UKBouldering.com

Owt for Nowt (Read 105222 times)

highrepute

Offline
  • *****
  • forum hero
  • Posts: 1288
  • Karma: +109/-0
  • Blah
#25 Re: Owt for Nowt
October 15, 2018, 09:57:14 pm
Recently got tqo pint glasses (not matching and clearly stolen from a pub) and three picture frames that had been left "free to a good home" down our road. That was a good day.

mark20

Offline
  • ****
  • junky
  • Posts: 874
  • Karma: +128/-0
#26 Re: Owt for Nowt
October 19, 2018, 06:43:52 pm
The oven stopped working the other day, so I took it apart on a bit of a whim. The rotary switch was knackered, a bit of tinkering and we now have a working oven again (just make sure to switch it off at the wall in between use, to be safe!). It made me wonder how many in the same position would have sent it straight to landfill...

I think Govey is on to something here
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/michael-goves-hot-tip-hunt-for-gold-in-others-rubbish-vk60ck53p
(sorry for the Times link but you get the jist)

SamT

Online
  • *****
  • forum hero
  • Posts: 2074
  • Karma: +95/-0
#27 Re: Owt for Nowt
October 19, 2018, 10:17:01 pm
Nice one.  Our oven door has been held together by two skateboard truck bolts for about the last 5 years. The little switch on the door to put the fan on/off as you open the door was fixed last year with a bit of aluminum tent pole to act as a replacement sleeve to the broken plastic one.

Alas, the time has come for a new kitchen and so it has gone to the tip (sorry - recycling center!  :ang:)

tomtom

Offline
  • *****
  • forum hero
  • Posts: 20282
  • Karma: +641/-11
#28 Re: Owt for Nowt
October 20, 2018, 07:47:56 am
Watch it with kitchen appliance repairs - I changed the ecu on a washing machine a few years back ( it failed originally in comic style with every light on the machine rapidly flashing on and off - like a failed robot in a 50’s sci fi!).

Anyway - it seemed to work on a test cycle so I went to have a cuppa and came back and it was very very hot - stuck on a boil wash with the contents bubbling away inside! It wouldn’t stop and I had to pull the plug and let it cool down for an hour or two. It’s truly knackered now.

Very glad I didn’t go out or it may have burnt the house down.

Oldmanmatt

Offline
  • *****
  • forum hero
  • At this rate, I probably won’t last the week.
  • Posts: 7097
  • Karma: +368/-17
  • Largely broken. Obsolete spares and scrap only.
    • The Boulder Bunker climbing centre
#29 Re: Owt for Nowt
October 20, 2018, 10:05:36 am
Watch it with kitchen appliance repairs - I changed the ecu on a washing machine a few years back ( it failed originally in comic style with every light on the machine rapidly flashing on and off - like a failed robot in a 50’s sci fi!).

Anyway - it seemed to work on a test cycle so I went to have a cuppa and came back and it was very very hot - stuck on a boil wash with the contents bubbling away inside! It wouldn’t stop and I had to pull the plug and let it cool down for an hour or two. It’s truly knackered now.

Very glad I didn’t go out or it may have burnt the house down.

The really amusing aspect of these repairs.

I’ve done it several times, it’s fairly standard practice to strip an old unit for parts, shove them into storage and replace the unit with the same model.
Except, the “same” model is often quite different.
Pumps and heaters etc rarely change, but cycles and user interfaces do; even if not immediately noticeably so. The classic being a change of position of cycles on the dial...
I recall almost being disembowelled by an irate Fillipino laundry man, who had just discovered several thousand pounds worth of designer knitwear, had been boiled into doll’s clothes.
It was difficult explaing to the charter guests, mainly because I couldn’t stop sn**gering...

shurt

Online
  • ****
  • forum abuser
  • nincompoop
  • Posts: 713
  • Karma: +38/-1
#30 Re: Owt for Nowt
October 20, 2018, 10:30:42 am
Felt really good the other week after fixing my Touran door lock which had stopped working altogether. It had stayed broken for months as the garage quoted £350...!!!
Anyway looked stuff up on YouTube, got a part off eBay for 17 quid and 4 (very stressful I might add) hours later it was done.
First proper car repair I've done so it felt great.

