The old lead's tip about wire dressing saved my tail

My first lead tech, a guy named Hank, told me back in 2004 to always zip-tie bundles in 6 inch segments, even on quick bench repairs. I figured it was just his OCD thing, so I skipped it on a Cessna 172 radio swap and left a bird's nest of slack. Three years later that same panel had an intermittent short that took 2 days to trace because the wires had chafed against a bracket in the bundle. Any of you guys ever ignore veteran advice and pay for it later with a dog of a troubleshooting job?

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ben13814d ago

Did Hank charge you for that lesson in lost labor too? I've got a similar one where I skipped the dielectric grease on a connector because I was in a rush, and three months later the corrosion had turned the pins green and the radio was screaming static. Took me a whole Saturday to figure out why the stupid thing kept dropping signal, and the whole time I just kept hearing my old man's voice about "do it right the first time or do it twice." Now I'm the guy who double checks every zip tie and dab of goop, and my toolbox has a permanent marker note that says "2004 called, it wants your wires wrapped.