Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Yes to be safe i will leave it 24hrs.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Car battery. Used a 12v bench supply with isolating diode (to prevent the battery reverse feeding the supply) to keep the electrics "live" during the swap. Avoids having to re-enter radio codes etc. Easy 15m job.

Turns over nice and sharp now. :)

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Husbands glasses. Swapped the lenses into an old prescription pair of sunglasses exactly the same shape. Not very adventurous with style is he (luckily in this case).

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

The bog roll holder doesn't fall off the wall any longer!

Also replaced the floor beading around the bathroom floor as the old stuff looked terrible after getting wet over the years.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Test probe for my Avo-Megger test meter. Accidentally trod on it and it broke in half.

Super glue had it fixed.

Good as replacement probes are VERY expensive.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

PC power supply. I'm adding an extra HDD to the XP SP3 machine that hosts my media server amongst other things but the PSU kept cutting out on startup. It's a 350W unit and the machine takes far less than that.

Pulled the PSU box and opened it up. What I saw was much what I expected: Capacitors with swollen tops. Eventually replaced 4 that showed zero value. I didn't have exact replacements for two of them (680uF vs 1,000uF) but I reasoned that some value was better than none. Next time I order some components I'll tag a few of these.

Replaced unit in PC and it all works fine now. New 2T HDD is partitioned and formatted. Now just copying data. :)

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

1090MHz masthead pre-amp which was supposed to be weatherproof.

Copious applications of contact cleaner, emery boards and some freshly reflowed solder has sorted it out plus a load of silicone sealant around the inner enclosure. Also added to the tower assemblage is a home-made j-pole for military airband - ready for a bit of listening in on Joint Warrior which starts next week ;)

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Repaired the outflow from the pond filter. Hopefully the cats will stop jumping onto it now.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

12V 4amp Power supply (Chinese) for the LED strip lighting in the kitchen: It was coming on dim and then going to normal after a few seconds.

Took it apart and found what I expected: Bulging capacitors on the output side, both read low value so I fitted some premium grade replacements. Works fine now.

Congrats all!!!!!!!!! -- Its fun being able to fix stuff ourselves!!!
 

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Something non-electronic this time: My St Justin celtic bracelet has developed a crack and was in danger of coming apart.

It's made of pewter which has a fairly low melting point around 200C so I fitted a short #9 bit to my magnastat 50W soldering iron. This set the temperature to 450C.

Together with some solder I was able to melt the crack away on both sides and fuse it fully together.

Then using my hobby drill and a selection of burrs and diamond grinders recreated the damged pattern in the area of the mend. Job seems a good'un. :)

Front view: https://www.cableforum.uk/board/atta...9&d=1556886706 Rear View: https://www.cableforum.uk/board/atta...8&d=1556886706



Attachment 27859Attachment 27858

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Made a new lid for the BBQ and repaired its door.

---------- Post added at 19:29 ---------- Previous post was at 19:27 ----------

What type of pewter is it (i.e. is it the old lead type?) and what solder did you use?

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

It was bought about 20 years ago. So I guess it's the old fashioned type. I used 60/40 rosin cored solder. Seemed to melt easily with the hot iron bit.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Our shed - replaced 3 full planks and 4 half lengths (next to the window), than put Ronseal* on all that side.

Will replace it next year, as it’s over 10 years old.

*other coverings are available

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

I had a friend who repaired pewterware and he warned me that you have to get the right solder mix, or it can make an odd alloy which can be very fragile. He opted for solderless joints where he could not identify the pewter makeup. But he was a very skilled solderer, I'd probably end up with a molten blob in front of me...