Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Just finished cleaning and sealing the roof of the car and also cleaning the roof drains too

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Just fitted a new ceiling spotlight in my office

The old halogen track light stopped working the other day. Quite an old one with an integral transformer running those 12v MR16 bulbs. Carbon everywhere and Primary winding on the transformer completely disintegrated. Nice!

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Just fitted a new dipped beam bulb to the passenger side of my new car (MK1 Focus)

I was dreading having to do this (my father had real trouble doing the job on our old focus 10 years ago) as the bulb is well recessed in to the lamp and there's no room behind it.

However thanks to the internet, I could look up the job in more detail, and "cheat" by simply unbolting the enitre headlamp assembly and doing the job that way. Much quicker!

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Yes my wife has a Focus and I seem to recall reading that, on some models, doing this job is a real PITA. IIRC hers (2007) isn't one of the affected models and I believe it's a fairly simple job. Phew.

YouTube is great for finding videos on that sort of thing.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

The later MK2 focus (your wife's) is much easier (Ford must have had a few complaints!). Three Torx screws on the top of the headlamp unit is all that holds it in. Remove these, remove the unit and change the bulb.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

With the help of some really good superglue, a pair of my wife's earphones (detached rubber earbud) and one of her trainers (a detached heel section).

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Going through the solar lanterns: 3 worked straight off so they're out in the sun. Two need some attention with the magic spray and their batteries are in the charger at the moment. There's one left that was gnawed by a fox (I think) last year and is looking very sorry for itself, it's battery compartment is also falling to bits so it'll be a superglue job I guess.

They must be at least 8 or 9 years old so they've held up well. Two batteries in each one and a big solar array (60mm x 60mm) which is all cell, no gaps, on the top unlike the rubbish on the market today.

Two of the solar rocks look beyond help, the electronics have corroded away and the solar arrays have gone misty. :(

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Managed to get one of the solar rocks up. The on/off switch was borked so I removed it and soldered the lines together. Cleaned up the battery compartment. Two batteries in the charger and out it goes.:)

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Solar garden lights from B&M :)

Unscrewed and opened up the solar charger thingy and there were two really nasty looking AA NiCads inside:

One delivering 400mV and the other wasn't even electrically connected across the terminals :rofl:

Popped in a couple of charged-up spares and all Bob's your auntie

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

I noticed on the most recent 3 solar rocks that I bouight that the AA cell was only 300mahr, they used to be 600. Price pressure I guess. I put in some higher capacity ones anyway.

It's often the battery compartment that corrodes and does them in.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

The AA's in that light unit I just sorted out were 800mAH but I don't actually think they were real batteries, just filled with sand or whatever else they find on the ground where they're made ;)

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

I replace the standard batteries with tagged cells that I solder in. I also spray WD40 or silicon spray inside the sleeves of the LEDs to rustproof them.

I have repaired my 8' potting table/ pot store and repainted.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Two cisco firewalls that were having a vrrp hissy fit

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Painted the garden shed with 5 year wood preservative.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

The trellis on our back fence and Osem Jnr's favourite shoes.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Two fixes today:

Refurbished two very old solar rock-lights. New higher power resin coated solar cells, new electronics which is basically a 4 lead chip and a small choke to replace a whole printed circuit that had basically rotted away and down to a single 2500mahr AA cell. Batteries in the charger and then out they go.

Here's what the solar cells look like:
Attachment 26200 About 55x45 mm

See how much silicon there is in them unlike the trash they use these days. A quick test shows over 100ma at 2v in morning sun. Spec says 150ma at full blast. I got quite a few, as they were so cheap, for some projects I have in mind.

Got the filters out of the dishwasher, totally blocked up with gunge which explains why it was misbehaving. Plenty of elbow grease and they're now nice and clean. Once we have enough dishes I'll run a test.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Got the last solar lamp going. Thought it was terminal but bodged the battery compartment and took out the on-off switch and shorted it and hey presto it still goes.:)

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Well done you. So satisfying when you can resurrect something. :tu:

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

It was the last one sitting forlornly on the book case. Was also the one that had been nibbled by something like a fox.

