Sheer luck

[FRC4ME]

For some odd reason, Murphy was not with my team last week.

This year, we had to design the electronics box (containing cRIO, Jags, relays, solenoids, and power distribution) to fit into a very small space. So after a day of measuring each components and sketching out various configurations, we were able to fit everything onto two 9" x 14" platforms. Or so we thought.

After cutting the platforms to size, we started to lay out the components, and realized we had made a mistake; someone had under-measured the cRIO's length by 3". The parts didn't fit. What's worse; the frame had already been welded with support structures for a 9" x 14" electronics board. It was quite a facepalm moment and I wasn't sure what we were going to do.

Then, I stared at the board for a few seconds, had an idea, rotated and shifted a few components, and suddenly everything fit perfectly. It didn't match the drawing at all, but it worked. So yeah, whoever mis-measured the cRIO is really lucky. We cut an electronics board from an incorrect drawing and everything just happened to fit exactly.

Any stories of luck for other teams? Has there ever been a time when you've "guesstimated" something and turned out to be exactly right, or did something wrong that actually made the component work better?