I personally hate the throw it away if it breaks mentality these days. I don't think manufacturers help as lots of things are not really designed to be mended. They can make more money if people buy a new one but it's shit for landfill and the planet generally.

DAVETHOMAS90

Offline
  • *****
  • forum hero
  • Dave Thomas is an annual climber to 1.7m, with strongly fragrant flowers
  • Posts: 1726
  • Karma: +166/-6
  • Don't die with your music still inside you ;)
#31 Re: Owt for Nowt
October 20, 2018, 04:10:25 pm
Some great stuff on this thread.

I bought my Zanussi washer/dryer in 1997, and yes, I have had it repaired occasionally (probably about £150 in total), and it's a bit strapped up in places, but still rumbling on. Machines these days seem to be designed to self destruct within a couple of years.

Pulled these out of a skip a couple of days ago:



Put them on Gumtree, and have just sold them for £25.

 ;D

shurt

Online
  • ****
  • forum abuser
  • nincompoop
  • Posts: 713
  • Karma: +38/-1
#32 Re: Owt for Nowt
October 20, 2018, 05:39:07 pm
I found some old rope in a skip once. Couldn't shift it on Gumtree or Ebay

Steve Crowe

Offline
  • **
  • menacing presence
  • Posts: 198
  • Karma: +17/-1
  • Using knees since 1974
    • www.climbonline.co.uk
#33 Re: Owt for Nowt
October 21, 2018, 04:51:33 pm

I went down to the shed and found a spare piece of plywood from our old van, a length of timber from some dismantled shelving and a nice off cut of hardwood from the new windows.

Finger Board by Stephen Crowe, on Flickr

DAVETHOMAS90

Offline
  • *****
  • forum hero
  • Dave Thomas is an annual climber to 1.7m, with strongly fragrant flowers
  • Posts: 1726
  • Karma: +166/-6
  • Don't die with your music still inside you ;)
#34 Re: Owt for Nowt
October 22, 2018, 12:20:39 am
That looks like a quality item!

Free fingerstrength.  :great:

remus

Offline
  • *****
  • forum hero
  • Posts: 2857
  • Karma: +146/-1
#35 Re: Owt for Nowt
October 22, 2018, 07:12:11 am
Phone glass repair successful  :great: Wish Id got on with it sooner now!

duncan

Offline
  • *****
  • Global Moderator
  • forum hero
  • Posts: 2951
  • Karma: +332/-2
#36 Re: Owt for Nowt
October 22, 2018, 08:29:24 am
I'm a life-long fixer, bodger, upcycler and reuser. Despite apple's best efforts to make this as awkard as possible, I've successfully changed iphone batteries several times. However, when it goes wrong, it is pretty spectacular...



tomtom

Offline
  • *****
  • forum hero
  • Posts: 20282
  • Karma: +641/-11
#37 Re: Owt for Nowt
October 22, 2018, 08:42:53 am
Good effort!

I've a 6+ (grey) with a knackered motherboard that a colleague asked me to fix thinking it was the battery... if anyone out there has a pretty much destroyed 6+ (apart from the main board!) going??

IPhone batteries are a bit of a challenge if the glue strips don't give way (some peel beautifully from the end - others have to be hairdriered and wedged out with quite some force..

By the time of MrsTT's 3rd screen replacement I got fed up of changing the camera, home button and earpiece around (the faffy bit to be honest) and found replacements on amazon with all those bits on for an extra few quid. Which was fine apart from issues with the ambient light sensor on the final one.

Stewart

Offline
  • **
  • menacing presence
  • Posts: 208
  • Karma: +11/-0
#38 Re: Owt for Nowt
October 22, 2018, 03:09:58 pm
I got a new samsung 38" smart tv for £10. The only thing wrong with it is the volume is stuck at about half-way. At that price I couldn't turn it down.

Oldmanmatt

Offline
  • *****
  • forum hero
  • At this rate, I probably won’t last the week.
  • Posts: 7097
  • Karma: +368/-17
  • Largely broken. Obsolete spares and scrap only.
    • The Boulder Bunker climbing centre
#39 Re: Owt for Nowt
October 22, 2018, 03:59:27 pm
I got a new samsung 38" smart tv for £10. The only thing wrong with it is the volume is stuck at about half-way. At that price I couldn't turn it down.

