4 ms·

What sort of stuff, and what alternatives have you tried? If it's a vehicle, the Chilton's or Haynes (I'm sure there's a difference but I sure couldn't tell) m

by Syonyk 6y ago

What sort of stuff, and what alternatives have you tried? If it's a vehicle, the Chilton's or Haynes (I'm sure there's a difference but I sure couldn't tell) manuals will cover just about anything you'd want to do. If it's a piece of consumer electronics, iFixit usually has good teardown and repair guides (in the "annotated images and text" style) that cover a lot, though for some brands you can actually find factory repair manuals. Home, property, etc, there exist plenty of books out there, and often enough, plenty of slightly bored retired people who have been doing whatever the task is forever, and who are happy to help someone learn the ropes.

thelean12 6y ago
So I buy the Haynes book for my car, wait for it to be shipped and delivered, then finally figure out how to do what I need to do. Then I put it away for 1-5 years until I need it again, and hope I don't forget where I put it. Or you want me to build a friendship with a retired fridge repairman? I don't understand that one. With youtube I get to watch a pro do it right in front of me for free instantly. There's nothing like it. ifixit is good, though, I'll agree to that.
- Syonyk 6y ago
  You buy them at the local auto parts store and put them either in the car somewhere or on the bookshelf of other auto repair books, of course. I didn't think twice about spending 20% of the purchase cost of a vehicle on the rebuild manual for it back when I drove stuff that needed a lot more work. I drove some cheap cars. As far as stuff like fridges... you don't need a fridge repairman, just someone who has worked on a variety of things. For a while, while I was doing laptop repair work, I didn't really need manuals for the bulk of the stuff I was taking apart because it was just a laptop. They all came apart in a handful of ways, and as long as you keep close track of where the screws came from and got them back where they went, it wasn't a big deal to get some random laptop apart. If you can find a YouTube repair of your particular product, and the video is well done, OK, I can see value in that. My experience has been that it's usually a lot of mumbling, terrible light, and weird camera angles that I can't map to anything actually on the product I'm trying to repair, so it's generally not a good use of time vs just going and working on it. Shoving your cell phone kinda sorta in the engine bay, pointing it at some shadows, and "mmfffs the bolt... ffssssh" because it's windy out... eh? Or just a 45 minute "teardown" of a simple product that hasn't had any of the random futzing around and reading the manual out loud edited out. Maybe we just fix different things.
tryonenow 6y ago
>the Chilton's or Haynes (I'm sure there's a difference but I sure couldn't tell) manuals will cover just about anything you'd want to do. Chilton and Haynes both generally consist of vague instructions like "unscrew bolts and remove part x". They're good for identifying which components need to be removed for access, but they often offer very little in terms of where bolts are (sometimes there are pictures), or how to deal with problem areas (e.g. sometimes you need to wiggle or turn things a certain way). Their limited instructions don't compare to watching someone actually do it and walk you through problem points simultaneously.
ryantgtg 6y ago
I replaced a 12V battery on my car this morning, thanks to a youtube vid. I didn't try any alternative sources, because the 2 minute video was perfect! And I didn't get sucked into any other vids or see any ads or anything. My recent experience with iFixit was not great. I replaced a battery on a 2012 MacBook Pro Retina, and the tutorial included about 40 extraneous steps (that only mattered if you were using a certain, optional, glue removal goo -edit: and it was not referred to as optional, nor were alternatives offered. I used fishing line). I saw speculation that they intentionally made it seem more difficult so people would be more inclined to bring the laptop into a shop. It wasn't until I checked youtube, and saw a very similar procedure, that I realized the steps were unnecessary - via the comments! A few people noted that you could skip all the steps prior to 11 minutes in. And they were right.
aksss 6y ago
snort a few videos blow Chilton's out of the water any day. Chilton's is often filled with inaccurate photos (approximating the model year you're interested in), have wonky angles that take some deciphering to figure out, my Chiltons were all B&W photos (maybe that's changed?) or line drawings, and the instructions can be pretty vague. A video is often literally looking over a mechanic's shoulder as he does the procedure and offers tips along the way. Cross reference these instructions with a few other videos, some forum posts, and you'll be in a much better spot than with Chiltons. Source: decades of working on my vehicles with Chiltons manuals.

