[rant] The really bad design thread

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What type of dog?
 
Mounted to a plastic radiator that’s going to leak after 7 years of use

My 1st computer science teacher in 1981 summed it up at the beginning of the 1st class I took from him. The Lecture started something like this...

Back when Henry Ford Designed the Model T, He mostly guessed at how strong to make the parts for it. Important parts he over built, while others were underbuilt.
As a result some part fell apart pretty quickly and other parts are still out the pasture still useable.
Now day we use computers to design cars as a result, so not our cars all fall apart at the same time.

Toyota seem to have the right idea (or least the did). I just changed the radiator in my 2001 Corolla (24 years on the radiator), due to a small crack in the top. The plastic drain valve worked just fine to.

Considering a Hybrid but if Toyota is still building good reliable cars, I don't quite understand why the only offer a 3yr/36000 mile warranty. I might try a Kia just because they at least claim to have better warranty and seem to have good reviews. I tend to keep cars 10-20+ years.

Brian
 
My 1st computer science teacher in 1981 summed it up at the beginning of the 1st class I took from him. The Lecture started something like this...

Back when Henry Ford Designed the Model T, He mostly guessed at how strong to make the parts for it. Important parts he over built, while others were underbuilt.
As a result some part fell apart pretty quickly and other parts are still out the pasture still useable.
Now day we use computers to design cars as a result, so not our cars all fall apart at the same time.

Toyota seem to have the right idea (or least the did). I just changed the radiator in my 2001 Corolla (24 years on the radiator), due to a small crack in the top. The plastic drain valve worked just fine to.

Considering a Hybrid but if Toyota is still building good reliable cars, I don't quite understand why the only offer a 3yr/36000 mile warranty. I might try a Kia just because they at least claim to have better warranty and seem to have good reviews. I tend to keep cars 10-20+ years.

Brian
My very favorite car (little sedan type) was a 2000 Chevy Prizm, which was basically a Corolla with a Chevy nameplate. It was fun to drive, and nearly indestructible. I redlined it, shifted without the clutch, took it through deep mud on jobsites, and generally thrashed it (it was a company car) and it just kept chugging along.

I wish I still had it. Or rather a slightly more modern incarnation of it. My current ride is a 2017 Sentra. I wish I had the manual transmission, but it has the CVT, which some people say is a ticking time bomb. So far it's been pretty good, and I'm pushing 90K. But I don't thrash it either.
 
Jake was a mixed breed rescue. We called him a chow mix. But he had a lot of the characteristics of an Akita or Shiba Inu.

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Great dog, and our recently adopted Shiba Inu GiGi reminds us both of a “mini” Jake.
Thought he looking somewhat Akitaish. We had Akitas for about 30 years.
 
The engine mount framework on my Musketeer is quite impressive. It's a real feat of engineering design to ensure that a piece of tubing interferes with access to at least one fastener on every component on the back of the engine: both mags, the vacuum pump, the oil screen, the fuel pump,....

In the 1960s I don't think anyone had ever heard of "design for maintainability."
 
Back when Henry Ford Designed the Model T, He mostly guessed at how strong to make the parts for it. Important parts he over built, while others were underbuilt.
As a result some part fell apart pretty quickly and other parts are still out the pasture still useable.
Now day we use computers to design cars as a result, so not our cars all fall apart at the same time.

Have you heard of the wonderful one-hoss shay,
That was built in such a logical way?

 
The engine mount framework on my Musketeer is quite impressive. It's a real feat of engineering design to ensure that a piece of tubing interferes with access to at least one fastener on every component on the back of the engine: both mags, the vacuum pump, the oil screen, the fuel pump,....

In the 1960s I don't think anyone had ever heard of "design for maintainability."
Maybe not in the 1960's, but I'd enter John Browning in the early 1900's for the 'yes we did'.
 
Good point. I should probably equip the plane with a machine gun so at least something would be easily maintainable.
Go for the Lewis overhead mount. You can pull the gun inside to work on it. And wouldn’t the Musketeer be cooler with a sunroof?
 
Go for the Lewis overhead mount. You can pull the gun inside to work on it. And wouldn’t the Musketeer be cooler with a sunroof?
IIRC, the Dawn Patrol guys near KC have Lewis gun replicas in thier Nieuport replicas. (Propane powered I think, but still really cool to hear at a show, and no Class III required.)
 
Maybe not in the 1960's, but I'd enter John Browning in the early 1900's for the 'yes we did'.
Yeah no kidding. The M2 .50 cal is still in service today. As of the mid 80's, no new production guns had been made since WWII. Same with the 1911.
 
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