What was the last thing you repaired?

Hardly the height of engineering but…. Couldn’t thread the screws into a kitchen cupboard handle, little bit of tinfoil in there and it’s all good.

Matches are great for that.

In the process of replacing a ‘blown’ double glazing panel in a window. Cost of £40 + my labour. Actually quite easy to do.

I read your later description, but do you have a page or video that taught you? I have millions of failed units that are all about 40 years old – so no warranty.

Has anyone tried this approach? Seems to involve fitting a breathable vent and dumping new desiccant into the void…?
https://condensation2clear.com/shop/

Mid ride I had a nasty chain drop on a technical climb.
Whipped the chainring off and used a precision rock to correct the bent tooth.

Perfect!

Washing machine brushes, so pleased as I really thought WM was toast. Impressed with the Meile, looks designed to be fixed, very easy just fiddly getting the brush assembly back on. £13.88 from my local guy, was £43 on spares. Double win.

The boot handle on the Ibiza – it just wasn’t triggering the release. Took it all apart, tested everything for continuity and worked out it was the switch. The switch is hidden – I managed to get in clean it, and voila we are back working.
40 mins work, £100+ saved for a new switch.

Bissell spot carpet cleaner – hose split just as I went to clean up a load of cat pee from the back door mat (the joys of new kitten). That was Tuesday morning. Quick google and espares had a replacement for £15. went for 7-10 day postage for £3 (next day was £10). It turned up at 11am the next day!
Then time to replace it. A quick youtube video showed a couple of screw heads hidden under a sticker. After that it was all phillips heads screws and very easy to take apart and replace the hose. So nice to work on something that has been designed to come apart and be fixed so easily.

This week I found a fixed a leak in my sleeping mat that gave me an uncomfortable night on a bikepacking trip. The finding obviously being the difficult bit, but on the plus side, it got cleaned by way of a sponge bath on both sides – obviously the leak was on the last tube I came to. Blob of Seam Grip sorted it out.

Also fixed, and in fact improved the toaster. The bit that holds the bread wasn’t doing a very good job of that, being made out of the most flexible metal I’ve ever come across, and so bread was getting stuck down the side, and it would either not go down (which turned out to be a separate issue) or not pop back up, so I took it apart, straightened it, and reinforced it with some stainless builder’s band for good measure.

The front discs/pads on my car (Nissan leaf) were a bit grindy, and the disc was badly scored..
I htink the pads had seized a bit in the caliper..
So swapped them over:

I’m still alive, so they work I guess!

DrP

Put a new handle in an axe today. Been keeping some lengths of ash for these jobs. Split to near thickness with another axe, finished with a pocket knife. Bit of oak in the end as a wedge. jobs done. Bit quicker than one I did for a maul years ago when all I had handy was the maul head.
Also fitted a new bog seat.

Pair of Fox Defend trousers for my mate. Wore the arse through.

The turned an awkward rip into a phone pocket in my pair of Troy Lee Skyline trousers.

Managed to fix a GaN charger, that has a slide-in adapter for U.K. three-pin sockets. I knocked it out of an extension lead, and one of the pins that carry current came out of the adapter. I thought they were moulded in, but they’re a press-fit, and I thought impossible to put back. The manufacturer was non-responsive, so I thought it was fubared, then I had an idea. I’ve got a tiny little vice that I bought at a country fair some years back, screwed to a block of wood, so I wondered if the adapter would fit into the vice jaws, so I could try to press the pin back in.

It did, and after some very careful closing of the vice jaws, and a very loud click, it was back in place and working! Big sigh of relief, I used the charger a lot, because it has two USB-A sockets, and two 100w USB-C sockets. You can see how the adapter allows the thing to be used with American sockets, with two fold-out pins, which slot into the U.K. adapter when they’re folded into the body. A neat bit of design, just not up to being maltreated!

I’ve got that hyper juice (albeit has another name ).
Really handy bit of kit.

some 2007 fox talas rlc 140 with a 25p o-ring after being turned down by tftuned :/

replaced the carb on my ancient ride on lawn mower, it started first time and is now back to full working order. I am now feeling very manly and successful!

Washing machine brushes, so pleased as I really thought WM was toast

Snap, did ours last week too. Very nearly bought a new machine with next day delivery as repair appointments were a week away. Then I thought to check the brushes. Zanussi spares would only recommend an entire motor, even though it looked like they sold the exact brushes required. Apparently the specific motor fitted can vary, hence they are non-committal on which brushes you need.
Local parts shop had the exact parts needed for £25.

Delonghi KG79 Coffee Grinder.

Apparently a common issue: Blue light doesn’t glow and the motor runs for a second then stops.

Thread on coffeeforums.co.uk: Link

Swapped the yellow capacitor thingy on the circuit board and the magic was unbroken.

Replaced the window regulator in the offside rear door on my BMW 3 series after it failed the other weekend. £8 for a trim removal kit and £40 for the new part. Surprisingly easy to do even if I did it watching a YouTube video showing me how.

