box – Fix It Workshop

Inside The Real Repair Shop 5

Why do people get things repaired? Some thoughts shared. One day, I’ll write a book on the subject.

What makes something cool and just maybe worth hanging on to? Is it good design? Is it great functionality? Is it celebrity endorsement? Is it scarcity? Is this a list that could go on forever? Yes, probably.

Some stuff is just cool and loved from the off, and some things take a while longer to enter the hall of fame. But why is that? Why does it happen?

FixItWorkshop, Worthing, September 2021, the mug

I was pondering this while going through my workshop enquiry inbox recently, and began wondering what motivates people to get something working again or restored to its former glory. The subject is probably a study in its own right, but I thought I’d share my own thoughts on the subject here. Now might be a good idea, assuming you fancy a drink, to grab a cuppa. Please come back as soon as possible.

FixItWorkshop, Worthing, September 2021, Guess the theme

One of the things I get asked to repair frequently is food mixers, especially Kenwood Chefs. Like the original Mini, AEC Routemaster London Bus and K6 Phone Box, the Chef in its many forms has become a design icon. It also helps that the mixer excels in function and is timeless in design. Many Chefs that I receive come with an interesting family backstory. Recently, one such example involved a 1964 machine which had travelled the world, after being originally purchased in South Africa. It had accompanied an army family each time my customer’s husband had transferred to start another tour. The Chef had grown up with her family making cakes, treats and dinners for over 60 years and had visited over 15 countries and was now worth way more to its owner than the sum of its parts. After the mixer was repaired and returned, I was told that the Chef would be passed down to the next generation to enjoy, when the time came. This particular Chef was, quite literally, one of the family.

FixItWorkshop, Worthing, September 2021, An example of an early Kenwood Chef A701

Luckily, many Chefs new and old have spare parts readily available with straightforward access to technical information, making repair possible, and I was able to fix this one which only needed a motor overhaul and gearbox re-grease. Not bad service really, considering its age and life!

Old toys are another ‘workshop favourite’ enquiry. Many toys from the 1970s and 1980s have seemingly survived playtime to then be laid up in attics and cupboards for many years, only to be rediscovered when children move out or something similar is spotted, while browsing eBay! Toys from this era which take batteries, tend to have traditional electro-mechanical parts (switches, motors and bulbs etc) which if broken, can be repaired or replaced. By comparison, later made toys with microprocessors and micro components are sometimes very difficult to reboot without donor parts. A few months ago, I repaired a motorised ‘Tomy Kong Man’ toy for a customer who had found it in his parents’ loft. The toy was in good condition, but wasn’t working. The Dad wanted to get it working for his kids as he remembered having so much fun with it, when he was their age. After a good hour of dismantling, cleaning, re-lubricating and a touch of soldering, the toy was working well once again, ready to be enjoyed by the next generation.

FixItWorkshop, Worthing, September 2021, a picture of the 1980’s Tomy toy, Kongman

The great thing about the repairs recalled here is that the owners all had a connection with their item and were prepared to preserve it for future generations. For whatever reason a strong bond had formed between item and owner, established over many years and incorporating many shared experiences. It’s programs like BBC’s The Repair Shop and Drew Pritchard’s restoration TV which draw out those backstories to bring tales of product ownership to life.

Sustainable is probably an overused word at the moment, but in order to really live more sustainably and reduce our impact on our environment, we need to buy less stuff, love the things we already have for longer and lobby decision makers to assist when repair barriers exist. So, the next time you’re thinking about binning your old Hoover, just think about all the fun memories you’ve had together and consider repairing it.

FixItworkshop, Worthing, September 2021, A slightly battered, but perfectly serviceable, Dyson DC14

For ‘The Workshop’, it’s about preserving an item, with its story intact, keeping it going, providing good service and enjoyment for as long as reasonably possible. Until the next time.

Make it so, number one

A Star Trek Next Generation themed money box gets a light restoration

IMG_20200617_221628 — FixItWorkshop, Worthing, August’20, Star Trek money box.

Some things are just cool. I mean look, if this money box doesn’t encourage prudent saving behaviour, then quite frankly, nothing will.

Spoiler alert: Put money in, some of the Star Trek crew (Next Generation) light up, followed by speech and cool sound effects. What’s not to like. Pressing the Star Trek (Starfleet) button, simulates the effects too. What fun.