Glad to have given it a new lease of life.:)

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

I've been in the garden most of the evening doing the very same but as soon as I managed to sort one out another turned up in some remote recess of the garden. There are about 6 for the bin unfortunately.

Going to crank my antenna tower back up at the weekend so I wouldn't mind another set of those string lights to run up there if there's any way you can get a 60 odd foot length of them going ;)

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Combi microwave stopped microwaving, took cover off, took out two fuses, tested them, both OK so back in and cover back on, now works fine!

Mrs R most disappointed, was looking forward to having a nice new microwave!

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

I'm sure a lot of perfectly good microwaves go to the dump because the internal fuse(s) has failed.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Re-aligned the freesat dish that serves the spare bedrooms.

Also, not quite sure this qualifies as fixing something but just pruned the holly bush (tree more like) that was taking over one corner of the garden. Will be fun disposing of the old branches and leaves. A job for my mate with a trailer.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Fully fixed, machine ran faultlessly this afternoon. Must keep an eye on those filters.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

It's easier to lick your plates clean... ;)

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Maybe we need to get a dog. :erm:

Actually I do rinse loose stuff off plates and pre-soak greasy things and rinse them but the gunge still builds up.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Twist n lock shower caddy bought from E Bay kept falling off the wall, bought 2 self stick hooks and, keep fingers crossed, problem solved.;)

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Had the car serviced the other week and they put this nasty Chevron detergent additive in which is a complete waste of time because most premium fuel has this by default. Anyway it knocked the fuel trim and timing adjustments in the ECU all over the place. Just given it good old spirited blast around the local twisties as most of the crap must have burned off and everything's now ok and coming on boost as it should.... otherwise it would have been a trip to the naughty step with the cable and laptop.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Can't beat a good Italian service.

I remember my father getting a very nice mini that had had an old lady driver: It wouldn't do more than 50MPH, after dad had thrashed it up to Horsham and back it would do 80! :D

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Diesels are especially receptive to a good thrashing. You can always tell when a car that usually lives in town has come to visit us in North Wales by the acrid clouds of shizzle chucked out of the back when the car starts climbing hills.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Tis a bit of a pain as the forecourt only fuel it'll run on properly is V-Power . BP Ultimate and that supposed 99 Octane crap from Tesco completely bamboozles the computer. Makes long journeys interesting as you have to calculate your fuel stops carefully.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

On lower octane we call this pinking. My old car runs better on higher octane.

Bosch Super 4 spark plugs, Piper box air-filter, Splitfire HT leads really improves MPG and Power output.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Modern cars will deal with knock providing you use at least the manufacturer's minimum recommended fuel grade. You can actually induce knock yourself based on they way you drive and it's the job of the knock sensor to report this to the ECU and make the relevant adjustment to the timing advance.

Fuel that doesn't combust properly because it's loaded with crappy additives is another matter and BP "Ultimate" is very, very bad inparticular. Basically do not use it if you have a Subaru, Evo or anything of that ilk which is tuned as the tolerances around what these cars will run efficiently on can be quite narrow.

This dodgy juice can mess up the fuel trim as it tries to maintain the magic 14.7:1 fuel/air ratio and there will be a tendency for the ECU to significantly over-fuel so you can say goodbye to whatever MPG you have and a decent amount of boost pressure when everything else including the timing gets knocked out of balance.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Stick a nitrous kit on and hit the bottom for a short burst. Failing that a octane booster additive in the tank.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

BG44K is good stuff.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

I'll stick with VPower+ ta, it's fine providing some numpty doesn't go putting detergent in the system when it's already in the fuel anyway.

Don't think I'll bother with nitrous as it's already the other side of 450 horsies ;)

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Oh ok. I only use it because I've got a small penis :)

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

The particulate filter warning light came on my Q7 today. So I looked in the manual and the manual said, in not so many words, put it in sport mode and thrash it for 20 mins!

Apparently is burns off the soot!