by Syonyk 6y ago

thelean12 6y ago

So I buy the Haynes book for my car, wait for it to be shipped and delivered, then finally figure out how to do what I need to do. Then I put it away for 1-5 years until I need it again, and hope I don't forget where I put it. Or you want me to build a friendship with a retired fridge repairman? I don't understand that one. With youtube I get to watch a pro do it right in front of me for free instantly. There's nothing like it. ifixit is good, though, I'll agree to that.

Syonyk 6y ago
You buy them at the local auto parts store and put them either in the car somewhere or on the bookshelf of other auto repair books, of course. I didn't think twice about spending 20% of the purchase cost of a vehicle on the rebuild manual for it back when I drove stuff that needed a lot more work. I drove some cheap cars. As far as stuff like fridges... you don't need a fridge repairman, just someone who has worked on a variety of things. For a while, while I was doing laptop repair work, I didn't really need manuals for the bulk of the stuff I was taking apart because it was just a laptop. They all came apart in a handful of ways, and as long as you keep close track of where the screws came from and got them back where they went, it wasn't a big deal to get some random laptop apart. If you can find a YouTube repair of your particular product, and the video is well done, OK, I can see value in that. My experience has been that it's usually a lot of mumbling, terrible light, and weird camera angles that I can't map to anything actually on the product I'm trying to repair, so it's generally not a good use of time vs just going and working on it. Shoving your cell phone kinda sorta in the engine bay, pointing it at some shadows, and "mmfffs the bolt... ffssssh" because it's windy out... eh? Or just a 45 minute "teardown" of a simple product that hasn't had any of the random futzing around and reading the manual out loud edited out. Maybe we just fix different things.

tryonenow 6y ago

>the Chilton's or Haynes (I'm sure there's a difference but I sure couldn't tell) manuals will cover just about anything you'd want to do. Chilton and Haynes both generally consist of vague instructions like "unscrew bolts and remove part x". They're good for identifying which components need to be removed for access, but they often offer very little in terms of where bolts are (sometimes there are pictures), or how to deal with problem areas (e.g. sometimes you need to wiggle or turn things a certain way). Their limited instructions don't compare to watching someone actually do it and walk you through problem points simultaneously.

ryantgtg 6y ago

I replaced a 12V battery on my car this morning, thanks to a youtube vid. I didn't try any alternative sources, because the 2 minute video was perfect! And I didn't get sucked into any other vids or see any ads or anything. My recent experience with iFixit was not great. I replaced a battery on a 2012 MacBook Pro Retina, and the tutorial included about 40 extraneous steps (that only mattered if you were using a certain, optional, glue removal goo -edit: and it was not referred to as optional, nor were alternatives offered. I used fishing line). I saw speculation that they intentionally made it seem more difficult so people would be more inclined to bring the laptop into a shop. It wasn't until I checked youtube, and saw a very similar procedure, that I realized the steps were unnecessary - via the comments! A few people noted that you could skip all the steps prior to 11 minutes in. And they were right.

aksss 6y ago

snort a few videos blow Chilton's out of the water any day. Chilton's is often filled with inaccurate photos (approximating the model year you're interested in), have wonky angles that take some deciphering to figure out, my Chiltons were all B&W photos (maybe that's changed?) or line drawings, and the instructions can be pretty vague. A video is often literally looking over a mechanic's shoulder as he does the procedure and offers tips along the way. Cross reference these instructions with a few other videos, some forum posts, and you'll be in a much better spot than with Chiltons. Source: decades of working on my vehicles with Chiltons manuals.