Do fix broken stuff or buy again?

[Keith 66]

I like to fix stuff whenever possible. But i failed recently with a Sealey ER150 random orbital sander, i had two of them one 35 years old one 30 years old, Best random orbital sander ever made & built like the proverbial brick outhouse.
One had an intermittent fault & had been retired then the good one stopped working, Thought should be able to build one good one out of the two. It wasnt to be, a cooked & burnt out armature & one with an invisible armature fault. Part not available. Bummer!

 

[paulrbarnard]

Not so much a fix as a field repair. Last night the clutch on my Landrover stuck down, wouldn’t release the clutch. Pulling it back up got it working for a minute or two so I tied a rope to the pedal and pulled it back up after each use. It got me home 40 miles. Eventually stalled reversing in low range into the garden.

 

[BucksDad]

I don't believe I've ever had anything of consequence ever break. Engineering / QA is remarkable these days

 

[mwinfrance]

Not so much a fix as a field repair. Last night the clutch on my Landrover stuck down, wouldn’t release the clutch. Pulling it back up got it working for a minute or two so I tied a road to the pedal and pulled it back up after each use. It got me home 40 miles. Eventually stalled reversing in low range into the garden.

If it's old enough ( I had some really old ones ) could be the spring that pulled the pedal back up that broke.My last one had a BMC black cab diesel engine, which was lots of fun trying to get parts outside the UK..Some Sherpas had the same motor, not many of them in Europe, but even fewer scrapped black cabs.

 

[BearTricks]

Because I’m cheap/skint my philosophy is if I can reasonably make it myself, I make it myself. If I can reasonably repair it, I repair it.

Reasonably is the key here though. Do I have the time, skills and materials to make or repair it? Is it going to end up costing me more than just buying a new one?

These questions can be bypassed though if it’s going to be an enjoyable experience, if it’s going to teach me something I can use in the future, and/or any tools and materials I buy for the project can be used again. I find these weird little repair/make projects pay dividends later on when suddenly something fails in the house and you realise you’ve fixed or built something similar before and have the exact tool you need.

I generally hate waste, partly because it’s money down the drain, but also for environmental reasons. Sometimes you do just have to chuck it or at the very least sell it for parts. Same if your workshop is just full of old crap you’ll never use.