repairing things

i love repairing things. here is a list of things i have recently repaired. post here when you repair something.

laptop:
replaced faulty dc port
replaced thermal paste

microwave:
replaced motor that turns plate

shirt:
repaired various tears and worn areas in favourite denim shirt (with linen patches and japanese sashiko stitching)

I enjoy undertaking light electronic repairs, i.e. replacing laptop batteries, brackets, hard drives and the like, but I've recently had to remap the 'o' key on my old Macbook due to an irreversible short circuit and it turns out the sole proper solution is replacing the entire keyboard outright. Merely scrolling through this guide is enough to give me a headache:

https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Pro+13-Inch+Retina+Display+Late+2013+Keyboard+Replacement/77657

i fixed my toilet - cistern was taking literally hours to refill. i think there's a limescale buildup on the inlet valve so it was sticking shut.

the toilet was also my most recent repair. the little rubber thing that sits at the top of the vertical tube thing had gotten all messed up, and as a result it was doing the thing where the toilet is always "filling up", because it couldn't detect when it had hit the upper water limit. very annoying! fixed it with twine tbh

i also recently repaired my toilet. it had been making noise for longer than i care to admit.

I fixed and painted my garden gate, I am happy with it but wish it could earn me money some day. Guess I won't have to pay for a new gate now?

my 14' telescoping pole saw was stuck at full extension, but I fixed it by C-clamping it to our deck rail, spraying the locked-up part with WD-40, and wrestling it loose with channel-lock pliers

any day I repair a thing is a good day

14 feet? holy crap!

now I have no excuse for not pruning some trees

you could cut off a basketball net from the free throw line!

or wait...no you can't. sorry, that's 15 feet away (plus 10 feet up). gonna need a longer pole saw, 14' just won't _cut_ it

I can't fix shit and even without a quarantine I don't like to go anywhere, so if I can't mail it in I'm gonna order a new one, alas.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ENhudYfU4AAgN4o?format=jpg&name=4096x4096

When my Simplyhuman pedal bin stopped working (the plastic hinges broke through wear and tear) rather than buying a new one I sliced some wine bottle cork and superglued it into the hinge. it worked a treat and the hinge is good as new.

omg great repair!

i need to repair my sheepskin slippers that i have had for probably around 12 years, there is a hole coming through from my big toenail. i think some kindof linen thread darning, but it will have to look nice, and i don't have any linen thread, although I was wondering if a weft from some line fabric would work. probably not, but possibly if I wound three together?

Stevolende to thread!

Man I love "fixing" things (or modifying, I guess, for things that aren't technically broken). I've rebuilt every bicycle and rewired every single guitar I've owned to some degree, swapped out a fried diode on guitar amp, switched out resistors on a 1979 Princeton Reverb to make the tremolo crazier and swapped out a potentiometer while I was in there, fixed laptops and chairs and cars and parts of houses and so on. I'm not necessarily great at it but it's so incredibly satisfying.

Our dryer stopped heating a few weeks ago and I got a new heating element and set of thermal fuses and thermostats to fix it, as well as a new belt and belt roller to replace while I'm in there. I've been sick so I haven't gotten around to it yet but for like $50 and maybe two hours of work it'll work again vs. several hundred dollars to have it repaired.

how would you rerepair an acoustic guitar where the bridge is starting to peel away from the body of the guitar? is there a correct glue to use, does it need to be properly peeled off and glued all together?

Luthiers tend to use animal glues, IIRC. There are repair kits available online, that have a purpose-made clamp. Do check underneath to see if there are loose fittings - it might not be simply a glue issue.

THought I'd messed up my sewing machine for a while a coupl eof days ago. Wound up taking part so fi t apart that I hadn't done before.
Wound up with the handwheel getting really stiff which had me wthinking I'd damaged something nastily.
Had another go at it the next day and got it back working and it seems to be working pretty smoothly.
& now I know there is a section under the bobbin case/needleplate area that I have access to and had a lot of lint in and bent pins and things and gear wheels and things taht had a load of gunk on them.

