"One of those types who can fix stuff"

[JOEPRO]

When we moved to where we are now, I decided not to ‘brag’ about my technical prowess….but folk noticed me working on the cars on the drive as they passed by..,,
Recently asked to fit a steering rack to a Ford Kuga, to which I politely declined…something as serious as that could go badly wrong, not worth it…
So I keep myself to myself, restricting to doing stuff for ‘er-indoors..’ unlikely to result in me getting sued. ( might end up divorced…, )

This is quite similar to me also.

In my last job I revealed too much and I was the go to Heating dude. Air con control dude. And Computer / smart screen dude Hence I was first port of call for complaints or issues regarding these systems even though it was F all to do with my job description.

In my new job I made sure to openly and loadly state "I don't have a clue!!!" When anyone asked me how to adjust heating or AC etc in our new office

 

[welder Dave]

I think most members on here are similar in that you can take stuff apart and figure out what's wrong and fix it. For me I always was curious on how stuff worked and even at 3 years old I was taking apart my watches etc to see how they worked

I took apart and fixed our dishwasher yesterday it had a burnt wire and dry solder joint. Not a difficult task but I do wonder how many people would have just junked it as a result and not even tried.

Case in point recently where I spotted a diesel heater FS locally. I took it home and fixed it, it was a great deal but when I was in the guys garage (he was late 50s I think) I noticed the wires were hanging out of the 13 amp plug! He said "I was going to take that somewhere and get it changed but didn't get around to it"

I asked why didn't he just open the plug and fix it himself and he said "I've never wired a plug before".

I get that alot at work etc of, oh your one of those annoying types that can fix anything....

It's just bizarre that some people have no interest in fixing stuff for themselves. And also when you can fix stuff you tend to get a name for it and get people asking you to "throw brake discs in their car some Saturday morning" type thing.

I tend to get asked alot of favours by family and friends - does this happen to handy types on here and how do you deal with it? I find that I have little or no time to work on my own stuff let alone others and sometimes they do take advantage of me!

I know exactly what you mean,I think that it is something that is "wired," into us instinctively. I recall my dad being asked for some advice (painter&decorater), saying, before I GIVE this advice can I give you some other...If you were paying me for this advice, you would leave and follow it to the letter.But as I am giving you it you'll go home and still please yourself!!!?

 

[Exuptoy]

I like repairing stuff and have mates who can do what I can’t, but usually come to me to do what THEY can’t.
I find this sort of thing helps my world go round, but I usually try to keep the work to essential stuff as I don’t like to ask too often.
My mechanic mate doesn’t like to charge me but SOMETIMES will ask me for a favour so I keep that to a minimum. My machinist mate has had a lot of work and income from stuff I have pushed his way which he then makes for the public. He is grateful so even if his work is worth more it’s usually only £20 or so or a bottle of Jack. I also have my own lathe these days so the requirements are getting less and less.

 

[Exuptoy]

I can probably count on 2 hands people who I call real friends. You know, the ones who would drop everything to be there. We all have mates, some better mates than others but FRIENDS.
One recently offered to come to the “other side of Birmingham” to collect the second Daytona T595. Turns out it was in Northampton , still hasn’t let me live that one down. Shortly after we got back he asked if my machinist mate could remanufacture a plastic handle for his quick release Elite bike rack (£500 worth) which had snapped. Turns out it really was too much work and the raw material was too expensive, so I decided to modify his rack to make it bolt on and off. I had a towbar attachment here which would lend itself to being used and if he was using the bike rack on his camper then he wouldn’t need to be towing anything.
I welded up the quick release attachment and aligned with a 14mm wheel bolt that I turned a shoulder on and once aligned welded it up solid. Welder was heaving an off day but eventually dialled it in.
Worked exactly as planned and now he can use his rack when they go away. I wouldn’t dream of taking money from him, so this week he turns up with 4 x 225/40/18 tyres all with 5-7mm on them as he knows I just scored a set of VW Interlagos Scirocco Turbine wheels without tyres!

 

[willie.macleod]

My two both learned to wire a 13A plug when they were at school, they are now twenty one and twenty four, I am guessing they would have been eleven ish at the time. I remember it well as one of them proudly presented me with a 13A plug complete with six inches of three core flex attached, which I did think was a little un safe!

We still teach wiring a plug to 3rd year (c.14yr old) students who take our practical engineering courses, don't have enough of a budget to allow them to take them home with them, they get recycled for the next cohort. They'll also do two way lighting circuits with small consumer units/ceiling roses etc on little demo rigs and solder up a 555 timer circuit.

Also the fuses in all our plugs are pre-blown, as you point out having a bit of unattached flex is a bit of a liability because of course the first thing they want to do is plug it into a mains socket despite being told not to.

 

[Exuptoy]

Remember someone doing that in comprehensive school 39 years ago. Remember there being an almighty bang.