A 2 part repair. A Mk1 Cotic Soul that had a seat post proper stuck. That took about 2 days of sawing, filing and hammering to get it out. I’ve now put an NX Eagle set up on it. And my Atera Strada rack with longer straps to take a 2.6 x 29 tyre.
And removable arms to make mounting the bikes a bit less impossible.

Fixed a mitre saw with blade guide not retracting correctly.

Currently in the process of repairing a tractor loader, took a few hours of heat and beat with the aid of a hydraulic  jack on side to remove two 20mm pins that hold a hydraulic cylinder in place.

Next job will be to overhaul the cylinder I think. Then fun of attaching and plumbing it in. The joys of vintage tractors.

Today. Fixed sticking throttle on petrol brush cutter, made a new guard and sharpened the blade. Stripped and rebuilt a SRAM Rival hydro lever, stripped, painted, mended and reassembled a cast iron hose reel, tightening all the joints in the hose as well and managed to reduce our surplus stock of ice cream. Did nowt this morning though.

Removed a stuck seatpost from my P7.
Relatively easy to remove  as friend built a seatpost removal contraption as his seatpost was stuck last year.

It would be a right bigger to remove without this.

Wife noticed some of the radiators were on when the hot water only was running. Not ideal in the heat. Fortunately its a Honeywell 3 way valve so took a punt on a new genuine synchron motor. Only £23.99 from Screwfix but twice the ‘copies’. Easy fit and all working. Looking at the old motor, we’d obviously had another many many years ago (beyond my memory but must have been in first few years of having the house – been here 28 years) as the Honeywell OEM Synchron has orange wires, this old one had blue like the replacement.

Relatively easy to remove as friend built a seatpost removal contraption as his seatpost was stuck last year.

That is very cool! I bought something similar to remove a stuck mouthpiece from my son’s trumpet.

I performed surgery on a Croc to close a pulled through where the rivet for the rear strap had ripped. Probably the same texture as sewing a wound closed. Seems to be holding OK. Needed better thread and clinical hooked needles really, but nice result and I’m ready for field wounds now.

Just fixed the leaking hot water tap on the kitchen mixer. The cold went a few months ago. Bought replacement cartridges at the time (ceramic discs) but the serrated top (for the tap) and the body length weren’t the same, so butchered it for parts. Did the same this time.

I love that seapost puller. The only concern I have with that method, (and I’ve seen photos of similar before – including using a fork lift truck as the jack! 😨 ) is that it risks ripping the BB shell off the bottom of the seat tube. Can’t really think of a solution that could universally be applied to frames that have anything other than a round tube though.

Relatively easy to remove  as friend built a seatpost removal contraption

That is insane!! (in a good way)

The last thing I fixed was my bike. The pedal somehow came off (don’t ask me how because I dont know myself) and I had to fix it while on my journey.

tthewFull Member
I love that seapost puller. The only concern I have with that method, (and I’ve seen photos of similar before – including using a fork lift truck as the jack! 😨 ) is that it risks ripping the BB shell off the bottom of the seat tube.

I know, I was worried it might damage the frame but it worked well. It even came with a sacrificial BB so I wouldn’t damage mine. Just had to swap it over before pulling the post out.
Just need to remember to wiggle the new seatpost every month so it doesn’t seize again.

Seen loads pulled with one, never heard of a breakage.

Most recent thing was a terracotta pot that has a lot of sentimental value. Originally bought by my mum, God knows how long ago, it doesn’t have a drainage hole so probably for a succulent. Anyway, it had been put outside and Jo my partner had ‘adopted’ it as something to stub her fagends out on and drop them into. At some point, it had been kicked or knocked over and cracked in a number of places, but amazingly stayed intact. I nearly smashed it to use the pieces in the bottom of other pots, but as it had survived years outside and maltreatment, and it had the marks left where Joey had stubbed her cigs out, I couldn’t bear to part with it, and it’s a very pleasing shape. Trouble was, trying to figure out how to stick the cracks in such a way to stabilise it without actually breaking it to glue it. Then I had an idea, I watered down some PVA glue, and sucked some up into a syringe with a long, large-bore needle, and carefully let the glue soak into the cracks, letting it draw along them and allowing it to set, then adding some more. It worked really well.

The separate pieces couldn’t be pushed together, because most were still joined in places, but the adhesive filled in the gaps and once fully dried, made the whole structure really solid, it almost ‘rings’ if tapped with a fingernail. However, there were small gaps where pieces had been lost, so I got some terracotta coloured Milliput epoxy modelling putty, and filled in the spaces, and while it’s not a perfect match, I’m chuffed with how it’s turned out. It’s sitting on my coffee table, and is a handy little bowl for putting all sorts of loose odds and ends in.

Nice job CZ!

Thank you, although I can’t see the photos at the moment. I’ll restart my pad, maybe that’ll work.

Yep, turn it off, turn it back on again!

Again, thank you, I’m really happy how it turned out. I like the shape of it, it’s a perfect size for putting odds and ends in on my table, and it’s got a lot of sentimental value. I used ordinary white PVA glue, but I’ve since discovered that The Works sell clear PVA for craft use, and that might have been better. Not that it really matters, it works perfectly enough to hold it together.

