I listened to all of your concerns and most people pointed towards the line side needing to be visible so I added that. I also added an auxiliary terminal on the contactor. I tried to make things look more realistic by adding StepForge to Blender.. It's not the name branded contactor you are used to seeing, but it is a contactor... This took 3x longer to render. Hope you like...

Was checking bolts on motors and it’s kinda a pain to use a normal wrench but hey a distributor wrench works wonders on these motors

Noticed a few other posts like this so I thought I would share a video regarding troubleshooting simulations that I use with my maintenance teams which is accessible via browser.

Was checking bolts on motors and it’s kinda a pain to use a normal wrench but hey a distributor wrench works wonders on these motors

I work pretty closely with Texas industrial power markets and the amount of new electricity demand coming from data centers has been pretty wild to watch.

Curious if that growth is actually translating into more work for electrical contractors, industrial maintenance firms, and people servicing manufacturing plants.

Anyone here working across multiple facilities in Texas noticing a difference? More projects, longer lead times, higher costs, etc?

A post got ripped out and they decided to just tape it up. The nuts were loose too... caught on a routine pm.

Hey everyone, non-industrial maintenance tech here (one of the plant’s engineers) tasked with helping set up a new maintenance area for our technicians. We’re in the business of maintaining equipment for cookware production - forming presses, rolling mill, spinform machines, lathes, buffing equipment, riveters, laser engravers, etc.

Obviously, I’ve been asking the technicians what they want to see in their space, but I’m also curious what input all of you have as well. The space is 45’ x 45’ so if you had this space to start your maintenance shop from scratch, how would you set it up? (Machine spare parts and hardware are already set up and inventoried - no need to factor these into the layout)

First time I installed new cables, I did it as fast as possible.

Get to the cabinet and all the plugs were damaged, cannot connect them.

Spent the remainder of the day fiddling with a screw drive trying to re form the plugs.

I’ve been in maintenance for about the last 10 years across multiple industries and have only ever learned on the job or been self taught. I have the opportunity to take 1 of 2 apprenticeships, 1 being for stationary engineer (after I get my boiler license) and 2 for journeyman industrial maintenance mechanic. The journey certificate kinda means squat but the structured learning and college classes/credits would help me cement my current knowledge and learn some new stuff like PLC programming and get stronger with electrical and machining. The stationary engineer apprenticeship would have a lot of the same things but be more heavily focused on boilers, generators, steam generators, etc.

Has anyone experienced the process for either or both? There’s nothing stopping me from doing both but I am going back and forth on what one would be best to do first.

Hey , to start off I am considering switching back to being an Industrial Maintenance Electrician. Ill give some back story. I started off as an industrial maintenance technician, kind of like a do all. Later took some trade courses to work as Industrial Electrician. I wanted adventure, so i found an opportunity for further training in germany and completed and offical german apprenticeship as an industrial electrician for a machine manufacturer and system integrator company. Now i am an Journeyman Industrial Electrician. That same german company promoted me to electric construction manager. Ive been traveling to world managing these systems builds. But because of stress and long hours and basically having no life, I would maybe like to return to being an maintenance electrician . Its been a few years , so maybe im a little rusty. But as I remember , being a maintenance electrician can be fun , also stressful at times but pay is usually good. Im not sure if i am giving up too much. Kind of feeling lost. Could use perspectives or advice ?

I've been making short animations. This one shows the coil pulling in the armature, the three power contacts closing, and the return spring opening them when coil power drops. The Coil circuit runs the mechanism as the power contacts carry the motor current.

I've got some older machines that are still running pretty well mechanically, but some of the controls and components are getting outdated.

Now I don´t have enough budget to replace the whole machine. So I´m trying to see if I can upgrade what I already have.

I'm thinking about things like updating sensors, replacing old pneumatic components, or upgrading the control system. But not sure where to start or what's really worth the money.

Anyone been through something similar? What did you upgrade first?

I’m 21 in DFW and may be starting an entry-level electrical technician role doing assembly work. I want to build a long-term career with better pay and more responsibility.
What would you recommend: gaining experience and looking for better opportunities after a year or so, or pursuing certifications/part-time school while working? Which skills or programs would help me advance?

