What have you fixed lately?
 

I hate chucking away stuff (as my garage and wife will testify) and often justify keeping things on the basis that one day they'll either get fixed, cannibalised or whatever. Whilst I have no specific training, I do understand safety issues and would never tinker with anything potentially dangerous. Anyway I had a favourite digital tyre pressure gauge which gave up the ghost a few years back. As is so common these days it had a sticker on the back saying that the battery was not replaceable so I'd left it in a drawer and forgotten about it until I got so fed up trying to use it's replacement that I decided to try to fix it. Opening it was easy and revealed a small PCB with some components on but no sign of any battery. Removing 4 small screws on the PCB allowed me to free it and on the reverse side was the battery (CR2032). In order to remove it I had to bend the metal cover securing it in place but once I'd done that, putting the new battery in was nothing more than a bit fiddly. Once reassembled I was delighted to find that it bleeped into life on the first push of the button. :) I supposed I only saved a couple of quid but it's a very satisfying feeling nonetheless.

One thing which dose confuse me is how the 1cmx2cm LCD display panel works. There were no wires or visible connections to it, just a flat black rubberised ? pad of similar size resting on its reverse side. All I could see were some indentations along one edge of this which were left by a couple of soldered joints and a small, shallow black circular dome on the top of the PCB. So my question to HeeroYuy (and others techie) is how is the display powered and how does the required tyre pressure data get fed to it? The LCD panel was not secured or connected to anything, in fact when I opened the unit it fell out along with the flat black rubberised pad which had been resting on it. Eagerly awaiting the answer!

TVM as always.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Lately I've fixed a smashed iphone LCD and screen.
a laptop smashed screen.
and a BMW.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Vauxhall key fobs - replaced battery compartments.
PIR detectors on garden lights, kitchen fluorescent light,my 2003 desktop computer cooling probs.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Another Keybed overhaul on another one of these beasties. This one is 27 years old and still sounds great, well worth keeping them going. Taking this one to rehearsal next week.

Attachment 24847

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Zimbabwean elections...

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

few software issues on computers couple of hardware issues and a table lol

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Two laptop software problems.

My PC.

My dad's PC

Natalie's laptop

My mobile

My tablet

All without seeing them :)

---------- Post added at 13:18 ---------- Previous post was at 13:17 ----------

Peter wants to start doing velleman kits but I'm not sure how to keep an eye on him, although he does use a soldering iron at school.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Thanks for an excellent answer! :tu:

================================================== =======================

On a separate note, I've just found a fix for a broken sliding wardrobe door roller which was proving to be a real PITB. The nylon roller was fixed to the supporting bracket by a metal rod running through its centre. This had worked loose over time and would have required welding to repair (which I can't do). After studying it a while I managed to find a bolt of similar diameter and managed to tap a suitable thread into the hole in the bracket then screw the bolt into place nice and tight. Job done! (well apart from having to put all the wooden trim I had to remove back in place and make good... lol).

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Earlier today I re-attached the head on our tortoise which I had decapitated over the weekend. Good as new now. Perhaps I should say that it was one of the ornamental variety!

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Well I'm due some brownie points :D

I just fixed the heater control in my wife's Focus. Some months ago she was coming home from college, started the car and tried to turn the heater control knob to the cool setting. The control knob was a bit stiff and as she tried to force it around, something gave with the result that the knob would no longer operate properly - we could get cold air but no hot at all. As its been summer I'd forgotten all about it until now so I thought I'd better get on with it before winter sets in. Anyway, the knobs are located immediately below the car's audio system so I got some removal keys and after a lot of fiddling around managed to remove the unit which allowed me to see, just, what was going on behind the heater control knob. It turns out that the knob operates a cable similar to a bicycle brake cable the end of which has a hoop which simply slips over a plastic spigot on the rear of the knob. Turning the knob pulls or pushes the cable which in turn presumably operates (at the other end) a valve or flap which either allows or prevents hot air to enter the car. Anyway, all that had happened is that the metal cable had bent slightly and this had caused it to slip off the back of the knob as it was turned. It was a 2 minute job just to straighten the cable very gently and re attach it. Result! She now has a car with heating in it again, just in time for the colder mornings/evenings...

A simple job but given that I have never been one for tinkering with cars etc. I'm very pleased with myself. Now all I need to concentrate on is getting my wife to be a bit gentler when handling knobs... :D

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

You need to show her first, then she'll be ok :)

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Re-soldered the connections which transfer the power from the batteries to the little motherboard? thingy on my grandsons baby walker. I had been told it was impossible to fix as the repair was so fiddly ... well it wasn't, and I did it so there!!!!!!