Bit early to call it fixed, but,

Got this very cheap with a rattly engine, drove it til it was properly dead. Replacement (bigger) engine is coming together with a general freshening and some hotter cams, exhaust is in the post back from cerakoting, everything from the rear wheels forward is completely derusted and has a first rustproofing on with a second to come (everywhere you see brown, there was either rust or damaged paint that was going to rust, all gone now and all the sills and other hollows and inaccessible bits have been rust-killed and treated), all new suspension and bushings are waiting to go in (nothing to attach them to yet)… At this point, everything that was broken or suss has been addressed though and I reckon today is the official point where it’s coming together more than it’s coming apart.

Unfortunately the rear end still needs all the rust and refresh work and my driveway’s too slopey to safely have the car up on 4 stands, so that’s all got to wait til it’s got front wheels again. It’s pretty scruffy too, mazda just suck at paint frankly but that’ll have to wait til next year probably.

@Northwind – I was going to ask what it is, but you’ve just mentioned Mazda, so obviously an MZ-5/Miata, (as the Americans like to call them). What are you stuffing in the front? First thought is a V6 from a Jag or big Mazda saloon.

Yah an NC mx5- sorry, should have said, they’re harder to recognise without their stupid fat hampster face.

I’m doing the boringest swap- this was a 2 litre, but they make these duratec engines in about 5 different capacities so I’m swapping it for a 2.5 litre. Very common in the states where the 2.5’s common as dirt, over here it’s scarce but I luckily found a really terrible mazda 6 with a crooked MOT and stole its heart. (original plan was that I had an £80 focus 2.0 engine that I was going to swap the vvt heads onto just to get it back on the road for the lowest price, but this is ironically less work and really not much more money)

It ought to start and run, on the stock ECU and map but with the bigger 2.5 injectors left in (though it’ll need mapped to work right), all the induction and exhaust and accessories are compatible or nearly so it’ll retain the aircon and power steering and be generall like normal, and there’s only a few kilos weight difference (though, it does sit a bit higher) The main thing is that in the standard spec it’s a really lazy uninspiring company car engine, wouldn’t be right, but the cams and binning the balancer and some other tricks will wake it up. Should make low 200s at the wheels but also have a ton more midrange than the 2.0. TBH it’s all pretty well trodden, and none of it’s actually difficult except man, there’s a lot of bits and I don’t really remember where they all go.

Tbh it’s the derusting that’s going to actually matter! These are just really badly made and this one was just on the tipping point of being not worth fixing, there was probably more rust on any square foot of it than on my entire 3-years-older Subaru. Once I’m done it’ll be good til the end of petrol or til I spin it into a bus full of nuns. But hey, it was cheap. I think I’m going to bring it in under the £4000 budget inc both cars, though admittedly that was supposed to include a back garden respray, and now it won’t.

@Northwind – that ought to be pretty nippy with a 2.5 in the front; I’ve always been fond of the MX-5, Mazda did the right thing taking cues from Lotus and the Elan, a proper little sports car perfectly suited to narrow British roads.

Today, I fixed a little Lava Lamp I bought some years back at the Science Museum. It had got a bit cloudy, and Joey, bless her little fluffy heart, decided to fix it when I was at work – she popped the cap off and emptied it, then filled it up with ordinary tap water. Of course, there’s a bit more science to it than that, and it didn’t work, sadly. I was a bit miffed, but she was only trying to do it as a surprise for me. It’s been sat on a shelf ever since, so I thought it was about time I had a go at sorting it out. After doing some research, it turned out that what I needed was a bottle of distilled/de-ionised water* and some food colouring. I also needed some Epsom salts and some liquid soap. The easy bit is putting the water in with some food colouring in, and several drops of liquid soap.

The tricky bit is getting the salt right – I filled a shot-glass with hot water and kept adding small amounts of the Epsom salts and stirring it until it dissolved, probably about a teaspoon full. Then I put the bottle part back on the base and turned it on. Once it got hot and the wax soft, I used a large plastic straw as a pipette and kept adding the salty water, a bit at a time. At first the wax did nothing, but the more I added, the more the wax bubbled up, until by the time I’d used all of the salty water, it was working really well!
Chuffed to bits, I was hoping it might work, but it’s better than I expected.

*I used that because the water isn’t tainted with any impurities, which tap water might be. Until I put the mag sulph in, obviously, but that’s a crucial part of the process. 😁

Now I know what to do in future if the water goes a bit cloudy again.

My youngest got some overpriced Nike Goalie gloves &  Nike football for their birthday, it was literally minutes after its maiden voyage to the park before the football ended up in a bush and got punctured!

I got a syringe and wide gauge needle and squirted a few ml of Stans into the ball at the needle valve, pumped it up , gave it a shake and after a few minutes of bubbling it sealed

Its held up fine for several weeks now, so Im quite pleased

I heard a bit of a clunk under the truck a few drives back so parked it on the drive. It didn’t take long to spot the issue. Clue – look just in front of the rear wheel.

Nothing that a bit of duct tape can’t fix. Actually I welded a plate in place and then sprayed it blue so I could see any new cracks or movement easily on the test run.

All is fine now.