Fixing stuff

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  • LCHIEN
    Internet Fact Checker
    • Dec 2002
    • 20914
    • Katy, TX, USA.
    • BT3000 vintage 1999

    Fixing stuff

    Today I took up the wife's complaints about handheld hair dryers.

    Dryer #1 was old and the flare deflector on the front broke off. The retaining clips half melted.
    Dryer #2 I have repaired several times. the folding handle was long ago glued into a fixed positions She complains it switches off after a while
    Dryer #3 is only a few months old. Purchased to replace#2 the red safety button keeps popping. GFCI. Hard to reset.

    So #1 I just glued the front deflector in place aroudn the perimiter, never used without it so permanent it is. Back to the upstairs guest bathroom

    #2 the switch is flakey intermittent when you jiggle it. Experience tells me there's not much I can do about that. It's old and I'm ready to give it up...Switches that handle 12-14 Amps when they go there's no fixing them that will last.

    #3 I said the GFCI keeps popping after about 10 seconds. The button is real stiff and hard to reset by latching it. There's no obvious leakagae - GFCI to trip requires leakage to ground and there is none. I consider just replacing the GFCI module with a regular plug. Because all the bathroom outlets are GFCI protected as required by modern electrical code for bathrooms.
    But I figure Dryer #2 can donate its GFCI. They are held by screws so no need to even splice.I'll just open and wire the end of the wire in.

    Grrr. both have some kind of triangular recessed hole in the screw. Fine, I say I'll just get my 99-bit security bit kit from HF to open these... Sigh, the stupid kit does not have one of these. 99 bits and not one fits. I guess they're serious about anti-tamper.

    Crap, So I have to splice it. Several splice crimps and heat shrink tubing later, #3 is all fixed and working and #2 is on the scrap heap.
    As a bonus the cord is a foot longer!

    Two working hair dryers from three bad ones. Not bad.
    Last edited by LCHIEN; 07-09-2017, 02:50 AM.
    Loring in Katy, TX USA
    If your only tool is a hammer, you tend to treat all problems as if they were nails.
    BT3 FAQ - https://www.sawdustzone.org/forum/di...sked-questions
  • leehljp
    Just me
    • Dec 2002
    • 8429
    • Tunica, MS
    • BT3000/3100

    #2
    Sounds like the situations I get into so often! It takes three broken tools to make 2 or even 1, if that.

    My greatest problem is when I start to fix or do something that LOML has been after me to fix/do, at the point of getting started, she comes in with other things/projects she wants fixed or done first.
    Hank Lee

    Experience is what you get when you don't get what you wanted!

    Comment

    • LCHIEN
      Internet Fact Checker
      • Dec 2002
      • 20914
      • Katy, TX, USA.
      • BT3000 vintage 1999

      #3
      Hank, you gotta curse and stomp your feet while doing it, make your self unapproachable and appear to be a great sacrifice to work on these things.
      You should have hear me when I couldn't remove the security screws.
      Loring in Katy, TX USA
      If your only tool is a hammer, you tend to treat all problems as if they were nails.
      BT3 FAQ - https://www.sawdustzone.org/forum/di...sked-questions

      Comment

      • twistsol
        Veteran Member
        • Dec 2002
        • 2893
        • Cottage Grove, MN, USA.
        • Ridgid R4512, 2x ShopSmith Mark V 520, 1951 Shopsmith 10ER

        #4
        Frustation aside, it is much better than the typical response from our disposable society with three in the landfill and a new one waiting to break.
        Chr's
        __________
        An ethical man knows the right thing to do.
        A moral man does it.

        Comment

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