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The lost art of repair

We increasingly live in a throw-away world.

If your five year old TV set fails, throw it away and buy a new one because even if you could find someone who could obtain the parts and repair it, the cost of that repair would likely be higher than the cost of a brand new set. Plus, if you buy a new one, you'll get the benefits of improved technology and performance.

The same applies to almost all the things we used to treasure and repair.

Everything from toasters and electric jugs to cars and home entertainment systems are now often cheaper to throw away and replace than they are to repair.

There are often three main reasons that even relatively simple repairs are uneconomic.

The first is the cost of labour.

Just ask your local garage how much they charge for their "technician's" hourly rate and you'll likely be horrified. How come they replaced relatively cheap mechanics with unaffordable technicians?

Oh, that's right, *technology* and progress.

The second reason many things can't be fixed is that we no longer have access to the technical information needed to do so economically. There was a time when you could pick up a service manual or schematic for everything that was sold. Who remembers the Haynes car repair manuals for instance?

Today however, manufacturers guard their tech info as if it was gold and sometimes even authorised repair agents get only the minimum of documentation. If you're just an "owner" then you're totally out of luck, you won't be getting a bean.

Now, even if you were able to fault-find and work out exactly which parts are the cause of the problem, odds are that the manufacturer won't sell them. Their response will be "take it to an authorised repair centre" or "these are not user-servicable so no parts are available to the public". As well as the parts there are also probably a long list of "special tools" that are required to work on new cars and other complex devices. These tools are only available to authorised organisations and cost a king's ransom.

This is particularly a problem with modern electronics because, unlike the old days, modern electronic devices don't use "jellybean" (generic) components, instead opting for custom ASICs and sometimes even relabeling off the shelf bits with their own unique codes.

Even when it comes to more mechanical machines, you'll likely find that any genuine replacement parts are priced so high that repairs make no sense. Modern washing machines are the best example of this. The manufacturers of some front-loaders charge just $50 less for just a replacement drum than they do for an entirely new machine.

The integration of electronics in to almost everything has also given manufacturers the chance to prevent amateur repairs by "pairing" components. Even if you fit a new battery to that expensive European new car, you'll have to take to the dealer so they can charge you hundreds of dollars to use their special computer tools to "pair" the battery to the vehicle or it simply won't work.

As a result of all these factors, plus the fact that I suspect younger people are less likely to pick up the skills required to "get their hands dirty" and repair their own stuff, we're seeing the death of "fixing your stuff".

Perhaps my generation (boomer!) is one of the last who will go out of their way to fix their stuff when it breaks.

To that end, this week I (once again) found my 3D printer to be an invaluable aid to repairing stuff.

I've lost track of the number of things I've fixed (rather than thrown out) thanks to the power of my 3D printer.

The wife's cheap clothes rack seems to blow over in the wind quite often and that smashes the brittle plastic pieces that join the pipework together. Rather than throw it away, I spent a few minutes with CAD and designed a replacement that I printed in less than 45 minutes and for perhaps 30 cents worth of filament.

So, instead of hurling more cheap Sino-crap into the landfill I rescued the rack and it now works even better than before with tougher plastic bits that don't break when you even so much as look at them with the wrong expression on your face.

Yesterday however, my little Ulanzi tripod/monopod broke. I bought it for about $30 on sale and I could replace it for under $50 but I had a few minutes of spare time and I hate the prospect of throwing a device that only needs one small plastic linkage to repair it. So I, once again, fired up the CAD software and designed a replacement that was printed and ready to use less than an hour later.

Bingo... my tripod is now back to full working order and I've saved $50 of my hard-earned cash.

Sure, if I valued my time appropriately then this (and the clothes-rack) repair was completely uneconomic. However, since my time costs me nothing and I really enjoy these little challenges, it's a huge win.

In light of the way we're heading, I have huge concerns for our "abilities" as humans.

AI is significantly reducing our need to "think" and the throw-away society is diminishing our ability to fix stuff. All this not only weakens us as individuals but also leaves us increasingly dependent on cheap crap or hi-tech services provided by other countries.

We need to be fostering strengths, not vulnerabilities.

Carpe Diem folks!

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