The fixer …

In our modern world, we have been robbed of many things.

Things that were once paramount to survival, have been replaced … re-programmed if you will, to suit our modern day living.

Your washing machine or dish washer breaks, you call the local appliance engineer.

Your TV screen dies … “Oh … it’s not worth fixing! Have this one with [insert super duper feature here] instead!”.

Your car won’t start … there’s always a garage waiting for your call, and of course your money — you get the jist.

Buy a breakdown subscription so that you never have to “worry” again.

In my early (or mid) teens, my mother’s TV set (when they were big and bulky and full of circuit boards instead of chips) started playing up. The picture would turn to shades of green all of the time.

Sometimes a bang on the top would put it right, but eventually the bangs didn’t fix it.

This was before the interweb, so “Googling” was not an option back then.

One day, after my Mum left the house, I decided to have a look inside the back cover … just in case it was something simple.

After pulling the plug, I removed the back cover screws and peered inside.

My face must have been a picture … there were circuit boards everywhere and I sat there quite bewildered for a time.

I noticed every board was labelled … most I didn’t fully understand, until I saw the words RED, GREEN and BLUE, with 3 big knobs to adjust the levels of each.

I liked the way that you could take one screw out and the whole board would slide out for easier access … without the need to unplug any cables.

Noticing a lot of dust around the 3 color knobs, I found a brush and removed what I could, then found some old switch cleaner to give each knob a spray to clean it.

Turning the TV round, I plugged it back in and was greeted with a full color screen … for the first time in weeks! I was well happy with myself.

Whilst looking around inside, I also noticed a FOCUS and BRIGHT knob … and of course had to twiddle a bit, but further improved the picture to be sharper and not as dim as before.

Happy that I hadn’t blown anything up (or myself), I put everything back together carefully and waited until my Mother came back. I knew she wouldn’t be happy knowing that I’d opened the TV up, so thought it best to not say anything about it.

When later that day the TV was switched on, she was amazed at the picture and asked me about it. I confessed to her that I’d had a look at it and found the problem. I think she had a mixed reaction of “What!” and the fact that it was working okay, so I can’t fully remember if she told me off for taking it apart, but it was working so I was happy that there was no need to call an engineer after all.

I experienced the same scenario with an old washing machine (a top loader) and several other household items that broke over the years.

I later subscribed to “Television” magazine, a monthly for TV engineers, and bought a few reference books which proved useful over the coming years. I had no desire to do repairs for money, I simply viewed it as a necessary life skill that everyone could learn. Perhaps not the hands-on approach that I chose, but a 1-hour lesson to deal with safety and the basics would be a value to so many people.

The most common problem I encountered over the years, was a “dry” solder joint on the main board. This was due to the weight of a large bulky coil and the heat that it gave out. Anyone with a little practice with a soldering iron could have repaired the fault in 5 minutes … yet an engineer had to be called.

Back then we were taught at school how to wire a plug on to a mains cable properly … now we are told “non-serviceable parts” and a mains plug requires an engineer to come out.

I applied the same enthusiasm to “fix” most things that came my way, mechanical, electrical or general diy and plumbing … often with less than the desired effect, but we learn with each mistake we make, right?

Nowadays, with the advent of Youtube, we can do so much ourselves, as well as gain an interest into the inner workings of things that we take for granted.

To be reliant on others in all aspects of our lives is not a good place to be. “Others” usually charge money, unless you have a kind neighbour or friend with some knowledge. Otherwise we are often being held to ransom, because we lack the knowledge or the life skills. Not all, but a large amount of garages, service centres, tradesmen etc over-charge for even the most basic of things. As well as making the repair or part, only last a specific amount of time (see the “Light Bulb Conspiracy” on YT).

I heard from a mechanic friend a while back, that his boss told him to replace a power steering pump (that had been ordered by the garage by mistake) when the actual fault wasn’t the pump. My friend, having good morals, chose to terminate his employment that very day.

Progresses in technology have led us further down this rocky path, whereby the majority of “things” are made to be thrown away. Buried in a waste land-fill site to be dug up by future generations.

Recycling, as far as I am concerned, is only a concept and will never be fully realised by the same mind set that got us into this situation. Only 11% of plastics is actually recyclable?

It’s up to smaller manufacturers and entrepreneurs with morals to lead the way … making electronics and machines that ARE upgradeable and repairable well into the future. The large manufacturers are creating so much waste (and BIG profits), consumers need to be more responsible and “fix” the problem by supporting only sustainable solutions. Ignore all the media hype, the actual truth is too important to leave it up to future generations to try and deal with.

Everyone has their own path to take, as consumers we use and throw away so much, it’s not funny anymore.