Grannies rule the world. :D

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Soldering eh! Well done Jo. :tu:

I'm still wondering what the dealer would've done and charged us for the pleasure... "Sorry sir, your wife's car needed an entire new heater control unit and including the labour charge that'll be..... ££kerching!!"...

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

I think you are right Osem. We can't win these days. At one time it was the specialist labour charges that made repairs expensive but now it is either scrap the item altogether and buy new, or, swap out a whole system and still be charged the earth for the privilege of trying to be eco friendly.

My toolbox and I are a legend in our family. After years of tinkering with bits and bobs there is nothing much I won't attempt, or many tools and gadgets I don't have. I just hate throwing something away without seeing if I can fix it first. Being told something is unfixable tends to bring out the stubborn streak in me. Saved us a few £s over the years though. :)

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

How much did you shell out for the glue.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Fixed a Zanussi washer/dryer for a neighbour.

it does a diagnostic check when turned on, and because the heater element has gone faulty it won't even let you do a normal wash.
disconnect the wires to the element and it all works as normal.

apart from the dryer, which she never used anyway.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

What have you fixed lately

My pregnant girl friend, with a coat hanger :shocked: :)

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Odds and sods are what garages are for... :D

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

This week so far

1 hp laptop (why does no one back up their files)
1 nokia lumia 800 (why does my son not back up stuff before phone runs out of space and refuses to boot lol)
1 pram wheel
1 xbox 360 tray
1 air pistol (got it cheap as they had jammed it)

got a laptop and a ebook screen to fix next (one day i will start charging for it for now i just require coffee on tap ;) )

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

An elderly neighbour's Large LCD TV was rattling like mad on all but minimal volume settings. I tightened some very loose screws holding the back panel on... sorted!

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Well done guys! I just love those simple fixes which make such a lot of difference and little or nothing.

---------- Post added at 14:54 ---------- Previous post was at 14:53 ----------

Can't recall the last time a car of ours was in the garage and that's saying something as it's over 26feet long and 10ft wide. So many things being saved for that rainy day... :D

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

At work: Loads of things..

Because of the amount of computers we use, we have special deployment systems to install OSes and Software on them.

My responsibility is the Macintoshes we have. I won't go into details, but one of the packages I am responsible for is Autodesk Maya. This would install via the system but would not activate with our licence server. Tried everything I could. I eventually found that it needed to be "registered" on the system it was running on, and the program used for "registration" was actually being run in a script that was running before the program was installed. Not sure how that happened, but I flipped it around and Maya works now.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Don't you just love it when you fix something! :D

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Isn't that the average size?

what you got? a Mini?

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Another sodding puncture in my bike tyre. Four in a month.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

My reading glasses - one of the lenses fell out but it's now carefully stuck back in place with super glue.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Fixed the toaster which was causing the trip to switch. Plumbed in a dishwasher and made a temporary fix for a loo at work to stop it filling until the repair guy came.

Also mended the lid on the coffee jug and will no doubt be repairing or replacing the front inner tubes on my daughters and husbands bikes.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Can you pop around here when you have a mo?.... :D

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Well done that man! :tu: I really should learn how to do some of this tecchie stuff.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

fixed up my old weight bench

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

I'm going to have a go at fixing a PS3 wireless controller and also try to replace my smashed Note 2 screen. I'll be back!!

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

I've done quite a bit of online research for help in repairing the Note 2 screen... Mainly Youtube. :D

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

have you seen all these where if you are not replacing the whole lcd and digitiser unit you have to heat the screen to melt the glue and then glue the new one back?

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Yeah, that's what I've had to do. It all seems to be working fine now, and the fault with the PS3 controller was down to the battery, it was knackered. I knew as soon as I seen it, it was bloated, like it was ready to explode. :D

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

managed to get my wireless printer reset up and it was a pain in the rear!

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Changing a split CV gaiter on the car tomorrow.. putting new dampers in while halve of the McPherson strut is dismantled.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Had an annoying problem with intermittent crashes on my desktop PC. I tried taking it apart, giving it a good clean out, renewed the memory but with no change. Whilst checking the software, I went into Firefox options, and on the general tab there is an option to "use hardware acceleration when available" which was checked by default. I unchecked it, then rebooted.
Since then I have had no more problems. I am not saying this could be a problem for everyone but it was for me.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

I just patched a nasty tear in our youngest's favourite jacket. It looks quite neat even though I say it myself and he was so happy! :)

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

My neighbor had what i think was a virus on her PC so i wiped and reloaded it.

