I bought a hobby lathe once. One of the cheapest on the market. I don’t even think I spent a thousand dollars on it. I wanted to make my own darts. I once threw darts at a professional level, even beating the number 25 ranked in the world. (Don’t recall his name.) Not a hard feat. Nothing really counts until someone is in the top 10. There are a lot of good dart players out there. I spent an afternoon talking shit with Ronnie Baxter at a little bar in vegas, betting him rum and cokes that I could kick his ass. He was somewhere in the top 10 at the time. The result of the match was that he had rum and cokes lined up on the bar to last him the night. At least 6. I didn’t win a single game. (Oh… we played best out of three.) He trashed me. I kept talking shit, and he kept trashing me, and we laughed the night away and had a great time.
Anyway, I discovered the machine was worthless. As the cutting tools cut, they would veer out of position. The ability to get an accurate measurement between one dart and the next was impossible. It was a big waste of money. (I did learn to work a lathe in HS. So, I wasn’t unfamiliar with the tool. I kept it for about a year and then gave it away when I moved out of the apartment I was in.) If I ever do it again, I will put out the money for a good piece of equipment. No cutting corners.
Recently had to do similar with our trash compactor. I think the thing was installed when the house was built back in the 90’s. The “start” button (a momentary contact push button) had been sticking for a couple of years, causing us to sometimes have to use a fingernail or something to manually pull it back into standby position. But it finally gave up the ghost a couple of weeks ago. (Well, shit.) Looking at new compactors online, neither of us had any desire (nor the money) to spend upwards of $1500 on a new one. (Well, double-shit.)
Now… I know nothing about trash compactors. NOTHING. Never even had one (ever) until I moved into this house about 9 years ago. Anyway, the ONLY controls on the thing are the “On”, “Off”, and “Start” buttons. So, I got to studying it a bit and found two screws that looked like they would allow me to access the control panel. Removed the screws, and the front panel came off easily. Sure enough (by some miracle) there before me was the control panel unit. It had three simple wires plugged into it, with only two small screws securing it to the front panel. VERY much analog/mechanical. Nothing digital at all. (Ssss-weeeet!) Unplugged the wires and removed the unit from the panel. Easy so far.
While looking for a new compactor, we noticed they had a model exactly like ours on the market. Cool! That means they should have parts available, right?.. WRONG!.. Long story short, finally directly phoned the manufacturer parts service department and gave the guy the model number and even the actual part number. Guess what… “Sorry, sir, but that part was discontinued several years ago. And - no, sir - I do not know of anywhere that sells it as an after-market item.” (Well, triple-shit. Figures.)
Well, at that point I had nothing to lose by opening it up and disecting it to determine if it was repairable. Turns out, with a couple of pieces of copper wire, a tiny piece of copper plating, a few dabs of solder, a tiny compression spring, a whole bunch of improvising, plenty of mistakes, and a generous amount of cuss-fit ranting, I had it all back together and working like new within a couple of days. (And I STILL know next to nothing about trash compactors. )
Living in the rust belt of the northeast you can find tons of used quality industrial tools. Especially now, I’ve been eyeing up a Bridgeport turret mill with a 220 volt conversion.
So if you ever want a nice used machine, they are all over around here. Not sure what shipping would be lol.
Honestly, I would love to be able to do that. I enjoy fixing stuff. Problem, though, is that I do good nowadays just keeping up with the stuff I have to do around the house. Having the little guy with us several days a week has really taken a huge chunk out of my “project and repairs” time. And it has been especially difficult the last few weeks, because we have been getting him at unscheduled random times/days/nights due to “circumstances”. Gotten to where we don’t even try to make plans anymore… (chuckle)… Who knows, though? Maybe once he is older and doesn’t require as much direct supervision (and the schedule is a bit more regular), it might be something to consider.
Heaps. We have an electrical section (2 or 3 volunteers) a Fabric section (4 - 6 volunteers) a “General” section 3 - 6 volunteers. Occasionally we have a ceramic section (expert potter/restorer)
Every time we are open we get more people with items to repair and more volunteers .
Most repairs are 15 minutes or less at the bench, anything major gets referred and if one of the volunteers wants to contact the owner of the problem and volunteer or charge for a major repair out of Repair Shop then they can. Otherwise it is referred to a professional shop.
Most items we get and repair would end up in landfill as “they are not worth repairing” i.e not worth the cost of a shop repair.
As I said, start small, every active person keeping stuff out of landfill helps. If you have fun on the way it is a bonus! So many people are so grateful for having some hideous ornament/shirt/clock/table repaired because of sentimental attachment, others because they just cant afford a new iron/toaster/kettle/lamp.
@Tin-Man If we can’t change the political landscape, we can change our local social landscape. If we can’t meet our needs through politics, we can try to meet our needs through social exchange instead.
If nothing else as a godless heathen, do it to throw it in theists faces who say you have no moral fiber. That is a lot of the reason I am very motivated lately to do some kind of volunteering or giving back. Listening to local religious nutters talk about atheists as demonic lone wolf tin foil hat wearing nutters.
I am literally right now contemplating a home equity loan to buy a small local plot so we can start a community garden. We are light years away from rich, but we can leverage money to do what politics will not do. If we can meet our needs without them, what will they do outlaw it, arrest us? Fuck em, we don’t need them.
First yourself.
Then your family, your immediate environment.
Then your community (neighbours, schools, council)
Then your region.
Then your Province or State.
Then your Country.
Sometimes they overlap - but stay focused. Stay real. Deal with real “problems” locally - not manufactured outrage over “what if, coulda and shoulda”. This is where you begin to feel powerless. This is where you become vulnerable to pawn games.
AND always remember - WHERE you spend your measly $ MATTERS… everyone wants it.
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