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

If that doesn't clear it worth bearing in mind that you can get a false positive from a dodgy pressure sensor.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Problem wasn't solved, so drilled through self stick hooks and into the grout between tiles, affixed with screws............sorted! :)

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

I reckon that should do the trick Tinky. :tu:

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Just (hopefully) fixed a cracked Thule roofbox by using a soldering iron to melt the cracks shut on the inside and outside......hope the repair holds :erm:

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

................still holding :tu:

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Bathroom scales stopped working. Dead battery (PP3) but when I unplugged it the connector fell to pieces. Canabalised the old battery for the connector, soldered that into the wiring and voila. Works a treat with a new battery.:)

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

One of the ladies in the works canteen drives a Peugeot 307 (I don't judge...) and the indicator bulb had gone.

Cue me popping a new one in this morning.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Didn't have to remove the wing and lift the engine and gearbox out to access it then? ;)

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Shockingly enough no. The indicator bulbs on the front are in a small twist-fit holder and it was easily removed. It took longer (and google!) to find the bonnet release, which is hidden right under the dashboard on the passenger side.

The odd thing was the bulb tested fine on a multimeter, but I swapped it for a spare anyway. Apparently the twist fit holders have a habit of forming bad connections, but the indicator worked fine afterwards.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Good tip mate!

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Replaced the TV in the bedroom today. Used the existing wall bracket for which I had thankfully kept the box containing all of the extra bits of hardware as I needed additional spacers. The shysters also made the tv with some weird sized threads which appears to be a measure to encourage you to buy their proprietary "wall mount adapter"...The vast collection of nuts and bolts in the shed pays dividends once again and Samsung can get stuffed.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Good for you Uncle Pete! I think most of us have a collection of that stuff we keep in the hope that it will 'come in handy one day' lol. :)

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Thing is: everything is sorted into exact sizes and types right down to the last grubscrew. My other half thinks I have OCD. She's probably right ;)

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Osem jnr #2's favourite sock which had a great big hole in. He was delighted. :)

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

This thread is my life when I'm not working I swear. There's always a queue of things to be fixed. In the last month or so some of the things I can remember:

iphone5
Babyliss Hairdryer
GHD Hair straighteners
Cupboard doors
kitchen drawers
Bike maintenance
Car water leak
Smashed window

Currently my computer desk is actually laid out with all my soldering gear. The lounge looks like a dodgey back street repair centre. :) Actually it is.

Next up, fix my headphones with a weak 3.5mm jack.

I last fixed one of my cassettes this morning!!

The pad fell off and w/o it,the sound is not good!! (The pad keeps the tape against the play head)

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Solar powered rock light.

It was dim and running out quickly. I prized out the LED reflector assembley with a screwdriver as it's only held in by silicon goo.

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/at...2&d=1442998068

and levered off the small PCB carrying the four LEDs.

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/at...1&d=1442998068

This picture also shows the uprated solar cell.

Testing at low current on a 5v power supply ( using a series resistor ) showed one LED was drawing current but not lighting up. Probably static damaged during manufacture. A second LED had a dry solder joint. Rummaged about and found a spare in the bitsa box. I've also ordered up a job lot from Amazon for future repaires.

At the same time I fitted an uprated solar cell that has about double the output of the old one.

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/at...0&d=1442998068

Note the much larger amount of active cell in the array on the right. Deliveres about 140ma in bright sun.

Re-assembled the rock using clear silicon sealer. Works a treat now.

Here's how to identify the LED polarity:

Attachment 26329

The LEDs on the PCB were all the same way round and connected in parallel. The Anode needs to be made positive vs the cathode to emit light and a current limiting method is needed. White LEDs are also static sensitive. The rock lights use a special chip that converts the 1.2v of the battery to the 3-4v tht the LED needs. It also controls the charging and discharging of the battery and the turn on at night

If the solar cell gets misty it can be restored using Brasso. If the misting is really bad then some 1200 wet & Dry ( used wet) can be used and then polish with the Brasso. I don't know how thick the resin overlay is so be careful.

Attachment 26330

Attachment 26331

Attachment 26332

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Nice work, it amazes me how much stuff they manage to get into these gadgets and what the various tiny components do.