This money box had once been cherished by its owner, but had been left in the attic for a number of years, with the original batteries still fitted. As anyone who’s done this before will know, old batteries leak in time. If you’re lucky and catch the ensuing corrosion in time, you might get away with just battery removal and a light clean up. If you leave it long enough, like the owner of this toy had, you’ll end up with a lot of rusty mess and no chance of life (Jim, but not as we know it). Remember, take batteries out before putting your toys away, long term.

Make and model: Star Trek money box (make unknown)

Fault reported: Not working/ battery compartment heavily corroded

Cost of replacement: £ Irreplaceable

Manufacturer support: 0/10

Cost of parts: £4.00

Hours spent on repair: 1.5 hours

Tools needed: Screwdrivers, test meter, heat shrink, soldering iron etc

Sundry items: Cleaning materials, paint, contact cleaner

Repair difficulty: 3/10

Cups of tea: 1

Biscuits: none (1 jammy donut, slightly warmed, as they should be)

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When I get an item like this, I tend to spend a bit of time researching it online, to see who knows anything about it. It turns out, that this money box isn’t that well represented and after a few Google searches, I simply gave up and got on with the repair.

Parts for something like this are not available from the manufacturer, even if they are still around. Presented with a situation like this, the only thing that can be done is to see if other parts can be bought off the shelf from component suppliers and be made to fit. One simply has to be creative.

Good old eBay came up with the goods. AA and C type battery terminals were available in single and double terminal variants and I ordered a couple of packs from a Chinese supplier, who delivered the bits I needed, within a week. These things are reasonably cheap, so I ordered a pack, just in case I ruined a few, practicing first.

Just a few small screws hold the casing together and after de-soldering the wires going from the battery compartments to the main circuit, I was ready to start. With battery corrosion as severe as this, all you can do is soak the parts in something like WD40 and attack the rusted parts with a small screwdriver and knife, taking time to avoid damaging the (aged) plastic casing..

After an hour, I’d removed 99% of the mess and fitted the new terminals. The AA terminals went in OK, but the C type ones needed adapting with some metal I had lying about in the workshop. A quick re-attachment of the wiring, a quick clean with brake cleaner to de-grease and then touch up with some satin black paint and one would never know that batteries had ever wreaked such havoc.

Sometimes, I want to hang on to some of the things I repair. This was one such item, but alas, I had to give it back.

Time for a brew.

That thing just eats money!

Tomy (UK) /Robie (US) Mr. Money repaired in the Workshop

I have a real soft spot for novelty toy robots that actually do something. I think I’ll make a point of collecting more.

FixItWorkshop, Worthing, August’19, Tomy/ Robie Mr. Money.

Make and model: Tomy (Robie in U.S.) Mr. Money children’s money box

Fault reported: Not eating money

Cost of replacement: N/A

Cost of parts: £0.00

Hours spent on repair: About an hour

Tools needed: Cleaning cloths

Sundry items: Contact cleaner

Repair difficulty: 3/10

A lady got in touch with me on the back of an article I wrote a while ago about a faulty Mr. Money toy robot money box. My Mr. Money had gone wrong as I’d left an old battery inside which had then leaked. A major clean-up and tinker was then required to get it working again.

This particular Mr Money belonged to the lady’s husband and was to be ‘given to him again’ as a 40th birthday present. What a nice thought. The only problem was that Mr. Money had stopped working long ago; put away and forgotten about. He needed bringing back to life. Perhaps there was a hidden message to the husband to save for something? Who knows.

Mr_Money_Quick_Strip

Mr. Money arrived well packed at the workshop and I wasted no time in taking him apart. There was no evidence of battery leakage or accidental Cadbury Button ingestion and he was generally in good condition with no bits broken off. A good start.

Mr. Money is getting on a bit and when taking apart any toy, let alone one that’s over 30 years old, one must be careful not to accidently snap-off any lugs or tangs that hold things like casing and levers together. Very tricky. It’s not something I usually attempt after a day at work, when I’m shattered.

After some rooting around in the depths of the mechanism, I noticed that the ‘limit switch’ was a little dirty and that some of the contacts needed a little clean. Using some fine cloth and switch cleaner, all metallic switch surfaces and battery connections were cleaned up and with a new AA battery installed, Mr. Money worked again.

Being 30 years old, there’s no silly use of electronics or other USB excesses which are, I think, ‘over used’ on modern toys. It all adds up to something which can be repaired with basic tools and parts.

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I carefully reassembled the workings, casing, switches, arms, head, eyes and lid.

Mr. Money was ready to feast.

