Some people can take one look at something broken and declare it beyond repair. My husband is not one of those people. He’s always been the kind to take things apart just to see how they work. Then he’ll put them back together again, usually better than before. Give him a mystery with wires, gears, or mechanical parts, and he’s in his happy place.
So when his laser leveler stopped working, he saw it as an interesting puzzle rather than a lost cause. The poor gadget had been tucked away in storage for months—with the batteries still inside. Now, if you’ve ever done that, you already know the punchline. Battery acid slowly leaks out over time, corroding all the delicate parts. What once worked perfectly becomes a sticky, crusted mess. Consider this your friendly reminder: always take your batteries out before storing electronics long term.
He carefully peeled off the soft rubber coating wrapped around the orange plastic shell. Then he found four tiny screws holding it all together. After taking everything apart without breaking anything (no small task for something built with what can only be described as “good luck reassembly” screws), he discovered a corroded quick connector. It was beyond saving.
Most people would have tossed the thing at that point and ordered a new one. But he had another idea. He removed the damaged section. Then he soldered the wires directly to the circuit board. He was well on his way to putting everything back in working order. There was just one problem: the screws were gone.
Enter our two-year-old daughter, who had turned those four tiny screws into treasures scattered across the kitchen linoleum. What started as a repair project quickly morphed into a full family scavenger hunt. She was delighted; we were on our hands under the table, trying to locate four tiny screws. Eventually, after some creative crawling, a bit of luck, and a couple false alarms involving crumbs, all four were recovered.
Once everything was back together, he flipped the switch, and the laser shone bright and strong, like it had never stopped working. There’s a certain quiet joy in watching something come back to life like that. In a world where so many products seem built to give up early or make repair nearly impossible—a quiet planned obsolescence baked into modern design—it felt good to defy that expectation. We saved a perfectly good gadget from an early trip to the landfill. And we earned a family story, complete with suspense, teamwork, and comic relief.
Turns out, some things aren’t just fixable—they’re worth fixing. Especially if they come with a little laughter and a side of toddler mischief.
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