One of the things that drives me a bit nuts in the (ongoing) debate over right to repair laws is what might be called the “solipsism” of anti-repair arguments. These often boil down to statements like “repairing x is way too complicated and scary. I’d never even try it…and neither should you!”
I’ve heard this argument made in more right to repair hearings than I can count. It occasionally even spills from the lips of people who should know better, as this public radio segment on Apple’s Self Repair program illustrates. (A segment I will link to but will not listen to again because it makes me want to scream…and cry…at the same time.)
Needless to say, what individual legislators, reporters or consumers find to be ‘within their comfort zone’ should not be the basis for making laws that broadly support consumer rights, competition, free markets and the environment. So, while you may not be comfortable doing a logic board repair on a broken laptop, plenty of other people are. They should be free to pursue their passion for repair…and even make money at it by repairing the stuff that you can’t. In the process, they’ll save you money, support themselves and help the planet.
In fact, it has never been easier to become capable at fixing things. These days, even those who didn’t grow up tinkering, but are “repair curious” have endless resources at their disposal thanks to the Internet and YouTube. They range from iFixit’s iPhone battery replacement tutorials to Jessa Jones “Intro to Microsoldering,” and lots more.
That’s a long wind up to this week’s Friday Repair Chat topic which is: where do (or did) you learn to repair? What are some resources (print, online, meatspace) that are reservoirs of knowledge for folks who might want to learn how to become a fixer? Share them below!
May 27, 2022·edited May 27, 2022Liked by Fight to Repair Newsletter
In the late nineties a neighbor helped me upgrade RAM and the hard drive in a Windows 95 PC. As a high school kid I soon began salvaging PCs from the garbage and recombining them. In the early 2000s there were enough cheap laptops around that I started dissecting dead ones. Eventually I started replacing fans on them, reseating data cables and replacing screen inverters. As the trend goes, many electronics are harder to fix than before but the resources are so much better. Between Youtube and iFixit there are teardowns of everything.
the front brakes on my car started grinding in college my dad sent me a repair kit to replace the pads, and my roommate helped me. I moved on to alternators, brake hydraulics, power windows, multifunction switches, etc.
I think the biggest resource for me was to have someone push me in the right direction, give me confidence to try things and instill the "you can't make it worse, you don't know until you try" attitude, which is what I try to pass on. Resources are there if you need them, but that initial push is what really helps.
I learned the "Fix it" mentality from my Dad. He was a child of the Depression so fixing wasn't optional -- it was how everyone made do. I learned how to solder, unwillingly, as a 2nd hand while he played with building Heathkit consumer electronics. It was remarkably useful experience for future home-repair projects along with a "I'll try" attitude. If something is headed for the trash -- I'll try exploratory surgery first - so even if I can't fix it I will have learned something.
In the late nineties a neighbor helped me upgrade RAM and the hard drive in a Windows 95 PC. As a high school kid I soon began salvaging PCs from the garbage and recombining them. In the early 2000s there were enough cheap laptops around that I started dissecting dead ones. Eventually I started replacing fans on them, reseating data cables and replacing screen inverters. As the trend goes, many electronics are harder to fix than before but the resources are so much better. Between Youtube and iFixit there are teardowns of everything.
the front brakes on my car started grinding in college my dad sent me a repair kit to replace the pads, and my roommate helped me. I moved on to alternators, brake hydraulics, power windows, multifunction switches, etc.
I think the biggest resource for me was to have someone push me in the right direction, give me confidence to try things and instill the "you can't make it worse, you don't know until you try" attitude, which is what I try to pass on. Resources are there if you need them, but that initial push is what really helps.
I learned the "Fix it" mentality from my Dad. He was a child of the Depression so fixing wasn't optional -- it was how everyone made do. I learned how to solder, unwillingly, as a 2nd hand while he played with building Heathkit consumer electronics. It was remarkably useful experience for future home-repair projects along with a "I'll try" attitude. If something is headed for the trash -- I'll try exploratory surgery first - so even if I can't fix it I will have learned something.