Mend it and make do

[newfhouse]

Ive a 70's soviet era Vega radio that works. I think they were made in Ukraine.

One of these? Still in use here too, although not really enough valves for my taste.

This Cossor Melody Maker is next on my mending list.

 

[Drago]

Similar, but the slightly older version in near all black.

 

[the snail]

I cut my finger on Monday, whilst re-grouting a small area of tiles in the shower.
Not wishing to miss Tuesday's ukulele club zoom meeting, where I was due to lead some songs, I superglued the wound and got through the night successfully.
A second coat of glue last night got me through another uke club zoom meeting without blood being shed.
Just be aware that the glue takes a few minutes to dry. Don't touch anything unless you want to risk being permanently fixed to it.......

It does come in handy if you keep dropping your plectrum though...

 

[Salad Dodger]

It does come in handy if you keep dropping your plectrum though...

I use blu tack to stop me from dropping my plectrum! A small dollop does the trick!

 

[the_mikey]

View attachment 578926
The production fault was to flow-solder them too hot, and the capacitors started to deteriorate from that moment on, usually conking out after about 15 years. If (very carefully) replaced with ceramics, the radio should last virtually for ever.

When working correctly, they are one of the best small shortwave sets you can buy, even today. I previously had an ICF7600DS, which I gave to my younger son when I got a new ICF-SW7600GR, the last model in the line, in 2003. That will probably work for decades, as all the bugs had been worked out over the preceding 20 years. It's my totally overkill alarm radio!

I like radios!

I like radios also, I admire the efforts of people who restore radios to original condition but I tend to bust open and fix or bodge whatever needs doing and carry on using, hence my poor old Grundig Yacht Boy has a piece of 32/0.2mm wire for an antenna, I could have found another telescopic whip but my enthusiasm ran out before I got around to doing anything about it.

I had a 7600GR, happy memories of being constantly entertained by shortwave radio.

 

[randynewmanscat]

It's been said previously on this thread. Pretty much everything I own or ever owned until it bit the big one.
If it absolutely cannot be fixed then it may be cannibalised for later use or reincarnation.
I'm a skip diver by nature even though I could probably afford a new one.

 

[Tail End Charlie]

One of my angle grinders became a bit temperamental the other day, so I thought "nothing ventured, nothing gained" and took it apart. I had a feeling the switch was gummed up with dust, and so it was. After cleaning, judicious oiling and blasting with air, put back together and it works like new. Well pleased with that.

 

[Juan Kog]

I've gone off the Gruinard in recent years, since a certain national ballot their reporting became petty and petulant. Nevertheless, this is a well written article that might interest the mend it and make doers.

https://www.theguardian.com/comment...ng-planned-obsolescence-is-killing-the-planet

Come on this stretching our credulity , Drago a Guardian reader. .

 

[ColinJ]

Honorary mention for a pal of mine?

He used to buy Apple kit on ebay and sell it on. He once bought a dead iMac for parts for a pitifully small sum. The only fault turned out to be a blown fuse in the mains plug! He replaced the fuse, the computer booted up, carried on working, and he sold it for a huge profit.

 

[MichaelW2]

Had a bit of a mend it and make do incident last night. Not quite mending but the recycling bin was full of old plastic containers and I needed more space. I took a stanley knife that we had been using heavily for a diy tiling project and started cutting up the bottles.
On a heavy duty white plastic container I was drawing the not very sharp blade when it exited the plastic as a safe direction. Then because of my pressure on the knife, the blade changed direction 90 degrees and headed straight for my wrist. The blunt tip made a small dent in the skin scarily close to a vein. No bleeding but I think I went into shock.

Knives: be careful out there.

 

[Dave Davenport]

Finally had to bite the bullet and buy some new cycling shoes this week, my old pair of Specialized had done about seventy thousand miles and the uppers were coming away from the soles, I'd glued them together twice before but I couldn't get them to stick again. They felt like slippers on and the new ones feel like a pair of tight fitting sandwich boxes in comparison.

 

[Drago]

Located a Technics CD deck locally. All working perfectly and the fascia is in good order, but the case is scratched the Helen Back. A pleasant few days ahead rubbing it down and repainting it, and the 30 year old deck can join my 40 year old amp, turntable, cassette deck and speakers in providing me more decades of listening pleasure.

 

[Chris S]

My storage heater wasn't heating up properly. According to the manual there was a pendulum-like temperature sensor at the back. When I had a look at mine it was covered in a thick layer of fluff and dust. I wiped it off and the heater is back to normal.

 

[rockyroller]

recently aquired a 2017 Toyota Corolla w/ 38k miles for Daughter, she's paying. but Daddy swapped the temp spare for full size. the hold down bolt is now too short if the full size wheel is face up & too long if it's face down. the dealer parts dept. couldn't help claiming they only knew of the one bolt for the car. made a spacer w/ some wood bits

 

[newfhouse]

My home office DAB radio has bitten the dust so I spent an entertaining afternoon bodging a Pi Zero and USB audio blob into this old early 1950s Pye P75 radio from my loft collection. The walnut veneer needs some attention, which I’ll probably never get round to giving it. Today was the first time I’d taken the back off it since I bought it, so I was amused to find I’d also acquired the desiccated remains of a mouse nest under the chassis.

I’ve used the original two valve audio amp and six inch speaker, and having replaced a couple of components that had deteriorated over time it sounds lovely and mellow. The tuning dial lights didnt work, and I had none in my rummage box, so I mounted a couple of car interior light bulbs in their place. Fed from the six volt valve heater supply they give just the right amount of warm glow behind the redundant tuning dial. Station selection is now done via a web server on the Pi so I can choose my listening pleasure via my phone.