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Dutchess_III's avatar

Have you ever taken something apart, only to realize you have NO freaking idea how to put it back together?

Asked by Dutchess_III (47069points) September 11th, 2011

I picked up one of those small gumball machines at a garage sale…actually, I think the lady shoved it into my hands and said, “Take it!” So I did. It needed to be cleaned which meant I needed to take it apart. I could see, obviously, that the first thing to do was unscrew the screw on the top. So I did. And the bottom fell out! But that was OK. It was just one big piece. Then I pulled the globe off and unscrewed a little bolt that I still have NO idea what its purpose is, then took out 3 more round plastic pieces, but I didn’t pay attention to what order I pulled them out or how they sat in there… sigh I know better than that, but I just didn’t think it could be that hard to put back together! After I got it all cleaned it up, it took me a good 30 minutes to put the stupid thing back together! But I did, and it works and it looks right so must be right, right?

You ever, say, pull a car engine apart? You ever have pieces left over, lying about in the driveway after you put it back together? : )

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4 Answers

pezz's avatar

Been there done that.. got a bag of odd nuts and bolts that you can use if you want

XOIIO's avatar

Yeah, I’ve done that a couple times but I mgguiver something back together. I’ve never actually lost anything because of this.

tranquilsea's avatar

You think that’s bad: my father’s friend, years ago, took apart a volvo engine and when he put it back together he had a bunch of spare pieces. Needless to say it never ran again.

I usually write copious notes when taking things apart. I’ll even colour code the parts to help in the rebuild.

Blueroses's avatar

I think everything is built with at least three superfluous screws and at least one mysterious metal flange that fits nowhere. I love to take things apart but I always do it with a stack of Dixie Cups, masking tape and a sharpie pen. All screws from one part go into one cup and get labeled, anything too large for a cup gets a masking tape label that goes with a label on whatever it was attached to.

Even this system still leaves me with 3 screws and one or two metal flanges.

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