Learned a wiring trick from an old Delta pilot in Atlanta last month

I was tracing a fault in a Garmin G1000 harness at a shop near PDK. This retired pilot walked over and showed me how he used a dental mirror and a shop vac to spot a chafed wire behind the panel without pulling the whole thing apart. He said "son, you don't fix what ain't broke, you just look smarter finding it." Has anyone else stumbled onto a weird tool that works better than the standard stuff?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_jason22d ago

That dental mirror trick is clever, but I've got to ask - how did he keep the shop vac from pulling the mirror right out of his hand? I tried something similar once with a mechanics stethoscope and a shop vac to listen for an air leak on a pressurization controller, and the suction was so strong I nearly dropped the stethoscope into the fan blades. Seems like he must have had a real light touch, or maybe he was using a low suction setting?

matthewh2821d agoMost Upvoted

Man you're spot on about that suction. I had the exact same thought when I watched it. That shop vac is no joke, right? @the_jason your stethoscope story makes me cringe, I can picture nearly losing it into those blades. I tried using a shop vac once to hold a small inspection camera in place while I was checking behind a wall, and that thing nearly got yanked out of my hand too. Had to prop my arm against something just to keep control. I bet the guy in the video must have cracked the vac hose a bit to let some air in and reduce the pull, or maybe he just got lucky with a real steady grip. What do you think, is there a trick to it or was he just brave?