Strong repairs

 

Ahead of the show, the Garden Rail van needed a wheel fixing back on. The 3D printed parts are a bit brittle, and tiny joint between wheel and "axle" had snapped. 

Simply glueing the wheel back on wouldn't have worked, ot at least not for very long, so I drilled the support out for a 1.5mm diameter plastic rod. This is fitted into the hole with superglue, and quickly becomes solid. 

The rod is cut short, and a hole is drilled in the back of the wheel. This hole is slightly larger than the rod, but lashings of glue ensured a nice, tidy result. Best of all, it survived the show intact!

I used the same technique for a somewhat different repair too. 

Lady Liberty made it all the way back from New York, sans hand and torch. Fortunately, they were found and handed over with instructions that I was to fix the statue before eating the M&M's in the box.

More plastic rod and superglue quickly sorted out this souvenir - and the chocolates were delicious.  
 

Berlingo bonnet stay clip

 

This is a really important piece of plastic. So important, that when it breaks, it needs to be replaced - a job that is a bit of a pain. 

Under the bonnet of my parent's Berlingo, is a stay to hold it up when open. When not in use, the stay should be clipped under the bonnet.

 

If it's not, then the bit of metal will flap around the engine bay, and when a kind person goes to top up the windscreen washer fluid, only by chance does it not get wrapped up in the power steeering fluid pipe, and rip this out. 

Now, the Berlingo has been enjoying the attentions of some auto electricians, and along the way, someone broke the clip.

I ordered the part from a store on eBay, and it turned up the next day. Looking at it, all I had to do, was remove the old one, and clip the replacement in. Easy. 

Except it is clipped in place, and getting the old version out took about ten minutes with pincers, pliers and a Stanley knife. Basically, the old clip had to be destroyed where it was, until I could push it into the hole. 

Fitting the new clip took seconds. Good job done!

Steam loco repair - with cardboard

 

Sunday - The Merlin Mayflower would raise steam, but struggled to move. We trundled back and forth a bit, but there wasn't any power, and the loco ran out of puff pretty quickly. 

I noticed that the drain plug on the lubricator was spewing out a watery oil mix. It's always been a weepy loco, but now things were getting messy. I wondered if that was where all my pressure was going. 

Monday - Thinking that there bolt needed an O-ring on the back, I searched the local stores. Halfrods sold me something that was close, but nowhere near close enough in size. 

So, I make a hole in a bit of Daler board, put it over the bolt, and tightened it up. Things felt good, so it was back to the track for a test. 

Result - it worked!

No more goo dribbling out of the lubricator, although the card gradually soaked up oil and became discloured. The loco was back to its free-steaming best. After a few circuits, I had the regulator barely cracked open as any more and the thing would run like a rocket. 

So, the next job is to stock up on proper O-rings. Something else for the travelling toolbox.

When the bottom falls out of your flight box

 

"Oh dear*", I said when I picked up my box with all the tools and potions required to run a live steam locomotive, and the bottom fell out, dropping the drawer full of tools all over the gravel by our club track. 

Five minutes later, having managed to find everything among the stones, I resolved to do something about it. 

For once the useful wood bits pile yeilded something that would do the job. A length of L-shaped moulding which now wraps itself around the bottom of the box. For good measure, there is more inside the drawer, which was also looking a bit suspect. And lashings of PVA glue too. Can't be too careful.

*Those may not have been my exact words.

Trainer repair

 

I'm quite pleased with this - I fixed something and it's stayed fixed. 

The lace loops on a pair of trainers are only leather, and one wore through. No great surprise, they aren't new and have been tied and untied many times. 

The cut through was reasonably clean though, so I wondered if I could repair the look. Well, it turns out that by wrapping a strip of denim, cut from some old jeans, and fixing it in place with a tiny amount of contact adhesive, I could!

The repair seems to be holding, giving the shoes more time before they get thrown away. There's plenty of life in the soles, so this could be quite some time.