He she couldn't access any websites because the settings on PC kept trying to use a proxy server and if u tried changing it would change right back and if u tried running an antivirus it would cause PC to just hang.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

The industrial washing machine at work last week. It wouldn't pump the water out which meant no spinning of clothes. To get the Miele Engineer out was going to cost telephone numbers and they couldn't get one out until next week. I pulled the machine out and took the back off, went to the pump with two sets of mole grips and undone the spring clips. Took the pump off and it wouldn't moves, I shook it and £3.50 fell out resulting in the blades spinning again.

Re assembled everything and plugged it back in, no Miele engineer wanted.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

and you made £3.50 out of it :)

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

That's an excellent result. Can't help wondering how many breakdowns could be so easily resolved.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Quite a lot, many of the washing machine repairs I go to are for blocked filters or jammed pump impellers.

Most machine you don't even have to take the back off to gain access to the pump as it's situated behind the kick plate at the bottom of the machine. The hard bit is to get the water out of machine without flooding the kitchen floor.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

I have a strange fault. My washing machine was cutting out mid wash the run/pause was flashing and nothing helped it would not start back up. I cleaned the filter. Upon pulling the washing machine out it worked again pushed it in and it failed. It runs full cycle pulled out . I have checked for loose connections inside. Any ideas. It is s whirlpool btw

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Is it plugged into the mains behind the machine if so check if the plug is pushed fully in or if the socket is dodgy try wiggling the plug and seeing if the machine cuts out.

The other thing it could be is syphoning. Is your drain hose pushed down a drain pipe or is connected to the plumbing under the sink? If the former check the hose isn't going right down to the bottom of the pipe. Pulling the machine out could be pulling the hose back up the pipe stopping it syphoning

also what is the model of the machine?

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Fixed the power switch on our dishwasher for the second time. It's a Hoover HEDS 668 and the mount where the switch is located started to disintegrate so I drilled a couple of holes further down, used a couple of tie wraps and it was ok for about a year then the plastic started to disintegrate even more so the ties were no good, had to drill through the front of the face plate, add a lid off of a drinks bottle and again use ties to secure the switch through the face plate.
What I'm wondering is why is the plastic becoming brittle and disintegrating.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Poor quality plastic everything is built as cheaply as possible these days.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Fixed the paper holder on a lever arch file. Spring had come out.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

I did look and it appears that it does not kink as it flows out and the top of the machine stops it short of hitting the pipe pushed back. My old man said it might be flow and the stopping a time based error. Need to wait till it happens again now lol

---------- Post added at 19:55 ---------- Previous post was at 19:52 ----------


It does not switch off it errors

It fits behind in a pipe but there is a ring on the pipe stops it going to far ( I believe will check that)

Whirlpool zwf 14070w :)

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

I cant find this particular model in the whirlpool range only a zanussi. Do you get any fault codes on the display if it has one ie F07 or does any other lights flash when it stops.
Could you post a picture of the machine as this could help me identify the model.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

There's nothing in the back of them, a drum, motor, pump and some wires. The pump was the first thing I went for was the pump for some strange reason. It worked and is still working so everyone is happy.

---------- Post added at 09:18 ---------- Previous post was at 09:17 ----------

Sounds like your control board has had it's day. Is it still under warranty?

---------- Post added at 09:19 ---------- Previous post was at 09:18 ----------

That was my bonus for the day. :D

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

sorry my old one was Whirlpool it is a Zanusi lol there is no display the pause play button just flashes

---------- Post added at 09:22 ---------- Previous post was at 09:20 ----------

unfortunately not its not been used much. It is working now which is of course strange but when it dies I will buy cheap and not expect it to last lol

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Zanussi not a manufacturer I do.From what I've read the number of flashes and the colour gives a fault code which helps point to the problem.
Try this site.

http://www.ukwhitegoods.co.uk

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

My rat mouse :)

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

changed a lightbulb lol

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

:tu:

Did something similar when our bathroom DAD radio suffered a broken volume button. It turned out to be just a small broken piece of plastic which was there to secure the rocker type button in place directly above the actual switch. Managed to wedge something in there to hold the button in place and the set's been working fine for the last couple of years. If it goes again I know exactly what to do. :)

Yesterday I fixed a much loved glass clock given to us as a wedding present. The thing had stopped ticking some time ago and a new battery hadn't done the trick. Looking at it, I soon realised that the battery operated clock mechanism was exactly the same as another we had in a horrid cheap clock we were going to throw away. I disassembled the glass clock, removed the hands, then took out the clock mechanism and simply replaced it with the donor assembly. Unfortunately the hands aren't exactly the same as the originals from the faulty unit wouldn't fit on it but I don't suppose anyone else would notice. :)