Add a sound bar.

Job done.

tomtom

Offline
  • *****
  • forum hero
  • Posts: 20282
  • Karma: +641/-11
#40 Re: Owt for Nowt
October 22, 2018, 04:13:54 pm
I got a new samsung 38" smart tv for £10. The only thing wrong with it is the volume is stuck at about half-way. At that price I couldn't turn it down.

Add a sound bar.

Job done.

I think it was a joke....

bigironhorse

Offline
  • ****
  • junky
  • Posts: 767
  • Karma: +16/-0
    • YouTube
#41 Re: Owt for Nowt
October 22, 2018, 04:16:48 pm
Anyone know how to repair a microwave that when switched on looks like an electrical storm inside? Its my second one in 3 years that's done the same thing.

tomtom

Offline
  • *****
  • forum hero
  • Posts: 20282
  • Karma: +641/-11
#42 Re: Owt for Nowt
October 22, 2018, 04:19:01 pm
Anyone know how to repair a microwave that when switched on looks like an electrical storm inside? Its my second one in 3 years that's done the same thing.

Take the metal items out of the microwave? ;)

SA Chris

Offline
  • *****
  • forum hero
  • Posts: 29221
  • Karma: +630/-11
    • http://groups.msn.com/ChrisClix
#43 Re: Owt for Nowt
October 30, 2018, 10:31:40 am
Not quite on topic but;

I fixed the clutch return spring on our Ford Focus. Garage quoted a few hundred quid as they said they need to disassemble the whole pedal assembly to fit it.

I did some googling and used recommended approach; weighted the spring with body weight using some krabs and slings and filled the gaps with 1p pieces until it was the right length, dropped it in place (bit of yoga and a headtorch needed to see behind pedal), then pulled out coins with a pair of pliers. £30 for spring and an hour of work.

Whenever i go to the local tip to chuck out garden rubbish etc, i despair at the things people throw out. If you ever need magnetic strips for anything (who doesn't!) just go to fridge / freezer section and attack the doors with a Stanley knife.

SamT

Online
  • *****
  • forum hero
  • Posts: 2074
  • Karma: +95/-0
#44 Re: Owt for Nowt
October 30, 2018, 11:19:06 am

Youtube and Ebay have to have had a marked effect on ability for people to resolve issues/repair stuff.

How the internet can save the planet.  There's probably a PhD to be had somewhere.

danm

Offline
  • ****
  • junky
  • Posts: 827
  • Karma: +112/-1
#45 Re: Owt for Nowt
October 30, 2018, 11:40:26 am
Anybody know where I might get a heavy duty sewing repair done in Sheffield on a DMM Highball pad? Foam is still good but the shoulder strap mounting has ripped free. Can't get a needle through by hand as it's 2 layers of cordura plus 1 or 2 of webbing.

Will Hunt

Offline
  • *****
  • forum hero
  • Superworm is super-long
  • Posts: 7976
  • Karma: +631/-115
    • Unknown Stones
#46 Re: Owt for Nowt
October 30, 2018, 12:22:45 pm
That sounds like the kind of thing that Alpkit would do for you. Shop in Hathersage?

SA Chris

Offline
  • *****
  • forum hero
  • Posts: 29221
  • Karma: +630/-11
    • http://groups.msn.com/ChrisClix
#47 Re: Owt for Nowt
October 30, 2018, 01:11:55 pm
Anyone who says they can do tent, canvas or similar repairs should have a stitcher strong enough to repair. I've use a high speed drill in the past for making holes to fix things like that and then used either cable ties or strimmer line to repair.

sdm

Offline
  • ****
  • forum abuser
  • Posts: 622
  • Karma: +25/-1
#48 Re: Owt for Nowt
October 30, 2018, 01:17:27 pm
I've had similar repairs done by alpkit in Hathersage before.

danm

Offline
  • ****
  • junky
  • Posts: 827
  • Karma: +112/-1
#49 Re: Owt for Nowt
October 30, 2018, 01:33:15 pm
Thanks, I'll try em out!

 

SimplePortal 2.3.7 © 2008-2024, SimplePortal