Can I repair my conscience?

 

There was a clock on my wall that I've owned for around 30 years. In that time, I've replaced the quartz mechanism once, and the battery box on this mech as well. Finally, it's given up the ghost again. The parts have been sat around on the computer desk for months, waiting for me to order a new mechanism from Hobbies. 

Trouble was, the Hobbies order never happened. I was intending to add the bits to a larger order, but never got around to it. Eventually, a couple of weeks ago, I just entered "quartz mechanism" into ebay and ordered one. It arrived in a week.

Fitting was a bit fiddly, the original hands had suffered from many years of sunlight and required patching with Plastikard and ABS glue. The holes didn't quite match the new shafts, but some bodgery with the centres of the new hands solved that. I even gain a second hand. 

Half an hour messing around, and the clock is back in place. Hooray!

But, I feel a bit guilty. I can't remember where the parts came from, but it wasn't a proper shop. I just grabbed them some random person online. Someone who probably doesn't have the overheads a shop would. The price alone tells me that...

I've always done my best to support shops, especially model shops. When I see people on forums saying we don't need model shops, because everything can be ordered direct from China, it anoys me. For a start, those people presumably don't mind if their job is exported, and second, it means they never feel the need for consumables like paint and glue. The sort of stuff you want when you want it, not in three weeks time. 

So, the clock works, but I feel guilty.

Van repair

 

Packing up at the National Garden Railway Show went pretty well - except for the Garden Rail van, which took a nose dive from my arms as I was putting it away. Being a 3D printed model, it didn't bounce on the concrete floor, instead, the superglue joins gave way, reducing it to a kit of parts again. 

Since then, it's been living in a box in the office, but as I needed the box for something else, it was time for some repairs. 

The biggest problem was that the wheels on one side had become detached, and the 3D parts broken. Superglue on it's own isn't strong enough for this job, the joints needed reinforcement with bits of brass wire inserted into drilled holes. I don't think they are perfectly lined up, but look good enough to me, and better than expected. 

After this it was just a case of reglueing the joints with Zap brushable superglue. Some clips held the roof in place while it dried, and did the same for the fenders/running boards. I know the stuff is supposed to be instant, but on the day I did this, it was misbehaving. 

And now I have a van suitable for delivering copies again. It's still fragile - I should really make a box for it, but then it's also a lovely item in the background on Zoom calls!

Repairing Lord Westwood

Bought at Ally Pally earlier this year, my Tri-ang R765 "Lord Westwood" was a bargain. Mainly because it didn't work. 

This didn't put me off. Models of this vintage might lack detail, but they are easily fixable with the aid of some simple hand tools. The heart of this, and many others of that vintage, is the X04 motor, a rugged unit that is easy to find second-hand if the original is toast. 

The body is removed by undoing a long screw under the back of the cab. The chassis can then be wiggled free for examination. 

Inside, there was some fluff, and only one brush on the motor. This looked promising. 

You won't be surprised I had a spare set in my stash of bits. The only problem is that the wire on top of the motor was broken. It should be steel, but I couldn't find any, so made up a brass version. I'll keep an eye out for the correct replacement as the softer metal might work, but it won't last forever. 

However, work it does, and the locomotive now bumps it's way along the railchairs on Code 75 track (I'm out of Code 100) very smoothly. 

In the tender, someone has swapped the wheelsets over to disable the steam noise feature. 

The sound is generated by a steel tab rubbing on a strip of abrasive. This sounds a bit crude, but the metal strip is attached to a plastic soundbox to increase the volume. 

I've heard worse, and anyway, love a gadget in a model loco, so the wheels have been swapped back, the sideframes can be flexed enough to release them using a small screwdriver. 

After this, a good clean up with a stiff brush to remove all the dust and I have a near mint model for the collection. Just the think to wind up GWR fans, and valuable too. From £15, this thing is now worth around £70!

