Repair Shop

[grober]

Part of the problem lies with the "infantilisation" of customers and dare I say it service agents departments by keeping service and repair information proprietary/ secret. This aided by a heavy dependance on smart electronic circuitry [cheap to mass manufacture once designed but difficult to emulate/repair in the event of failure] Thus manufacturers create a dependancy culture to generate an additional product revenue stream to purchase price and encourage replacement rather than repair. Sealed for life is another ploy whereby repair is made difficult by devices held together or encapsulated by adhesive or sealant. In todays world of diminishing natural resources perhaps governments need to legislate against these commercially driven "throw away culture" designs?

 

[st13phil]

In todays world of diminishing natural resources perhaps governments need to legislate against this commercially driven "throw away culture" design?

Funnily enough: 'Right to repair' rules brought in for appliances

 

[m2mb]

..... During the service he discovered that the built-in expansion vessel was holding pressure, saying that the diaphragm between the air and water sections had failed - a common problem. Unfortunately with those old Glowworm boilers the expansion vessel is fitted right at the back of the boiler, necessitating removal of the whole thing to replace it. He came up with the idea of fitting an external vessel instead and went off to see what he could buy. While he was gone I thought to check the valve at the top of the expansion vessel where he had connected his pressure gauge. It wasn't easy to see, but just by feel I could tell that it was no more than the same type of Schrader valve we have fitted to our tyres. I searched through some of my bits-I-never-throw-away boxes and found an old insert that I used to replace the one in my boiler. When the plumber returned with news of how much his "fix" He stuck his pressure gauge back on and we both stood there watching it not move. My few pence worth of valve repair saved hundreds of pounds. Best of all, he was so embarrassed at not having identified that fault himself he didn't charge me for any of his work.

In my central heating system (closed loop system) the expansion tank (air side of the diaphragm) must always hold pressure equal to the water side. (Around 30 psi). Otherwise it would get flooded with water and no expansion space left to do its job. We always check it by pushing down the valve-if it lets out a hearty stream of air it's all good. I bought a gauge only last year-if it needs pressure, me pumping it with a bicycle pumb!

 

[Petrol Pete]

I repaired this the other day. I was clearing out some stuff for my mom and this was a toy my kids must have left there years ago. The pilot is missing (presumed killed in action) and the lances that were on the wingtips are long gone but I know a guy who likes StarWars stuff so I thought I would clean it up and see if he wanted to give a few quid to my kids for it.

I soon discovered that R2D2 was not doing what he was told to do (probably since the pilot was MIA he thought he was is charge) Pushing down on his dome like head opens the wings of the fighter where they are supposed to latch in place, but they did not.

Now at this point most sensible people would leave it and get on with their lives...but it is in my DNA to have a go at fixing stuff. I noticed it was made by TONKA and I remember that they (used to) make good stuff. Anyway the thing was screwed together , not glue/heat welding so it was fixable by breaking it right down and turning that mutinous Ba$tard R2D2 180' so the (unseen) lip on his can like trunk below the fuselage now engages the blue button you see here.

Viola ! the wings now stay locked open and with new batteries it makes StarWars type sounds. I have not seen the bloke who likes StarWars stuff since (self isolating ?) The whole operation was pretty pointless but I just couldn't help myself at least 'having a go' at fixing it. Fixing stuff is pretty much what I do for a living so you thought I might give it a bloody rest when at home...but no.

 

[Chrishazle]

Chris, on yours did you forget to turn on the water supply? That would make it run for just a couple of seconds.

It was a while ago, but I'm pretty sure I had the water turned on. I remember checking the electric supply was OK. Must get the damned thing out soon, getting loads of earache from SWMBO about the state of the patio, the crap that comes down from the rather large oak tree means I have to pressure wash the patio etc at least twice a year!

 

[ChrisHGTV]

I repaired this the other day. I was clearing out some stuff for my mom and this was a toy my kids must have left there years ago. The pilot is missing (presumed killed in action) and the lances that were on the wingtips are long gone but I know a guy who likes StarWars stuff so I thought I would clean it up and see if he wanted to give a few quid to my kids for it.

I soon discovered that R2D2 was not doing what he was told to do (probably since the pilot was MIA he thought he was is charge) Pushing down on his dome like head opens the wings of the fighter where they are supposed to latch in place, but they did not.

Now at this point most sensible people would leave it and get on with their lives...but it is in my DNA to have a go at fixing stuff. I noticed it was made by TONKA and I remember that they (used to) make good stuff. Anyway the thing was screwed together , not glue/heat welding so it was fixable by breaking it right down and turning that mutinous Ba$tard R2D2 180' so the (unseen) lip on his can like trunk below the fuselage now engages the blue button you see here.

Viola ! the wings now stay locked open and with new batteries it makes StarWars type sounds. I have not seen the bloke who likes StarWars stuff since (self isolating ?) The whole operation was pretty pointless but I just couldn't help myself at least 'having a go' at fixing it. Fixing stuff is pretty much what I do for a living so you thought I might give it a bloody rest when at home...but no.

View attachment 93396

View attachment 93397

Ahhh X-Wing envy!! I've still got a lot of my old Star Wars toys from the 1970's/1980's. Some of it can be quite valuable now, but i always think it's sad when you see toys unopened in their packaging. Wasteful it is...as Yoda would say. I do have a Death Star that's pretty rare. They were made of thick card so you can imagine that not many survived.

 

[Flyinspanner]

As I have a few days spare I’m decorating the kitchen, today the detail sander was cutting in n out - stripped it to find a wire in power cable fractured. Chopped/Remade and good to go in 15mins

 

[Bellow]

Soldering is such a useful skill.
For those unfamiliar and want to try it, the two golden rules are:
Cleanliness is absolute.
Take the heat to the job then the solder (the metals should be hot enough for the solder to melt on contact).

