This Fixit Clinic was held in the Hayward Library. It was a slow day, possibly because of the July 4th weekend travel rush.

First, I watched other people fix a 50-year-old blender running loudly and slowly, even at the highest setting. It was a joy to take apart: a few hex-head self-tapping screws held the bottom plate in place, which could be removed to access all the electronics. The bearings on the universal motor were dry and needed oil, though amazingly, the carbon brushes were still in fine shape after so many years of heavy use. An older fixer also determined that the blade assembly of the blender jar needed to be removed, cleaned, oiled, and its gasket replaced.

Next, I worked on a toaster oven that wasn’t turning on after running well for about 5 years. Its analog control circuitry consisted of a timer and a bimetallic thermostat (a bimetallic strip thermally connected to the oven’s inside wall that operated a switch) wired in series, which powered a selector switch that energized the top and/or bottom heating elements for either “bake” (bottom), “broil” (top), or “toast” (both) modes. The problem was that the thermostat contacts were stuck open, but manually closing them seemed to fix the problem. After fixing the thermostat, we tested the toaster, which seemed to work fine, though its temperature calibration was about 50 °F (~30 °C) too hot.

Lastly, with nothing else left to do, I attempted to repair a Canon point-and-shoot camera with a lens error, most likely caused by dirt between the lens’ moving parts. Having attempted this sort of repair twice before, I knew it would be a tedious and unrewarding process. The disassembly was easy enough, since I knew what to expect, and I successfully removed the lens assembly, cleaned the dust out with compressed air (technically we should call it liquefied refrigerant…), and manually turned the gear to open it, which it seemed to do without much resistance to motion. After partially reassembling and testing it, the same error appeared. Since these cameras aren’t meant to be repaired anyways, I decided to put it back together, and in the process unhinged the clip holding the LCD flex cable in place. Several minutes of trying to reinstall it proved unsuccessful, and since the camera was probably destined for the recycling bin anyways, I put it back together.