Many years ago, I purchased a lawnmower from a reputable national chain. I expected it to have a long life, yet shortly after the one-year warrantee ran out, I hit a large rock that was sticking up in the lawn. The mower began to vibrate severely. Obviously, something had gone terribly wrong.
I stopped the lawnmower and turned it upside down. I rotated the shaft by hand, and I could see that the shaft was bent. When I removed the blade I could also see there were no shear pins nor any other way for the blade to take the shock without transmitting it to the whole mower. Once it hit the rock, the shaft took all of the impact. I was now stuck with an almost-new mower that had a bent shaft. I was facing the option of either rebuilding the engine or buying another mower.
I live in a rural farming community where it is common to fix the oldest and most decrepit machinery -- it’s part of our lifestyle. I remembered having seen a house nearby that had a bunch of old lawnmowers sitting out for sale. The house also had a sign posted advertising lawnmower repair. So I took the mower to the gentleman who ran the mower shop and asked if he could repair my mower’s shaft. He took the mower and turned it over. He grabbed a pipe and put it on the bent shaft. He pushed the pipe in just the right direction, and he pushed with just the right amount of pressure. He was able to straighten the shaft. Just like that it was fixed.
The original problem was still there, however. There was no give if the blade hit a fixed and hard object -- which was bound to happen again. So I modified the shaft-to-blade adapter so that the blade would spin on the adapter if I hit another object. Voila, a solution. I used the lawnmower with great success for another 24 years.
This entry was submitted by Ray Mainer and edited by Jennifer Campbell.
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If I ever meet whoever put the engine into that Ciation car, I promise I will beat them up. Bloody their nose, break their arms or something painful, just to pay me back for all of the busted knuckles I received while changing the spark plugs or the back side of the engine. I really liked that car except for that and it made me hate it from then on.
I believe that if you polled most engineers, rrietz, approximately 90% would agree with everything you said here. Most engineers do the repairs to save money or because they secretly enjoy it, which is why many engineers are driving older cars. I can speak for myself here: Whenever I buy a new car (every 12 years or so), I feel like I'm being wasteful.
I agree, Cadman-LT. More likely than not, any item you buy - especially small electrics or small gas powered machines - is designed to be replaced after failing. Repairability is not considered in most cases. Of course, some items (like my long gone '81 Citation) were too expensive to throw away but were a bear to fix. In general, most of today's vehicles are more reliable than those from the 70's and 80's.
I get a great amount of satisfaction from fixing things. Some people might find that as an acceptable way to recycle or to think green. The green I really care about is the green in my wallet.
I did not realize that Radio Shack carried those thermal fuses. But I don't know what temperature to buy, and my guess is that the RS ones would be on the low side. So instead, we unplug the coffee maker when we leave. In addition, it sits in a thick glass tray, sort of fire resistant. And the running control for that package is sort of electronic, so I hope that it does not fail in the "on" mode.
Radio Shack still has a variety of these thermal fuses/switches. There are 2 in most coffe makers, the one for the hot-water boiler is actually a switch, and has a temperature rating on it, the other one is a one-time in-line with power fuse
I am glad someone pointed out the dangers involved of simply straightening out a bent shaft. That is the key component of any engine and I seriously doubt that piece of pipe was actually able to put it in balance again. I really doubt the crank was cast, but was probably a forging, which forms the grain of the material into the stongest positions. A cast crank would not have a proper grain structure and would probably break before bending to any real degree. Anyway it is not just important that the shaft is almost straight when you have the flywheel inertia of an 11 radius flying about 6" from body parts.
Replacing the crankshaft is not an example of our throw away society any more than relacing a bent blade, which can also be straightened but at what cost if you now a have a vibrating piece of accident looking for a place to happen. Then if you live where I do you can run across the river and find some lawyer in Illinois to try and sue the manufacture's socks off.
Just reminded me of a weedeater I bought a few years back. I bought a nice one thinking it would last me a very long time. I buy most of my tools for that very reason...they will last. That weedeater only lasted about 5 years and I BARELY used it. I've had the same problem with cordless drills...the batteries go bad and then it's cheaper to just buy a new drill than replace the batteries...if you can even replace them. It's a sad world we live in...lol Just buy more!!!!
It used to be that you could expect a "new" machine to out perform and last you a long time. I hate how things have become. You buy a "new" machine today and almost HAVE to expect it to break. What the hell happened to quality?
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