Cable reel repair

 

This cable reel has been part of my exhibition kit for decades - but no more. 

For Ally Pally, electrical gubbins had to be PAT tested. And it failed. 

Once opened up (there are two screws under the plack cover around the sockets) the reason is plain to see. The cable insulation had broken awaywhere it enters the centre of the drum. 

The rest of the cable looks fine. Scuffs, but no more broken outer insulation. While the reel needs to retire from exhibition use (I bought a replacement) I don't see why I shouldn't fix this one. 

Each cable was cut where it is crimped to the brass(?) bars, and many inches taken off the end. By comparing the cables, I could cut the insualtion back to match the original. 

It's important that each wire is the correct length or it won't fit back in the drum. 

After this, the connections were uncrimped by forcing a small screwdriver along the wire then finishing the unbending of the connection with pliers. The freshly tinned wires were then crimped back in, and given a touch of solder for good measure. 

Reassembly is the reverse of the above. It pays to take photos as you go. The plugs were very tight in the sockets until I realised that I'd put the brass(?) bars behind the metal U-shapes, not inside them as they should be, That changed, it's all good to go. 

Jobs like this give me imense satisfaction. If I hadn't fixed the reel, it would go to landfill. Instead it can live again. But, is this a good idea? I don't think I'm being foolhardy, but if you aren't careful, it would be possible to produce something dangerous. 

Good or bad idea?

Making a key for Percy

Last month I mentioned that a Meccano Percy had joined my collection - but that it was missing the all-important key. 

Well, I've done something about it, and written the process up for the World of Railways website, so you can read it (for free) over there.

Mending the Steampunk Whale

 

One of the weirder things I own, and there's quite a lot of competition for that title, is a Steampunk Whale brought back from Cornwall for me by my parents. 

It's a really nicely cast resin model, and looks (IMHO) absolutely fantastic. At 32cm long, it's no lightweight, and being resin, those gun turrets are a little vulnerable. 

Last week, one finally got knocked off as I dusted it. Fortunatly, the break was nice and clean, and I found the turret before it hid away in the corner of my office. 

A blog of superglue would probably have produced an acceptable repair in the short term. Not epoxy, as it's too bulky, I don't want to see a splurge, and touching up the paint would be a heck of a challenge. 

I opted to do the job properly and drilled as near the centre of both halves with a 1.5mm drill bit, and then superglue a scrap piece of tube in. This provides a bit of strength, hopefully avoiding me having to do this again!. 

Kintsugi repairs

 

I don't understand antiques. When I watch experts on TV, they stand there biting into china things and announcing that the item has been restored and is therefore worthless. 

My thought is - if someone has taken time, or spent money, on restoration, surely this means the item in question was considered so valuable that it was worth the time or money used to make it perfect again. You only have to watch a few episodes of The Repair Shop to realise the efforts put in to make something look like it's fresh from the box. 

I quite like the Japanese concept of Kintsugi. Instead of making the repair invisible, they conside it part of the life of the object - a piece of its history - and celebrate this by making the rectification obvious with gold mixed into the glue. 

Old objects have a tale to tell. The antique expert will bang on about patina, which basically means dirt, wear and tear, but look horrified at a crack acquired during the same time. Now, I know we prefer things perfect, but if that crack has been repaired really well, how is this different? 

All this is a way of explaining why much battered pedometer now had a piece of plastic where the battery compartment door used to be, because the door fell off and I lost it. I can't make a replacement that slips in, but I can cover the gap to keep the battery from falling out. When this runs low, I'll just undo the screws and take the back off to replace it. And in the style of the great Japanese repair masters, I'll not be hiding the fix, even if this does reduce the resale value on the 2nd hand pedometer market.

Pedometer repair

 

I've been competing with a friend over the number of steps we take each day. I usually lose, and one reason is that I record mine on a 'phone and she has a smartwatch. If I don't carry the 'phone, the steps don't count, and I don't carry it around the house. I am not a 12-year-old girl. 

