Another job started …wait for it 
Wheel barrow renovating, I’ve stopped it squeaking (they all do that) trying to decide what colour paint for the wheel, choices black, silver or copper, it’s currently red but I’ve run out of true red (my NC’s colour) 
So, they will end up with Daisy wheels?
Ah, but was it squeaking fast enough Mick? You’ve silenced it now so nobody will know how busy you are 
Barrie
After his epic slab laying, that was probably his spine!
Treated the rust on the wheelbarrow, just the wheel had a little rust. The main body and chassis hardly any. Not bad to say it’s lived outside for the last 8 years (uncovered) with a single coat jap black to protect it. Not driven it on salty Derbyshire roads though. 
Hello Mazda!
Anyway it’s back in use today, a little concreting on the driveway, one of those little jobs I’ve been meaning to do.
Bought a builders type wheelbarrow from Wickes around 40 years ago. It’s shifted soil, slabs and everything else. Been used as a mixing bowl for mortar and concrete too. Still in one piece and in reasonable shape. If it gets misshaped I just bash it with a hammer.
Another small victory today.
It’s the tiny things fixed that give the most satisfaction.
I had the toaster apart once many years ago in the past, and at the time made up a suitable Torx socket from an old 7BA box spanner, after discovering that none of my normal Torx sockets fit the security screws. After a couple of hours racking my brains I eventually found it again, but only after finally remembering I had to actually make one.
I knew the potentiometer on the toaster was the problem - toast extremely well done! However, on dismantling it I also saw the one and only electrolytic capacitor had spilled its inner gunge all the way along the card bottom edge to the mains terminals. Bad news, and amazing it still worked.
So a new 470uF 16V cap is fitted, I found the last one in my surplus stock bags. Some Servisol quickly restored the wiper contact in the pot, now it goes smoothly from zero Ohms to about 330K Ohms (500K log pot in parallel with 1M resistor).
If I’d had the spanner and the cap to hand it would have been only half an hour, including cleaning all the gunge off the PCB and the crumbs out of the toaster. As it was it took the whole afternoon searching for the cap and the tool. (Well, I do need to spin out the C-19 isolation somehow.)
Over complicated design is the norm now. Two ICs and multiple other assorted components in a toaster? What is the world coming to?
Well done Richard! (I wish I understood what you were talking about! 
)
I didn’t understand it either 
but was mightily impressed 
This toaster is about twenty years old (maybe 1997 judging by date codes on the ICs). Last time I took it apart was because something had got jammed inside, I forget what.
The circuit design is at least forty years old, straight out of the CMOS IC data book, and ultimately cheap and simple for something reliable and amazingly accurate, and much, much better than the even older one-IC design based on an NE555+triac Pifco/Russell Hobbs burn-the-solenoid-in-thirteen-months circuit found on most toasters even today.
Two very basic CMOS logic chips, the 4060 is an oscillator and divider/counter and the 4066 is a quad switch to allow different time constant capacitors (for defrost, normal, reheat) to be used on the oscillator, which itself is controlled by the resistance in the pot to be faster or slower.
The transistor near the Cap holds the solenoid on until the divider reaches the chosen time-out count.
The other two transistors drive two LED lights on the control buttons.
As I said, simple.
That’s why I never touch our toaster, always use the gas grill and get moaned at by the missus.
Believe it or not I actually understood that or at least know what all the words mean. Having said that I would have been looking for a replacement from Argos.
Speaking of which our microwave went up the creek a few weeks back and I was going to order one from Argos and collect it from the local store. Then I spotted that same day delivery was £3.95. It was delivered about three hours later. Better than waiting for ‘Order number 999’ when the screen is only showing up to 800.
This toaster is about twenty years old (maybe 1997 judging by date codes on the ICs). Last time I took it apart was because something had got jammed inside, I forget what.
Bread? Just a thought…
Years ago most things like washing machines etc, could be repaired by any half competent bloke with the necessary spare parts, but nowadays the manufacturers make products with a limited shelf life,and then make it as difficult as possible to do DIY repairs, …Bast*rds! , its one of those modern day things that have turned me into a Victor Meldrew
Boz
Hmm, maybe not… That can easily be extracted in the smoke format (outside).
Thinking about it, my fractured memory suggests there’s a possibility of something slim, maybe like a small knife, being used to extract a reluctant crumpet, and then the slim item was dropped inside, and inverting to shake it out only enabled it to burrow deeper inside the works away from the crumb trays.
Whatever it was, I refused to let her shake it any more because I could see the elements being damaged…
It was then I discovered the two Torx headed screws needing a socket spanner…
You might imagine what I wanted to say, but there was no need, and it’s much easier to get on with fixing it and receive the benefits of grateful thanks later than to engage in pointless recriminations that might drag on for days.
Couldn’t agree more. But personally I see a ‘No user serviceable parts inside’ notice as a challenge rather than a warning. When they glue or weld plastic cases together that’s even more like a red rag to a bull. Bring on the scalpel and solvent glue.
Hmm, one of my Uni holiday jobs was as a washing machine repair man (boy), and then other appliances. I learnt a lot in two months. Even now I’ve kept our own machines going for a lot longer than one might expect.
An example from about ten years ago. Unknown to me, the switch in the wall socket for the washing machine began to arc a little (washing machine was happy enough), and it was interfering with the kitchen radio, but could I find out where the source of the interference was? No, the laundry machines live in the laundry not the kitchen… but it is part of the same ring main.
Suddenly a few days later the tumble dryer plugged into the other socket of the pair popped its internal fuse. I had a look at the circuit board, all looked fine until I found two melted components associated with the power supply. The simple solution was to get another control board, and then take my time repairing the damaged one in the hope of ending up with a working spare. The bits that had failed were to do with filtering mains noise. And then I heard the duff switch fizzing when the washing machine was switched on.
New wall socket of a different make fixed the root cause of that problem. It was a relatively recent wall switch that failed, fitted when the spur was upgraded to be a full ring part of the ring, see below.
Another example of an occasion (unfortunately just before fitting RCDs in the house wiring) when the fuse in the washing machine plug was not quick enough when the water heater in the washing machine shorted to casing, and took out the ‘necked track’ fuse and the relay contacts on the control board. A new heater element, new relay, an inch of 10A fusewire to replace the burnt track and at least fifteen years later that machine is still working well. When putting in the RCDs later with the new kitchen we had to replace that slightly damaged spur wire off the ringmain with full ring connection. Now the RCD would save all that grief.
The house now has several RCDs on various circuits, very handy, highly recommended!
Can’t beat MK branded sockets. Particularly when they are used for high current items. Washer, dryer, kettle, toaster, microwave etc. Refitted our kitchen and utility 5 years ago and all MK in there now.
Umm, beware the fake MKs.
Those from the electrical factors were what my sparky had fitted on the new kitchen ring and failed! Specifically, it was the little spring-loaded plastic slider that rocked the contact strip in the switch, it was too soft and eventually melted.
The Wickes own brand chinese copies seem to have worked well since… Cross fingers and touch wood…
We checked these before installing them as replacements and they have a hard plastic slider that cannot melt, burn maybe but not soften.
My sparky recently told me he still checks one from each box he buys.
