Screw heads

I've got more sets of screwdrivers and screwdriver bits than you could shake a stick at, slots, stars, Phillips, hex, etc. We notice our kettle is leaking so I'm looking to take the bottom of it to investigate, which is held on with three screws. What kind of head do they have........a tiny triangular hole  

The good news is I found a small triangular file in my tool collection that allowed me to get the screws undone. The bad news is the kettle is leaking out of the Perspex measure window on the side  

Kettles are a throwaway item these days. Gone are the days when you could replace the element, same goes for toasters. Such a shame to fill landfills with such items.

Hi

Been there got the t shirt!

They’ll be TAs then; just when you’ve got used to TXs and when everyone’s got a set of TAs the’ll find something else.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/5-Piece-Screwdriver-Set-Triangular-Head/dp/B004QKPIU2

Askit wrote: The bad news is the kettle is leaking out of the Perspex measure window on the side  

RTV  

Brod

Hi

Paulmold wrote: Such a shame to fill landfills with such items.

A friend of mine used to get virtually all electrical items from the tip in the days when you could get stuff by giving the tip staff the price of a pint.

It’s amazing how much stuff either worked or only had a very minor fault (eg fuse blown)and was put back into service after a quick electrical safety check.

Brod

brodco wrote:Hi

Been there got the t shirt!

They’ll be TAs then; just when you’ve got used to TXs and when everyone’s got a set of TAs the’ll find something else.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/5-Piece-Screwdriver-Set-Triangular-Head/dp/B004QKPIU2

Askit wrote: The bad news is the kettle is leaking out of the Perspex measure window on the side  

RTV  

Brod

Well that's a new one on me  

No repair being done though, it's going to the great small appliances in the sky heaven (skip in our local recycling yard) 

We have a halogen cooker that packed up due to broken wiring (usual wear and tear) in the electrical cable immediately entering the appliance. Initially couldn't dismantle it due to the three triangular screw heads that would allow further undoing. Managed to file down to shape from a hex bit that luckily enabled to break the torque of the nuts. A lot of fiddling thereafter to take apart further before finally reassembling and successfully working again. Obviously designed to prevent diy intrusion to effect any repair so would have been dumped after three years from new.

My first Saturday job at the age of 15 was in an electrical shop. Most popular items of spares were kettle elements, often the kettles were brought in for us to repair, so easy to replace whilst the customer waited.

Yes Paul, me too. Elements in kettles and irons, carbon brushes in vacuums were regulars. Simple repairs now usually involve a PCB and soldering iron. 

Either that or a delicate touch with my 2lb hammer  

Askit wrote:Yes Paul, me too. Elements in kettles and irons, carbon brushes in vacuums were regulars. Simple repairs now usually involve a PCB and soldering iron. 

Either that or a delicate touch with my 2lb hammer  

Soldering iron - I am so rubbish with a soldering iron. I get there eventually but it don't look pretty.

Replaced the carbon brushes in my washing machine a couple of days ago. 
I know of one person who was told he needed a new motor and another who was told he needed a new machine when all they actually needed was new brushes.
There must be many more like these two.

Frank

Kettle elements used to blow frequently before the days when they switched off automatically, because they often used to be forgotten and left until they boiled dry.

ISTR some of the early overheat devices that were introduced shot the plug out of the back of the kettle with some force, enough to knock any closely placed cups onto the stone kitchen floor where they'd shatter.

I still believe in repairing things if at all possible (you can take the Scot out of Scotland . . .).

A recent kettle failure proved to be due to blown wiring in the separate base, probably due to a short caused by water ingress. It was easily repaired once the correct driver bit for the tamper-proof screws had been found in my 'man-shed'.

I used to do hobby electronics back in the day when you could build things out of discrete components and make your own circuit boards, so my soldering skills are still pretty good.

I find keptles to be one of the most unreliable kitchen items these days.
We bought an expensive new kettle a few years back to match our recently decorated kitchen.
It failed within its one year guarantee period.
So did its replacement.
And the one after too!
So much for buying "quality" items.
Ended up with one from Morrisons for a tenner and it's still with us after 3 or 4 years now (touching wood).

Hi

rogerblack wrote:I used to do hobby electronics back in the day when you could build things out of discrete components and make your own circuit boards, so my soldering skills are still pretty good.

Still can.

It’s a pitty that the electronics mags have disappeared from the high street but some are still available on line:

https://www.elektor.com/

http://www.epemag3.com/

I’m sure a lot of people (me included) got started in electronics by buying a magazine out of curiosity and finding the content interesting - something that won’t happen nowadays. I remember purchasing a copy of “Radio Constructor” - there’s a name from the past -with my pocket money and a few months later was listening my my first home made valve radio.

boxerman wrote:I know of one person who was told he needed a new motor and another who was told he needed a new machine when all they actually needed was new brushes.
There must be many more like these two.

