I was at sea as a utility engineer aboard a research vessel. The high-speed A/C generator failed. I had to remove the armature, carry it with a strap around my neck out of the engine room up to the main deck, across the main deck to the hatch down the latter to the forward machine shot. There I had to turn the armature for the new brushes and clean the flanges. Then carry the armature back to the engine room and reinstall the armature and replace the brushes. All this in the middle of the night, during a N'orEaster, in the Noth Atlantic near the Baltimore Canyon. Yes, after my repair the generator hummed like a kitten and never failed again.
YES, this is a true story.

A few years ago, we had a CNC plasma table down because of a faulty coolant pump. The OEM replacement had a 2-week lead time, which would’ve halted a big job. I found a similar pump rated slightly lower on GPM, but with the same voltage, pressure, and fitting sizes.

The calculated risk was that the reduced flow might not remove heat fast enough during longer cutting cycles. I installed it anyway but programmed the machine to add short pauses between cuts to help the coolant catch up. It worked — we got through the job without a hitch, and no overheating alarms.

A month later, the OEM pump came in, and we swapped it in during scheduled downtime. But that temp fix saved us thousands in delays and kept the project on track.