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I'm a software developer, but I've thought about taking up electronics / small appliance repair as a sustainable 'hands on' skill. It's one of the few 'trades'

I'm a software developer, but I've thought about taking up electronics / small appliance repair as a sustainable 'hands on' skill. It's one of the few 'trades' that I could do even with my disability. I'm well aware that if you air dropped me into a third world village I wouldn't have very much to offer the locals as a dev, but I'd imagine even a small town would appreciate a tinkerer that can fix things, and there's something deeply rewarding in fixing broken things.

Tijdreiziger 3y ago
If you're interested in volunteering, look if there's a 'repair café' near you
- burnished 3y ago
  'Tool libraries' might also be a good hit
criddell 3y ago
I had some kind of power surge during a storm last weekend take out my PS5, Nintendo Switch, the Ethernet port on my TV, my amplifier/receiver, my three network switches, my garage door opener, my recliner, a bunch of GFCI outlets, my cordless drill charger, LED bulbs, etc… Out of all that, the only thing I’m getting repaired is my PS5 for $230 by Sony. Everything else really isn’t worth the $65 bench fee from the local repair shop except for maybe my receiver and that I’m replacing because I was never very happy with it. I don’t think the economics of life in the US make sense for repairing inexpensive electronics.
- wkat4242 3y ago
  They do when you're the one doing the repairing. Or a friend you repay with a couple of beers. Pretty common in the 80s, and this is what we should go back to. Sure, electronics has become a lot more complex since the 80s but we also have a lot better tools for the job now. I'm one of those friends for many people :) In the last month alone I've fixed several devices. Some of which sex toys which caused great amusement of my makerspace friends - I have some kinky friends :P I already have a job so I just do it for fun, and it is actually quite fun. Every device is another little puzzle. Some I couldn't repair because they were simply too horribly built though. There was one electrified whip that was dropped once and the paper-thin PCB broke and 3 internal components snapped too, one of which (transformer) had wiring so thin it was like a hair. The whole BOM was a couple dollars at most, and it was sold for almost a hundred. That stuff is really not worth fixing. I feel bad for the engineers being forced to design something that crap. Nobody does that willingly. But on quality electronics my fix rate is pretty high. Very very often it's simply a worn out electrolytic cap. Even Samsung puts ones with too low a temp rating in 4000+ euro display screens. It's ridiculous. Seriously, caps, connectors "secured" to the board by only the solder joints, sometimes some onboard fuses. Easily make up 50% of electronics failures. It's not rocket science. Mechanical stuff fails a lot too, often in ways that are clearly designed to fail. Buttons pressing on a stem that's so thin it's clearly designed not to last. I often design and 3D print replacements that will last forever.
  - JohnFen 3y ago
    > Or a friend you repay with a couple of beers. In the last month, I've repaired a couple of lighting systems, a television, and two computers for friends.
    - wkat4242 3y ago
      Yeah especially TVs right? Every single one of them it's been the caps. People mount them right up to the wall, the heat can't get out, and the caps dry out. Then they stop turning on, or start flickering, or randomly failing during high brightness scenes. Always the same story. It's always fun when I replace the failed one and most of the ones at risk as a precaution, and then I tell them what the (120 C rated, usually much higher than the originals) parts cost... :') It's a pain finding the right ones in stock though sometimes. I always feel so bad when I see a 70" TV beside the trash bin, usually with something heavy on top so the panel is already cracked :( Most people just call the manufacturer, they tell them it's out of warranty and "can't be repaired" and chuck it :'(
      - JohnFen 3y ago
        > Yeah especially TVs right? Every single one of them it's been the caps. Yep, TVs are particularly good targets. I knew someone who would make extra money by trawling around neighborhoods looking for TVs that have been ditched, recapping them, and selling them.
        dfox 3y ago
        LCD TVs and even computer displays are somewhat notorious for dodgy power supply designs. I assume that it is because CRT TVs and displays were essentially an one giant SMPS and that reasoning was reused for later LCD based designs.
        7speter 3y ago
        I wonder if theres some widespread issue with older asus monitors, because they are rather notorious for this “no signal” bug, where if you turn them on plugged into an hdmi even 100 or so times, the monitor doesn’t register an input.
- OJFord 3y ago
  Obviously OEM repair is prohibitive, but surely there's some local or semi-local shop that would do the whole lot for something more reasonable in total? Not just for giving them a lot of business, but because you're saying Look, there's a common failure mode, the same event took them all out - and that's valuable information. It probably is a similar issue in each. (Ok maybe don't bother with the bulbs..) Although I suppose depending on your excess you may be better off with an insurance claim.
  - ajsnigrutin 3y ago
    Power surges are one of those failure state, where you never know what failed and how bad the damage is... Doing it yourself takes a lot of time, but can be seen as a fun hobby, but doing it commercially means wasted hours when you could have been paid the full fee, and a high chance that the customer will come back in a few days, because something else failed on the device and blame you.
