Thursday, January 25, 2007
In the mood
It started with replacing a blown light bulb in my room, a simple task that took no more time than was needed to screw the old one out, locate a new bulb and screw it in.
As I opened my room door to throw away the old bulb, I was reminded yet again of the loose door knob that needed fixing, something that I was reminded of every time I open or close my door but have been putting off for the longest time.
Since I’m fixing stuff, I’d might as well have a look at it, I thought.
It wasn’t immediately obvious how to disassemble it from the door though, this being my first time encountering such a mechanism. It took plenty of prodding, poking and a couple of false starts. After spying a small hole on the shaft of the knob, I decided to try my luck and poke inside with a sharp pointy thing. It turned out to be a spring-loaded catch for assembling the round knob, and once that was taken out the rest of the whole assembly came out easily from the door.
After looking at it briefly it was pretty clear how it was to be assembled onto the door. The assembly (consisting the opening mechanism and the outside door knob) goes in from the outside, after which a plate larger than the hole is tightened onto the assembly from the other side with countersunk screws. This plate contains a spring-loaded catch that secures the cover we see covering the unsightly hole, after which the inside door knob is pressed onto the shaft with the spring loaded catch. But that wasn’t enough for me.
Since I’ve got it out of the door, I’d might as well have a look at it, I thought.
This is the kind of door knob that has a button on the inside knob to lock the outside knob from turning, but unlocks when the inside knob is turned. I’ll be merciful and spare you the details of that, but the opening mechanism basically consisted of too many fiddly little parts that came apart all too easily but didn’t assemble together very intuitively in a “square peg in square hole” manner.
Let’s put this in context. I had taken my bath and it was getting close to bedtime (that’s working life for you), yet here I was messing around with my door knob and getting my fingers covered in grease. It must have been something in me telling me that I wouldn’t be able to sleep if I didn’t put it back together again.
About 45 minutes past bedtime and several inaudible profanities later, everything finally clicked into place without springing out and flying all over my desk (or under, which was the cause for much profanity). I had solved the mystery of the doorknob, not quite a Rubix cube kind of puzzle but infinitely more satisfying, and hopefully something that will come in handy in future. At least if my door knob gets loose again.
So there’s my little streak of eccentricity. I’m not sure if it’s a positive personality trait or not, but I’m pretty sure it’s not something to impress girls with. It just wouldn’t make very good conversation material for dates.
Unless someone out there wants to prove me wrong.
As I opened my room door to throw away the old bulb, I was reminded yet again of the loose door knob that needed fixing, something that I was reminded of every time I open or close my door but have been putting off for the longest time.
Since I’m fixing stuff, I’d might as well have a look at it, I thought.
It wasn’t immediately obvious how to disassemble it from the door though, this being my first time encountering such a mechanism. It took plenty of prodding, poking and a couple of false starts. After spying a small hole on the shaft of the knob, I decided to try my luck and poke inside with a sharp pointy thing. It turned out to be a spring-loaded catch for assembling the round knob, and once that was taken out the rest of the whole assembly came out easily from the door.
After looking at it briefly it was pretty clear how it was to be assembled onto the door. The assembly (consisting the opening mechanism and the outside door knob) goes in from the outside, after which a plate larger than the hole is tightened onto the assembly from the other side with countersunk screws. This plate contains a spring-loaded catch that secures the cover we see covering the unsightly hole, after which the inside door knob is pressed onto the shaft with the spring loaded catch. But that wasn’t enough for me.
Since I’ve got it out of the door, I’d might as well have a look at it, I thought.
This is the kind of door knob that has a button on the inside knob to lock the outside knob from turning, but unlocks when the inside knob is turned. I’ll be merciful and spare you the details of that, but the opening mechanism basically consisted of too many fiddly little parts that came apart all too easily but didn’t assemble together very intuitively in a “square peg in square hole” manner.
Let’s put this in context. I had taken my bath and it was getting close to bedtime (that’s working life for you), yet here I was messing around with my door knob and getting my fingers covered in grease. It must have been something in me telling me that I wouldn’t be able to sleep if I didn’t put it back together again.
About 45 minutes past bedtime and several inaudible profanities later, everything finally clicked into place without springing out and flying all over my desk (or under, which was the cause for much profanity). I had solved the mystery of the doorknob, not quite a Rubix cube kind of puzzle but infinitely more satisfying, and hopefully something that will come in handy in future. At least if my door knob gets loose again.
So there’s my little streak of eccentricity. I’m not sure if it’s a positive personality trait or not, but I’m pretty sure it’s not something to impress girls with. It just wouldn’t make very good conversation material for dates.
Unless someone out there wants to prove me wrong.
# posted by BloozeGit @ 11:26 pm 
