plan, and that's what you follow. I could not believe it the first time I went to a house building site and was told two sockets in bedrooms etc with no instructions of exactly where they go.

OK we would get plans and then latter we would get as built plans which included all alterations, and we would get controlled and uncontrolled copies and would need to check the controlled copies for changes, but the way electricians worked building houses I would have been sacked wiring that way in the industrial units I was use to working in, wires left with no ID labels for example.

 

[conny]

I was teaching an apprentice armature winder. One day, as we were winding coils on a machine, we ran out of wire on the bobbin. I showed him hot to mount a new bobbin, slip some appropriate sleeving on to the wire and then twist the wires together. I explained that later we would braze the wires together to ensure continuity and then shrink the sleeving over the joint with a heat gun to insulate it. A short while later he asked me to trust him to wind the rest of the coils, so I did, but said if he had any problems to give me a shout.
Comes time to insert the coils into the stator and I show him how we do it, reminding him we have to braze that joint we made. So, did the joint before fitting the group of coil in. Watched him do the next one and then left him to it again. He was showing promise to be a decent winder.
Connection time comes up so I draw out the connections and explain why/how they are done then show him how to braze the joints, including the mains cables. Watch him while he does them, (using oxy-acetylene we would never leave an apprentice alone), then show him how to insulate and lash them to the coils neatly.
Testing. Showed him how we test the insulation resistance to earth first and then insulation between phases and everything is good. The we come to continuity. all 3 phases had an open circuit! So we undo all the lashings and start checking the connections, (again). Everything seemed in order so I asked if he had made another joint when winding the coils. Turns out he had, (he simply said 'yes'.). Find the joint and discover he had simply ties a granny knot and slid the insulation over. Fixed it correctly and decided to test for continuity again before lashing back down.
GOOD IDEA! Still had 3 open circuits so, after a few questions, I discovered there were numerous joints because either, he had run out of wire or he had snapped the wire by holding it too tight, (it was fine wire, about 0.18mm). All had been tied together in granny knots with insulation slid over them. Thankfully none had been done in the slot length of the coil. It was a nightmare to sort out after such a promising start. He gave up armature winding a few months later and left. Many years later we were to meet again when he came to look at a large submersible pump I was repairing for a customer. He was one of the Chief Inspection Engineers for North West Water. We got chatting and had a good laugh about the above incident. In the end he just said to my manager, "I don't need to see anymore. I know if Terry is doing the repairs, they will be spot on." My manager was a bit puzzled until we explained we knew each other from many years ago.