So, my friend presents me with a pedometer in an effort to even things up a bit. That and she'd ordered a batch of them as a corporate give-away. I clipped it on my belt and it started counting. 

A couple of days later - disaster. 

If you try to read the thing while it's clipped to you, the correct method is to remove the device from your belt. Try to twist your belt to see the screen and you'll break the plastic belt clip. 

Hmmm. I needed to fix this to avoid embarrassment. 

The plastic sticks pretty well with an ABS solvent. I've no idea what it is, but softer than ABS. The resulting join isn't really strong enough, so I bent a piece of brass and melted it into the join with a soldering iron. Still unsure, 2-part epoxy was slathered over the join. 

The result seems to stand up to general use, especially since I learnt to unclip before reading. 

Of course, I couldn't resist a look inside, and managed to do even more damage. The device works by a swinging hammer thing bouncing around as you walk. Somehow the pivot at A had broken off, so I stick it back with superglue and then drilled the plastic pillar out so a Peco track pin could be inserted to add strength. 

The tricky thing is the spring - B. This needs to be set to a not too strong and not too weak position. That seems to be the mid-point on the bottom fixing. Too strong and it doesn't record steps, too weak and it records too many. I was tempted to leave it in the weak position to raise my count, but felt too guilty. 

The good news is, my step count around the house is usually at least 2000, putting me in contention for the daily win if I take a proper stroll as well. 

You might argue that I'm wasting my time fixing this as it probably costs about 50p. That might be true, but I like the challenge, and anyway, throwing things away when you don't have to, seems such a waste.

Peugeot 308 tail light unit/bulbs replacement

 

Even at very low speed, revering your car into the corner of a shipping container is going to result in Peugeot 0: Steel box 1. That, and a lot of swearing. 

A scuffed bumper aside, the main damage was to the rear tail light, which needed replacement. A look on eBay brought up a second hand unit for 70 quid (new ones appear to be £120), so it was time to get the spanners out and hide my shame!

Handy hint: If you aren't sure exactly which model your car is, look up the registration online. Mine is the 308 Allure Sw S/S registered in 2018. No, I didn't know this. I mean there is a badge on the back, so I know some of it, but the bewildering model nomenclature - we didn't have this problem with VW Beetles!

To make sure I ordered the correct part, I removed the light unit to see the sticker on the bottom which has the exact part number. Searching on this took me to the right component and ensured I was confident I had the bit I wanted.

 

The light unit is held in place with a pair of bolts. Initially I'd expected more, but then realised that changing a bulb requires the removal of the light unit, so the job needs to be reasonably easy. 

Access is through a removable panel in the side of the luggage area. You can see the right hand bolt in the photo. 

The left hand bolt is harder to get a look at but it's getatable through the hatch. Proximity to the cable makes working by touch trickier, but not too bad. 

The only tool needed for the job is a 10mm spanner. I used a deep socket, the normal version isn't quite deep enough. Put a cloth under the nut to avoid it dropping out of reach. I lost two sockets on this job in the depths of the car...

The nuts are an interesting, and new to me, combined nut and washer unit. The washer turns, but comes off with the nut - weird when you are working by touch and haven't seen them before. 

With both nuts removed, wiggling the plastic unit will free it from the car. I didn't need to force it, just persistent waggling it around and eventually it came away. 

The wiring connection is removed by pushing the tab on the side of the plug. 

Reassembly is the reverse of the above - and that's it. The job took around 20 minutes because I wasn't rushing things. Putting new bulbs in would require pretty much the same work, hence the access hatch I suppose. 

The paint damage buffed out with some T-Cut and bit of elbow grease.  Next time I go around to my storage unit, I'll be extra careful!

Legal note: This is an accurate description of what I did. I am not a professional mechanic and these notes are offered for entertainment only. If you chose to follow them and things don't work, it's not my fault. Sorry. If you are at all unsure then get a professional to do the job. The car used was a 2018 UK spec 308, other models may be different.

