[Shop-talk] Stubbornness and the impediments to troubleshooting

[David Hillman]

On Mon, 3 Apr 2017, Jim Franklin wrote:
> No matter how many times my assumptions are thrown back in my face, I 
> can't shake this approach of being so cocksure about something. Anyone 
> else?

    I guess that's one way to look at it.  Or, you could say, "My first few 
guesses about the problem turned out wrong, but eventually, I did find the 
problem."

    I mean, any time you troubleshoot, you have to start somewhere.  So, 
your experience and a few assumptions lead you to the most likely 
cause(s).  You investigate, and repeat as necessary.

    Recently I built a cabinet, and installed a pair of Blum Tandem 
undermount slides ( fairly high-end, made in North Carolina ).  Upon 
installing the drawer, it was cock-eyed left to right by a 1/4".  I took 
everything apart and triple-checked the cabinet, and the braces, and the 
drawer, and the adjustments... nothing.  I talked to Blum, sent them two 
dozen pictures and measurements.  They suggested all the various checks I 
had already done, sometimes two or three times.  We went back and forth 
for a week and a half.  Finally I broke down, went to the store, and 
bought two more pairs of slides.  Swapped out the left slide which I had 
suspected all along was defective... problem solved.

    Fast?  No.  But how else are you going to do it?  Like I said, you have 
to start somewhere, and that's rarely the right place.  It was my first 
time using these slides, and they are very picky... so it made sense that 
I had screwed something up.  It was less likely that Blum's QC leaves a 
little to be desired.

--
  David Hillman