What is your most glorious fixit success story?

[NuclearNed]

My Sony digital 8 video camera started having trouble after I took it to Miami and the Florida Keys this summer. It appears that electronics don't appreciate the drenching humidity of the tropics. The camera became convinced that it constantly needed cleaning, and told me so every time I tried to record anything from that point onward. It eventually got to the point that it thought my digital 8 movies were regular 8mm, and refused to play them. A cleaning tape didn't even begin to phase the problem.

The camera is about 5 years old, way out of warranty, and would cost more to repair than buying a new one.

So the other night I got a tiny screwdriver and popped the thing completely apart. All the component parts in these things are extremely tiny, and not made to be serviced by caucasians like me (damn my big clumsy fingers!!!). In spite of that, I held it up real close to my face so I could see what I was doing, and I cleaned out the whole thing real well (especially the tape heads) and looked for obvious problems (broken solder points, circuits that had taken heat, etc.).

When I got the whole thing back together (which was itself a minor miracle), it worked like brand new. :beer::thumbsup:

 

[mobobuff]

There are many, but my latest was reassembling a shattered cellphone.

 

[Mojoed]

I'd have to go with fixing my MS2250 Phoenix Gold amplifier. I spent well over $1000 for this thing in the early 90's, and it died about 5 years later. Luckily for me it was just a capacitor. Still felt damn good fixing it though!

 

[yobarman]

Nice..

My best fix it yourself story will go down in history. It was a late December afternoon after the Thanksgiving weekend. I was driving back to school for the winter quarter and traffic was nuts. Cars were bumper to bumper, going 50 MPH on I-90. Well about 50 miles from school, I get into a 5 car pile up. (Speaking of which, I've almost been accident free for 3 years! YAY!) The front right section of 1990 Lumina was smashed to peices. Amazingly, the car still ran. It ran so well that I drove it around for the next 3 weeks, crooked hood, smashed headlights, wrecked bumper and all. It looked like a wrecking ball hit the front right side, but never really hit anything in the engine. I get a quote for sh*ts and giggles from a local body shop. They were looking at $3000-$5000. I of course, laughed in their face and left seeing how the car was worth no more than $500. So finally winter break rolls around and I drive this bad boy home. (For 5 hours on the interstates with the hood shaking violently, just a big bump away from flying off)

Well seeing how I am a poor college student (and 3 years ago I was pretty much more broke than I have been in my life). Anyways, I go to this body shop back home because my mom knows people that knows people. They quote me for a grand.... still too much. So finally, my dad gives me the idea to hit up the junkyard. I do it, and we take apart about 2-3 Luminas to get my parts. By this time i've gotten pretty good at taking Luminas apart, so fixing mine was a snap. It just took way too long cause of the snow (I have no garage at my house).

The thing looked brand new if it werent for the black hood on a red car. But other wise it looked like a profession body shop half assed this job. So what did I pay for a job that would've cost anywhere from $1000-$5000?

Eighty bucks. And 25 of that was for a steering wheel. The hood was maybe 30 beans. My friends could not beleive it.

 

[geno]

nice yobar, DIY always pays off if you have the patience

 

[NuclearNed]

I have to admit, I'm a little disappointed in the level of response to this thread. And you call yourselves geeks...

 

[daveymark]

I used to fix stuff all the time, but with the kids, there's no time left. I'm lucky to get 30 minutes free from the rabblerousers.

 

[Torched]

Just dissasembled and reassembled hp laptop. After a complete tear down i fixed a fan that was completely ripped from the cables. Reassembly was a breeze. A clean xp install later and thats all it needed.

 

[MX2]

Originally posted by: daveymark
I used to fix stuff all the time, but with the kids, there's no time left. I'm lucky to get 30 minutes free from the rabblerousers.

Amen brother

 

[JulesMaximus]

I just installed a new keyboard in my laptop. I've also done countless auto repairs. Replaced a broken power window motor/regulator, replaced O2 sensors, brake jobs, muffler replaced, headers replaced, tuneups, fixed frozen washer motor...the list goes on.

 

[meltdown75]

not quite a fixit, but i put up my garage door opener and that was pretty huge for me. wired it and all. it's 1337 too and works great.

 

[Crucial]

rebuilt the motor in my 69 camaro and it started the first try. Finished the custom interior in that same car. Had to finish the door panels and make a custom dash for the radio and heater controls.

Rebuilt the front suspension on my 95 Trans/Am. All the bushings, ball joints, tie rods, and shocks and springs. Would have cost $1500 or more at a shop. Replaced the water pump, distributor, and front cover seals on the same car.

Countless brake jobs on numerous cars.

Built my own trailer for hauling around my ATV.

Redid our bathroom including new toilet, sink and tile floor. Put in an inwall cabinet too.

I can feel my e-penis getting bigger as I type.

Fixed my cordless phone by finding the wires that had broken off inside.

Revived a few dead motherboards by hotflashing the bios chips. Done a few succesful volt mods to MB's that wouldn't overclock. Replaced some blown capacitors to revive a dead MB too.

 

[Cerpin Taxt]

I have a lot of mundane fixit sotries, but one thing I was most proud of for a while was using an old CB radio that my dad left lying around and a speaker I purchased from RadioShack to wire in a PA system to my 1995 Chevy Blazer. I was only in highschool at the time, so I was pretty proud of it. I wired the CB unit into my fusebox so it would power on and off with the ignition, and I installed the speaker under my hood on top of my driver's side fender.

Using that thing was pretty fun. Yeah, I know they're probably illegal in most states, and I never even checked to find out if it was or not in mine. I was never irresponsible with it.

-Garth

 

[xSauronx]

i work at drycleaning plant and have worked on ever piece of equipment in the place except for 2 very simple pieces.

Ive repaired, more than once, and more than one problem on some 15 pieces of equipment over the last 4 years.

But the worst was a conveyor. Most of the time the equipment is easy to access, relatively straightforward, and if i really need assistance i can usually can a tech support line or get my boss to help, though the need for that has gotten pretty rare over the last year and a half.

this was different. the conveyor we hand clothes on would only rotate one way, the teeth that pulled the chain had worn out to take it the other, so it was useable, just aggravatingly so.

my dad was too large, and his eyesight a little too bad to tackle replacing this gear on top of a ladder in low-light. so i did it. i think it took maybe...3, perhaps 4 hours to get everything taken apart to change what i needed and then put back together what i had done.

that sucked. i had no previous experience with this (neither did the boss, he has otherwise worked on everything else in the place) no tech line to call (which put me off a couple of times) and no other means to get assistance.

but i did it. i couldnt recall to you all the steps i had to go through, but i ended up taking almost everything apart from the drive shaft of the electric motor on up to do what i had to do.

 

[dug777]

broke a CDRW drive (kicked the tray while it was out and it jammed out) while drinking, then took it apart with my mate (while we were both smashed) and figured out what was wrong with it, and then fixed it, reinstalled it, and it worked like new

 

[Runes911]

Not really a "fixit" type of story: installed a mod chip in a ps2. Took 6 hours but I got it. It works perfectly.

You cant really brag about soldering untill you have soldered something so small and so close that you need a very sharp, thin razor to seperate them so you dont cross the circuits.