Fixing the front door lock

I like taking apart mechanical things, especially those with chunky fixings. When the catch on our front door stopped working properly, after being allowed to slam shut in the wind a few times, it needed investigating. 

OK, it needed replacing with an identical one, but after that I took the old unit and had a play. 

The basic device is simple enough, there's a bit that turns which shoves a cage back and forth, on to which is fitted the brass tongue bit that locates in the other side of the unit to hold the door shut. Obviously, I've not looked up the correct technical terms...

The fault was that every so often, the handle inside the door seemed to lose contact with the slidy cage and flop around. My first thought was that the cage could move out and miss contact, but there didn't seem to be a problem there - no obvious wear in the plates holding the thing together, and the two, chunky retaining screws were tightly fitted.

Eventually, after about half an hours tinkering, I spotted the cage was slightly distorted. Slamming the door on the latched unit had whacked the tongue and moved the metal. Five minutes with pliers (it's quite soft) and a hammer and the whole thing moves silky smoothly. As good as new. 

Now, we have a spare front door lock all parcelled up in the garage, where it will probably manage to vanish if we ever need it. 

Anyone else like this sort of job?

Saturday Film Club: Toy bus restoration

 

Interesting and impressive restoration of a very rusty toy bus. I couldn't help wondering about the state of the original however - it's a rotbox but all the tags that hold it together can be bent over. Surely most of these small parts would have rusted and broken when being straightened and re-bent? 

It makes me wish I had space for a media blasting cabinet though.

Watch straps

I like watches.Wearing one for many years, my wrist feels odd without one. Truth is, my collection of pretty cheap* watches is huge and some of them actually work. 

In recent months, the need to know the time has pretty much evaporated so my day-to-day watch was attached to a pretty unhappy strap when I recently had a chance to put it back on. The leather had dried up, the loops for the strap had broken and it was in a poor way. I know it went with me to Australia 7 years ago, so I suppose that's probably not too bad. 

I'd also bought a new watch with a nice looking face recently. When I bought it, I felt a green strap would suit it better and as it turns out, the supplied one feels like it's made of cork and has a cheap and rubbish catch. Amazingly, it's the right length - I always need long straps - so I'll stick it in a drawer as a spare.

So, over to eBay for some shopping. For under a tenner I picked up replacements and when they arrived, spent a happy few minutes changing them over. A pair of pointy tweezers compresses the bars through the strap nicely and the results look like much more work than they really are. It's one of those simple and satisfying jobs that we all need at times like this. 

*I like watches but can't get my head around something costing hundred of pounds. You can't do DIY wearing one of those can you?

The most satisfying job of the day

 

A couple of weeks ago, I wasn't having a good day. Every so often, the news really gets me down and I can't concentrate on anything useful for work. Trying to do some modelling, or pretty much anything isn't going to happen, but I was lucky, there was one job that I was confident I could do. 

My sister has a shed/studio at her cottage and one of the windows had broken. She had specified a plastic replacement and a sheet was ordered from the same shop I get my baseboard wood from. 

I picked this up along with a couple of lengths of quarter-round strip. Oh, and some pin nails as I'd forgotten to pack some. These, and some tools, headed to her place and within 20 minutes, the hole was filled. Quite nice and neatly too. 

Oddly, it was a really satisfying job. Not difficult to do, but definitely "a good job done". We all need this sort of task occasionally I'm sure. I know I did.

Dual-flush cistern bodging

Is there anything more annoying to not work at home than the toilet cistern?

Most bits of house equipment can be worked around, but we all need to poo!

So, when our dual-flush cistern decided that it would keep filling rather than filling and stopping, repairs had to be effected quickly.

The problem was that the seal on the bottom of the flush mechanism had hardened a little and couldn't be relied on. Wiggling the unit with every flush fixed it, but was hardly ideal.

