Making a bolt for it
Grandad April 7th, 2011
I have one of those up-and-over garage doors.
You know the ones? Yup. The ones that are always breaking.
I thought ours was a little on the stiff side and was getting harder to close, and sure enough, a couple of weeks ago there was a loud metallic bang and it collapsed.
Fuck!
Apparently what had happened was that a hinge got a tad rusty and was in fact solid. So instead of rotating with the door, it stayed still while the door moved. Anyone with a smattering of physics will tell you that immovable objects and irresistible forces don’t mix very well, and in my case lead to metal fatigue and a broken hinge plate.
i gave the rusty hinge a few belts with a lump hammer and managed to get it working again, but now there was nothing to attach it to as the plate was mangled and in three pieces.
Fuck again!
I toyed with the idea of getting a new door, but they look expensive. I toyed with the ides of getting someone out to fix it, but who? I would have asked Spanner to have a look, but he is away for a short while [he should be back in a couple of weeks if the parole board are in good form]. Gone are the days when each village had a blacksmith, and the general solution to everything these days is to fuck it in the bin if it’s broken.
In the end, I decided to have a go myself. I bolted a lump of wood onto the inside of the door and bolted the hinge onto the lump of wood.
It doesn’t look very elegant but it works. Not only does it work, but it works like a dream. Smooth as silk.
Total cost? A couple of yoyos for the bolts.
Total time? I didn’t time myself, but less than an hour.
Total injuries? One burned finger. It’s amazing how hot steel gets when you drill it.
Now all I have to do is find myself a wee slab of mild steel, so I can do a permanent job.
Who said that improvisation is dead?
Subscribe to audio
