Mend it and make do

[MontyVeda]

I have been going mad with Gorilla Glue. Attached the soles to 2 pairs of shoes, fixed a hole in the membrane of my roof. Reinforced the screw holes of a rotted fence post.
In other news, I re-purposed a fire extinguisher bracket to support a wicker bicycle basket.

Last summer the cap stone of my Dad's garden wall had come loose, so under his instruction, I Gorilla Glued it back on. On Saturday, dad reversed into his garden wall, knocking that part of it down. But the cap stone was still firmly in place. Yesterday I Gorrilla Glued the wall back together!

 

[classic33]

The three-point lift on a Massey Ferguson 65.
Cost of parts was close on a £1000, where the tractor was. Got for less than £50, from local sources, following a few calls and a bit of leg work. Hardest part was getting them to where they were needed.

 

[classic33]

What........with zip ties

New way of tying the knot

 

[colly]

I've spent a good portion of my working life bringing old and worn out furniture back into use. As a paying customer it isn't always the cheapest option though.
But, y'know.............a chap has to eat.
Apart from that there's old timber re-used for fencing, old flags cleaned and re-used, secondhand bricks, roof tiles, salvaged glass for a greenhouse. Alway bought seconhand cars too. The vans I used were new though.
As far as bikes go I have never actually bought a new bike for myself. I did for the kids but all mine, or at least the frames are secondhand. I had a bike stolen once and the insurance paid for a new one but while the new bike was nice, I would have preferred my old one back.

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

The three-point lift on a Massey Ferguson 65.
Cost of parts was close on a £1000, where the tractor was. Got for less than £50, from local sources, following a few calls and a bit of leg work. Hardest part was getting them to where they were needed.

That makes me think about my old Vitara. The power steering pipe failed due to corrosion and the genuine part was going to cost £400 plus fitting, which was more than the car was worth. A local hydraulic specialist made an all new one for £50.

 

[classic33]

That makes me think about my old Vitara. The power steering pipe failed due to corrosion and the genuine part was going to cost £400 plus fitting, which was more than the car was worth. A local hydraulic specialist made an all new one for £50.

Carrying it all in the rucksack, going on holiday, was the hard part. Would import duty be payable was my biggest worry?

Some said I was mad for trying, others mad for actually doing it. Security warning about bag snatchers was a laugh, it looked just like any other rucksack.

 

[Cycleops]

Surprised @SkipdiverJohn hasn't put in an appearance yet!

 

[wonderloaf]

I replaced the handlebar tape on our old lawnmower with some old handlebar tape that I'd been keeping. Knew I'd find a use for it sooner or later!

 

[ColinJ]

I've mentioned them before, but here are a couple ...

A decent singlespeed bike for less than £80 and a load of old bits:

(At that point the spend was less than £60 but I then bought a new saddle, 2 bottle cages and a replacement headset for it.)

A laptop brought back from the dead and still in use a couple of years later (I'm typing this post on it!):

Oh, and ... my baggy shorts!

 

[gbb]

Years ago our CRT tv suddenly went black.. no picture. My wife suggested I take the back off and have a look....I mean, what the heck am I going to find in there....oh......one of the many power resisters wire leg had broken. Soldered it together...worked a dream.

Polish guy at work came in the workshop with the crank in his hand...it had snapped , but it was the BB axle that snapped. Chamfered the two broken bits of axle and mig welded it up successfully and incredibly I managed to replicate the rewelded square taper with a file. I told him he MUST replace it asap.

Dad's most infamous was someone was pulling a Vulcan bomber into the hangar for quick turn round maintenance. They managed to clip the wingtip on the hangar door and put a fair dent in it. All hell broke loose, it was imminently due to fly out to Canada and after pouring over the tech documents dad said he'd fill the dent with araldite AND sign it off..there was no structural impact so it would be ok...and so it was.

Again, years ago I had a mini and the brake lights pressure switch failed so no brake lights. I rigged two pieces of wire through the car , connected them at the hydraulic switch in the engine bay and announced 'brake' to my wife and she would touch the wires together and the lights would come on.
It worked long enough until I scrapped the car shortly after.

 

[classic33]

Surprised @SkipdiverJohn hasn't put in an appearance yet!

@slowmotion 'll put us all to shame.

 

[cyberknight]

As posted eslewhere recently
Sram apex shifter reach adjustment cam fell to bits so i used a cable tie to replace it as the shift lever was getting stuck behind the brake lever when you changed gears., the cam sat around the pivot bar the shift lever turns back on when you brake and was spring loaded so i compressed the spring then zip tied it closed.As it was a white zip tie i even used some car touch up paint to paint it then dabbed some superglue on it so it doesn't rotate .

 

[Dave 123]

You’ve seen the jokes thread then?

Plenty of recycling in there!

 

[Tail End Charlie]

I've bodged many things over the years, with varying degrees of success. Perhaps the most in one go was about ten years ago. My neighbour's gardener managed to burn down my shed (and his own) with all my garden tools in, many of which had been my dad's and all of which had wooden handles. After getting the insurance money for new ones I bought a load of various lengths and shapes of handle and spent many hours getting the fit exactly right. In many ways he did me a favour, for instance the spade handles which had always been a little short, I replaced with longer ones, which helps reduce back ache.

I think the mark of a bodger is, when something breaks, you're secretly pleased because you've another thing to fix.

 

[fossyant]

The central heating boiler. The extractor fan on it makes a noise occasionally, a squirt of bike oil sorts it for the next couple of years. Boiler wasn't firing very well, then stopped. Popped all the covers off, found out it's just very simple inside, cleaned up the ignition and 'earth' first with a 'screwdriver' then brushed on some WD40 electrical contact cleaner (sprayed a small kids paint brush rather than spray the contacts (kaboom !) - works perfect now.

Repaired the garage door cable when it frayed - you don't realise how much an 'up and over door' relies on the cables each side - the ruddy door fell off. Bought some generic cable from B&Q and a couple of cable clamps and bodged a repair. Bike brake cable would have done if I'd have had enough.

Loads of other stuff. Car air bag light going off regular - learnt the 'magic reset process', and worked out it was the drivers side air bag in the chair. The contacts are right at the back of the chair and prone to being kicked or knocked by kids/shopping. Finally fixed it with electrical cleaner, taped the wires to the seat frame, and popped a piece of cardboard in to protect the connection from direct knocks. No lights in 6 months.