PSA. Analogy: “Hi Mr. Mechanic! Here’s my ‘72 Datsun. I’d like you to give it a tune up. Oh, by the way, I’m not a mechanic but I pulled out the steering column and took apart the starter. Here are the parts in this bag” (When a client takes apart their machine, got in way over their head and wants me to fix their mistakes. Please… I appreciate you’re experimenting, but this is a huge nightmare to me. I’ve passed on several of these machines.)

I particularly like Austin Typewriter, Ink.'s coat of arms for underlining this point: <image>

“There’s about 2,000 moving parts in a typewriter, but they’re really quite simple from a mechanical point of view.”