Think you should rename yourself 'Pimp my Rocks'... :D :tu:

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Not that it'll mean a lot to anyone but just fixed the desk microphone one the new HF radio and also put together an isolating audio interface so I can do data modes on it ;) Just gotta find a couple of 2n2222 transistors and some 4k7 and 10k resistors now to do a serial control interface.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

The 6 position control on the wife's heated back pad. The slider just wouldn't budge so I prized the controller apart and found a fairly simple plastic slider arrangement with 'teeth' into which the slider would click. A little silicone spray did the trick and after a quick reassemble and snap back together, the thing works perfectly. Job done, brownie points acquired now all I need to do is think how to redeem them... :naughty:

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Well it appears the above issue wasn't the only problem with the damned thing. It suddenly stopped working again so I opened it up and had another look. Having checked the movement of the control switch I found two sprung power contacts one of which looked as if it wasn't making good contact so I bent it slightly, reassembled the thing and sure enough it all worked. Or so I thought... After a few on/off cycles it stopped working again! On reopening the casing I couldn't see anything obvious but shining a high power cree led torch on the contacts and their soldered connections I could see one of them had failed. I've never really done any soldering but have a kit from many years ago so dug it out and had a fiddle. After a few mistakes I managed to form a nice neat bead of solder on the dodgy joint and then tested the contact to make sure it was secure. After reassembling the switch casing it was bingo!!! Yes, it's all working perfectly again and after all these years I can chalk up my first success with a soldering iron. :)

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Not so much fixed but serviced the gas fire in the lounge today. Mainly a matter of checking that all the dust, cobwebs etc are removed from the air intakes and flue plus removing the jets, cleaning the holes out with a soft copper wire and then refitting.

Burner array is nice and clean but it could do with a new set of radiants. Still ready to use now and we'll need it with it turning cold. Got the centre burner on and the radiant is fully glowing.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

The plastic pull chain on the toilet cistern snapped at the join point. Pulled out the remains of the broken link and snapped in a replacement.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Sunday's job was fixing my mum and dad's satellite dish.

The dish was fitted originally with a four output LNB feeding a sky+ box and two other receivers. After the recent bad weather the dish stopped working on 3 out of four outputs, so I decided to set them up with a new 8 output LNB from Amazon.

Luckily it was a straightforward job. Just make sure all your satellite boxes are switched off at the socket before you start as otherwise you might get a bit of a shock! It was pretty much just a case of swapping the old output for the new one, with a small tweak needed to the LNB's skew to get the output levels as good as we could to reduce rain fade.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Boiler (30yo) stopped working. Blown fuse on board tracked down to the fan being faulty. Refurbed fan from ebay (£50) and new fuse. Works fine. Got plumber to service afterwards it just to be safe.:)

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

You man of many talents you... ;)

A thirty year old boiler might be due for the chop though...

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Hopefully my aging, faithful Sony VAIO lappy. After my last jaunt down to Cornwall with it in my back pack it started failing to POST until it had been powered up for a minute or so.

Suspecting the RAM as it's a known issue on the VAIO I've checked the soldering of the sockets, swapped and reseated the RAM modules and it booted first time this evening. Fingers crossed.

Think I need to plan for a new machine, HP Probooks look like an option.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

We use the probooks at work and they're pretty solid bits of kit all told. Still available with pre-loaded windows 7 too.

My only advice is, unless you really need it, do not bother with the built in HP protect tools encryption. We've had many machines refuse to boot due to a screwed up BCD Store after two months. In the end HP gave us a copy of their own in house repair DVD so we could fix them ourselves.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Reviews are good apart from possibly the display and I like the aluminium alloy casing. I'm homing in on the Probook 450 G3 with SSD. W7 is a bonus too. :)

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Good choice!

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Today's repair job was my 12v tyre inflator.

For a while now the cigar lighter plug that powers it has been "pernikety" about working, which wasn't helped by the tip of the plug getting so hot it actually melted the plastic and burnt my fingers.

So, a quick Amazon order for a cigar lighter plug and I've managed to replace it. The fun part was working out which side of the twin cable was positive and which side was negative (in the end I cut the old plug off with 1/2" of trailing cable left and used a multimeter).

