Upholding the traditions of UK-DIY ...

[GB]

Upholding the traditions of UK-DIY ...

I have just spent 70 minutes repairing a part that costs £3.45 to replace. :)

[Tim Lamb]

In message , GB writes

What else could you have been doing?

Extended breakfast? Daytime TV? Volunteering to take the boss shopping?

Correct and laudable decision IMV.

>

[T i m]

Excellent.

The thing is, you have saved having to 'throw away' the broken part and it bothers me that in many cases there isn't such a place as 'away'. Well, it's not away from us or even this planet, it's often just under the next new housing estate. ;-(

If the part can be recycled (steel / some plastics etc) or converted into energy (incinerator) then that might be ok, but still not as good (depending on what materials / chemicals were involved in the repair process) as repairing ('reuse') if possible.

Plus there is the 'buzz' you / we get from fixing stuff and (often) the chance you will have it fixed quicker than you would if you had to order / get delivered a replacement part.

I think I have loaned my big hot air gun to someone and haven't had it returned. Not wanting to buy another (I don't use it that often and it was a good one) I saw one pop up on Freecycle as 'needing attention' and collected it. The offerer had cut the mains lead off because it was damaged at the airgun end and he didn't want anyone getting injured by a bare wire. So, whilst sitting in front of my PC and just with my Leatherman PST2, I fitted a new 2m rubber lead (and the original plug) and it works fine ... so now I hope to find my other hot air gun. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

[Brian Reay]

But sometimes you can't buy/find the part, even if you were prepared to pay far more!

I'm currently in the middle of just such a job, although I've found a part that is (hopefully) more or less identical to the defective one and is only available if you buy a whole, huge, assembly which is equally difficult to source.

Fingers crossed, when the part arrives, all will be well.

[Dan S. MacAbre]

Did you enjoy it? Did you learn something?

[Scott]

I modified the kettle lid (Russell Hobbs) because it was so badly designed and replacements were not available. I hope the materials used were food grade. They were certainly not specified for food use.

[Davey]

Some years ago, we had a company Ford van, whose gearchange mechanism started to fail, as a balljoint would come apart. Ford would not sell a replacement balljoint, even though it would easily unscrew for removal, they would only sell a complete cable assembly.

[Graeme]

In message , Davey writes

Very similar problem with a column change MkIII Zodiac. The solution was to wrap elastic bands around the joint, which cured the problem

[Nick Odell]

Where's the button on this usenet thingy?

Nick

[Tim Watts]

I'm told by a bloke I work with that his 3D printer is handy for making random small widgets as spare parts (and the plastic is surprisingly strong).

[anonymousrapscallion]

The *very* best traditions of UK.diy would have involved also spending more on glue/tape/new tools/you-name-it than the part would have cost to replace!

Ant.

[newshound]

+1

[whisky-dave]

My kettle lid broke on thursday, thats the week point with kettles I have b uy it seems..

[T i m]

Hehe (thanks).

Cheers, T i m

[T i m]

Absolutely.

A neighbour, knowing I had one asked if I could print a replacement carrying loop for his 4D cell Maglite torch, as he had already bought replacements and those had also failed. I asked him for accurate dimensions of what he wanted, designed and printed one for him to try. It didn't fit (his poor measurement) but he was intrigued how strong it might be. I said he could try to destroy the non fitting one and he had to work pretty hard to do so (this was in PLA, other plastics would be even stronger).

I understand the 3D printed replacements have already lasted longer than the originals. ;-)

Mum has a sofa in her lean-to sitting on 4 x 6" tall cylindrical feet / legs I designed and printed and they are still doing fine.

I still feel that being able to produce a useable 3d object at a whim is weird. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

[Harry Bloomfield]

Graeme brought next idea :

My MKIII Granada had the balljoint on the wipers come apart in heavy rain. I folded a plastic carrier bag, then forced the two parts together to sandwich that between the two. That lasted for years, until I eventually sold the car and beyond.

[ARW]

You were dragging your feet and should have had the job done in 50 minutes:-) Probably messing about with your mobile phone for 20 minutes.

Today I fixed a DOL starter by hitting it with a hammer. A temporary fix but at least the engineer that was servicing the fan could do his job.

Care to name what you fixed and how you did the repair?

[Brian Gaff]

I wish somebody could do that with an otherwise perfectly serviceable shaver where the battery has died and now it won't even run on the mains due to the battery presumably tripping the low voltage trip in the charger. Sigh. Brian

[Brian Gaff]

Its also a good post for uk.rec.sheds as well of course

[Andrew]

Purple ones are cheap in Sainburys.

Half the price of Red or Green ones for some odd reason.