Chopper
Chopper turns up in 2 fields: shop slang, electronics. Here is what it means to the people in each one.
Chopper in shop slang
A careless or unskilled worker who habitually damages materials or botches delicate tasks through excessive force.
An abrasive nickname for a tradesperson or operator who lacks finesse and relies on brute force rather than precision. These individuals are notorious for ruining expensive stock, stripping threads, and leaving behind rough, unfinished surfaces. Crews usually try to keep them away from final assembly or finish work to minimize rework.
"Don't let that chopper near the lathe again unless you want the whole batch scrapped."
Chopper in electronics
An electronic switching circuit that rapidly interrupts a direct current signal to convert it into a pulsating wave.
A chopper is a high-speed switching device used in power electronics to convert a fixed DC voltage into a variable DC output. By rapidly turning the connection between the source and the load on and off, it creates a pulsed signal whose average voltage is controlled by adjusting the duty cycle. Choppers are widely used in motor drives, switched-mode power supplies, and analog signal processing to prevent DC drift.
"The traction motor is whining because the chopper circuit is running at a lower switching frequency than normal."