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UK diy (uk.d-i-y) For the discussion of all topics related to diy (do-it-yourself) in the UK. All levels of experience and proficency are welcome to join in to ask questions or offer solutions. |
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The Fix Is in—DIY Repair Clubs Grow in Popularity
The Fix Is in—DIY Repair Clubs Grow in Popularity
The repair revolution is pitting tinkerers who want to fix their own stuff against product manufacturers By Anne Kadet, Feb. 19, 2019, Wall St. Journal Brooklyn retiree and self-described “compulsive repairer” Joe Holdner just can’t stand to see a salvageable gadget thrown away. He likes to fix his own stuff. He wants to fix your stuff. And if he has his way, new laws will make it easier for everyone to fix their own smartphones, laptops and vacuum cleaners. “I’ve signed petitions and gone to a demonstration or two in that respect,” he said. Mr. Holdner, who remembers replacing the clutch on his first car with the help of a book back in the 1960s, is a foot soldier in the growing army of “repair-culture” advocates who would require manufacturers to provide repair instructions and replacement parts. “Right to Repair” legislation—which is stirring opposition from device manufacturers—is being considered by New York state lawmakers, and advocates hope to see it passed this year. The movement is centered in groups such as the Fixers’ Collective, a long-running volunteer outfit that meets twice a month in Brooklyn and Manhattan, offering free repairs to anyone bringing a busted gadget. On a recent evening, Mr. Holdner and fellow fixers met in small room over Commons Cafe in Brooklyn. Their first guest: Anna Dengler, who brought in a broken DVD player. “I told my son we could watch ‘Blue’s Clues’ on Friday,” she said. The volunteers quickly found the culprit—a busted tray latch which couldn’t be repaired. Mr. Holdner proposed a fix: Bind the device closed with rubber bands. Amy Rothberger brought in a year-old humidifier. “It’s making a very scary sound,” she said. “It’s so loud you can’t sleep.” It took three fixers nearly half an hour to find the worn ball bearing on the humidifier’s fan. “Sometimes the hardest part is opening the damn thing up—they don’t want you to get inside,” volunteer Emily Forman said later. Nowadays, she said, many devices are glued shut, or can only be opened using the manufacturer’s proprietary tools. “The newer stuff is, the harder it is to fix,” she said. The evening was a typical session for the Fixers, said Vincent Lai, the group’s program director. There are roughly 10 core volunteers, about half of whom show up for any given session. Their success rate is about 75%, Mr. Lai said, and sometimes involves a makeshift solution, like the time they replaced the electric motor on a paper shredder with a hand crank. “We were able to shred!” he recalled. “We were all ecstatic.” More important is the sense of empowerment generated when people gather to do their own repairs, he said. “People are starting to realize that they can repair their stuff even though there are companies and manufacturers putting up roadblocks,” he said, referring to device makers that provide parts and repair instructions only to authorized dealers. Mr. Lai said fixers depend on the contributions of a broad DIY community, including free repair manuals available on iFixit, a site offering nearly 50,000 guides submitted by professional and amateur fixers who reverse-engineer devices. The movement is especially big in the Hudson Valley and Catskills in New York state. In 2013, retired television producer John Wackman, who lives in Kingston, N.Y., founded the area’s first “Repair Cafe”—as the events are called—where residents can bring in broken items ranging from bicycles to laptops for free repairs by volunteer fixers. Typically held in libraries, village halls and churches, the DIY federation has expanded to 25 sites in New York towns, including New Paltz, Rhinebeck and Beacon; five more are expected to launch this summer, Mr. Wackman said. Repair Cafes also have emerged in Long Island and northern New Jersey. “This is a repair revolution,” Mr. Wackman said. “It’s a matter of agency. People just feel like the control over their own lives and the things they own is somehow denied them and taken away from them. They want it back.” Last May, Mr. Wackman and fellow advocates set up tables in the Capitol building in Albany, demonstrating repairs to lawmakers. Their mission: To garner support for “Right to Repair” legislation, which would make device manufacturers give owners and independent repair businesses access to service information and affordable replacement parts. The legislation has been introduced in 16 states so far this year, including New York and New Jersey, said Gay Gordon-Byrne, executive director of the Repair Association, a fixers’ advocacy group. Right to Repair is a nonpartisan issue, she noted. Conservatives like it because they want to support small businesses. “Then you have the rabid tree-huggers,” she said. Environmentalists want to reduce waste. One group opposed to the legislation: device makers. “Untrained repairs can cause personal safety and cybersecurity issues,” said Josh Zecher, executive director of the Security Innovation Center, a coalition representing device manufacturers. The law also would jeopardize the intellectual property of manufacturers, he said. As the battle builds, fixers predict they will be far outspent on the lobbying front. But Ms. Gordon-Byrne said that as the message gets out, broad support is inevitable. “Rich or poor, black or white, male or female, everyone needs to fix their stuff,” she said. https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-fix...ty-11550588401 |
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The Fix Is in DIY Repair Clubs Grow in Popularity
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The Fix Is in DIY Repair Clubs Grow in Popularity
Dave Liquorice wrote:
Another local one in April I think, and the comment about the hardest part being getting into the damn things is very true. Took the best part of two hours to work out how to get the cover off a vacum cleaner. It was loose, but wasn't free untill you found a couple of plastic clips hidden in the hinge. Fixing the fault, unclogging the motor of fluff and hair, took about 10 mins, including the walk to the local garage to borrow their air line... Did you have to run back a lot faster so the 20p didnt run out on the timer ? Visions of 100s of metres of airline becoming a hazard as you let it go and it retracted back. GH |
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