Stokesley & Villages Repair Café (12-08-2023)

On Saturday 12th August, I volunteered at a repair café in Stokesley Globe Community Library, which was hosted by Climate Action Stokesley & Villages (CASaV), a group who aim to help communities in Stokesley and the surrounding villages to take action on climate change by supporting and developing local initiatives to reduce carbon emissions and/or adapt to the changing climate, primarily through the following major principles:

• Energy: reducing energy consumption; increasing renewables usage.
• Nature: maintaining the local environment; planting more trees.
• Food: promoting sustainable food.
• Transport: reducing our reliance on fossil fuel powered vehicles.
• Waste: promoting methods of reducing, reusing, and recycling.

Repair cafés focus on waste, specifically by trying to repair items and allow them to be reused instead of being binned or sent for recycling. People are encouraged to bring along items that they need repaired, and to be involved in the repair process themselves – repairs are free, though owners can give a voluntary donation if they’re happy with the service.

Repair cafés usually cater for a large range of items, including:

• Electricals (i.e. white goods, TVs, vacuum cleaners, kettles, toasters, lawnmowers, etc.).
• Electronics (i.e. radios, computers, laptops, phones, tablets, monitors, speakers, etc.).
• Furniture (i.e. woodwork, upholstery, etc.).
• Textiles (i.e. clothes, bedding, etc.).
• Toys (i.e. soft toys, electronics, etc.).
• Knives (i.e. sharpening).
• Bicycles (i.e. servicing).

CASaV hold regular repair cafés at both Stokelsey (Globe Community Library) and Swainby (Village Hall), so if you’re local, please do consider coming along – either as a guest with something that you’d like to have repaired, or as a volunteer (either for one of the repair teams if you have the appropriate skills and tools, or as support) if you’d like to help.

If you’re not local but would still like to get involved, CASaV is only a small part of the International Repair Café movement, so there may already be one closer to you. If not, please consider starting one! The IRC can offer support for this purpose.

So, back to my own experience on the 12th August. I volunteered as a repairer as part of the electrical/electronics team, alongside three other very helpful, friendly, and committed volunteers – it was a busy session, as it apparently often is (particularly for electricals), and went quickly but was a lot of fun. I worked on two items, which are detailed below.

Repair #1 – Roberts R250 Radio

My first repair attempt was a 1990s Roberts Revival R250 AM/FM radio, which was brought in by a lady called Cath. The radio was apparently working intermittently, but had since failed completely. We tested it again, and it just gave a very slight “put” noise from the speaker when turned on, with no response to the volume control, tuner, or switches.

This model uses an external “wall-wart” 12Vdc centre-negative PSU, which tested OK (15Vdc unregulated when not under load); the 9V battery was around 8.1V, which should still be enough to work.

We dismantled the radio for further testing, which was easy enough – several screws and two wooden blocks hold the board in place. With it removed, I gave it a visual inspection, but nothing seemed obviously wrong – electrolytic capacitors are apparently a common problem with these radios, but they all looked OK physically, and none were shorted. The speaker wasn’t open-circuit.

I tested the volume potentiometer with a multimeter, and it seemed to be intermittent – this would cause scratchy audio, but probably not a dead unit. With some contact cleaner and a lot of working it backwards and forwards, it tested OK.

I tested for voltage across one of the main bulk capacitors on the power input, and there was none, so the circuit didn’t seem to be getting power. When switching the unit on and off with the PSU fitted, there was a small spark across the arm of the power switch, but the arm didn’t seem to be seating correctly – it looked like a latching post had snapped off, so the switch arm wasn’t making contact. There wasn’t enough metal left to bend, so I added a tall blob of solder in place of the latch. I also cleaned up the assembly with contact cleaner and a toothbrush, as it was quite corroded.

With this in place, the arm now closed as it should, and the circuit was getting power.

With everything back together, the radio now worked fine on both the PSU and battery, including AM (LW and MW) and FM (VHF), as well as the volume control & loudness switch.

Repair #2 – Dyson DC04 Vacuum Cleaner

My second repair attempt was a 2000s Dyson DC04 vacuum cleaner, which was brought in by a guy called Adrian. The vacuum cleaner had apparently started to give off a harsh, burning electrical smell and some smoke – the owner agreed that this was likely a motor fault, but wanted us to dismantle the unit and physically inspect the motor to ensure this was the failure before they committed to buying a new motor and/or carbon brushes.

Disassembly of the unit was quite tricky, even with video guides and written guides (disassembly and motor replacement). There are a lot of parts that are clipped and/or screwed together, plus several circlips and o-rings.

With the filter cover and filter removed, the outgoing (motor) side was coated in a nasty black dust with specks of carbon, indicating significant wear (or even complete failure) of the brushes. This was going to be a messy job.

Eventually we managed to get the motor casing off and the motor out – it only has two electrical connections (live and neutral) which are push-fit.

It was clear immediately that the motor had suffered a catastrophic failure – small bits of the brush springs fell out of the impeller, and part of the rotor had actually exploded, lodging bits of molten copper and the brush springs into the plastic motor housing, and melting it.

I managed to remove the metal from the motor housing, and clean it up as best I could with a small file, so the new motor wouldn’t foul on the case.

We reassembled the unit so that the owner would know how to do this – I then sent them links to the documentation that we followed during disassembly, which included links to buy a new motor if they still wished to (between £30.00 and £40.00).