cutting extras

This was Przemek's question when we talked about welding. He didn't know how to say "elektroda" and here in English it's practically the same expression as in Polish. It's an electrode.

By the way, can you briefly explain what the difference between welding and soldering (two very similar joining techniques) is?

A bit of electricity

It was Paweł again asking difficult questions. This time it was electricity.

Here is a classic problem for all electricians - a short circuit (spięcie, zwarcie, but the word-to-word translation is krótki obwód, can you comment why?). Here is how English speakers understand different types of circuits.

I think that when the circuit is overloaded, the fuse may blow. I remember when once a fuse blew in my house in the middle of the Champions League final - that was terrible.

geometry for technical drawing

Here are a few answers for Pawel's questions, most of them connected to technical drawing. When he said "geometria wykreślna" I thought he was joking, but there is really such a thing. As I learned, it's the basic engineering skill needed for technical drawing and allows to present objects in 3D. In English, it's called descriptive geometry (can you have a look at this video to check if this is what you wanted?) and here's one example of its application.

To practice descriptive geometry, you need a set of drawing tools. First, you need a compass (cyrkiel) to create circles and arcs. Another useful instrument is a set square (ekierka) that helps draw angles. For straight lines you may use a ruler (with measurements) or a straightedge (without measurements). To measure angles, circles and semicircles engineers make use of protractors.

Another key geometry expression you often ask about is a cross section (przekrój poprzeczny), here a cross section of a pistol, but I couldn't find an easy translation for "przekrój podłużny". Can you help me understand the difference by commenting?

Machining processes

Teaching engineering English is a frustrating job for me because all too often I feel incompetent and it weakens my position as a language expert. For example, when we started a series of lessons on machining operations, I could hardly understand the difference between a milling machine (= frezarka) and a lathe (= tokarka) in Polish, so how could I teach it in English with any confidence?

Well, I try not to compete with you and always take your questions and doubts seriously. But sometimes I'm right. For example, Paweł and Sylwester disagreed with my definition of sanding (= szlifowanie) that is connected with the use of sandpaper to make surfaces smoother and suggested that it's actually a technology for cleaning buildings with a stream of sand (something you've seen at the ZAMEK Culture Centre in Poznań). In fact, the technique Paweł and Sylwester were talking about is called sandblasting (or abrasive blasting).

By the way, here's a definition for shearing which I can't translate into Polish. What the hell is it? Can anyone have a look?