Thread: What have you repaired, renovated, re purposed or recycled ?

My list would probably be too long to post...

How about a cheap $50 ozito drill..... 1000W, hammer drill from bunnings

First one drilled 4 holes, then broke..... Second one drilled 10 holes... So I said bugger it, pulled it apart and it had a very small failed bearing in the reduction gears... turned up a plain bronze bush and it has never looked back...

I don't re-purpose much but I'm known for repairing stuff. When I was involved with scouting a number of bits of camping equipment including several BBQ's had their lives extended through my repairs. In fact, most of my shed equipment used to repair things is secondhand (and was repaired to get it functioning)
Unfortunately I live in a household of disposers, so it is a running battle some times to convince people not to chuck things. Notable repairs include -

• My lathe, brought from a non-functional pile of metal to what it is today (there's a thread on it). Repairs included pulleys, gears, fasteners, lube system, electrics plus accessories
• The universal dividing head I now have. Needed a full set of gears & mandrel etc, new dividing plunger. Just lately it has been fitted with a cam-lock spindle
• I once repaired an electric motor that had snapped a shaft by making up a new part shaft and grafting it in
• A wheelbarrow at the local kindergarten was earmarked for the bin but I got there first so it was then sold off at the next jumble sale
• I did once repair a friend's car wiper mechanism - the die cast bracket broke so it was replaced with a made up steel version. Still going strong after 5 or so years.

I think one of the things against repairing these days is the use of plastic in products. They become lots cheaper but are then not easily repairable. At one stage I was having success using cloth tape (the sort that dress makers use not the sticky stuff) and araldite to build up and reinforce broken plastic bits.

I love going through junk yards though - I'll have to see if I can find Rob's

Michael

Not renovated/restored yet. Picked up an old saw to-day, covered in 2" of crud and gunk but it may
come up OK with a couple of rebushings etc, my son is keen as mustard on restoration and old
machinery so I am happy to know he can help.I liked the traditional McPherson name cast into the top.DSC06424.jpgDSC06425.jpgDSC06429.jpg

I always seem to be resurrecting stuff I get cheap and then selling it or using it to replace my lesser version.

Currently doing up a 1200 watt generator with carby problems that I got for $20 off Gumtree today.

Got the issue fixed, Just need to get the governor linkage sorted.

And then there's also the Karcher water blaster I found on the side of the road last week that has the usual Karcher water leaking out of the on /off switch problem - totally fixable. Owner just tossed it out.

I always seem to never quite get out this repair cycle loop, and do the jobs that really need doing.

But you're always learning from this stuff, and you can make a few dollars along the way if it all works out.

Rob

G'Day Fellas,
Yesterday the long stem knob on the steam control on my Gaggia coffee machine disintegrated (after 8 years in a hot environment I can't bitch too much) this afternoon I got off my butt and knocked up a bronze extension and bunged on a knob from the junk box, this should outlast the rest of the machine.
Regards,
Marting1.JPG

P.S. The dinky push on/push off switches that Gaggia use cost about $40.00 a pop and only last 6 months they are easily replaced with an illuminated rocker switch from Jaycar at $5.00 a time

Where do I start!

On my desk is a router that was deemed to be beyond economic repair on my desk. Its just got some seriously tired bearings in it that were making some bad noises, thatll be easy fixed if I can figure out how to get them off the spindle! Its in otherwise fine condition and should make a good powerplant for the TPG im starting work on.

Then we have the makita 14.4v battery drill that was refusing to engage in gear, also deemed by the school to be beyond economic repair. One period when I ran out of real jobs to do, I pulled the whole planetary gearbox apart (what a cool piece of design!) and found the culprit, a few pins that act as a shift fork around one of the ring gears had sheared off and only one remained. They didnt look too complex, but obviously strength is a factor in their design, so ill get my hands on some 4140 or stainless of some description and try to make some new parts. Makita told us that the parts were unavailable and the job requied the replacement of the whole gearbox...pfft, bugger that. Once she's fixed, that one will probably head back into her majesties service in my woodwork room for the kids to try and destroy it again. Ive noticed another one in my colleagues room is also starting to show the same symptoms, so that job might make it to the front of the queue.

Also, there's the vernier calipers that needed maintenance last month. One was closing up ok, but the metric scale wouldnt zero out. I took the vernier scale off that half of the slider and carefully opened up the holes enough to allow the scale to be tightened down on zero. There was the second pair that wouldnt close up properly because some numpty chucked them on a lathe tray or table a bit hard. This happens fairly often, so i get a stone out and carefully re-hone the ends of the caliper where it usually suffers. A little bit of permanent marker on one jaw to check its contact with the other and back into the fray they go. The third pair is missing a lockscrew, so I might just have to whip one up when I get bored one day. Its only on the fine adjuster block, so its in no hurry to get done.

Some time ago, someone did a repair on the thicknesser's depth handle by replacing the handle on the handwheel. Only problem was that they used a handle that appears to have been purchased on ebay. Rather than machining or using a die to cut the thread on the end of the handle, the manufacturer just cast the whole part, thread and all. Its been done really badly, the threads dont really line up right and arnt a constant pitch, it kinda looks like drunken threads, but in a different way. Anyway, when the thread gets installed into the handwheel, the threads are so distorted and so tight that it actually damages the female thread on the way in. A few months of use later and the handle simply flogs its way out of the cast iron wheel and falls on the ground again. The handle is obviously the problem, so it gets stashed in my drawer for demonstrations in the futue and a new handle got made up.

