Charles wrote:

"Pete C." wrote in message
...

If schools were still actually teaching instead of mostly baby-sitting
and people still had workshops you could fabricate your own replacement
parts. Unfortunately those skills have been outsourced to China, where
people still have tools and repair things. In short the problem is not
with parts legislation, it's with schools.

Pete, I appreciate your response but must point out that gears usually
cannot be made in home workshops.

Incorrect. A great many home metalworkers can and do make their own
gears. Additionally, factory made gears of a great many types are
available inexpensively from a number of sources. A person with a
properly equipped home shop can measure the pitch and pressure angle of
the gears in question, order a suitable replacement gear and machine the
hub connection appropriately to match the application.

I have personally fabricated a number of replacement parts for consumer
products where a factory replacement wasn't available, was only
available in a large expensive sub assembly, or the factory replacement
had the same design flaw that caused the original failure. My
refrigerator is still happily running with an all metal motorized damper
door that I fabricated to replace a poorly designed plastic one that
failed.


As to schools, they have mostly caved in to pressures from parents and
politicians (today's school administrators are mostly politicians). Many
modern parents are all to quick to blame everyone else but themselves.

Yep, parents share a lot of the blame as well, as do teachers unions.

Pete C.