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Carry on like this and we could kill the economic recovery... :D

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Thanks to RoHS I bet

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

The Vicar's laptop

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

The head on the vacuum cleaner (twisty bit separated from the main head). Bit of a struggle getting the spring back in place but I did it. :D

And replaced the boot handle on the car which contains the number plate lights.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

two xbox controllers and a Dell tower running XP ( i had forgotten the joys of the reinstall screens )

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Fixed the draught-proofing on the openers/vents on 3 of our 5 Velux roof windows. The original 2" wide foam strips stuck on the underside of the wooden openers had perished over the years and took a bit of effort to remove but I managed to replace it with some foil backed thermal insulation and draught excluder to seal and gaps. Made a nice neat job of it even if I say so myself. :)

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Well I hope I've just fixed our faulty alarm system. :erm:

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/35646450-post1.html

Today I thought I'd give it a go so decided to inspect the internal battery. However, as soon as I touched the control panel to unscrew the 4 top cover retaining screws, the tamper went off which shouldn't have happened and was as loud as it was unnerving. After removing the cover, I soon found the tamper switch and could see that one of the 2 small plastic prongs which holds it in place was missing thereby allowing it to rotate. After a lot of looking and some trial and error, I also discovered the black wire from the switch to the circuit board was loose and fell out as soon as I touched it. After reconnecting the wire, I managed to secure the tamper switch into the closed position (as an interim measure) with a cable tie thereby curing the permanent tamper fault and alarm which was doing my head in. I then set about replacing the battery. Sure enough the positive terminal was corroded and stuck in place but after prising it off I was able to clean up the connection and fit the new battery without any problems. I screwed the control panel cover back on and successfully armed/disarmed the system a few times. I'll allow 24 hours for the new battery to charge and then try turning off the mains power supply to see if backup power has been restored. Fingers crossed!.... :erm:

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Not sure if you're describing the same thing but one trick I've used before when I'm trying to remove a security screw is to find a slightly smaller bit which fits inside the head of the screw and then wedge something else in between the bit and the inside edges of the head so that when the bit turns the screw head will. I have some heat activated plastic which does the trick nicely, just press some around the loose bit, let it go hard then turn away.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Yes, I've also been known to saw a slot in the top of a damaged screw but that's obviously not easy in confined spaces. I've got a set of superwrenches which make easy work of removing broken studs, rounded off nuts and the like plus one of those sonic multi-tools which are great for cutting, sanding and grinding in tight places where there's little room to move and/or you don't want to damage anything else or create loads of dust.

Highly recommended and pay for themselves in just a couple of jobs.

http://www.idealworld.tv/4+Piece+Sup...et-710551.aspx

Bought my set at £19.99 and I'm sure the price will come down again.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/CEL-Multi2PR...ords=cel+tools

Got mine with a couple of sets of the attachments which really are very good quality.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

An old pc that was blue screening, even in safe mode. So I booted from cd using mini xp, then used the chkdsk command which found and fixed a couple of corrupted system files, problem solved.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

I have fixed myself a cup of tea... sorry if this old gag has been used before....

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Like that. Usable PC saved. :)

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

A outside Christmas light, I was installing it and accidentally twated it with a hammer and knackered it, fixed now though.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

lol !

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Just tested the system by disconnecting the mains supply and the battery backup appears to be working properly so I claim an official 'fix'. Phew! :D

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

I fixed my old 22" widescreen monitor that wouldn't wake up from sleep mode :)

Just had to swap a couple of bulging capacitors on the power supply. Wish I'd done that befoer buying a new 27" monitor though.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Thanks for that mate! One of mine's been doing the same thing and you just reminded me that I have some spares left over from our kitchen installation somewhere. I'll view this as total vindication of my 'never throw anything away' policy towards DIY stuff. :)

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

It's called a 'man drawer*'


*Michael McIntyre

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

In my case it's called a double garage... :D

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

My, what big drawers you have..... :D

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

The garden shredder start capacitor blew up, so replaced and now OK. The manufacturer does not sell spares!

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

32 screws later I managed to replace a cr2032 battery

Attachment 25107

Something don't smell good around the psu. I may be in here again soon!

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

A laptop infected with "Active Hotspot" scareware. The worst bit of malware I have yet come across. I would like to kick the writer in the goolies.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Car track control arm/wishbone just to replace the lower ball joint... never again.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Spare bedroom wallpaper coming off, restuck then repainted the entire wall again. Shortened curtains that match paper.