Probably needs a service, probably has done fora while . Could do with learning how to do that .
Especially if thisicurrent situation drags out.
Have wanted to for a while anyway.

BUt now hjave 2 new pairs of trousers. & I think I need to learn to actually draft rather than just customise clones.
SDhould be doing real bespoke jeans in like one go instead of several fittngs.

& now I know there is a section under the bobbin case/needleplate area that I have access to and had a lot of lint in and bent pins and things and gear wheels and things taht had a load of gunk on them.

yes! that section! removing the gunk from that area is often the problem w/r/t sewing machine problems.

re: plax's slippers -- my thought would be to pad/patch from the inside with sturdy materials privileged over aesthetic, and then join that to the exterior to make that look nice -- could maybe do a double layer to reinforce?

Thinking about doing my first oil change -- OOH, my honda is approaching the needs service mark, OTOH I'm barely driving it so it could be a while before it actually gets there

guess that's not technically a "repair" though

i made my dad teach me when i was like 19. i like doing things myself but he tried to convince me it wasn't worth it and he was right. you have to have a place to take the oil to, also, don't you?

I used to change the oil myself, but then I bought a new car (my current VW Golf) that requires expensive synthetic oil in a weight so rare that Pep Boys didn't stock it until recently. Since buying my own oil + filter cost almost as much as paying someone else to do it, it became pointless DIYing this. I've done only the most basic of maintenance on this car myself - rotating the tires, changing the wipers, adding fluids, changing light bulbs.

I’ve never learned what the oil does, or why you need to change it.

When you have a big long shaft-like thing repeatedly sliding in & out of a receptacle sleeve, you need proper lubrication to prevent discomfort and damage.

Why does the gasoline explode but not the oil

Why they hide the bodies under my garage

Tombot explain cars to me

just put oil in your gas tank too it's fine and cool

it's all made of carbon, it's the same

I mean, right?? Why not put fullerenes in the tank

That's how I changed the oil in my first car. Enough of it would leak through the dry-rotted gaskets (from sitting in my grampa's garage too long), burning out the tail pipe. I just had to dump a quart of it in every month or so.

But yeah, I don't change the oil in my cars anymore myself either.

But I did fix these nice vertical blinds we have the other day! One of the little plastic rider/worm screw assemblies got jammed. I pulled it all apart and fixed it. Feels nice.

Mostly I appreciate that my previous house owner was a completely crazy fixer, making a giant welded cast-iron i-beam workbench I still use. He was also a dangerously incompetent electrician, but the house is still standing,

That's how you changed the oil in old "foreign" cars with two-stroke engines - just pour a small amount of oil in with the gasoline/petrol. Some small engines that power lawn mowers or chainsaws still work like that.

stevolende, dm me yr email and i will send you the best trouser draft I have ever found online. alternatively you can find it on the cutterandtailor.com forum which i highly recommend checking out regardless

sarahell, that sounds much smarter than my plan. and now that you mention it i could probably do something with a fairly large patch....

I replaced the igniter in our old clothes dryer when someone wanted $300 to fix it. My wife told me it was such a turn on, lol.

I am good at electrics but wish I could do plumbing. I don’t know if it counts as repairs but I am pretty pleased with myself for putting a sensor and timer on the hall light so it comes on when we come through the front door.

Embarrassed that I had to get a guy out to fix the dishwasher and it turned out to be a blocked waste pipe.

Not a sparky, but I’ve been doing electrical stuff for years at work ( I even had a guy working for me for a bit that sat on the committee that writes the wiring rules for Australia). I get electricity and I can stay safe with electricity, with plumbing and water I just don’t have the same intuition. I really want to put an outdoor tap on the deck on the water line that feeds the boiler, but I don’t even know where to start.

dishwashers are a lost cause often. I had a dishwasher that broke my heart repeatedly. i had to replace the same seal on it over and over again.

the rollers on the drawers had corroded, meaning the drawers no longer lined up properly and thus new seals got busted after only maybe a month of use. I eventually got rid of it. my current dishwasher is great!