And maybe a third - for round the house jobs a £15 bolt is adequate. Leave spending £hundreds to the electronic gurus.

 

[Deleted member 65149]

Soldering is such a useful skill.
For those unfamiliar and want to try it, the two golden rules are:
Cleanliness is absolute.
Take the heat to the job then the solder (the metals should be hot enough for the solder to melt on contact).

And maybe a third - for round the house jobs a £15 bolt is adequate. Leave spending £hundreds to the electronic gurus.

Correct, and basic points that elude so many. Don’t forget that cleanliness applies to the soldering iron as well as to the metals being soldered. A damp cloth or sponge works very well at cleaning a dirty soldering iron tip.

Getting the metals hot enough to melt the solder on contact is the right way to do it - let the hot metal do the melting, not the soldering iron. But in some instances you don’t want everything to be hot enough for more than a fraction of a second. Soldering a new microprocessor (chip) onto a circuitboard for instance isn’t a job for the out and out amateur. Dwell too long with the iron on the pins and you’ll wreck the heat sensitive innards. It’s best to “tin” the pins first - give them all a thin coat of solder - before soldering the chip to the board. (Incidentally, my MSc was in microprocessor design, but I only learnt how to solder as an electronics apprentice several years before that.)

 

[Chrishazle]

Chris, on yours did you forget to turn on the water supply? That would make it run for just a couple of seconds.

Well, 1/2 hour following a logical test path - remove lance assy from HP hose, connect water supply - water comes out of HP hose. Connect power, pump runs. OK, dismantle 3 piece lance assembly and repeat test attaching one piece at a time, everything working properly!! Just done the first hour of patio and paths, lots more to do tomorrow and probably next day too. Good news as a decent replacement is £150++

Suspicion it was operator error not equipment fault. Hose end has an off stop connector, it can appear to be attached to the washer but is 2mm short of full and proper lock - first test that was the situation, no water coming out although I knew the supply to the off stop was good. Gave the connector another shove and water came out.

 

[Dryce]

That is the Kenwood with the properly made gears, not the monkey metal alloy used now.

Our Chef turns 50 this year. Hefty piece of kit. Still used regularly - but not as often or as hard as it was in its first 10 to 15 years because we have had other smaller lighter food processors that have been more convenient for some day to day stuff.

 

[Deleted member 126251]

Part of the problem lies with the "infantilisation" of customers and dare I say it service agents departments by keeping service and repair information proprietary/ secret. This aided by a heavy dependance on smart electronic circuitry [cheap to mass manufacture once designed but difficult to emulate/repair in the event of failure] Thus manufacturers create a dependancy culture to generate an additional product revenue stream to purchase price and encourage replacement rather than repair. Sealed for life is another ploy whereby repair is made difficult by devices held together or encapsulated by adhesive or sealant. In todays world of diminishing natural resources perhaps governments need to legislate against these commercially driven "throw away culture" designs?

Also, the components are getting really tiny. I purchased a practise board (for soldering) with capacitors, LED, resistors. ICs etc and they are tiny. Quite a challenge to solder without a microscope. That piece of wood is the tip of a toothpick pointing at a capacitor and the resistors on the very right are just about invisible.

 

[flying haggis]

Well, 1/2 hour following a logical test path - remove lance assy from HP hose, connect water supply - water comes out of HP hose. Connect power, pump runs. OK, dismantle 3 piece lance assembly and repeat test attaching one piece at a time, everything working properly!! Just done the first hour of patio and paths, lots more to do tomorrow and probably next day too. Good news as a decent replacement is £150++

Suspicion it was operator error not equipment fault. Hose end has an off stop connector, it can appear to be attached to the washer but is 2mm short of full and proper lock - first test that was the situation, no water coming out although I knew the supply to the off stop was good. Gave the connector another shove and water came out.

Chris (and others) the waterstop type of connecter can sometimes adversely restrict the flow into a pressure washer so it becomes "tempremental" if so try it with a normal connector. DAMHIKT

 

[Deleted member 65149]

Also, the components are getting really tiny. I purchased a practise board (for soldering) with capacitors, LED, resistors. ICs etc and they are tiny. Quite a challenge to solder without a microscope. That piece of wood is the tip of a toothpick pointing at a capacitor and the resistors on the very right are just about invisible.
View attachment 93571

I used to design and build circuits using components of that size in the late 60s. As well as resistors and capacitors I used diodes and transistors - all tiny. The fun part was making the circuit boards that comprised gold laid onto glass then etching away what wasn’t needed. The soldering was the easy part, but definitely all under a microscope.

 

[Deleted member 6183]

I used to design and build circuits using components of that size in the late 60s. As well as resistors and capacitors I used diodes and transistors - all tiny. The fun part was making the circuit boards that comprised gold laid onto glass then etching away what wasn’t needed. The soldering was the easy part, but definitely all under a microscope.

Yeah but PONG looks a bit dated these days.

 

[Chrishazle]

Chris (and others) the waterstop type of connecter can sometimes adversely restrict the flow into a pressure washer so it becomes "tempremental" if so try it with a normal connector. DAMHIKT

Thanks - Had I not got water flow after thumping the connector on the first test, that was my next thought as well, luckily I have a selection of connectors, but the quick thump sorted it! Main thought for my post was taking a logical approach to problem solving, which on this occasion worked well. Only down side is that tomorrow and the following day I'll be out there pressure washing a load of very dirty patio and paths, instead of having an excuse for ignoring SWMBO's "advise"!!