Beam saw at work had a hissy, one of the control safety switches stopped working (dust and 24v don't go together unlike older machines where dust and 110v/240v were self cleaning) pulled switch apart, cleaned and back together. All is good now!

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Two sets of LED Christmas lights. Just for once, finding the faults was easy! :)

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

My sons laptop wouldn't charge, assumed problem with charging port gave it a whack around that area. Works now.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Fixed our UK Samsung TV to the bedroom wall and hooked it up to our UK Samsung Blu-Ray. Plugged them both into a 110 - 220V voltage converter which I got online for $20 and we can finally watch TV in bed on Sunday mornings. Pity there's no Andrew Marr or Sunday Brunch on BBC America though...

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

What about iPlayer (and software which cannot be named here to allow it to ingnore that you are in the USA)

---------- Post added at 19:43 ---------- Previous post was at 19:42 ----------

Well I fixed (via google) my Asus USB-N53 dongle 5GHz wi-fi.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

I wish I had done the same as you. I could take the main 160mm x 12mm out but everything inside of the rubber bits had seized, I had use a disc cutter to cut the old arm in two and then the bolt I had to grind the metal and burn the rubber off with a blow torch... 4 hours later!!!. I wish I had bought a new bolt.

Mainly done but for one bolt on the small rubber end to screw up....

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

I'd go further and suggest that often what appears to be a 5 minute job turns into something quite different... :erm: ;)

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Thanks chaps.. hope to fix it on Saturday, fed up with walking although it is a healthy and cheaper option to get to work.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Good luck with it heero yuy.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Replaced a broken rotary encoder in a guitar effects unit. Always 30-40 odd blimmin screws, loads of nuts and washers.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Our dishwasher which had been out of order for about a year. I got an engineer to have a look at it, and he said it needed a new door catch which would cost me £118 to fit. I bought one from Ebay for less then £18 and fitted it myself, dishes washing as I write. :)

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Will you marry me?? :romance: ;)




---------- Post added at 19:30 ---------- Previous post was at 19:29 ----------

Well done matey. Nice feeling to have!

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

A neighbour had all his downstairs lighting tripping the main fuse. I had a quick shufty and discovered his outside globe lamp was upside down... and leaking rainwater onto the electrical contacts. :dunce:

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

:rofl:

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Good for you heero, well done.

Already spoken for. Amazing what you can learn from the internet.:)


Shocking! :Yikes:

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Drat! ;)

Well will you at least promise to pop round and fix my white goods when they go wrong? :)

---------- Post added at 08:07 ---------- Previous post was at 08:05 ----------

Fixed the main zip on Osem Jnr#2's favourite coat. He's so happy! :)

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

My elderly MIL's broken back fence. One of the fence posts on which her back gate is hung has rotted at the base and that whole half of the fence was swaying in the wind. As a short term measure until the weather calms down and I can get some new posts etc. I managed to brace the broken fence using some old arris rail propped/secured against the fence at one end and driven into the ground at the other which in turn I secured with a second piece driven in perpendicular to it and screwed. Not looking forward to removing the broken post since on the other side of the gate is a completely paved communal area which I don't want to disturb. I feel another one of my trusty Heath Robinson fixes coming on... :)

Also managed to fix my son's Casio watch. The resin case had broken away where one end of one if the strap pins locates but I managed to build it up using epoxy resin and relocate the pin and strap. The watch has a lot of sentimental value so I hope the repair holds.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Good job OSEM. I have just replaced my car front brake caliper (one half with the piston in situ) it is quicker and just as cheap to do this then buying all the bits and doing it your self. The car actually stops now, fed up with using my feet through the floor.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Another zip here FGS!

My youngest has acquired the habit of ripping his coat off when he gets stressed/anxious and this has broken many a zip slider. He's just done this to a nice Regatta waterproof coat which sadly doesn't have any zip pockets so I couldn't use the slider from one of those. Then I recalled that some time ago I took all the sliders off an old multiple pocket rucksack we were getting shot of. They were so well made that I couldn't bear to chuck them at the time so removed them for a rainy day. Anyway I went through them and found they fit perfectly on his coat so if he does it again I'll be able to fix the problem and won't have to buy a new coat.

I reckon a lot of people throw away perfectly good and even loved articles of clothing, bags etc. simply due to broken zips the cause of which is the sliders. It's really easy to fit a new slider and much quicker/cheaper than having a whole new zip fitted when that isn't really necessary.