"I even had a guy working for me for a bit that sat on the committee that writes the wiring rules for Australia"

as an ex-sparkie I've met plenty of these reg-worm types who can accurately quote amendment 1 section 274 blah blah.. but they are basically incapable of doing the most basic electrical installation work! You are right about plumbing though, it's much harder than it looks.

I was hearing a few stories about people's attempts at attaching bidet hoses on podcasts a couple of weeks ago. People thinking they would be able to do it withouit hassle and then finding the attachments didn't seal properly or something similar.

Would be a good skill to have though. Plumbing like. Always useful.

there is no amount of pro-tips/online guides that is a substitute for the skills you attain doing the same shit every day.

I've worked at a few companies that had a mechanical side as well as electric but never talked seriously with plumbers. It took me years to realise you turn both the taps off where the silver flexi pipe connects the boiler with the water main when you need to add water because of low pressure fault. I'd just turn the secondary tap off where it connects to the boiler so it was slowly adding extra pressure to the boiler! I'm a fucking idiot though.

I remember having a big existential crisis about calling a plumber to seat a toilet - I’d done it once or twice but always fucked up the wax ring in the process and I didn’t want to worry about it leaking. But it’s such a straightforward thing that I felt like a sucker hiring someone to do it for me.

The plumber was a youngish guy and we talked for a while and it was cool - he told that he’d installed hundreds of toilets and me paying $100 for the peace of mind was totally worth it, and that he had no idea how to do my job and had no shame about that. It made me much more comfortable deciding what I was comfortable with and what I wanted to entrust to experts.

I'm shit around the house but primed and painted the box around the gas meter and laid some matting (all in the porch) and goddamn I feel good. Also bought myself a laplander saw with no real idea what I'm going to do with it.

My old man was a gas fitter and plumber, the father-in-law was all manner of shit: made ship's lanterns, fitted out gas tanks, carpet fitter. I'm generally in awe of tradesmen.

Currently fixing not being pissed.

Also listening to Outfit by the Drive By Truckers and weeping about being shit with a paintbrush.

if you ever wanted to bang some extra sockets in a stud wall with fast fix boxes your laplander saw is your friend. When I was in the game we called them "pad saws" but there is a lot of different names for that particular tool.

Yes! Also great for fiddly jobs in the garden (like dealing with rhododendron in tight spaces, I've found). The thing is so pretty and compact.

They're built to have like a .5cm gap behind each shelf, with a little lip on it so that you can't ram stuff right up against the back wall which I guess helps theoretically

Our old fridge had glass shelves but instead of the glass just sliding in to the shelf slots, there was a plastic attachment across the front, with small plastic tabs extending out on either side which fitted in to the slots and took the whole weight of the shelf. Obviously these broke, idiotic design.

Right this is exactly the type that apparently exist in no other state than "broken" or "about to break" in that model of Samsung fridge my parents own

the steam knob on my delonghi magnifica has finally properly threaded and snapped but replacement that looks a good deal more suitably shaped is about a fiver so we'll be trying that out so

My proudest repair job recently:

My daughter has a metal water bottle with a llama on it. She has has it for at least 6 years. She dropped it in a harbor and we got it back. She lost it at school and found it days later. It has accompanyed her on many adventures.

But the plastic ring that holds the cap to the rubber strap cracked. So she could still use it but the cap could easily get lost.

But I fixed it. After trying out many ideas I just reinforced the original ring with a ziptie and plastic glue.

And it works just fine.

She was very happy.

I'll add my voice to those above regarding the crappiness of Samsung appliances. They're gimmicky, cheaply built, difficult to take apart and repair (and often need expensive module replacements instead of inexpensive small parts), The dishwashers and washing machines have controls that leave you guessing as to what all the various cycle choices do; there's "denim" and "bedding" and "steam whites", but it leaves you in the dark as to water temperature or spin speed.

My daughter has a metal water bottle with a llama on it. She has has it for at least 6 years.

sorry i just had to pick myself up off the floor after that second sentence. my boys' water bottles last a few days max.