Yes. I wonder what the likely hood is of the “repairer” kindly taking away the old machine /motor free of charge and then repairing it and selling it to somebody else (not that I’m cynical or anything).

Loosely on the same subject I was pleased to hear about the “Restart Project” a while ago. Not exactly taking the world by storm but a least some people are trying to improve things.

https://therestartproject.org/about/


Brod

I've successfully repaired laptop, digital camera and similar in the last few years but only because I've determined that a professional repair is uneconomical so the unit is a write off and because some kind soul has worked out how to disassemble without breakage and published on you tube.

My 3 years of training under the Board of Trade was 50% theory and 50% practical. For the first week, every afternoon was spent learning about and practicing soldering.

Hi

Peter Brown wrote: I've determined that a professional repair is uneconomical so the unit is a write off

I rarely if ever use “professional” (professional in the sense that they charge money rather than they work to professional standards) repairers nowadays. I’ve seen too many examples of diabolical workmanship and even suffered myself.

I sent a laptop back under warranty because the keyboard failed. It was returned working but a couple of years later it failed to start.

When I opened it up half the screws were missing ,several of the plastic mounting pillars were broken and one of the small PCBs was held in by sticky tape! Said PCB had moved gradually and shorted to another board holding the USB sockets, and this from a manufacturer approved repairer.    

It seems to me that many so called “professional” repairers are from the knuckles dragging along the ground brigade. In my view you are much better off doing it yourself if you can (even if the item is under warranty).

Brod

Screw heads! You're lucky to have screws at all. I recently attempted to take our 4 slice toaster apart to find out why one side failed to pop up. Not a screw in sight, every part held together by bent over and twisted metal tabs. 
It went in the recycle skip.

Back to the OP, I have managed to get the triangular screws undone with a Swiss army knife, one of the most versatile tools available !!

I seethe at the number of Calor cylinders it our recycling centre that they are not allowed to give away or sell.

Paramedic wrote:We have a halogen cooker that packed up due to broken wiring (usual wear and tear) in the electrical cable immediately entering the appliance. Initially couldn't dismantle it due to the three triangular screw heads that would allow further undoing. Managed to file down to shape from a hex bit that luckily enabled to break the torque of the nuts. A lot of fiddling thereafter to take apart further before finally reassembling and successfully working again. Obviously designed to prevent diy intrusion to effect any repair so would have been dumped after three years from new.

I was most determined not to throw away an otherwise perfectly working mini halogen oven just because the mains cable had failed due to fraying. Of course I could possibly have had it repaired at a cost that would have been more than purchasing a replacement. IMO modern mass production methods seemingly to keep costs down to promote a throw away society.

I see even the latest phones and sat navs etc have no simple way of getting to the battery. I imagine that long before the battery has had it's designed number of charges and fails, the item will be old hat and scrapped in favour of the latest model.
Al.

It's definitely an across the board thing, how many folk undertake the kind of apprenticeships or lengthy training required to carry out technical repairs? If such repairs are undertaken, are they cost effective?

I've got an Apple itouch, love it for carrying around my music and quick internet access. The battery has just about gone and a "professional" replacement will cost just less than a new device. Coupled with that are the poor reviews of replacement batteries and the number of "self replacement" disasters. Same goes for my fairly expensive Makita cordless drill, both batteries now fail to hold a charge and the cost of two replacements is almost the same as a complete new drill (although it won't be a Makita  )

I agree that getting (non-original) replacement batteries can still be a bit of a lottery, but they are getting better. A large part of this is I think because with the intelligent charge management systems now built into LiIon and LiPol batteries, it's actually quite hard to build a cheap/bad battery and have it function at all - so it's as cost-effective for the Chinese to make copy batteries that work properly as it is to make ones that don't and just come straight back for a refund.

I've recently done battery transplants (with cheap Chinese parts) in a Moto G phone and a Navman satnav, and in both cases the result was pretty good. On the other hand I bought a supposedly new OEM battery for a HUDL and that was useless! I sold the HUDL "spares or repair" on Ebay for about what the "new" battery cost me!

[BTW I have also done a battery replacement on a cordless drill battery pack and it wasn't at all easy - welded together battery casing, crimped charging contacts, etc - not fun...]

I have a 35 bit screwdriver set all of which are anti tamper bits. Hex and Torx with the hole in the middle, tri wing which look like Philips but with only 3 blades and other variations

You will find that you cannot get inside the mixer tap on a modern A/s van without a very slim tamperproof torx screwdriver to remove the head.  A tamperproof bit for an interchangeable heads screwdriver won't go through the hole left afterunscrewing the rod handle!

Unfortunately that's quite a widespread problem with the "security bit" sets, one of which I have too (the one that Screwfix used to sell for £4.99).

Often the casing is designed with small openings that need a slim shaft driver, and a standard interchangeable bit won't fit (or more accurately the part on the end of the driver won't fit). I did a mains cable change on a travel kettle recently, and that required minor bodgery to overcome...