For now, I've used the plug's screw terminals (to see if it works). I might get around to soldering the connections once I know the plug and unit work ok

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

That's my sort of fix. :tu:

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Just fixed my constantly sinking office chair.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

A guy at work fixed his wifes monthly periods, well until June next year :D

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Cardiac arrest of the wallet though.:erm:

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Front door bell. Bulb's gone in the push button and the resulting moisture has compromised the contacts. Some engineer's magic spray and it's fixed for now. I need to sort out a LED and resistor to take the place of the bulb and also give the low heat to keep the contacts dry.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

The soles of my wife's trainers using some spray on contact adhesive.

The strap of Osem Jnr's watch - he'd managed to bend one of the watch bracelet end pieces which cover the spring pins so it had to be carefully persuaded back into place without distorting or scratching it. Job done. :)

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

The car's windscreen wiper linkage.

In classic fashion, as I drove home on a wet new year's day evening, the wipers on my car (MK1 Focus) stopped working. I could hear the motor operate and the linkage moving, but the wipers themselves didn't seem to be connected to anything.

I limped home, and started on the work of stripping the plastic cowlings off to get at the wipers. Unfortunately Ford decided to use aluminium wiper arms and steel wiper spindles, so despite a lot of swearing, a hammer and every other tool I could think of, the wipers were stuck fast to the spindles.

The next day, I gave my dad a call and he lent me this:
https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/...2016/01/21.jpg

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/...2016/01/22.jpg

When even that failed to move them at all (indeed, it chipped one of the hardened machine taps trying!) I went out and bought this...

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/...2016/01/1.jpeg


As I'd been advised that heat should help, as the aluminium would expand more than the steel, and help break the corrosion bond.

Within a few minutes I finally had the arms off, and could see the problem. The balljoint between the rod from the motor and the wiper linkage itself had worn so much that it had simply fallen apart. Apparently you can buy repair clips or plates that stop this happening, but unfortunately neither was available at short notice on a saturday morning.

Luckily, when buying my blowtorch I'd picked up a box of assorted nuts, bolts and washers. I then got the power drill and drilled through the balljoint from the "stem" of the ball, down through the ball and then through the cup, and fixed it all together with a 5mm bolt. What this did was let the balljoint take the main forwards/backwards loading, while the bolt stopped it from jumping apart.

Once that was done it was a case of sticking all the plastics back and taking the old girl for her MOT on the tuesday, which she passed with minimal work!

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Nice fix. I have a very similar tool for compressing the valve springs on the K-series engine but can be used for many things that need pressing apart.

I fixed the handle on the glass lid of my mothers aluminium steamer. The plastic where the screw goes into had fractured and even araldite wouldn't hold it together. I popped out the trim in the centre of the knob, drilled the hole right through and then counter bored it to take a screw and nut. Araldited the nut in position and then popped the trim back in. Invisibly fixed.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Yep, very satisfying job! :tu:

I like to watch Wheeler Dealers and Ed China often uses a blow torch to free up stubborn and corroded nuts.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

This is in fact a valve spring compressor my dad used to use when he messed about with mini engines 40+ years ago. I did have to saw a small section of the jaw off to make it fit around the spindle but that didn't take long

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

A neighbour's 3 phone DECT system, which she bought in a car boot sale, now works after I threw out the Zinc Carbon batteries that had been fitted into them, and replaced them with the proper NiCD rechargeable batteries.

:dunce:

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

My 21 year old diesel Mitsubishi Delica was having a bout of poor starting. Checked the glow plugs, glow plug relay all good....

Found it was a stupid bodged crimp connector that a previous owner had fitted.

It was hiding under a mass of black tape all corroded dry and crumbly. Stripped it off wire brushed the copper back to life and re crimped it. She starts like a charm now :D

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Ah yes, the lovely spectre of POB (previous owner bodging). When I work on a car, I always assume I'll be the poor sod to work on it next!