(new fridge is tiny, feels only half as deep as the previous one. the magnet on the door is also too strong and because it's taller than it is wide it usually tips forward rather than opening)

You may be able to adjust the feet on the fridge by loosening the front two to add a couple of millimetres of height - which may stop that tipping feeling

I had to get a new fridge last month. The old one was very big and bulky, just marginally smaller than the front door frame. Had a mare getting it out the house on my own, just no play at all. Let's just say it had a very bumpy journey and I'd forgotten to totally empty it and there was some noise. I taped the door shut and thought out of sight out of mind and booked a fridge collection. Weeks later they refused to collect it and I forgot about the bumps and the crashing noises. It was a disgusting mess in there, an unholy collision of putrefying capers, hot sauce, mustard and broken glass everywhere. Lol, fuck knows how I thought it would reasonable to send a fridge out in that state to be picked up. Had to clean the stinking thing out and then pay for another collection.

I'll add my voice to those above regarding the crappiness of Samsung appliances.

Co-sign. We have quite a lot of Samsung products at work. The phones and tablets (despite their own issues of software bloat and Samsung increasingly trying to copy Apple) are fine. But the laptops, TVs, and monitors (which is a shame because Samsung used to make good monitors in the early 2000s) are rubbish.

My only Samsung product experience is a good one (our gas stove/oven), but I'll be wary about getting that brand in the future.

String of LED garden lights had given up. Removed and replaced all LEDs (80 or so?) to practice surface-mount soldering. A total success on some levels (the lights work, I'm better at surface mount) but my decision to use random colours was not viewed as charmingly idiosyncratic and cheering so now I am going to make them all yellow again. I don't mind. More practice!

I was (trying) to fix the kitchen sink, losing count of the number of times the flashlight bounced off my head. At one point, I came to the amazing realization that I should install LEDs around the edges under there!

Not a bad idea, but it's going to be low on the list.

you need a headlamp

we need to fix an oven igniter. the make / model info has rubbed off the oven door though.

Could be on the exterior back wall of the oven also? But obviously more of a pain to get there.

I don't know if these were repairs so much as catching up on deferred maintenance:

water was dripping onto the floor under the dryer, and the dryer was getting very hot but not drying clothes very well ... removing huge piles of lint from the duct tubing and vents helped a lot

speaking of igniters -- after a particularly damp cleaning of the top of the gas range, one of the electric igniters began sparking once a second and wouldn't stop unless I turned off the circuit breaker ... disassembling the burner tops, scrubbing off years of hidden grime, and thoroughly drying all the burner openings and parts restored the range to normal working order

removing that lint is a good idea as lint is flammable

you need a headlamp

― 龜, Tuesday, October 7, 2025 12:00 PM

Goddammit, and I only have like half a dozen of them laying around. "But those are for campin' trips..."

...under your kitchen sink lol. it turns out that those things are kind of a pain in the ass to use when camping no matter how brilliant an idea they seem when you're waiting in the check-out aisle at sierra trading post. cuz the first step is you have to put em on your head. give me a steel grip flashlight any day, at least if we're talking car camping. i guess one of those plastic flashlight-to-lamp switcheroonie deals is ok.

there be dragons taking sides: back of oven, underside of fridge.

i wonder if i can reverse google image search my oven.

how the fuck did people repair anything before youtube?

you should be able to google image search your oven

i would say about 70% of my youtube use is for repair tutorials

cuz the first step is you have to put em on your head. give me a steel grip flashlight any day, at least if we're talking car camping.

I like at least one of mine because the light is red. No pupil dilation. And the headband part comes in handy while taking a piss.

(I've got a few of those lights you clip on to the bill of your baseball cap. Those are in fact more trouble than they're worth.)

i would say about 70% of my youtube use is for repair tutorials.

The more Canadian the accent, the more I confident I feel I'm going to learn something.

