The Art of Tinkering & it’s Importance
For the uninitiated, tinkering is an attempt to repair something in a casual way. Today, this is an almost lost art. We rarely see someone trying to self-fix an ignorable noise coming from their car on a lazy weekend; or someone who can perfectly slap on the silent radio cabinet to bring it back to life. An expert tinkerer may also be able to sometime fix a scooter which blatantly refuses to start. Improved economy today permits purchasing an immediate replacement for a broken item. Moreover, consumer gadgets have become way too expensive and complex such that one may not even dare to remove the back cover. However even without being trained, there is a lot we can do and that may have surprising positive effects on our overall work & life approach, much beyond these apparent small-time repairing. Some outlines are as below:
1. Problem solving aptitude, uninhibited by lack of theoretical knowledge. To fix a dead torch light, it would mostly be rusty contacts, a loose spring or a leaky battery or very rarely the lamp. It doesn’t even need the knowledge of basics of current electricity to detect any of them. There is no need master the whole latent theory to even scratch the iceberg tip.
2. Importance of observation — When you open the back cover of a dead radio or the bonnet of your car, what do you see? In quite a few cases the problem may be quite evident in front of our eyes. Example: a visibly rusty or corroded battery lead, a loose spark plug connection, a dust clogged air filter, an unusually greasy engine surface or something similar. The sheer ability to spot the unusual is the key and doesn’t need any special skills.
3. Improved conviction & courage — A computer I used to work on would get overheated and stall in middle of nowhere. With some courage and conviction when I had opened the cover, I did see a lot of dust on the circuit board & clogged fan blades plus a doubtful fan cable connector. A careful vacuum cleaning and washing the fan connector with alcohol did fix the problem. Not all problems can be solved as such, however we at least learn to try and make best use of our observation and instincts.
4. Do more with less — Regular tinkering is likely to improve the ability to do more with less. For example: a tip of a kitchen knife may be a substitute screwdriver, an elastic hairband may sometimes be a replacement pulley belt or using an umbrella as a short-wave radio antenna.
5. Adopting an incremental approach — A tinkerer or hobbyist trying to restore an old valve set radio — the first 101 tip is to replace all old paper and electrolytic capacitors, since they are most likely to be leaky. Unless absolutely confident, most of us are comfortable in replacing one piece at a time, switch back the power to check “so-far-so-good” and then again proceed with the next replacement. This practice in general instills the core essence of agile, measured and incremental development.
6. Intuitive risk assessment — A good tinkerer by instinct would know where to stop. Irrespective of the temptation it is extremely unusual for someone to attempt to open a DSLR lens or the car brake system or a microwave or poke around the EHT section of a color television. A hazard is “sensed”. It may not be obviously written but most of who pursue this regularly would have a sense and know where to stop.
7. Joy & Self Celebration — No one may be around awake in the middle of the night when you get an old battery car working again. But if you have done it ever, you would realize that the joy comes from within and it is an internal celebration. External applause is secondary. This is perhaps important in every walk of our life where for every single milestone or achievement there may not be someone to cheer and applause.
To conclude, I personally believe that it may not be a bad idea to tinker around with junk stuff lying in one’s storeroom. It can be a rusty lock, a torch light, an old toy, a keyboard, a radio, tape recorder or an old phone to start with. Today lots of restoration videos are available to get some initial idea, hobby shops sell vintage spare parts. Every project may not be a success. But there are good chances it will instill lots of good qualities such as perseverance, goal-orientation, observation, enterprising and relevant others.
Last but not the least, unless absolutely confident please refrain from any tinkering with potentially hazardous items such as ovens, valve radios or any other equipment connecting to AC power source. Mostly everyone will have their inner instinct guide them when ready (confident, cautious and matured) for the next complex device. Good luck!