 

[prepman]

I have always liked mechanical things, and wanted to know how they worked, and it has saved me a fortune over the years, and I just do not understand why many men have no idea or practical ability, surely its in our DNA ?
While I don't mind helping anyone out, I have learned that its mostly a one way street.
Mostly now, I don't know anything about anything, do not have the tools, or my eyesight is not up to it.

There are engineers and there are injuneers.

 

[DAPPH]

Been given one of these for nothing after the demise of its owner .

Clarke CDP5EB 5 Speed Bench Mounted Pillar Drill (230V) - Machine Mart

www.machinemart.co.uk

It wouldn't run , appears to be a shop return that has been sent to auction as not working and stored for 20 or so years as it was covered in cobwebs and farm building dust along with a fine patina of red rust .
The strange thing is not one nut bolt or screw was fully tightened , when I lifted it the head stock came off the tube .
Even the cable screws and earth wire banjo terminals were not tight .

Tightened the electric screws , put a 2 amp fuse in place of the 13 amp in the plug ... nothing !
So I replaced the capacitor with another new 6uf one & away it went .
Knowing it's OK I stripped it down to its last part de-rusted it all ,cleaned , oiled greased & reassembled . it runs as sweeet as a nut , current new ones are about £120
From the same source I have all manner of routers , scroll saw , angle grinders , chop saws , circular saws , a belt sander & a dovetail jig with all the bits that must be 50 plus years old. So far its cost me pennies to get everything working , The most expensive thing will be an aquarium air pump with dual elements to use as a dust blower jet by the scroll saw blade ( £7.80 )& 500 mm of silicon tubing to make the blower work .

Was also given a powerful Dremel style 9000rpm hand held 240 volt corded whizzer by Black & Decker .... very oily dirty casing , missing the chuck & collets . ( I get an £9 .80 package from China with everything needed to use it, including brushes ,stones & discs , arbors and a spare collet nut .
Cleaned it with WD40 , jobs a good un , added an instrument makers insulated 1/8 " flat screwdriver and a collet fitting spanner . It certainly beats my 10 yr old £20 battery one for LIDL's & has stopped me getting one for my Birthday on 21 Dec .

 

[DAPPH]

You are a very sad case in need of help! Collecting cords with moulded on plugs? If you need any, let me know, have a box of them.

Got any 3 or 4 mtr long with L. E. N. in them complete with the fuse holder plate , able to take 5 amps ? I am after three such cables .

 

[DAPPH]

I started stipping dead mechaincal & electrical things before I was in my teens, often just to see how they were put together, it's still useful now and helps dismantle "sealed for life" units that have died - often it's an easy fix if you can find a way to open them up without smashing the case.

Mains cords with plugs are always handy to have. I got 3x workshop lights today at the fleamarket - a few minutes on each to fit a new cord & plug and they're all working fine

Mains powered Dremel's on fairly slow speed with a fine sawblade or a cutting disc is often the answer to opening a lot of ultrasonic welded cases , I've even chain drilled them with a half mm drill as well to make the cutting easier then use a shoe repairers heat curing glue to but them back t gether . Perhaps one day I'll make a plastic welding tube run off a car battery & charger using nitrogen as the heated gas for melting /welding .

 

[DAPPH]

Nowt as queer as folk - in the traditional use of the word.

I'm a volunteer driver chauffeuring little old ladies (usually) to and from medical appointments.
Some treat me like a non-English speaking taxi driver.
Some are effusive in their thanks.
Some try to insist on giving me £10 for a £7-50 trip.
last week - a one way deliver to hospital trip. He had been told the cost would be £17-50 as he has to pay the 45p/mile for the whole journey. He tenders £10 saying 'Oh I thought it was only one way'. Then telephones in the afternoon requesting to be collected after all. As it happens I was free so collected him. He then acts surprised that he has to pay £17-50 again.

Fortunately the system makes it easy to decline certain 'clients'!

Like several of you I will at least disassemble something to see how it worked before binning it.
Hence I have a very motley collection of screws, washers, clips and other mysterious fixings.

Which come in useful when I try to fix something.

Most of the two small drawer units by my grind stone are full of such stripped off bits . today I was please to find three sets of foiur screws 4 x4 mm 4 x 5 and 4x6 had to cut the 2 " long 6 n=mm down to stop them bottoming out but so pleased I' stripped & cannibalized stuff over the years . It seems to have a regular cycle of turn round


Did you eventually fit the drill press column return coil spring?

 

[rtcosic]

Did you eventually fit the drill press column return coil spring?

Yes thank you.
I didn't put quite enough preload on it so the quill sags a few millimetres, but I haven't the spare roundtuit to risk disassembling it again!

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Remember someone doing that in comprehensive school 39 years ago. Remember there being an almighty bang. Pi

By "someone", you mean....?

 

[Exuptoy]

Haha. Genuinely. Not me.

