Anyone else do this sort of thing?

[a101960]

Apart from your BSA's does anyone else repair old stuff? Yesterday I replaced the optical drive unit on my Marantz CD63 Signature player ( failing laser). Why? Because although it is quite old, it still sounds superb. It was quite an expensive item when I bought it all those years ago ( about £500). Normally things like CD players when they stop working just get binned, but at £20 for a new laser and drive unit plus a lot of aggro fitting it I thought it was worth doing. Anyway it's now fixed and sounds as good as it ever did. Normally this kind of repair is not worth the bother, but I just could not bring myself to throw it out. Am I alone in thinking like this? What have you repaired that should really have been pensioned off?

[Black Sheep]

Every bike in the shed... 

[Butch (cb)]

More recently my mower (again) and the kettle. I suspect this sort of thinking generally goes with this collective.

[berger]

gas valve on back boiler, gas man says it all needs ripping out and a new set up £££££££££££££  because it's obsolete got one of my brothers mates who is gas fitter to have a look and he managed to get a valve and fit it for 80 quid. i took the old one apart and found a soldered conection had come away after 40 years so i mended it and now have a spare if i need it in the next 40 years

[a101960]

brilliant

[Colsbeeza]

Rebuilt my Ride-on Mower deck, after 16 years of abuse. Quoted A$850. Got the Aftermarket parts, repaired myself and saved $410. Got a vanity unit to replace next - taps leak badly. I have laid 17 concrete slabs in my lifetime, some large most small. Planning the next one now. You can save a heap doing concrete slabs yourself.
Col

[BagONails]

We have a Bosch front loader (washing machine) bought in 1991 in Brentwood, Essex that is still going strong. Since then we've raised two kids, one of whom has now left home, although we still occasionally get loads of washing to do for her...We brought it with us to Australia in 2004 and to be honest I didn't expect it to last for long. In 2011 the pump failed and I looked on line and found the pump service info. It turned out to be exactly the same unit as fitted here in Australia on a Bosch twin tub, (our machine had never been sold here). I ordered the replacement pump from Melbourne and fitted it in about 10 minutes, 10 years later she's still going...bound to catch fire now!

[Greybeard]

I always try to repair stuff; cheating the consumer culture gives me great pleasure. . I kept a washing machine going for donkeys years. We bought it when our first of three children were born. We used Terry nappies so the machine worked hard for its living. That machine lasted until the kids were teenagers. We only changed it because the case was rusting away.

[bsa-bill]

Am I alone in thinking like this?

No in fact there is mail on FB about making things, so they must be repairable.
My last foray into repairing was a couple of months ago when our tv after presenting messages on a regular basis for a couple of years stating the fan was failing and there was a risk of the set overheating, well eventually it failed, and the set would not go any further than presenting the message.
A look on YouTube and found a bloke changing the fan, it looked complicated, his circuit board was encased in an alloy box held together with a multitude of small screws, and then the fan had to be desoldered, replaced and the new one soldered in place, I'm no stranger to a soldering iron, but solder points on circuit boards these days are miniscule and made by robots.
However, with nothing to lose O took the back of and much to my relief the circuit board was not encased in anything, and the fan held on with two screws was plugged into the board, ordered a fan (£30) and later five minute work had the set up and running - result

[Rex]

One of the best things about YouTube is the amazing amount of repair videos that have been uploaded over the years.

[RichardL]

We used Terry nappies so the machine worked hard for its living. That machine lasted until the kids were teenagers.

Those must have been some big nappies. 

Richard L.

[RichardL]

Before I started working on my BSAs I kept myself amused refurbishing tube/valve electronics. When I bought my first tube tester on eBay (around 1998??), I found the tester itself so interesting I ended up with seven and restored a couple of them. Restored the McIntosh stereo amp my mom bought when I was about 15, the one on which I first heard the Beatles. Also restored the electronics and mechanic of a big Grundig console radio. In 2004, when I started working on my BSA with some determination, the tube/valve hobby got pushed to the background, to emerge when I ultimately retire or am unable to ride.

Richard L. 

[chaterlea25]

Hi All,
I have been repairing things for as long as I can remember
As a child I watched my Grandfather repair all sorts of things about the farm and even learned how to resole shoes from him, all stitched by hand
Most of my working life was spent repairing and maintaining everything electrical and later instrumentation in a gas fires power station. I was often referred to as "McGyver" by workmates as I would resurrect what should in reality be binned 
During my school years I spent a lot of time at a local village garage, and learned a lot there, rebuilding my Fathers Anglia 105E engine when I was about 14.
Because of my interest in things mechanical, locals often gave me old motorcycles and even cars to fix or to "experiment with"
That is really how I got into old bikes, plus I never had the cash to buy a modern bike.. HP was not part of Family philosophy. Still isn't 

John

[a10 gf]

I'm more or less surrounded by things (garden tools, drills, electronics, pc's etc) that most would have thrown away, great pleasure in the prosess of finding the defects \ problems, working out \ trying out fixes, modifying, making up or buying spare parts.

Then each time something is back in practical use, getting my wages in the form of a good dose of satisfaction, seeing my skills are worthy of something, and saved some environment + money on top.

For the really unsalvageable stuff, dismantling completely and keeping anything that may be useful in a week's or 10 year's time, like special screws, switches, washers, bearings, electronic prints for resistors \ capacitors, etc.

btw, my cars over the many years, having a basic philosophy that as long as rust don't eat them up, fixing is worth the 'more or less entertaining' jobs needed and the new parts. When avoiding having to pay garage mechanics, a lot of repairs turns out really inexpensive in the end.

[BigJim]

Guess i'm the odd one out here as i always try to repair stuff and usually fail! Have been fitting a replacement cylinder and pistons to the A10, only broke 2 oil rings. Those Hepolite oil rings are brittle as hell. Am up to 50 miles now and hoping that they bed in!