After testing a couple of quid through the Mr.Money’s eating cycle, I was happy for him to start his journey home. I hope he gets used regularly and never put away in a box again.

Money, that’s what I want

A cool 1980s toy robot money box gets repaired.

Who doesn’t like a toy robot? I mean, everyone loves a toy robot, especially one with pop up eyes and one that eats coins. No? Well, you’re wrong if you don’t agree!

Money 2 — FixItWorkshop, March’19, Tomy Mr. Money.

This is my own Tomy Mr. Money, which I’ve had since about 1988 ish, so it’s getting on a bit. Like me.

Back then, I wasn’t that diligent about leaving batteries in situ for long periods and when I dusted off this piece of retro cool for my daughter to play with, we discovered that the passing of time had not been kind to the old battery or insides. Which was a bit of a shame.

However, I wanted to show everyone that old toys are way cooler than new ones, so out with the screwdrivers, cleaning stuff and hammer (well, not the hammer) to see what could be done.

Luckily for me and Mr. Money, the battery compartment hadn’t fared too badly with just light corrosion to the battery terminals, which soon cleaned off with brake cleaner and some light filing to near good as new standard.

With a new AA battery installed, Mr. Money didn’t really respond that well to having money placed on his hand. In years gone by, a coin placed on his hand would trigger his eyes to open, the hand to raise to his mouth, the coin to be eaten and lips to be licked, as well as doing a little side to side dance. Mr.Money was now looking a bit arthritic. Could it be that new money is a lot lighter than the 1980s money he was designed for or was it just that the battery corrosion had run deeper than first appeared. I suspected the latter.

I took Mr. Money apart and found that the microswitch that triggers the mechanism was corroded and needed cleaning and that some of the moving parts also needed a quick brush up, all of which had Mr.Money back to rude health.

FixItWorkshop, March’19, Tomy Mr.Money, in pieces.

While doing the repair, I decided that it wasn’t obvious how the toy came apart and that some owners might decide to scrap theirs due to similar problems. So, I decided to make a little slide show of the dismantling, to help others. Enjoy.

Cost of replacement: £ priceless/ eBay if you’re lucky. Cost of repair: One IPA beer.

SEG DVB Digital TV box

It went bang, ooops!

It’s important to talk about failure as we can often learn from it and this brief write-up is all about something which left the workshop, ready for recycling. I made it go bang, sadly.

Remember TVs before the networks ‘went digital’? They had analogue tuners built-in, which received the signals. With so many old TVs out there, manufacturers sold digital set-top boxes, which allowed an older TV to work with the new digital TV stations from about 2007. Since then, manufacturers include a digital receiver within their TVs of course and this particular device now seems a bit of a museum piece.

This SEG DVB Digital TV box had failed completely, so off with the lid. Once open, the printed circuit board (PCB) was revealed. The PCB on this device was made in two halves; one for the TV reception stuff and one for the power, the conversion of mains electricity to lower DC working voltages. The power part of the board had some visible damage and it appeared that a smoothing capacitor had gone pop.

FixItWorkshop, Worthing, November’18, SEG Digital TV box

As it happened, I had a similar device on the shelf I was gradually stripping for spares and was able to quickly identify a suitable replacement. Once re-soldered in and powered-up, nothing happened!

Then I spotted an on-board fuse which had also failed, but I didn’t have one of these, so I decided to temporarily short the fuse connections to make a connection. That’s when things got smoky.

I’d missed the fact that a small transformer on the PCB had a winding short on it, which had impacted on the rest of the components. Bang.

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Never mind. Digital boxes are still available online and that’s what I did, I ordered a new one.

Although I didn’t win this one, it’s important to have a go and that’s the whole point. If it’s not working to begin with, what’s the worst that can happen?

Cost of repair: A new DVB box at about £20.

Slow Fisher-Price Mechanical Music Box Record Player

Repaired Fisher Price record player

Here’s a blast from the past: A mechanical toy, that’s really cool. One that brings fond memories from my childhood… I’m 38 as I write this (I’m 40 as I edit this- time goes so fast).

Strictly speaking, this is not a customer’s toy, but a family heirloom which had been festering in the shed for over 20 years. Consequently, it now wasn’t in great shape.

After dusting it down, we realised that records were playing intermittently and slowly at best and the problem seemed related to the rather cool winding mechanism within.

After dismantling the unit and giving the mechanicals a light service, the turntable platter turned freely once again. Our two (now three) year old daughter can now play with the record player as her mum did – very cute.

Enjoy!