Home › Work activities › Test mechanical equipment to ensure proper functioning
O*NET detailed work activityTest mechanical equipment to ensure proper functioning
Stays humanWatch & inspect
29 jobs35 tasks
Inspecting and monitoring in person means noticing what's off with your own eyes, ears and hands, and being accountable for calling it.
Part of Test performance of equipment or systems, under the O*NET work activity group Inspecting Equipment, Structures, or Materials. Individual tasks below can carry a different label when their own wording calls for it (0 AI-ready, 0 AI-assist, 35 stays human).
Tasks built on this activity
- Place wheels on balancing machines to determine counterweights required to balance wheels.
- Play instruments to evaluate their sound quality and to locate any defects.
- Test equipment performance, focus of lens system, diaphragm alignment, lens mounts, or film transport, using precision gauges.
- Start or restart wind turbine generator systems to ensure proper operations.
- Test timepiece accuracy and performance, using meters and other electronic instruments.
- Operate machines to test functioning of parts or mechanisms.
- Examine and test machinery, equipment, components, and parts for defects to ensure proper functioning.
- Reassemble and test subassembly units.
- Test machines to determine proper functioning.
- Attach test instruments to equipment, and read dials and gauges to diagnose malfunctions.
- Overhaul and test machines or equipment to ensure operating efficiency.
- Inspect, test, and listen to defective equipment to diagnose malfunctions, using test instruments such as handheld computers, motor analyzers, chassis charts, or pressure gauges.
- Open and close doors, windows, or drawers to test their operation, trimming edges to fit, as necessary.
- Test, evaluate, and classify excess or in-use medical equipment and determine serviceability, condition, and disposition, in accordance with regulations.
- Operate newly repaired machinery or equipment to verify the adequacy of repairs.
- Set up and test industrial equipment to ensure that it functions properly.
- Test and repair track circuits.
- Test operation of engines and other systems, using test equipment, such as ignition analyzers, compression checkers, distributor timers, or ammeters.
- Connect power unit to machines or steam piping to equipment, and test unit to evaluate its mechanical operation.
- Test valves and regulators for leaks and accurate temperature and pressure settings, using precision testing equipment.
- Test equipment for overheating, using speed gauges and thermometers.
- Carry out non-destructive testing, such as tests for cracks on the legs of oil rigs at sea.
- Perform pre- and post-installation pressure, flow, and related tests of vertical and horizontal geothermal loop piping.
- Open and close doors, windows, and drawers to test their operation, trimming edges to fit, using jackplanes or drawknives.
- Cover treadles with carpeting or other floor covering materials, and test systems by operating treadles.
Tasks where it is part of the work
- Reassemble machines and equipment following repair, testing operation and making adjustments, as necessary.
- Test and inspect engines to determine malfunctions, to locate missing and broken parts, and to verify repairs, using diagnostic instruments.
- Compare instrument pitches with tuning tool pitches to tune instruments.
- Inspect or test damaged machine parts, and mark defective areas or advise supervisors of repair needs.
- Inspect, operate, or test machinery or equipment to diagnose machine malfunctions.
- Observe and test operation of appliances following installation, and make any initial installation adjustments that are necessary.
- Inspect and test docks, ships, buoyage systems, plant intakes or outflows, or underwater pipelines, cables, or sewers, using closed circuit television, still photography, and testing equipment.
- Observe and test the operation of machinery or equipment to diagnose malfunctions, using voltmeters or other testing devices.
- Inspect, examine, and test the operation of parts or systems to evaluate operating condition and to determine if repairs are needed.
- Strike wood, fiberglass, or metal bars of instruments, and use tuned blocks, stroboscopes, or electronic tuners to evaluate tones made by instruments.