Fletch(er) Lives and the Mexican Prison Bus

Upon entering the shop yesterday afternoon, I found a note from Owner written out on scrap mat board with a list of items I was to work on. It looked like a fairly easy list: move a computer, clean out and organize a box of Art Walk supplies, price Velcro dots in bulk, repair point drivers.  Huh? Do what? Repair point drivers?  Do we sell golf clubs?  What IS a point driver?  I was a bit confused. Instead of trying to figure it out immediately, I went ahead with the easy stuff on the list. i.e. those things I actually understood.

Later, in the work area, I noticed a basket full of the staple gun thingies we use to shoot brads in frames to hold mats etc inside the frames.  There were some printed instructions lying there with them. It finally dawned on me through the haze of allergy medication: the staple gun thingies ARE the "point drivers".  (My genius astounds me sometimes.)

Some who know me may not think of me as being particularly handy, and I'm not so sure I would say that I am, but I am fairly determined, and since I had some instructions, I figured I could make it work.

I was reminded of being in Mexico with friends a few years back. We were riding mopeds and found ourselves off the paved road headed toward the jungle.  One of my friends was lagging behind due to a muffler malfunction on his moped. We stopped to wait for him at the head of the jungle path. When he caught up to us, his muffler was dragging on the ground, slowing him down considerably and making crazy noises every bit as annoying as finger nails on a chalkboard but much, much louder. About the same time he caught up, we heard the sound of a truck coming through the jungle, and it was headed toward us. The path we were on was narrow; it was not a road.  What could this be?  Knowing us, it was probably wasn't going to be good.

A large van began to appear.  It was pushing aside banana trees and other jungle flora as it made its way. The hood of the van was painted with several words. The one I recognized was "Policia".  Great.  As the van drew nearer, we could hear the sounds of lots of men yelling. Finally the van was upon us. Where there should have been sides and windows on the van, there were bars! As in prison bars. The van stopped. I have no idea what was being said, but it didn't sound good at all.  The men behind the bars were screaming, shaking on the bars, and it was just the tiniest bit scary. (Thanks Hollywood; job well done). So at this point, I'm thinking, "No freaking way, am I going down like this, and please lord don't let Montezuma’s revenge strike now!"

Not wanting to die in the jungles of Mexico murdered by some lawless criminals or end up in a Mexican prison (again, hats off to Hollywood), I was determined we were going to get the "H" out of Dodge. Pronto! I began examining the moped, and I decided I could fix it. I had a backpack on, and it had an extra strap. Using a stick and a rock for tools, I affixed the muffler (still really hot) to the moped using the strap together with a piece of metal found on the roadside in hopes of preventing the muffler falling off again. Victory! Muffler was repaired, we all lived, and I was given the nickname "MacGyver" for the duration of the trip.  So I figured if I can fix a moped in the middle of the hot, steamy Mexican jungle while being harassed by a busload of criminals, surely I can repair a point driver in an air conditioned building with the aid of instructions and proper tools.
 
Only one of the Fletcher point drivers was operational.  I used that as my baseline for acceptable point penetration into the frame moulding.  With the help of the instructions, I got two of the four non-functioning point drivers fixed in fairly short order; the other two were less cooperative. I decided I would have to go in; surgery was required. As I opened the first one up, a large spring sprung out nearly taking out my eye.  (No, I didn’t wear protective eye gear.  Lesson learned:  Framing can be dangerous; wear eye protection).  After about half an hour in the O.R., I realized the damage could not be repaired.  They both needed a transplant.  Lucky for the point drivers, springs are pretty easy to come by.  They should be good as in new within the next week.