 

[armalites]

You've only got to see Facebook groups for just about any subject to realise just how little general knowledge/skills a massive portion of the population have. I used to believe in evolution but reading some of the stuff posted I'm not convinced, I genuinely don't know some of these people get dressed in the morning, for some them if their pants were inside out that's the way they'd wear them.

The other thing that seems to be totally lost on the Facebook generation is research, why bother clicking the serach button or going on Google when you can just ask the same simple question on a group for the 20th time this week and get the same 75% stupid/nonsense answers.

 

[bourbon]

Been given one of these for nothing after the demise of its owner .

Clarke CDP5EB 5 Speed Bench Mounted Pillar Drill (230V) - Machine Mart

www.machinemart.co.uk

It wouldn't run , appears to be a shop return that has been sent to auction as not working and stored for 20 or so years as it was covered in cobwebs and farm building dust along with a fine patina of red rust .
The strange thing is not one nut bolt or screw was fully tightened , when I lifted it the head stock came off the tube .
Even the cable screws and earth wire banjo terminals were not tight .

Tightened the electric screws , put a 2 amp fuse in place of the 13 amp in the plug ... nothing !
So I replaced the capacitor with another new 6uf one & away it went .
Knowing it's OK I stripped it down to its last part de-rusted it all ,cleaned , oiled greased & reassembled . it runs as sweeet as a nut , current new ones are about £120
From the same source I have all manner of routers , scroll saw , angle grinders , chop saws , circular saws , a belt sander & a dovetail jig with all the bits that must be 50 plus years old. So far its cost me pennies to get everything working , The most expensive thing will be an aquarium air pump with dual elements to use as a dust blower jet by the scroll saw blade ( £7.80 )& 500 mm of silicon tubing to make the blower work .

Was also given a powerful Dremel style 9000rpm hand held 240 volt corded whizzer by Black & Decker .... very oily dirty casing , missing the chuck & collets . ( I get an £9 .80 package from China with everything needed to use it, including brushes ,stones & discs , arbors and a spare collet nut .
Cleaned it with WD40 , jobs a good un , added an instrument makers insulated 1/8 " flat screwdriver and a collet fitting spanner . It certainly beats my 10 yr old £20 battery one for LIDL's & has stopped me getting one for my Birthday on 21 Dec .

That will be what we call a 'red label' If they are at auction, they are deemed not economical to repair. Some go to shops to be sold off cheap(ish). They are the clearance on the website.

 

[bricol]

You've only got to see Facebook groups for just about any subject to realise just how little general knowledge/skills a massive portion of the population have. I used to believe in evolution but reading some of the stuff posted I'm not convinced, I genuinely don't know some of these people get dressed in the morning, for some them if their pants were inside out that's the way they'd wear them.

The other thing that seems to be totally lost on the Facebook generation is research, why bother clicking the serach button or going on Google when you can just ask the same simple question on a group for the 20th time this week and get the same 75% stupid/nonsense answers.

Mine you, a respected, educated, experienced colleague asked Monday last week on our office Teams chat why he got a certain error on saving from our CAD system.

I copied and pasted the reply I'd given to him asking the very same question a whole week and a half before . . .

Roll on to Friday of last week . . . and a younger, educated, intelligent colleague posted the exact same error message with pretty much the same question . . . control "c" followed by control "v"

 

[MetalMonkey]

The other thing that seems to be totally lost on the Facebook generation is research, why bother clicking the serach button or going on Google when you can just ask the same simple question on a group for the 20th time this week and get the same 75% stupid/nonsense answers.

In fairness, that has been happening on forums and bulletin boards since the dawn of the internet - I while ago I used to be a mod on a forum and I had text files full of boilerplate replies to copy and paste when inevitably people didn't read any of the stickies or asked the same questions over and over. Even before that when libraries still had proper books the gospel was "Dave down the pub says".

I think that’s just a human nature thing rather than a generation/technology thing.

 

[ajlelectronics]

In fairness, that has been happening on forums and bulletin boards since the dawn of the internet - I while ago I used to be a mod on a forum and I had text files full of boilerplate replies to copy and paste when inevitably people didn't read any of the stickies or asked the same questions over and over. Even before that when libraries still had proper books the gospel was "Dave down the pub says".

I think that’s just a human nature thing rather than a generation/technology thing.

The difficulty comes with resisting the urge to offer help, you just know that the seeds will fall on barren land! It's just teaching a pig to sing, often...

 

[Exuptoy]

What bothers me is ppl who give a confident answer to a question and I’m reading it thinking, well that’s bo*****s, in fact, that’s bordering dangerous. Most of the time, I won’t even get into it.
On here is different, BC if someone did that, there’s plenty on here that will call them out. I’d like to think that over the last 10 or more years I’ve been here, we’ve sort of weeded them out.
As most on here who know me, I come and go multiple times through the year, some years I spend a lot of time in here then other times I’ll be MIA for 6-8 months, but generally, this site never changes, and I like that.