Scrapheap Orchestra
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Arch
Married to Night Train
- Location
- Salford, UK
Yes, I'm looking forward to it!
subaqua
What’s the point
- Location
- Leytonstone
they were on breakfast this morning. the scrapheap violin sounded better than the "normal" violin.
- Location
- Next door to Mr Benn at No 54
Thanks for the reminder. I was watching Scrapheap Challenge earlier today on BBC something or other.
I volunteer to play the triangle.
I volunteer to play the triangle.
Arch
Married to Night Train
- Location
- Salford, UK
Thanks for the reminder. I was watching Scrapheap Challenge earlier today on BBC something or other.
I volunteer to play the triangle.
Wait for it.... wait for it...
Ting!
Night Train
Maker of Things
- Location
- Greater Manchester
The Tuba looks brill!
Arch
Married to Night Train
- Location
- Salford, UK
It's all fabulous. I love the way the makers just took the challenge on, and with such determination. I guess a craftsman is a craftsman, whatever the project.
Arch
Married to Night Train
- Location
- Salford, UK
The coathanger bow! I love that!
Night Train
Maker of Things
- Location
- Greater Manchester
I was thinking how much I would like to be involved in something like that, but I already have Granville and the Ratrike!
Arch
Married to Night Train
- Location
- Salford, UK
I was thinking how much I would like to be involved in something like that, but I already have Granville and the Ratrike!
Well yes - the art of making the possible out of the seemingly unpromising.
An art I think we're all going to need to perfect at the rate we're using up resources, to be serious for a moment.
Very inspiring! Imagine a project getting kids to do something similar....
vernon
Harder than Ronnie Pickering
- Location
- Meanwood, Leeds
Sadly kids are so de-skilled that such an activity would fall flat. The woodwork and metal work lessons that used to take place in schools augmented by kids watching their parents repair items and performing DIY have all but disappeared. Kids have difficulty recognising tools never mind using them correctly. As for parental mentoring in developing manual dexterity and problem solving, forget it - the throw away society that we now live in has killed bodging and repairing. It's often cheaper to buy a replacement item than it is to get the spare parts to repair it.
Every now and then I am pleasantly surprise by the occasional student who displays some manual skills. Several of the boys that I teach can build wheels with next to no run out and full concentricity (sp) what's even more amazing is that they do it without wheel truing jigs.
ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
Years ago, an element burned out in a toaster which had cost me £10 from a local electrical shop. I went down there and asked them for a replacement, and they got a new toaster down off the shelf. I told them, no - a replacement element!
They told me it wasn't worth it because the spare part cost £8.50 and I could buy a new toaster for £10. I said that I'd be saving £1.50 and that would be one less piece of junk going to landfill. They looked at me as if I was from another planet!
They then told me that they couldn't do it, because I might electrocute myself. I told them that I'd been fixing TVs and HIFI equipment for over 25 years and had a degree in Electronic Engineering - I definitely was not going to electrocute myself!
In the end, they relented and got me the part ...
(You're right about repairs costing more than new stuff though. My first colour TV worked well for years, and then developed a couple of minor faults which I fixed. Eventually, something more serious went wrong with it and I worked out that a new set would be cheaper than the cost of the spare parts!)
subaqua
What’s the point
- Location
- Leytonstone
Years ago, an element burned out in a toaster which had cost me £10 from a local electrical shop. I went down there and asked them for a replacement, and they got a new toaster down off the shelf. I told them, no - a replacement element!
They told me it wasn't worth it because the spare part cost £8.50 and I could buy a new toaster for £10. I said that I'd be saving £1.50 and that would be one less piece of junk going to landfill. They looked at me as if I was from another planet!
They then told me that they couldn't do it, because I might electrocute myself. I told them that I'd been fixing TVs and HIFI equipment for over 25 years and had a degree in Electronic Engineering - I definitely was not going to electrocute myself!
In the end, they relented and got me the part ...
(You're right about repairs costing more than new stuff though. My first colour TV worked well for years, and then developed a couple of minor faults which I fixed. Eventually, something more serious went wrong with it and I worked out that a new set would be cheaper than the cost of the spare parts!)
I always thought a good wallop cost nothing
.
ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
It often used to do the trick with old valve equipment! A few wallops might remove intermittent faults, but eventually create a permanent one. At least permanent faults are easier to track down.I always thought a good wallop cost nothing
Modern equipment doesn't usually respond to walloping unless the fault is in a connector or perhaps a dry joint.
The most elusive fault I ever fixed was in a HIFI amp. Detective work convinced me that a particular resistor must be faulty but whenever I measured it's resistance, it always had the correct value! I went round in circles for about an hour before deciding to replace the resistor despite it apparently working. I desoldered it and was about to bin it when I noticed that the bent lead coming from one end was flopping about. It had become disconnected internally and only made contact when the probe of my meter pressed against it!
Arch
Married to Night Train
- Location
- Salford, UK
So you teach them, which was sort of my point about it making a good project. I wasn't suggesting saying "Here, kids, build an orchestra from this lot", more "RIght, here's how to build an orchestra from this lot." I suspect some are more motivated to learn by building understandable objects for a special goal, than just book rests and ashtrays for the sake of learning the technique.
Easier to write them off I know, but there are still a few with talents waiting to be unlocked.