#GoodMorningWorlds I was actually up and awake at 6am this morning.

[maker_of_things@cupoftea.social]

#GoodMorningWorlds
I was actually up and awake at 6am this morning. Not a great night's sleep either, but I got up and made tea for Sue.

We are off to Levenshulme #RepairCafe this morning, but the main thought that has been going through my mind this morning has been "I don't wanna....!" but I will as it will be fun.

I have already been researching how to DIY install a wet room from scratch, in case we need to do that at some point, maybe.

Anyway, breakfast, then load all the tools and head out to do good stuff for the community.

[emily_s@mastodon.me.uk]

@Maker_of_Things Enjoy.

[jeniparsons@mstdn.social]

@Maker_of_Things bore da Alfred! I echo your feeling as we’re going to Seedy Saturday in Carmarthen and I don’t wanna but it will be fun and I’ll be glad I went

[suearcher@toot.wales]

@JeniParsons @Maker_of_Things

I assume Seedy Saturday is growing related, and not just everything being a bit morally dubious....

[maker_of_things@cupoftea.social]

@suearcher
I am now imagining @JeniParsons meeting up with some shadowy, hooded, figures in a dark alley, exchanging small packets of mustard seeds cut with poppy seeds from the local bakery.

[maker_of_things@cupoftea.social]

@JeniParsons
Yeah, it will be fun, but hard work.
I think I have been forewarned that another chair might be coming from a regular. It will be the 4th or 5th one to repair from a set.

[janet_52square@sunny.garden]

@Maker_of_Things @JeniParsons hmmm the design of the set of chairs might be called into question at this point.

[jeniparsons@mstdn.social]

@suearcher @Maker_of_Things

[jeniparsons@mstdn.social]

@Maker_of_Things @suearcher you guessed but 🤫

[maker_of_things@cupoftea.social]

@Janet_52square
Yeah, they are basic fancy mahogany style (coloured) dining chairs from the 90s, all rocked to loose joints by the growing extended family. I said I would do them one at a time due to lack of workshop space. And doing via Repair Cafe saves them the huge cost of a professional restoration for the set.

They didn't come today, but someone else came with a rather lovely mid century teak chair that has loose joints. It is in my workshop now. They will get it back, as much as I would happily keep it for myself.

@JeniParsons

[maker_of_things@cupoftea.social]

At Repair Cafe this morning I had a novice working with me.

He looked at two LED lamps and between us decided the LED driver, touch dimmer, and USB charger pcb had died on both. They were not repairable.

Meanwhile, I repaired a little Xylophone. The elastic used to hold the tone bars had snapped so I renewed it.

I then helped a chap repair his toaster, he had the parts but not the tools.

I put a new aglet on the end of a shoelace, made from hot glue and heat shrink.

I got a mid century teak chair to repair as homework. All the joints were loose and badly reglued.

My novice had a halogen standard lamp with two built in dimmers. The circuits were fried so we worked out how to convert it to two on/off switches. It will come back next month for the conversion work.

I also provided advice, tooling, and support for the other repairs, and they did likewise for me.

It was a good morning.

#RepairCafe

[moonrabbit@sunny.garden]

@Maker_of_Things
this is all so lovely

[maker_of_things@cupoftea.social]

I just remembered....

I also repaired the wheel on a tartan shopping trolley. The split nylon bush retainer in the wheel hub was worn and oversize. I couldn't remove it but managed to squeeze it smaller with a coil spring made from a bit of stainless steel cable tie.

#RepairCafe

[printdevil@dice.camp]

@Maker_of_Things How much/many of your repairs are from people who don't know how to do something vs people who just don't have the right tools?

[anne_delong@musician.social]

@Printdevil @Maker_of_Things

What a satisfying way to spend a day!

[maker_of_things@cupoftea.social]

@Printdevil
Almost all the repairs (1000+) I deal with are from people who have little or no knowledge or ability in the repair.
Very few have had a guess and an attempt, usually gluing something with the wrong type of glue, or taping wires back together.

I think there have been fewer than ten over the last (almost) 10 years who have just come to borrow tools and a bit of support to finish a repair they have started themselves.
Mostly it has been odd sized spanners or security screwdrivers, once it was soldering.

[printdevil@dice.camp]

@Maker_of_Things One of the things I find poking about people's repairs is the use of really cheap or inappropriate screws, with the screws broken or stripped. Soft metal cheapness

[maker_of_things@cupoftea.social]

@Printdevil
I have found it depends so much on the item.
Many cheap electrical items have cheap fasteners that are a pain to deal with.

Also, I do furniture repairs and I come across chair joints that have had nails bashed into them and ineffective PVA on already glued surfaces.
People will try those kinds of repairs, which is good on them, but I wish they wouldn't and just bring them to me first. It saves a lot of undoing their work.

[ianturton@mapstodon.space]

@Printdevil @Maker_of_Things is prefer that to the coffee machines that are held together with little plastic tabs and are clearly designed to prevent you opening them easily

[printdevil@dice.camp]

@Maker_of_Things One of the best repairs I ever came across was using Oxy10 spot cream and daylight to get biro marks off vinyl doll faces. It's just one of those things which works so well and you're left with dozens of repaired Monster High Dolls and very happy daughters.