- gregmac 3y ago
  > Everything else really isn’t worth the $65 bench fee And it's not like that is a guarantee. You might not find the cause in an hour, or two, or three -- and quickly you approach the cost of a replacement unit. Sometimes the problem is essentially "critical, proprietary chip/motherboard needs to be replaced" where the only option is to try to find another unit that's broken for different reason and do a transplant.
  - ryukafalz 3y ago
    > Sometimes the problem is essentially "critical, proprietary chip/motherboard needs to be replaced" where the only option is to try to find another unit that's broken for different reason and do a transplant. This is why we need right to repair laws. If the manufacturer's still making a part, you should be able to order it straight from them.
    - sigstoat 3y ago
      > If the manufacturer's still making a part, you should be able to order it straight from them. there's a hell of a jump between "right to repair" and "manufacturer has to have SKUs for every subassembly in all of their products, stock them and ship them to random internet people for a price that won't cause the same people to post articles about how $company doesn't really want their stuff to be repaired" (let's be real, that's the implied expectation)
      - ryukafalz 3y ago
        Not really. If a device is repairable but spare parts aren't made available, is it really practically repairable? The wiki page for right to repair says it well I think: > end users and independent repair providers should be able to access original spare parts and necessary tools (software as well as physical tools) at fair market conditions It doesn't necessarily have to be every subassembly. Make the schematics and chips available and repair shops can take it from there. But stocking subassemblies is indeed my expectation from a well-behaved manufacturer, whether they provide the parts themselves or partner with someone else to. Some examples: https://shop.fairphone.com/en/spare-parts https://shop.fairphone.com/en/spare-parts https://frame.work/marketplace/parts https://frame.work/marketplace/parts https://www.ifixit.com/Parts/Steam_Deck https://www.ifixit.com/Parts/Steam_Deck https://shop.mntre.com/ https://shop.mntre.com/ Clearly this is doable. And let's be real, manufacturers that do warranty repairs already have SKUs for each subassembly, assuming they actually repair the devices and don't just replace the whole thing. They just won't sell them to you, they'll only ship them to their own service centers.
JohnFen 3y ago
Also, if you have an interest in electronics, I think one of the best ways to learn about it is to try to fix broken devices.
Waterluvian 3y ago
The beauty of repairing gadgets is that as long as they’re not incredibly broken, any generally intelligent person can learn on their own. Broken gadgets usually make it clear how they’re supposed to work, just by the nature of their parts and assembly. Find yourself a supply of broken appliances, perhaps at a Goodwill-like store or an online marketplace and get started finding that broken sprocket or stretched belt or bad capacitor. It’s ridiculously satisfying taking something that’s destined for the landfill and making it live again. Oh and YouTube. Lots of YouTube. There’s a video for how to troubleshoot and fix just about everything. YouTube has helped me fix a broken stand mixer, dishwasher, dryer, small fission reactor, computer keyboard, sewing machine, ceiling fan, ice maker, and many I’m surely forgetting. And I’m just a clueless web dev!
- sigstoat 3y ago
  > The beauty of repairing gadgets is that as long as they’re not incredibly broken, any generally intelligent person can learn on their own. Broken gadgets usually make it clear how they’re supposed to work, just by the nature of their parts and assembly. "tell me you have a 120 IQ without telling me you have a 120 IQ"
  - 2301421898 3y ago
    I'm very confused. What does this mean?
    - ovi256 3y ago
      > Broken gadgets usually make it clear how they’re supposed to work, just by the nature of their parts and assembly. You're assuming most people have strong reverse engineering skills, but really only a small fraction of the general population has them. sigstoat implies the high IQ people are more likely to have this skill as raw IQ allows them to quickly learn the skill on the job.
Saigonautica 3y ago
One of my colleagues' family runs such a tinker shop in rural Vietnam. It's their family business, they have been doing it for some time. Mostly, it involves making simple machines from scrap electric motors sourced from Japan (they know how to get the good ones). For example, they make a very good wood splitter. These often work by just pushing wires into open electric sockets -- not even a switch or plug. This puzzled me so I asked about it, it turns out the clients just don't want those things. More advanced technology is available, the farmers are aware of it (e.g. most have smartphones), but they equally realize that the latest IoT agritech startup adds less than zero to their productivity. In Ho Chi Minh City, tinker shops like this are rare, but there are a couple across the main road from the industrial electronics market. In Ha Noi last I checked we still had at least one actual blacksmith operating, with a tiny furnace and anvil -- not sure about now though. Anyway, it's true that overall we still repair a lot of stuff here and it's a valued skill. You can make a modest living running a repair/tinker shop, and most neighborhoods have someone doing so -- although it's mostly smartphones, laptops, and televisions.

