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Finally admitted to myself that adjusting limit switches by feel is dumb | Elevator Mechanics - Free To Speak

Finally admitted to myself that adjusting limit switches by feel is dumb

Been doing it for 8 years. Every time. Get in the zone, tweak the switch, test it, tweak again. Last Tuesday at a Schindler 330a in a 12-story building downtown, I got called out by the building super. He watched me go back and forth 4 times before the car leveled right. He just goes 'you know that thing has a digital readout for a reason right?' Never even crossed my mind. Grabbed the manual right there. Fixed it on the first try. Who else learned a basic trick way later than they should have?

3 comments

3 Comments

jamie_adams4mo ago

A buddy of mine from trade school told me he spent three years setting torque by feel on elevator guide rails. Guy had a whole system, grunting and checking with his wrist. Finally worked with a older mechanic who just pointed at his torque wrench sitting in the tool box. Said he never even took it out. My friend felt like a complete idiot. Now he uses it every single time.

the_terry4mo ago

Gotta say thats a damn good point but there's another side to this nobody talks about. The real issue isnt feel vs tool its that the feel guys never test their accuracy. Like you can grunt and torque by wrist for years but if you never once put a torque wrench on your bolts you dont actually know if youre hitting 50 ft lbs or 80 ft lbs. Torque wrenches are adjustable but human wrists arent. The older mechanic probably had a system too he just had the decency to calibrate his feel against a tool once in a while. So yeah feel is good but only if you verify it regularly. Otherwise youre just guessing with confidence.

caseythompson4mo ago

Gotta push back a little here. That grunting and wrist-checking is how you learn what torque actually feels like on different materials and bolt conditions. Knowing when something is wrong before you even touch a wrench is a real skill, and a torque wrench won't save you if you don't understand the baseline. You still need that feel to catch problems a tool might miss, right?

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