While removing my tiny, expensive digital camera from its soft, leather case, I dropped it on the pavement. Upon inspection, I determined that the camera was still in working order, but the latch on the film compartment door had broken off, so the door wouldn’t stay closed. And for some reason, the camera only works if the door is closed, so I couldn’t just take it off and go for that “exposed” look (like those clear cell phones and such).

I decided that if I used tape to fix the camera, I would be too embarassed to take it out in public and use it. Having tape on my camera would be like having tape on my glasses. Not to mention the fact that it would be terribly inconvenient having to retape it every time I wanted to insert or remove the memory card.

So instead I decided to fix it.

I went to Home Depot (otherwise known as “The Place Where Only Professional Contractors Can Find Anything”) and looked around for quite awhile before finally asking where to find super-glue. Of course, it was in the paint aisle. Silly me.

Anyway, near the super-glue was some other stuff called “QuikPlastic.” It claimed to be useful when “repairing or rebuilding anything made of plastic.” I decided that would be more useful, considering that I didn’t have the broken-off piece and therefore didn’t have anything to super-glue back onto the camera.

When I got home, I kneaded the QuikPlastic according to the instructions (it had a consistency similar to synthetic clay), and then I applied a very small amount of it to the spot on the camera where the the broken-off piece had… um… broken off.

Just thirty or fourty minutes later, it was dry and hard. At first I had trouble getting the door to close (because the QuikPlastic piece I had fashioned was a bit larger than the original piece), but I used some sandpaper to sand it down to size, and then the door actually worked again! I could snap it shut and then use the release button to open it. Woo-hoo!

So thankfully I won’t be needing a new digital camera just yet, which is almost too bad because I already had one picked out. But more importantly, I’ve restored my faith in my ability to fix things. Now one of these days I’ll have to muster up the energy/testosterone to replace the light bulb in my porch light and the handle on my toilet.