Education & Reference Fixing things - A wealth of satisfaction!

[radiojake]

So I've never been a 'handy-man' - I did rather poorly in wood and metal tech back in high school and have traditionally been rather put off from ever opening up anything for fear that I would probably make it worse than it already was.

I've had an old ipod in my cupboard for years doing nothing because there was something wrong with the input jack and only one stereo was coming out. As there was no option to turn the songs onto mono, it meant you'd only hear half a song. It was crap, so I stopped using it. I also never bothered to replace it with another mp3 player because, well, I guess I am cheap. Also I ride my bike so often and I really think headphones in while riding a bike is dangerous.

Anyway, the other day I found it in my drawer and the software still works perfectly. I thought I'd try to fix it. Found some online 'how to' guides and cracked it opened, ordered a $12 replacement part online which got here today, and mucked around with tediously tiny components for nearly an hour but now I have a fully functioning ipod with working STEREO!

I am stoked. I have never opened up anything and fixed it before like that.

Plus, considering it had been nearly 4 years since the problem with the ipod started and I have rarely used it since, it practically feels like I have a new ipod for only $12!

Today is a good day -

 

[Caesar]

Guess I am old, because when I saw the thread title the last thing I was thinking was electronics.

I quite enjoy fixing stuff. Dad's an engineer by training so growing up he was very hands on with a lot of stuff - I think it was an important outlet for him after he moved into a desk job. He sort of passed that on to me, and I enjoy mucking around with stuff as a break from sitting at a computer all day during the week. Nothing massive, but little things like installing a drip system in the garden or putting up shelving in the garage. It's nice to be able to exercise your manual dexterity, and at the end of the day look at something tangible and say "I did that".

I have sort of toyed with the idea of buying a house to renovate but I am not quite sure I'm capable of that yet. Probably a few years down the track.

 

[Cmarsh]

There is certainly a sense of satisfaction about making or fixing things with your own hands and through your own efforts. My line of work doesn't offer a sense of achievement like this and I have been seriously thinking getting into a hands-on hobby that involves making things. I think my sense of general happiness would improve if I did this.

Unfortunately our consumer-driven throwaway society has conditioned us that we just throw away things- no matter how minor or fixable the problem- just chuck it and go buy a new one. This, together with ultra-cheap goods from China that further enables a throw it away/get a new one attitude makes for a generation and generations to come with little practical skills.

 

[radiojake]

Unfortunately our consumer-driven throwaway society has conditioned us that we just throw away things- no matter how minor or fixable the problem- just chuck it and go buy a new one. This, together with ultra-cheap goods from China that further enables a throw it away/get a new one attitude makes for a generation and generations to come with little practical skills.

Yeah for sure - If I tried to get my ipod fixed at an apple outlet, I would put money on them saying that it would cost more to fix it rather than buying a new one...

Inbuilt obsolensence will ring the death knell of our resource extraction based economy -

 

[Smoooothy]

Yeah for sure - If I tried to get my ipod fixed at an apple outlet, I would put money on them saying that it would cost more to fix it rather than buying a new one...

Inbuilt obsolensence will ring the death knell of our resource extraction based economy -

it wouldn't cost more, but it'd be damn close

slight tangent. i'm a big fan of making things. my house has a few pieces of quality (read shoddy) furniture that i have built. favorite item is an arcade machine that i build over the course of 2 or 3 months

 

[DrVanNostrand]

I think the only successful repair job I've ever done was on my copy of Pokemon Silver version. After about 6-7 years (had it for about a decade though), the first issue of the games' internal battery would dry up, meaning you couldn't save your progress. At all. Last year I was having a lazy Sunday, stumbled upon an internet how-to guide, got myself a tiny screwdriver, pair of pliers and the battery out of my brother's watch and performed one hell of an operation.

It was, how you say...?

Needless to say for the rest of that Sunday, my Totodile was kicking some major arse.

 

[Extortion Threat]

Yep. Nice feeling when you fix/build something yourself. I used to assume that it's hard to fix a car, computer, fix wiring etc. but it's really not that difficult. It's more about having the confidence that if you take something apart you'll know that you can put it back together. There's a how-to guide for just about anything on the net so there's no reason not to have a crack at fixing it yourself.

 

[vealesy]

I repair machines for a living.

So yeh, i fix/make everything.

In saying that most electronics get dumped.

The sad part is "parts" become hard to come by because manufacturers only make so much. And they redesign things through generations so parts are not interchangeable and new items need to be bought instead of repairs occurring.

Its sad what our society has become. On the plus side there is money to be made from verge rubbish needing $5 parts to be fully functional again.

 

[Simple Jack]

Absolutely love fixing stuff. My dad was an electronic technician so he passed a bit of knowledge to me and I fix electronic things all the time.

But I also love fixing my car, and with the internet and youtube especially, you'd be mad not to.

I read somewhere about a guy taking his BMW into a dealership and being charged $525 to change the spark plugs. I did mine for $45 (for the actual plugs, exactly the same type that were installed in the factory) and about 30 minutes. It was idiotically easy.

 

[The Passenger]

The sad part is "parts" become hard to come by because manufacturers only make so much. And they redesign things through generations so parts are not interchangeable and new items need to be bought instead of repairs occurring.

So ****ing annoying

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_obsolescence#Systemic_obsolescence

Intel are planning on soldering their latest chips to a motherboard which will make PC upgrades virtually impossible. Massive backlash to ensue if they do that I reckon but the problem is they have such a dominant market position.

 

[Stratton_Gun]

Yeh I am not the handyest person going round. But it does give you heaps of satisfaction

 

[Gough]

Tradesman>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>DIY

 

[Silent Alarm]

The most frustrating moments of my life was the complete emptiness, sadness, anger, and depression of high school woodwork. You'd be chipping away and going okay until you sliced something and farked the whole thing. Crushing.

 

[Marlowe]

I get a great deal of satisfaction from taping my laptop back together and piecing together Ikea furniture. Not sure if it's the same as fixing things,however. I seemingly exist to break more things than to fix them.

 

[Smoooothy]

The most frustrating moments of my life was the complete emptiness, sadness, anger, and depression of high school woodwork. You'd be chipping away and going okay until you sliced something and farked the whole thing. Crushing.

True. But this also teaches you the value of not ****ing up

 

[BotsMaster]

Intel are planning on soldering their latest chips to a motherboard which will make PC upgrades virtually impossible. Massive backlash to ensue if they do that I reckon but the problem is they have such a dominant market position.

Haswell may well be the last interchangeable processors, after that CPU's will come standard with a motherboard as they shift to mobile computing.