Since I was up to my neck in Virtual Show, my dad called a plumber. He had a look, said it would take a week to get the bits and left leaving a quote for £70. This seemed a bit rubbish - I'd expected to see a van with spares in it, not a car for a start. There is a reason he was available the same day.

Anyway, I left the computer for a while and had a poke around. The flush unit is separate from the inlet, so with the water turned off at the in-line valve, and a Readers Digest book of DIY to hand, worked out that twisting the unit would unlock it from the outflow and it was lifted away. This is how I found the hardened seal.

An hour later, dad was back with a complete replacement unit, price £27. Not a week, an hour. Parent 1: Plumber 0

I put the new unit in place and hoped all would be well. It wasn't.

There were two problems. First, the flush wasn't particularly powerful and worse, the clip that connects the control cable to the button, kept falling off.

The design of the clip is rubbish. It hangs limply on the bottom of the button. I tried swapping parts around with the old unit, and in an unexpected twist managed to reverse the direction of the cable so it no longer tangled with the inlet valve. This didn't help much, but I was pleased.

Anyway, I worked out that a screw passing across the edge of the connecting hole would tighten things up - and after some careful drilling, screwing and adjusting, this worked. The clip stayed put. Result!

The flush was still a bit rubbish, but I had a plan. You see I'd worked out this set-up wasn't very good and headed online to see what the alternatives were. Ideally, I wanted something that didn't need me to get at the bottom of the cistern because the design of this toilet covers it up. Removing the cistern would be doable, but more time and trouble than I could do with.

What I found, from the very helpful Plumbase, was the Wirquin One. According to the instructions, and videos, the unit takes about a minute to fit. It twists into the fitting in the bottom of the cistern (check this, they vary, there seem to be 2 or 3 designs) and then sits under the button hole.

The unit arrived and I fitted it.

Fitting is indeed quick. Set the flush levels (Max power!), unscrew the button. Pull the cage thing up and put the lid on top. This pushes the cage down and puts the screw thread right under the button hole.

Screw the button in place and flush away. Job done!

OK, it took three goes before I was happy. Every so often, including 2:40am, the unit wouldn't seal and the filling carried on, flowing straight through the unit and into the bowl. Grumpy face.

I rang Wirquin and they couldn't help, recommending I reinstall the unit. A bit like being told by IT to turn your computer off and on again. I did this three times and now (fingers crossed) we seem OK. Lots of flush, although when you release the button, not when you push it, and a reassuring slight "whump" noise after the flush that indicates the unit has sealed and will let the cistern re-fill. Reassuring in the same way a solenoid point motor is when you know it's gone across. I like reassuring noises.

I like toilets that flush as well. I'm giving this thing a fortnight, if it works, all the old cistern mechanical stuff goes in the bin and I'll buy a Wirquin spare unit. It's a lot cheaper than a plumber. Even one neither surprised or bothered when he is cancelled.

Etch brass face mask

Weeks ago, when I anticipated that the government were going to make face covering mandatory, I asked my mum to make me a couple of cotton ones. At the time you couldn't buy a mask, and anyway, I wanted something fun.

She quickly produced a VW camper mask along with a Dr Who one, from old bits of material. It's not just modellers who have a scrap box!

The only problem is that when I breath out, my glasses steam up. What the masks needed was something to hold them tight over the nose.

My solution was a slide a piece of leftover etched fret into the top seam. The corners were rounded off to stop them poking through the cloth near my eyes.

Does it work? Yes it does. The metal hold the material close to my nose and my glasses stay steam free. I've worn my mask several times in shops (I'm not a fan, but can see the logic and don't see the need to wait for Boris to stop faffing) and everything is fine.

Since doing this, I've also read the suggestion of using a piece of pipe cleaner to do the same job. I'd want a long length in there, just in case it pokes thought, but can see how this would work.

On my writing blog, I've been considering designer options.