[rant] The really bad design thread

FastEddieB said:
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What type of dog?
 
Old97 said:
Mounted to a plastic radiator that’s going to leak after 7 years of use
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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
 
brcase said:
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
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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.
 
FastEddieB said:
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.
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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."
 
brcase said:
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.
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Have you heard of the wonderful one-hoss shay,
That was built in such a logical way?

 
Half Fast said:
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."
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Maybe not in the 1960's, but I'd enter John Browning in the early 1900's for the 'yes we did'.
 
Half Fast said:
Good point. I should probably equip the plane with a machine gun so at least something would be easily maintainable.
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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?
 
jsstevens said:
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?
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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.)
 
Albany Tom said:
Maybe not in the 1960's, but I'd enter John Browning in the early 1900's for the 'yes we did'.
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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.
 
I’ve often thought a two-lane highway is a bad design. Two cars passing within mere feet of each other at high speed. I get it, it’s cheaper to build one wide lane instead of two.
 
The two lane roundabout is a horrible design. I'm fine with roundabouts, but multi lane roundabouts really screw me up and there are accidents on them all the time because people are confused about which lane to be in and have to cut over to get to the correct one.
 
Timbeck2 said:
I’ve often thought a two-lane highway is a bad design. Two cars passing within mere feet of each other at high speed. I get it, it’s cheaper to build one wide lane instead of two.
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In Europe they have 2 lane roads with slightly wide shoulders. When someone wants to pass, they pull to the middle. The person being passed, slides over on the shoulder and on coming drivers do the same, making a temp 3 lane road. :D
 
Sac Arrow said:
The two lane roundabout is a horrible design. I'm fine with roundabouts, but multi lane roundabouts really screw me up and there are accidents on them all the time because people are confused about which lane to be in and have to cut over to get to the correct one.
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OTOH, they work GREAT in places where the drivers know what they are doing. So not a bad design, bad drivers.

In Scotland, many have lane markings to tell you which lane to be in for which exit.
 
Sac Arrow said:
The two lane roundabout is a horrible design. I'm fine with roundabouts, but multi lane roundabouts really screw me up and there are accidents on them all the time because people are confused about which lane to be in and have to cut over to get to the correct one.
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How about this one?

 
Sac Arrow said:
The two lane roundabout is a horrible design. I'm fine with roundabouts, but multi lane roundabouts really screw me up and there are accidents on them all the time because people are confused about which lane to be in and have to cut over to get to the correct one.
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I dunno, a roundabout that's solidly two lanes is easy enough. Straight or left goes in the left/inside lane, straight or right goes in the right/outside lane. It's when there's lanes being added and removed on the way around that it can get confusing.
Pinecone said:
In Europe they have 2 lane roads with slightly wide shoulders. When someone wants to pass, they pull to the middle. The person being passed, slides over on the shoulder and on coming drivers do the same, making a temp 3 lane road. :D
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In the Netherlands, where there are far more bikes than cars, there are roads that are about the width of a two-lane road here, but they're single lane in the center, in both directions, for cars, with a half-lane on each side for bikes. If two cars are converging from opposite directions, they have to move over into the bike lanes, but bikes have right of way.


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The problem with roundabouts in the US is I sometimes forget if I am supposed to go clockwise or counter clockwise, so I end up doing this...

 
Zeldman said:
The problem with roundabouts in the US is I sometimes forget if I am supposed to go clockwise or counter clockwise, so I end up doing this...

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When I was in college, the city I was living in started installing small roundabouts to replace four-way stops. But with everything there being built to an older (smaller) standard, they decided to not put a curb in the center circle, and pave it with stones so that emergency vehicles could simply slow down and drive through. the center.

I bet you can guess what happened. (Uncertain why they didn't.)
 
flyingcheesehead said:
I dunno, a roundabout that's solidly two lanes is easy enough. Straight or left goes in the left/inside lane, straight or right goes in the right/outside lane. It's when there's lanes being added and removed on the way around that it can get confusing.

In the Netherlands, where there are far more bikes than cars, there are roads that are about the width of a two-lane road here, but they're single lane in the center, in both directions, for cars, with a half-lane on each side for bikes. If two cars are converging from opposite directions, they have to move over into the bike lanes, but bikes have right of way.
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Scotland, in the Highlands have single lane roads. Not wide enough to pass, so every so often there is a pull off. First person to a turn off pulls over. Only problem was when both turned off and wants the other to go. :D
 
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