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Utility room sink was blocked. Had to take off the U bend and various pipes back to a T joint as there were several blockages of festering black greasy gunge that stank. All fixed now though.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

The silicone strap of the wife's new watch. It's a very curious and damned fiddly design which required very carefully cutting down to size and then securing the newly cut ends of the strap into metal fixings using 4 of the tiniest screws I've ever seen. Job done but my eyes aren't as sharp as they used to be... :erm:

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

I fixed the rate of my ISA for 2 years.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

I bet the % rate you got was a 'fix' too. ;)

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

2.50% on a cash isa which i cant touch for 5 years but thats fine, its an investment instead of wasting the cash.

This is with the Principality...
http://www.principality.co.uk/en/sav...-cash-isa.aspx

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Open a second current account with for example TSB or Nationwide, then a regular saver account paying 5% for 12 months. Keep the rest of your capital in an RCI savings account paying 1.65% and move your capital at £500 per month.

Everyone gets £1000 tax free savings now so ISAs are a waste of time.

You just need the patience to move your money around every 12 months

---------- Post added at 08:56 ---------- Previous post was at 08:54 ----------

Boxes of "Loft legs" and sheets of chipboard and now my daughter's loft is floored and my hips, knees and legs are knackered!

Loft legs are a brilliant idea, why didn't anyone think of them before?

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Light in the front door bell push. Bulb had gone. Got some 5mm white LEDs so I drilled out the hole where the bulb went to 5mm and fixed the LED in there. Added a suitable series resistor (1K2), checked the polarty of the supply from the bell unit (LEDs are polarity conscious) and re-fitted it. Job done.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Headlamp bulb on a lad in work's MK2 Focus. I'd asked him which bulb had failed and he says "main beam". I ask him if he has a spare and he says "Yes, xyz in the office has given me this one".

Unfortunately his spare bulb turned out to be an H4, which hasn't really been used in most cars for about 15 years (some vans I think still use them) and it was a blown dip beam, not main.

Luckily for him the big tub o'bulbs in my shed had a few spare H7s for his dip beam, and a quick check of google had me taking the lamp off in minutes to swap it.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Spent a couple of hours putting together an Ikea Malm bed. The delay was caused by the order of the instructions being wrong. Basically if you put the bed together in the order shown, it doesn't fit properly..

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Wired up the electronics and fitted new scratchplate on my latest guitar project. Yep it's another strat to go with the rest of them ;)

Going to do a jazz bass next but this will be a scratch build body with a nice laminated top.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

:tu: It'd be nice to see some pics of the final product.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

The car was having starting problems. I found it was a sticky fuel pump relay. Took it apart, lubricated, reassembled. All OK now.

Whilst looking for a solution, I found a comment on a Czech Skoda site that said "after being left unused for a few days, fuel pressure will have dropped to zero, so before cranking the engine let the ignition switch stay on second position for 10 seconds to allow the fuel pump to operate and return full pressure".

I never knew that before. :dunce:

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Will do, just got the string trees to pop onto the headstock later when I finish work and it's pretty much done.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Decided to put a Fender decal on since the guitar is all Fender bits apart from the custom neck :) Hence the reason it being masked off to protect from the nitro spraying over the decal.

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/...2016/01/15.jpg

The body is from a Mexican Strat: probably a factory second because there is a minor imperfection in the cavity routing which you can't see anyway - bought from eBay for 40 quid.

The pickups and hardware are from a standard USA and Jap strat, just bits that I had lying around from previous guitars that had been upgraded.

The neck was made by a luthier friend. It's a compound radius neck which means basically the it has a normal profile near the headstock to make it easy to play chords and becomes flatter nearer the top frets to make it easier to play your Steve Vai licks and show off your chops.

Just needs a few more nitro layers on the headstock, flatting off with wet and dry, fit the string guide and strings.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Looks great! :tu:

I'd imagine a job like that is very satisfying.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Ta, for 40 quid and the cost of some wood it's pretty satisfying yes :)

Nothing beats a stratch build though although I don't really have the inclination to make necks which is a real fiddly and time consuming process.

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

The older I get the more I like working with wood. It's warm, forgiving and doesn't answer back like... :D

Re: What have you fixed lately?
 

Not so much fixed as updated / upgrades (ran) an old 2009 iMac that I got given - I am very impressed with it considering how old it is it runs really well.

And the accessibility is second to none - much better than the built in windows stuff.