Do you take things apart?

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Last edited by odd on 25 Jan 2009, 10:40 am, edited 1 time in total.

Even since I was very small my philosophy has been that anything and everything that can be taken apart should be, and then it should be 'improved' somehow even if it never works properly again. It's just the challenge of tinkering with stuff that is so fasinating. The more intricate the machine the more fun it is. The first thing I usually do when I buy a computer is tear it apart to create some Frankenstein machine from all the parts I have laying around. My personal server is held together with duct tape but in my eyes it has been significantly 'improved'.

I always did this when I was a kid. And later in life, I guess I allways been good with motors and cars. Now, I seem to have grown out of it, don't like to fix cars anymore.

I take things apart. I always want to have something to do with my hands.

My friend, you're not alone. I made an account on this site solely to post on THIS thread.

If I'm not the only one, maybe there's hope for me.

This isn't the first time I've stumbled across this site either. I found myself saying inside my head a week or so ago "i must be an alien because there's no other explanation for this stuff"

legos dominated my childhood, and being a master builder was my dream for like most of elementary school.

i have been known to bastardize electronic toys, devices and tools for parts and batteries.

those micro rc cars were one of my favorite tinker toys (zip-zaps)

as an 11 year old boy my room was littered with components to console accessories.

Dude, tinkering is theraputic. i can usually controll myself, but only until the device is not functioning properly, then its fair game.

just last night for me was my mad cats rat7 gaming mouse. looked up instructions for taking apart a separate mouse (different brand) so i could get general idea for the taks at hand. 30 minutes later i have the usb 3.0 cable gutted out very neatly.

I LOVE WIRES AND CABLES. one vice i have is daisy chaining s**t. i LOOOVE to interface random devices with cars and computers. i REALLY love when i get the opportunity to hand fabricate wiring and terminals.

the only thing that stopped me from moving forward at a young age. was that my parents would have laughed in my face if i asked them for a soldering iron.

Yes I have done this and still do sometimes.

I also like to take things apart, and discover exactly how they work.
How all the intricate bits fit together to make up the whole.

I don't think it's an AS thing, but just having a curious nature.

The only loving Parent I ever experienced was my Grandfather, he died when I was five and so mother gave me his gold watch, the only thing I ever had to remind me of him.
And what did I do with it?, took it apart with all these springs and gears that I couldn't work out how to reassemble, well I was only 5.
That would have been my most treasured possession.

When I was a kid we really didn't get toys because we were poor. One day, though, the fire department decided to give us toy police cars. I was fascinated with mine. Instead of playing with it I took it apart to see what made it run. My freaking father was too poor, or lazy, to get me batteries so I never did find out what made it run.

My whole left has been spent on me dissecting things. As it turns out, I read somewhere, it is aspie behaviour. I took TV's, amplifiers, radios and other electronic items apart. I was pretty handy with a soldering iron, too so my scrutiny wasn't always in vain.

I've been taking stuff apart forever.

Not being able to put it back together and make it work has been a problem, but I seem to be getting better at putting stuff back together and making it work again.

I've also been able to construct things from just a mental picture of what it should look like.

It's interesting that this topic was brought up on wrongplanet. Back when I was a kid I was addicted to and obsessed with taking things apart or tearing things apart for that matter. In fact, I was so addicted to tearing things apart that I would ask my parents for any kind of electrical or electronic toy They could get me. Once my parents got tired of me tearing my toys apart. They stop buying me electronic toys altogether. So to continue to feed my habit. I would start scrounging for appliances and other electrical devices in the dumpsters Around the area. One day. My local school was having a fundraiser to raise money to purchase a couple of computers for the school. I was very excited about this and wanted to help with the fundraiser in any way I can. I felt that this was important for me because it would gave me an opportunity to connect with my peers and and teachers at the school. Or so I thought. It turns out I was just fooling myself. The day came when the computers arrive and I was very excited and wanted to helped set them up. But the teachers would not let me near them and keep bugging about how expensive they were and every time something went wrong with them, they would always blame me for it. It really hurt my feelings badly that they never trusted me around those machines. So one day they pushed me over the edge and I said "F**k em. I decided to stay after school and hide out in the building until it got dark and once everybody was gone for the evening. I then preceded to steal the computers and head out the back door and walk all the way back to my tree house with them. Once I got these things back to my tree house. I'd realized that I could do whatever I want with them. For the first time in my entire life. I was now able to enjoy tearing apart an expensive piece of equipment without somebody mad at me or telling me how expensive it is. It was an idea that stuck with me from this point on and so from now on. If I wanted a piece of electronic equipment to tear apart. I would just steal it from someone. I had lost count of the hundreds of pieces of electronic equipment I had stolen and torn apart and had scattered all over the forest around where my tree house was. But it was fun and the only thing I could really do sense I had no friends to go play with.

I love taking apart things. Then I put them back together again. I duunno, I just get curious.

i like pulling things apart. use to cause some problems as a kid. finally got my parents to agree that if something was broken i could pull it apart to try to fix it. that rule seemed to have stuck with me. i might open something up to see how it works but i don't usually take it apart unless its broken and needs fixing.

I took things apart all the time when I was a kid. I even bought things at garage sales with my allowance just so I could take them apart (I got in trouble a few times for taking things apart at home that were expensive). Once I developed hobbies and interests in particular mechanical devices, I started to take them apart to modify or fix them. I went from TV remotes to blenders to paintball guns to engines to gear boxes. Honestly, I would make a terrific mechanic, but it's tough convincing other mechanics of that without professional training or experience. I figured if I'm going to put in the time, money, and effort for professional training, I'm going to be a mechanical engineer, which is what I'm working on now. Automotive work takes a serious toll on your health too, and the idea of developing arthritis in my hands terrifies me.

I don't usually take things apart to see how they work anymore, but I still take apart small things that don't require tools (like pens and cell phones) and put them back together as a form of stimming--I don't even realize I'm doing it until a small part shoots out of my hand and interrupts my train of thought. Yes, people notice

I took apart a blank VHS tape once. I wanted to see what was inside and how it worked. It was very interesting.

I've effectively fixed gear-driven wood working equipment and an old truck, which I would never have been able to afford to send to a mechanic. Can definitely see the therapeutic value.

I would someday like a huge lathe, portable lumber mill, and would consider building them by hand.