Tijdreiziger 3y ago

If you're interested in volunteering, look if there's a 'repair café' near you

burnished 3y ago
'Tool libraries' might also be a good hit

criddell 3y ago

I had some kind of power surge during a storm last weekend take out my PS5, Nintendo Switch, the Ethernet port on my TV, my amplifier/receiver, my three network switches, my garage door opener, my recliner, a bunch of GFCI outlets, my cordless drill charger, LED bulbs, etc… Out of all that, the only thing I’m getting repaired is my PS5 for $230 by Sony. Everything else really isn’t worth the $65 bench fee from the local repair shop except for maybe my receiver and that I’m replacing because I was never very happy with it. I don’t think the economics of life in the US make sense for repairing inexpensive electronics.

wkat4242 3y ago
They do when you're the one doing the repairing. Or a friend you repay with a couple of beers. Pretty common in the 80s, and this is what we should go back to. Sure, electronics has become a lot more complex since the 80s but we also have a lot better tools for the job now. I'm one of those friends for many people :) In the last month alone I've fixed several devices. Some of which sex toys which caused great amusement of my makerspace friends - I have some kinky friends :P I already have a job so I just do it for fun, and it is actually quite fun. Every device is another little puzzle. Some I couldn't repair because they were simply too horribly built though. There was one electrified whip that was dropped once and the paper-thin PCB broke and 3 internal components snapped too, one of which (transformer) had wiring so thin it was like a hair. The whole BOM was a couple dollars at most, and it was sold for almost a hundred. That stuff is really not worth fixing. I feel bad for the engineers being forced to design something that crap. Nobody does that willingly. But on quality electronics my fix rate is pretty high. Very very often it's simply a worn out electrolytic cap. Even Samsung puts ones with too low a temp rating in 4000+ euro display screens. It's ridiculous. Seriously, caps, connectors "secured" to the board by only the solder joints, sometimes some onboard fuses. Easily make up 50% of electronics failures. It's not rocket science. Mechanical stuff fails a lot too, often in ways that are clearly designed to fail. Buttons pressing on a stem that's so thin it's clearly designed not to last. I often design and 3D print replacements that will last forever.
- JohnFen 3y ago
  > Or a friend you repay with a couple of beers. In the last month, I've repaired a couple of lighting systems, a television, and two computers for friends.
  - wkat4242 3y ago
    Yeah especially TVs right? Every single one of them it's been the caps. People mount them right up to the wall, the heat can't get out, and the caps dry out. Then they stop turning on, or start flickering, or randomly failing during high brightness scenes. Always the same story. It's always fun when I replace the failed one and most of the ones at risk as a precaution, and then I tell them what the (120 C rated, usually much higher than the originals) parts cost... :') It's a pain finding the right ones in stock though sometimes. I always feel so bad when I see a 70" TV beside the trash bin, usually with something heavy on top so the panel is already cracked :( Most people just call the manufacturer, they tell them it's out of warranty and "can't be repaired" and chuck it :'(
    - JohnFen 3y ago
      > Yeah especially TVs right? Every single one of them it's been the caps. Yep, TVs are particularly good targets. I knew someone who would make extra money by trawling around neighborhoods looking for TVs that have been ditched, recapping them, and selling them.
      - dfox 3y ago
        LCD TVs and even computer displays are somewhat notorious for dodgy power supply designs. I assume that it is because CRT TVs and displays were essentially an one giant SMPS and that reasoning was reused for later LCD based designs.
        7speter 3y ago
        I wonder if theres some widespread issue with older asus monitors, because they are rather notorious for this “no signal” bug, where if you turn them on plugged into an hdmi even 100 or so times, the monitor doesn’t register an input.
OJFord 3y ago
Obviously OEM repair is prohibitive, but surely there's some local or semi-local shop that would do the whole lot for something more reasonable in total? Not just for giving them a lot of business, but because you're saying Look, there's a common failure mode, the same event took them all out - and that's valuable information. It probably is a similar issue in each. (Ok maybe don't bother with the bulbs..) Although I suppose depending on your excess you may be better off with an insurance claim.
- ajsnigrutin 3y ago
  Power surges are one of those failure state, where you never know what failed and how bad the damage is... Doing it yourself takes a lot of time, but can be seen as a fun hobby, but doing it commercially means wasted hours when you could have been paid the full fee, and a high chance that the customer will come back in a few days, because something else failed on the device and blame you.
gregmac 3y ago
> Everything else really isn’t worth the $65 bench fee And it's not like that is a guarantee. You might not find the cause in an hour, or two, or three -- and quickly you approach the cost of a replacement unit. Sometimes the problem is essentially "critical, proprietary chip/motherboard needs to be replaced" where the only option is to try to find another unit that's broken for different reason and do a transplant.
- ryukafalz 3y ago
  > Sometimes the problem is essentially "critical, proprietary chip/motherboard needs to be replaced" where the only option is to try to find another unit that's broken for different reason and do a transplant. This is why we need right to repair laws. If the manufacturer's still making a part, you should be able to order it straight from them.
  - sigstoat 3y ago
    > If the manufacturer's still making a part, you should be able to order it straight from them. there's a hell of a jump between "right to repair" and "manufacturer has to have SKUs for every subassembly in all of their products, stock them and ship them to random internet people for a price that won't cause the same people to post articles about how $company doesn't really want their stuff to be repaired" (let's be real, that's the implied expectation)
    - ryukafalz 3y ago
      Not really. If a device is repairable but spare parts aren't made available, is it really practically repairable? The wiki page for right to repair says it well I think: > end users and independent repair providers should be able to access original spare parts and necessary tools (software as well as physical tools) at fair market conditions It doesn't necessarily have to be every subassembly. Make the schematics and chips available and repair shops can take it from there. But stocking subassemblies is indeed my expectation from a well-behaved manufacturer, whether they provide the parts themselves or partner with someone else to. Some examples: https://shop.fairphone.com/en/spare-parts https://shop.fairphone.com/en/spare-parts https://frame.work/marketplace/parts https://frame.work/marketplace/parts https://www.ifixit.com/Parts/Steam_Deck https://www.ifixit.com/Parts/Steam_Deck https://shop.mntre.com/ https://shop.mntre.com/ Clearly this is doable. And let's be real, manufacturers that do warranty repairs already have SKUs for each subassembly, assuming they actually repair the devices and don't just replace the whole thing. They just won't sell them to you, they'll only ship them to their own service centers.