Thats just a rundown of my last month. Surely the little darlings will trash something else for me soon.

Its an odd world when youre an industrial arts teacher, particularly when it comes to money. The faculty doesnt get a lot of money, and most of it will go into consumeables and materials for the kids. Where we can, we stretch that into updating and repairing gear, but every penny pinched is less materials for kids jobs, which means we cant as flexible and creative with what we do. So to that end, rather than buying and paying for repairs, we do as much as we can to figure it out for ourselves. Local machine shops will often donate end of rods and bars for us to make unusual things from, and occasionally lend us a tool we cant afford. A case in point is a nut I had to make for a drill press that some oxygen thief stole while I was replacing some bearings. The replacement part was quoted at $80. It took me 4 hours all up to make the nut from a piece of centreless ground 4140, at $50 an hour for my labour, but because my pay doesnt come from the faculties budget, it "costs" the school nothing. The metal was donated and the 3/4in 16tpi tap was lent by a local workshop. The kids get their drill press back, I get to make another job and money isnt taken from important places to get it to happen.

Its all good fun though, I cant imagine how schools deal with the money when they have staff that cant fix things. Just palming the problem off to a contractor is so so expensive.

Originally Posted by Michael G

I love going through junk yards though - I'll have to see if I can find Rob's

Michael

He's opposite 606 Prospect Road.

Here's a couple of Google earth shots.

He's still got half a dozen two metre lengths of 52 mm diam solid round stock - GP steel. Probably get them for about $10 each.

Take a trailer.

Rob

hi

My one and only tool renovation . This old PEERLESS power hacksaw . It was very worn out when I got it from a neighbour . I rebushed and fitted new shafts. It has been a great aid for me . It uses a 12" blade

Mike

That's a good one Mike. Handy item.

I have to get something decent to cut steel. I have a few big jobs coming up and I need something better than my metal cutting circular hand saw.

Can't decide between a metal band saw and a friction chop saw.

Rob

This Natural gas powered forge is made nearly all from recycled/kerbside rubbish material
Body of forge is a forklift fuel tank from kerbside rubbish collection
Air supply and hoses from 3 different vacuum cleaners from kerbside rubbish collection
Piezo gas flame starter from old BBQ from kerbside rubbish collection
Stand/trolley is an old electronics CRT trolley from a skip where I used to work
Galv plumbing fittings from FILs bottomless box of plumbing supplies.
Genuine laboratory gas taps and flexible gas hoses from a renovators skip where I used to work work
Silcia Firebricks were given to me by a brother nearly 10 years ago - finally am putting them to good use.
3 kg lead counterweight for door, recast from lead flashing found in builders skip where I used to work.
Not shown is a pyrex glass window from an old stove that goes into the L shaped ally frame (which came from an old shower screen fitting)
What I had to purchase was
- insulation, insulation hardening solution, 2 of the 3 red handled brass taps, stainless steel tubing for the torch tips, SS bolts and shackles, and s few PVC fittings for the air supply



This saw vice uses old brass plumbing fittings as the clamps and timber offcuts

Most of the workshop...

But the one repair which was most satisfying, was a 42" Sanyo Plasma TV, which had died and the owner was going to throw it out. He gave it to me for nothing and I guess he then went off and bought a new one...

A bit of googling for the model number and a bit of probing around, isolated the problem, and a replacement display PCB for $125, got it going just fine, that was a few years ago, and it's still going fine.

I enjoyed doing a Waldown Drill Press press restoration, got it at an auction for $70.. https://www.woodworkforums.com/f65/wa...ebuild-144610/

Nice one Grahame, great Idea for a thread, I think rescuing machines that are on the edge of oblivion and bringing them back to functional condition is very satisfying. Whether it be to "Showroom Status" or as Phil described.. "Working Clothes" or the lofty heights of a "Bob" class restoration ( think trade fair exhibition class.. )

Looking forward to hearing more rescue stories..

Regards
Ray

Originally Posted by nearnexus

That's a good one Mike. Handy item.

I have to get something decent to cut steel. I have a few big jobs coming up and I need something better than my metal cutting circular hand saw.

Can't decide between a metal band saw and a friction chop saw.

Rob

Go for the metal bandsaw, it's a LOT quieter, not as messy, cheaper to run, using the bimetal blades it will last about 1000 times longer than a disc.
Kryn

Helped a guy fix his drill press the other day.Had broken the plastic table winder and he replaced it with this.

923487_158563037646518_2036120118_n-1.jpg

The wood failed at the locking screw so I suggested we make one from aluminium.

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I didn't aesthetically like the shape of the curves in the wood one they just didn't look right so I changed the design slightly.
My friend is a woodworker and has never done anything with metal so this was an introduction.
The original bolt used on the handle was very spindly and already bent so I found him a new countersunk one out of a chair foot, which would recess into the the arm. The arm section started life as a square extruded length and is hand shaped. I did the rounding and the taper and marked up the stepped profile which he then went home to file himself. I think he did a reasonable for for his first attempt. Although I would have made him take it a step further if it had ben finished here, Oh the grub screw was made from the end of the bolt which was cut down.

Originally Posted by KBs PensNmore

Go for the metal bandsaw, it's a LOT quieter, not as messy, cheaper to run, using the bimetal blades it will last about 1000 times longer than a disc.
Kryn

Thanks Kryn.

I was thinking that way (band saw) on running costs, but then I heard some have problems with the gearbox, and Ewan said his was only so so.

Anyone else got a comment on this? I only want a bottom of the range model, but how low is the question. I don't need angle cutting.

Rob