Replacing a motor that was too hot to touch!

I once was called on to replace a 5 hp motor DC motor. Easy-peasy, right? At that time, I worked for a company that had a polyethylene, blown-film plastics factory. It was attached to the corporate R&D lab where I worked. Whether it was for a bet or what, I don’t know, but I was assigned the task to replace a 5-hp, DC motor on a machine in the factor. That was unusual but no problem.

What they say about carpet and concrete is true. If you walk on carpet your work-life is vastly different from jobs on concrete. It was summertime. The factory, of course, had no air conditioning. Air conditioning was for people that walked on carpet.

So, the moment I opened the door to the factory I immediately thought of Dante’s Vestibule of hell, the one with the gate that bears an inscription “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.”