JohnFen 3y ago

Also, if you have an interest in electronics, I think one of the best ways to learn about it is to try to fix broken devices.

Waterluvian 3y ago

The beauty of repairing gadgets is that as long as they’re not incredibly broken, any generally intelligent person can learn on their own. Broken gadgets usually make it clear how they’re supposed to work, just by the nature of their parts and assembly. Find yourself a supply of broken appliances, perhaps at a Goodwill-like store or an online marketplace and get started finding that broken sprocket or stretched belt or bad capacitor. It’s ridiculously satisfying taking something that’s destined for the landfill and making it live again. Oh and YouTube. Lots of YouTube. There’s a video for how to troubleshoot and fix just about everything. YouTube has helped me fix a broken stand mixer, dishwasher, dryer, small fission reactor, computer keyboard, sewing machine, ceiling fan, ice maker, and many I’m surely forgetting. And I’m just a clueless web dev!

sigstoat 3y ago
> The beauty of repairing gadgets is that as long as they’re not incredibly broken, any generally intelligent person can learn on their own. Broken gadgets usually make it clear how they’re supposed to work, just by the nature of their parts and assembly. "tell me you have a 120 IQ without telling me you have a 120 IQ"
- 2301421898 3y ago
  I'm very confused. What does this mean?
  - ovi256 3y ago
    > Broken gadgets usually make it clear how they’re supposed to work, just by the nature of their parts and assembly. You're assuming most people have strong reverse engineering skills, but really only a small fraction of the general population has them. sigstoat implies the high IQ people are more likely to have this skill as raw IQ allows them to quickly learn the skill on the job.

Saigonautica 3y ago

One of my colleagues' family runs such a tinker shop in rural Vietnam. It's their family business, they have been doing it for some time. Mostly, it involves making simple machines from scrap electric motors sourced from Japan (they know how to get the good ones). For example, they make a very good wood splitter. These often work by just pushing wires into open electric sockets -- not even a switch or plug. This puzzled me so I asked about it, it turns out the clients just don't want those things. More advanced technology is available, the farmers are aware of it (e.g. most have smartphones), but they equally realize that the latest IoT agritech startup adds less than zero to their productivity. In Ho Chi Minh City, tinker shops like this are rare, but there are a couple across the main road from the industrial electronics market. In Ha Noi last I checked we still had at least one actual blacksmith operating, with a tiny furnace and anvil -- not sure about now though. Anyway, it's true that overall we still repair a lot of stuff here and it's a valued skill. You can make a modest living running a repair/tinker shop, and most neighborhoods have someone doing so -- although it's mostly smartphones, laptops, and televisions.