Homers, the off side work things done...

I have split this from the VHIRE valve thread.

(from Radio Wrangler) The official word on 'homers' was 'don't be excessive, but do something you'll learn from'.

Something I encourage at work, there is a bit/a lot of a positive feedback loop regarding real work there. It makes the "youngsters" ask without fear (that alone will do) but also means if it is a bit slack they are learning and don't waste time hiding the homer.
Makes for a relaxed, productive, and progressing workplace.

[Electronpusher0]

My first full time job in Electronics was at Eurotherm. The official policy on homers was - do it in your own time (lunch time and after work), use company components and tools and do something you will learn from.

Most of use were making transistor audio amplifiers.

Peter

[Ed_Dinning]

I was a student apprentice at Reyrolle in the 60's. There were a huge number of homers done in a plant that employed 11,000 people and used most engineering processes, electrical, mechanical, chemical etc.
One of the standard items was a solder gun for which patterns existed for the handle, transformer etc
The WW Bailey transistor amp was so popular that there was a "Reyrolle " version and PCBs were readily available. I was working on Nixie timers for the test dept, quite a few nixie clocks were produced.
One guy had some body panels made for his Morgan 3 wheeler and one of the divisional engineers got some wheels turned up for his cement mixer so it would fit in the back of his car.
The scrap bins were a regular lunchtime tour, where a wide range of materials could be found.
The relay shop scrapped 1000's of high current silver contacts (just into the general scrap); quite a bit of jewelry was made for wives and girlfriends.
Elkonite was used on the contacts of the large circuit breakers, it also made great point for sets of darts

It was a great time working there and taught a great deal about materials, processes and techniques

Ed

[Radio Wrangler]

Were Rod May and Ralph Hodgson at Eurotherm at that time?

David

[M0FYA Andy]

I've never heard the term 'homers', I've always known such jobs as 'foreigners'.

Andy

[Ed_Dinning]

Also "govvy" (government ) jobs

Ed

[duncanlowe]

Originally Posted by M0FYA Andy

I've never heard the term 'homers', I've always known such jobs as 'foreigners'.

Andy

Yep, foreigners was what they were called in all the places I worked.

I have varying experiences, but early on a boss did warn me off. But that was because someone was bringing more and more, and more difficult stuff. I learned from the stuff I did, but also learned after the intervention that there are people who extract the proverbial.

Same job, same boss. We were doing stuff that was clearly for his own house. Added some junction boxes to an RS order, for me and again he picked me up. I mean he was correct, but a touch hypocritical.

[Refugee]

At my first job they were called homers.
Between the Christmas weekends I was fixing a bracket for a car exhaust pipe.
The company nosy-parker came down from the office and asked me what it was.
I told him it was a bracket and he said what for so I told him it was for a pipe.
He asked what sort of pipe.
I gave up and told him it was an exhaust pipe.
He just told me to get it finished quickly and get on with some normal work.
There was another engineer looking over a newspaper and listening in.
I think it was the sound of work being done during that dead week that attracted the attention.

[Electronpusher0]

Originally Posted by Radio Wrangler

Were Rod May and Ralph Hodgson at Eurotherm at that time?

David

The name Rod May rings a bell but I cannot be sure, as I said it was my first proper job after college, must have been back in about 1970, the daughter company Chessell had just been set up and that was founded in 1970.
I later went back and worked at Chessell for a while.

Eurotherm had a really interesting way of growing the business, they encouraged their brightest engineers to come up with a new business and they funded it.
Eurotherm were temperature controllers, Brian Chessell set up a spin off to make chart recorders, there was also Turbull Controls and Shackleton System drives.

Peter

[Rileyman]

At Marconi's it was known as "Home Office" projects .

[majoconz]

The scrap bins were a regular lunchtime tour, where a wide range of materials could be found.

My Dad often brought home bits'n'pieces raided from the scrap bins at MWT Chelmsford - mainly things with cogs and wheels and glass bits. I took great delight in taking these 'things' apart but never succeeded in making anything useful out of the bits. I was probably about 6yo at the time!

[emeritus]

It was Home Office at Plessey Ilford in the 1970's too.

[Leon Crampin]

At the Admiralty, a home job was always referred to as a "rabbit" for some reason.....

Leon.

[jamesperrett]

Originally Posted by Leon Crampin

At the Admiralty, a home job was always referred to as a "rabbit" for some reason.....

It was where I used to work too - but that also had Admiralty connections.

I have a Revox A77 that came from there which was a combination of work and homer. It was originally purchased without power amps for data logging but someone has actually made copies of the Revox power amps and fitted them so that it could be used for playing music tapes. I thought it odd that all the parts on these boards were the same as we used to use at work until I remembered hearing the story about how these were made.

[jjl]

Originally Posted by Electronpusher0

The name Rod May rings a bell but I cannot be sure, as I said it was my first proper job after college, must have been back in about 1970, the daughter company Chessell had just been set up and that was founded in 1970.
I later went back and worked at Chessell for a while.

Eurotherm had a really interesting way of growing the business, they encouraged their brightest engineers to come up with a new business and they funded it.
Eurotherm were temperature controllers, Brian Chessell set up a spin off to make chart recorders, there was also Turbull Controls and Shackleton System drives.

Peter

I worked at Eurotherm from '87 to '88 - Ralph Hodgson was there then and worked quite closely with the team I was part of. I've heard of Rod May, but I'm not sure if he was around at the time.
We had a fair bit of interaction with George Turnbull of Turnbull controls, less with Chessell and Shckleton System Drives.
The group also had a division making dot matrix printers at the time - I can't remember what they were called.

John

[Radio Wrangler]

They were both at South Queensferry for a time. Rod was a decent project manager, but government pay restraints meant that the only raises on the go in all industries were had by job-hopping. We lost about a third of the lab in under a year.

Ralph was a 'character'. Seemingly a gifted software engineer, but prone to leaving practical jokes on one of the lab minicomputers... sometimes at the effort of major changes to the operating system. If he didn't get lynched first, he was likely to go far. Always wondered what became of him.

Thanks
David

[Electronpusher0]

Originally Posted by Leon Crampin

At the Admiralty, a home job was always referred to as a "rabbit" for some reason.....

Leon.

Because they all disappear when the boss comes round..........

Peter

[paulsherwin]

Originally Posted by M0FYA Andy

I've never heard the term 'homers', I've always known such jobs as 'foreigners'.

It seems to be a north / south thing, roughly corresponding to saying 'bath' or 'barth'. 'Foreigner' was certainly the term in Stoke.

[KeithsTV]

In most of the companies I've worked for there have always been these "homers, foreigners etc" but at my last company it was acknowledged that many of the engineers would take advantage of the company facilities when doing the "guvvy" jobs. We were allowed to buy items from the company suppliers for our own use and at the end of each month your guvvy bill arrived to be paid to the accounts department within a couple of weeks. The system worked but was eventually closed just before the company was taken over.

We could also borrow some of the company test equipment (not the very expensive stuff though) provided we got our manager to OK it.

Keith

[stevehertz]

There was a veritable production line going on at Thorn Automation making Texan amplifiers when I joined in '71. The metal shop were making the chassis, PCBs by the PCB department and most components were freely available from various sources. The only parts you had to source were the transformer and wooden cabinet. Then the lab guys started to improve the design and that went on for years too. Oh what fun. I still have mine. Oh, the name for such non official company jobs was a 'foreigner'.