Meaning of Widlarize | Babel Free

Definitions

To destroy (a defective electronic component) using a hammer.

slang, transitive, uncommon

Examples

“Now, when I have⟳ finished my inspection, and I am still mad as hell because I have⟳ wasted a lot of time being fooled by a bad component—what do I do? I usually WIDLARIZE it, and it makes me feel⟳ a lot better. How do you WIDLARIZE something? You take⟳ it over to the anvil part of the vice, and you beat⟳ on it with a hammer⟳, until it is all crunched down to tiny little pieces, so small that you don't even have⟳ to sweep⟳ it off the floor. It sure makes you feel⟳ better. […] And the late Bob Widlar is the guy who showed me how to do it.”

“Abuse of them by people who don't care about the RF they generate⟳ is leading certain people to buy⟳ up and Widlarize ones floating around hamfests.”

“[…] I recommend⟳ that you join⟳ me in doing this "Widlarizing" when a bad component fools you. You will feel⟳ a lot better.”

“I decided to "Widlarize" the failed drive⟳, first dropping it 4 feet onto the floor (1/2" thick carpet with concrete underneath). To my surprise⟳, about half the chips popped off the PC board⟳! […] Close⟳ inspection of the failed joints seems to indicate⟳ a failure of the bond between the solder and the copper of the PC board⟳.”

“A diode-like interconnect once cost⟳ me, another engineer and a tech 3 days once – we narrowed the fault down to a resistive divider that didnt work⟳ linearly. replacing the protoboard fixed the problem; the old one got Widlarised.”

“[Bob] Widlar's intolerance for defective parts and malfunctioning prototypes was so intense, he was in the habit of destroying them with a sledge hammer⟳. This came to be known as "widlarizing" them.”

CEFR level