The most useful tool I've ever owned

There are 7 replies in this Thread. The last Post () by Splinter.

  • I've had this cordless drill for years. Then the batteries died and I couldn't find a solution as it's so old that they don't make the battery any more, so I forgot about it for three or four years, almost buying a brand new one.

    Then I found a small shop in San Martin that replaces the cells in the battery pack and it's now as good as new. When you've got a lot of dismantling and rebuilding to do, this drill is absolutely priceless.

    And let's not even talk about slot-head screws...

  • Happened to me with a Kawasaki drill motor. One battery, went dead, Google said "no more." Had to throw away a perfectly good 18V drill motor and charger. That hurt. I didn't think to look, but doubt if there's anyone who repairs those where I am. That's more of a "we have to make do" society thing - and I wish that were true everywhere so we wouldn't waste so much.

  • Precisely what I was thinking Ed.

    As you know, anything can be repaired down here and it fits my philosophy perfectly. In fact, I very nearly threw it away and then I remembered the Argentine way.

    Also, it was clear when I collected it that the gentleman who fixed the battery took a real pride in his work and this showed in the result.

    Well chuffed!

  • I like that attitude too. Ed, did you find that prevalent in small towns in Alaska? Alaskans are so self-sufficient, so creative about figuring out how to repair things?


    Nah. Alaskans are more independent than most, but when something breaks, Amazon fixes it - not the corner mechanic. But - I lived some years in Mexico. Everything was repaired, including automobile batteries. They’d heat the tar-like surface, pull out the old plates and replace them with new ones and pour in new acid. Every Mexican mechanic knew how to fix a fuel pump. Maybe five guys in the US could. I developed a respect that I’ve never lost for the skills it took to keep old stuff running. Try to do it myself around the house, but in most cases you can’t get down to the bad part to replace it any more. So, mostly, I’m part of the “culture of discard.”

  • This Happened Today:

    We have two shredders, one in my office, one in my wife's. The original is a Fellowes, the newer one a Royal. Both shred as they should, but, a couple years into the Fellowes, it ceased its automatic stop function. That's where you leave it on in Forward mode, then when you push in a piece of paper it detects the sheet, starts, shreds, then stops again when it's through and waits for the next sheet. What it did instead is run all the time, so I had to leave it in Off, turn it on, feed a sheet, Off again. Annoying, but no big deal - it still shredded fine.

    Comes now the new Royal and it works a charm. Until about two months in when it (pause while you guess) - ceased its automatic stop function. Shit. Okay, this isn't funny anymore. What to do (another pause while you guess)? Google, of course! (Why didn't I do that a couple years ago?)

    Turns out that there's an optical device in the paper path that tells the shredder when there's paper present to be shredded. If that optical path gets blocked with old paper, dust, etc, the beast thinks paper is always present and continues to run till the path clears - but it never does. Thirty minutes in the garage shop and the shredder is returned to pristine functionality and, as a bonus, has received maintenance and lubrication.

    Learn, then fix. Usually not hard.