@EverydayHomeRepairs is my first point of reference, the guy has a calming midwestern accent. he's also a landlord which is why he has so many opportunities for content. the older videos are better than the newer vids as the newer ones feel like they're trying to game the algorithm and are trend-chasing.

vancouver carpenter, on the other hand, i don't trust that much, because the guy looks like luke perry and too handsome to be a drywaller

i tend to trust the butch lesbians tbh

Back to Samsung, I bought a microwave in the early to mid 80s and it's still going. The inside light burned out long ago, and it never had a carousel, but it still heats 40+ years later.

Good to hear about their current stuff, I'm in the market for a washer and dryer.

is Bosch a brand over there? have only praise for them for both appliances

I have been very pleased with my Bosch stuff. It’s a bougie brand here in the US, but there are plenty of even-higher-end options.

You know who needs a headband...? Those guys who are always saying off-camera, "Sorry if this is a little shakey, it's hard to get the wrench under here with just one hand."

that's what he said

You know how hard it is to do a rimshot with one hand?

Ok. Don't answer that.

Anyone have a brand/model rec for a leaf blower? Looking to clear my folks' one-story gutters and front walk. Using at a reasonable hour, naturally. Leaning towards a battery model, as their house may/may not have the exterior outlets to support a corded model.

I've got this battery one. It's been good - lightweight, relatively quiet plenty of power. https://www.amazon.com/EWORK-Cordless-Blower-Battery-Charger/dp/B0CQNBNRDK

if it were up to me, I would buy an 8-foot stepladder, a rake, and a plastic gutter cleaner, and do it all by hand. it would probably take less than an hour.

I do this every year on our 2-story house, just have somebody there to spot you on the laddetr

"ladder"

probably any of the big modular battery tool brands has an acceptable leaf blower, mine is ryobi but that's just because i'm tied up in their 18v battery pack. it' fine for small areas. i'd note that they do tend to gradually lose oomph as the battery drains, and mine doesn't have the power to go like truly nuclear so if there are leaves jammed up in the gutters it may struggle a bit. my gutters are 2 stories up so i have not personally attempted that.

the 40v battery ones would certainly have more juice but with added weight and $$$.

^^ definitely worth considering other tools you might be able to use from the same basic battery pack if you start with a blower

it's a great way to later justify buying a reciprocating saw because they're fun.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqKYiMNvvUg

ryobi is a solid choice

Thanks, all!

Saw an interesting video that strengthened my understanding of why fixing things is important: Because it moves away from consumption and buying things which only centers/profits capital, and moves power back to labor, where a thing gains value because a person applied their skill and time and work to it.

That makes me happy to have that made more concrete in my brain.

was gifted a cannon scanner about 10 years ago. this afternoon it's stopped working with a grinding noise and the light bar looking visibly askew. youTube video as required to get into the bloody thing (was held together with tabs and double sided tape, no screws) and a breakdown pdf to show how to redirect the little string back around the correct cogs. is now back working as well as it did before (which is about 25% tbh - took about 2 hours to scan 24 page dvd booklet that i could've read in 10 minutes)

well done!

that scan time sounds murderous though. check your settings, are you scanning that DVD booklet at really high DPI? really high bitrate you don't need? descreen on?

i'll also say: scanners have gotten faster. i had been relying on various libraries' Epson 10000XL flatbeds, which are pretty trusty workhorses. but they're twenty years old and actually... pretty slow. their current model for a big honking flatbed like that, the 13000XL, is $3,700, but i got the smaller V600 for a tenth of that, and it's been such a change in my workflow for scans to just go zip-zip-zip and be done. high-res and descreen still slow it down, but it's still wayyy faster than the old units.

it's an old scanner that the other person didn't want. i have another which i think is more reliable but it predates usb and the new laptop (and the previous one) doesn't have the necessary parallel port.

am scanning about an a5 size at 300dpi, 1350x1900px or so. the idea was to ocr the output and turn it into an epub but there are pictures so i might just leave it as a cbz.

oh wow - that should be taking you like, a few seconds per page ime. i definitely don't want to be the "chuck it and buy a new one" guy on the repair thread, but this doesn't sound like a pleasant experience!

id leave it as a cba