Generally speaking, I try not to take anything apart that I can't put back together, including living things and complex systems I don't understand. I've done lots of electronics repair over the years (see the thread on my CD player), keeping my turntables and cassette decks running even if I had to strip them down to nuts and bolts. Done tons of repairs to mechanical things, including lawnmowers, hedge trimmers, garage door openers, sump pumps, hydraulic door closers, et cetera.
So when my reading lamp pissed me off one too many times, I thought I'd improve the design. There's a long arm with the LED head, held in place by a bolt. An ALLEN-HEAD bolt. Which is a pain in the ass to tighten, because you have to use an Allen wrench. And it droops every 2-3 days until you tighten it.
So I went to the hardware store this morning, bought a thumbscrew (with built-in grip) of the appropriate size, and tried to swap them out.
Oops. I hadn't realized the whole structure was SPRING LOADED with a hidden stainless steel cable, under CONSIDERABLE tension. When I released the Allen screw the whole thing went "sprong."
Oopsie.
It took over an hour, with Mrs NoCo holding parts in place, and using every bit of strength I had, to reassemble the damn thing.
I used the old Allen screw. I decided I want to punish myself for being a dildo.
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