Sometimes it’s all about applying a good hard smack.
I was about to head out last night to catch up with the who’s who of Perth bloggers at the monthly Meetup in Northbridge when I remembered that the driver’s side headlight on Pauline’s car hadn’t been working for a few days.
I really wanted to go out but I didn’t like the idea of driving with only one headlight. My regular method of transportation, cycling, didn’t seem to be a suitable alternative at that time of night.
I wandered out to the car, turned on the engine, turned on the headlights, then wandered around to the front of the car. I sized up the wonky light then gave it a good, hard, open palmed thump. Brilliant. The light sprang into action. I felt a bit like the Fonz. (Well, I was wearing my leather jacket.)
The light worked all the way there and back.
Now I’m wondering what else I need to fix with a good whacking.
I remember many years ago having an old television that would occasionally cut out completely. It was one of those ones with a timber frame. I kept an old shoe on top of the telly. Every time it cut out I’d use the shoe to give it a good thump. It used to work every time but as the problem got worse it would take an extra thump or two.
I realised that it was time to replace the television when a friend of one of my brothers, who lived a couple of houses away, asked my brother what I was building each night. He could hear me ‘hammering’ and was curious as to what project I was undertaking.
Have you ever used ‘percussive maintenance’? What’s the most unusual repair method you’ve used?
Posted by Rodney Olsen
Technorati Tags: Perth Webloggers Meetup – Percussive Maintenance – Fonzie
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Percussive maintenance — great term. I recall receiving some of it as a youngster.
Hehe!!! 🙂
My boyfriend is in repairing TVs, amongst other stuff, and I´m sure he loves this story! (Though with TVs these days.. not a recommended story ;-)…)
Same worked with our car when we were in your country. Dust set it off duty and the mechanic on the phone just said, take a biiiig hammer and give it a big bang on the bullbar – worked right!
we used to have a tv that we’d thump on the top every time it went out– worked for quite a while before it pretty much completely died.
i’ve also fixed a computer printer, a vcr and a grandfather clock by banging, dropping or walking into them.
Rodney, I think you’ve got the magic touch. But please do us all a favour and never accept a job as a pastor or a medical doctor.
Thanks Rodney for the term “percussive maintenance” – it makes thumping things sound respectable.
Once I couldn’t get a computer to boot up, and in frustration I whacked the hard disk with the handle end of a large screwdriver. From then on it worked fine!
Also the dashboard lights in my 21 year old car often don’t work. A hard thump to the dashboard, above the speedometer, usually turns the lights back on.
Unfortunately it doesn’t always work, so the trick is to thump in moderation and try not to cause additional damage – particularly when thumping hard disks.