This seems to be a common occurrence in a lot of different fields that I've worked in, but I figured I'd throw this on this sub anyway. This is barely a maintenance job, it's mostly an operator position but we also do the maintenance on the machines and need to know how they work. It's not really a job where past experience would help, everything is pretty specific to the machines and all their sensors, but they let other guys who've been here longer, which usually isn't that much longer train us and they usually don't know everything and it's just kind of like an oral tradition of people training each other with no formality.

They also don't allow us to really noodle with the machine, we kind of just are supposed to get off of it as quick as humanly possible. I brought this up like as soon as I started working here cuz I could kind of see a pattern going, and now I'm just kind of dismissed as the moron.

I always try to like write training manuals and stuff but usually ended up getting fired for being the black sheep, usually the guy who says there's no training and tries to learn a bunch but tells my supervisor how we fall short and what corrects it. It's just usually seems like nobody in management wants to take responsibility for it and that the other guys I work with just kind of play the game and say they don't know what they're talking about and say they understand it and it's just this giant cycle of everybody playing keep away from a problem except me.

Just kind of curious on your thoughts on this. I figure a lot of places are like this. For the guys who don't like to just keep their mouth shut and kind of hide in the corner what are you guys do?

I currently work in a CNC and sheet metal shop, maintaining and repairing all the equipment. I like it but i want to move to working on large machinery/ equipment.

But i cant really find anything besides being like a millwright and working on stuff like turbines, generators, boilers or working in a mine or a steel or paper mill etc. im definitely interested in turbine and boiler work, but i just want to know what else is out there

Burning my toes in some hot water. No he does not understand how to do a steam blowdown.

I work in the stamping department and we are tasked with maintaining some +40 year old 3000 ton + stamping presses that leak hydraulic fluid. Walking on, around and under the presses is like walking on black ice with my current Ariat boots that are supposedly non slip and oil resistant. Has anyone found some boots that maintain at least a little traction on steel that has hydraulic fluid on it?

Intermittent overspeed fault on a servo motor. Cycle the power, fault clears, runs fine for a few days, then it’s back. Drive replaced. Motor replaced. Wiring “checked”.

When someone says they checked the wiring, it’s usually a visual check. That won’t catch this.

My method: run a long test lead to the pin at the motor plug, do a continuity test from the far end, and measure the resistance of each wire individually. You should see around 1 ohm.

The pink wire came back at 70 ohms. That’s not a broken wire, that’s a bad connection. The pin wasn’t properly seated in the plug.

Faults like this get power-cycled away for years without ever being fixed. The drive and motor were never the problem.

Replaced the wheels and gear for this bridge

That's right, 2 broken drill bits.

Vib analysis correctly identified this bad bearing before failure. Planned changeout on this Vac Pump saved $180k. #ConditionMonitoring

If manufacturers had an easy way to build inventory, production scheduling, quality, or maintenance apps tailored to their unique needs, would they invest the time to build them? Let’s assume deployment and ongoing maintenance aren’t barriers for now. I’m struggling to sell my app builder, and I’m trying to understand whether customers actually want to build their own apps.

I’m 21 and live in the Dallas–Fort Worth area. I may be starting an Electrical Technician job. I’m coming in with no experience and want to use the opportunity to build a stable long-term career.
According to the posting, the duties include:
Installing, repairing, and maintaining electrical parts of industrial equipment
Reading schematics and technical documents
Performing quality inspections
Completing torque sheets and tracking tools
Following electrical codes and safety procedures
I haven’t started yet, so I’m still confirming how much is assembly versus actual troubleshooting and repair.
If I get the job, I’d like to attend school while working and finish a useful certificate or program in roughly 8–16 months. I need a schedule that works around full-time employment, preferably through an affordable school with financial aid options.
What would you recommend studying to build on this experience: industrial maintenance, mechatronics, electrical/electronics technology, automation/PLC controls, or something else?
More specifically:
Which training do employers actually value?
What job titles could I realistically target after completing it with about a year of this experience?
Are there specific schools or programs around DFW you recommend?
What should I make sure the program teaches before spending money on it?
I’m looking for a practical path toward steady employment, benefits, and room to advance. I’d appreciate hearing from people who have taken a similar route.