I keep seeing guys at job sites in Chicago leaving way too much gap on the door gibs on new installs. Had to fix a job last week where the gap was like 3/8 inch on one side, which is going to cause the door to rattle like crazy after a month of use. Made a habit of setting them at 1/16 inch from the rail and never had a callback for noise. Anyone else notice this getting sloppy on newer crews?
Turns out a kid had jammed a whole burrito in the door track - took me 20 minutes to dig it out and get the doors running again. Has anyone else found something weirder than food in a track?
Picked up a used controller board off eBay for a 1992 Otis hydraulic last spring. Thought I was being smart, saving a few hundred bucks over a reman unit from the supply house. Spent like 4 hours rewiring and swapping it in on a Saturday, only to have the doors sequence go completely haywire on the first test run. Turns out the board had a firmware mismatch for the specific car number it came from. Bled almost 2 weeks chasing ghost errors before I gave up and bought the proper rebuilt board from Adams Elevator for $720. Now that one worked first try. Has anyone else been burned by used electronic parts that just look the same but aren't compatible?
We were working on a 1990 Otis in a 12 story building downtown, and this guy had been doing this since the 70s. He jammed a penny in the relay to test it and said sometimes the cheap fix works better than the fancy meter. You guys ever have a mentor show you something that seemed like a hack but actually made sense?
I used to think hydros were junk. Old school mindset. Then I worked a 3-stop office building in Portland last spring. Client wanted a traction setup but the pit was shallow and budget was tight. We did a twin-post holeless hydraulic instead. Runs smooth, quieter than I expected, and half the install time. Now I'm wondering if I was wrong this whole time about choosing traction every time. Any of you guys had a project where the cheaper option actually worked out better?
Had a guy at the 3rd floor watch me level a rail for a new Otis install. He said "the bubble's centered but look at the gap on the left side of the car." I ignored him at first. Then I measured with a caliper and he was right by a full 3mm. Took me 20 minutes to shim it properly after that. He was a retired mechanic from the 80s, knew his stuff. Now I check both the bubble and the visual clearance before I commit to anything on the rail. Anyone else get humbled by an old timer on site?
Had a chat with a building engineer last Tuesday about their old Otis units. He said most door lock problems come from ground loops not bad contacts. Hit me hard because I spent 6 hours chasing a ghost fault last month at a 12-story office in Phoenix. He showed me how voltage drops between floors mess with safety circuits. Now I check ground continuity before touching any door lock wiring. Anyone else run into ground loop issues on multi-floor elevators?
I used to spray belt dressing on every noisy elevator I serviced up in Seattle, thinking it was standard practice. After a mentor showed me the buildup it causes on traction sheaves and how it actually makes belts slip more over time, I stopped using it completely. Any of you guys still using the stuff or have you found a better way to silence a squeaky belt?
I used to think those laser alignment tools were overkill, just a fancy gadget for new guys who didn't trust their own eyes. Then last Tuesday at that 12-story office building on 5th Ave, the car was drifting bad after a leveling valve swap. Spent two hours chasing it before I busted out my buddy's cheap laser level from Harbor Freight, and it showed the rail was off by a quarter inch near the 8th floor. That tool saved my afternoon. Anyone else have a tool they resisted trying for way too long?
Had a talk with a 30-year vet last week who swore by shimming every rail joint, but I've been using a laser level and adjusting the brackets instead and it holds alignment way longer. Anyone else ditch shims for a different method?
I was spraying WD-40 on guide rails for years until this old super in a Bronx building showed me the sticky residue it leaves behind. He handed me a can of chain lube and told me to try it for a week, anyone else ever get humbled by a building super on a basic job?
I was doing a routine leveling check on a new install in a downtown Denver building last Tuesday. The car kept drifting slightly to the right every few floors. Turns out my digital level was reading 0.25 degrees off because I dropped it getting it out of the truck. Had to re shim three intermediate landings after I recalibrated it with a known good level from the shop. Has anyone else had a tool go bad on them mid job and mess up the whole alignment?
Just wrapped up a modernization on a 6-stop hydraulic setup over in Oakwood. We debated using a smart relay instead of the typical mess of contactors and timers. I gotta say, the smart relay saved us SO much time on programming and troubleshooting. The wiring alone took half a day less. Has anyone else made the switch on smaller jobs like this?
I always thought gearless traction was the only way to go for a smooth ride. But we spec'd a MRL with a permanent magnet motor on a 12-stop apartment building in Nashville and the ride quality is basically identical. The difference was the install time - we knocked out the machine room build in 3 days instead of 2 weeks. Plus the building owner saved about $8,000 in construction costs. Has anyone else seen a big shift toward MRL on mid-rise jobs like this?
Been running the same set on my MRL job since March and finally pulled them off to measure. Has anyone else seen that kind of wear on 10mm friction pads?
Turns out a loose wire on the door lock relay was grounding out against the cabinet frame, took me 3 hours to trace it with a meter; has anyone else had phantom faults from vibration loosening terminal screws?
We pulled an ancient Miconic 10 system out of a 14-story building downtown last spring (the thing was held together with tape and luck). The before was nonstop callbacks - doors hesitating, floors mis-leveling by almost 2 inches. After we dropped in a new G.A.L. controller and re-did the wiring, the first test run was butter smooth. The building manager said he couldn't believe it was the same elevator. Has anyone else here done a controller swap on a unit that old? How'd your commissioning go?
I've been in the trade for over 20 years now, and I still catch myself listening for the thump of the leveling switch instead of trusting the digital controller. Back when I started in the late 90s, I could walk up to a car in a building downtown and tell you exactly which relay was sticking just by the sound it made. Now all these new MRLs have me staring at a little screen trying to figure out why the car's stopping 3/8 of an inch off. Has anyone else found that the new tech removes a lot of the feel from our work?
I threw in some off-brand pads from a supply house in Phoenix last month to save $40 on a routine adjust. Three days later the car was screaming on every landing and the governor tripped on a full load test. Anyone else get burned by non-OEM brake parts on these models?
Pulled a 4 year old MRL in a Denver office tower last month and found both shoe rings backed off almost a full turn from spec, real common oversight when guys rush through PMs. Anyone else seeing this on newer installs or just my area?
I was swapping out a failed KAS relay board on an Otis 211 hydro in an old building downtown. Everything looked fine on paper, so I popped the new one in and powered it up. Within 2 seconds I smelled that horrible burning electronics smell and saw a tiny puff of smoke near the terminal block. Turns out the old board had a hidden jumper wire bridging two pins that wasn't on the schematic, and I didn't catch it beforehand. Has anyone else run into a situation where a previous mechanic left a secret jumper or mod that messed with a straightforward swap?
Spent yesterday troubleshooting a stuck car at a 6-floor building on Elm Street. My apprentice grabbed the spare brake shoe while I was still digging for mine in the truck - saved us 20 minutes easy. Anyone else notice how much faster things go with just one extra set of hands?
Went with the Otis because the Kone was gonna need a whole new wiring harness and I only had 3 days. Shaft is running smooth now but I'm still chasing a ghost door lock fault - anyone else run into that on these retrofits?
Bought one of those digital leveling lasers last spring for a high rise job in Chicago. It just sits in my bag while I still use my old torpedo level for every door install. Anyone else have a tool they got excited about but never actually use?
I've been chipping away at this upgrade for a client in a small office building near Dayton. The old relay logic was a mess, but the owner wanted to keep the original cab fixtures. After about 3 months of testing on the side, I found a solid state interface module that matched the voltage. This week it all clicked and the cars are running together without ghost calls. Has anyone else tried mixing old machine room gear with new lobby panels?