Repair Cafe Perth in Perth, Western Australia | Community organisation

Repair Cafe Perth

Locality: Perth, Western Australia

Address: North Perth Lesser Hall, 24 View St, North Perth WA 6006 6006 Perth, WA, Australia

Website: http://www.repaircafeperth.org.au/

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10.05.2022 It's Repair Café Perth morning today. Please remember to wear your mask. Otherwise you shall be required to wait outside the hall while your Repair is undertaken. Thanks everyone. This SP1 flasher programmer was brought in last time by Frederik. It is used for programming chips.... As Alex, our electronics volunteer explained it was operating at 5 volts instead of 3.3 volts jumper. Frederik had bought it from China. Alex checked online circuit diagram on phone. Breech one of connections to another so it works. Then solder the connection. Such a delicate operation and an excellent work-around. Our thanks to everyone for supporting the Repair Café Perth culture and especially to @cityofvincent for the use of this beautiful venue.

20.04.2022 We are open for our May Repair Café Perth event tomorrow, Saturday 14th May. North Perth Town Hall, 26 View Street, from 9:30 to 11:30am. These Lemax Christmas ornaments were brought in to our March Repair Café Perth event. It seems so long ago! These are usually on display at John Carey office, the local state member for Perth, for Christmas. ... They were his mother's but some of them were no longer working properly. Four of our electronics specialist volunteers, Dougie, Alex, Cleye and Tom divided the ornaments, in their original boxes, between them to see if they could be brought back to life. One had artificial snow inside preventing the cogs from moving. This was cleaned and fixed. Another, a carousel had no music which might have been a 'dry' solder joint. It took a bit of time to discover how to get to the workings. Luckily some of them were repaired on the day but some will be held over until our next event. John Carey offers us the use of his photocopier for our Repair Café Perth administration. Many thanks for your support! See you all tomorrow!

05.04.2022 Don't forget the we are having our Repair Café Perth May event a week earlier than usual. This coming Saturday 14th May 2022. Check our events tab at the top of our Facebook page for all the details. ... We remind all our visitors that we are going to respectfully require our visitors to wear masks while they wait to have their item(s) repaired, and otherwise they will be asked to wait outside. This is in view of the steadily rising numbers of COVID cases in our state since restrictions were eased recently. Please come to our event knowing that this will be our policy for entry and bring your mask. We want to keep all our visitors and volunteers safe. Our volunteer Alex checked a manual typewriter named Olivetti Leterra 32 which our visitor Greer brought in to the Repair Café Perth event in March. The ink ribbon carrier stayed up instead of dropping down into place, ready for the manual keys to transfer the ink to the paper. Alex investigated and discovered that the ribbon carrier was not being pulled/pushed down. Was it a spring missing? I left Alex and Greer to figure it out and saw that in the end it was Fixed! Yay! Not sure exactly what the problem was but they worked it out.

03.04.2022 For our May Repair Café Perth event instead of the third Saturday (21st May) we shall bring the event forward one week. So we shall set up our volunteer stations on Saturday 14th May at North Perth Town Hall, 26 View Street at the usual time. Please check out the event details in the tab at the top of our Facebook page. I'm sure our visitors will have many items for our team. We missed the April event because of Easter so hopefully many of you have been waiting for us to ope...n again. Bring along your items at the usual time: 9:30am to 11:30am. One of our visitors, Marta, brought in her bag, at our last event. The webbing had frayed and was very loose. Our textile volunteer Helen managed to tidy up the messy strap, securely tuck in and sew the strapping in a square and crossover diagonals to make this bag useful again. This was an adjustable strap and losing a section wasn't a problem. This type of repair is very satisfying and didn't take very long to complete. If you have a problem like this, bring it along. Our thanks to @cityofvincent for the use of the North Perth Town Hall for this upcoming alternate day, and all our monthly events.

25.03.2022 Our next Repair Café Perth event will be held a week earlier than usual. Instead of the third Saturday of the month we will be holding it on Saturday 14th May 2022. It will be at the usual venue North Perth Town Hall 26 View Street. And the same opening hours 9:30am to 11:30am. This change has been scheduled because of the Town Hall being used for the Federal Election Day 21st May when it will be needed for voting. ... We missed the April Repair Café Perth event because of the Easter holidays, so we hope that our visitors will have set aside some items to bring along for May. At our last event our general volunteer, Ian, was presented with a child's little windup bunny toy. Mabel, our visitor, brought it in. This over-wound bunny, when Ian opened it up and released the internal spring, behaved exactly as intended. Yay, it was working. There will be a very happy child as Mabel said this was her favourite at the moment. Toss it? No way!

25.01.2022 And another interesting little job for Kim, our volunteer on the electronics station last week. Our visitor, Stephen, brought in a very unusual time piece. It was a set of Nixie tubes from the 1960s or 70s. One of the time digits was malfunctioning. And Stephen had brought in the Ukraine/Russian replacement part. ... This display was a 9volt device but transforms up inside the unit to higher voltage. Kim did not need to do anything but remove the non-functioning Nixie tube and slot in the new one. Stephen's replacement part which he'd brought in had 11 thin wires! Eleven wires to solder in? Kim cut the wires to the correct length and prepared the soldering equipment. The hardest part was positioning each wire. But after a fiddly lining up of each wire to each soldering slot, it securely clicked in. The timepiece was tested and working. Such a lovely and unusual, collectable, old technology now ready to display with hours, minutes and seconds flashing the time. It certainly drew the eyes of our other visitors and volunteers.

25.01.2022 Last Saturday at the Repair Café Perth September event our visitor Todd brought in his non-functioning car key remote. Our electronics volunteer Muraly (welcome to the team) was able to open the fob, diagnose the loose part and solder it back in place on the circuit board. This repair never fails to astound. And once again Todd will be able to unlock his car, etc.... Yay! Well done, Muraly, your first and successful fix with Repair Café Perth. We were in the larger North Perth Town Hall and there was plenty of space for distancing. We are pleased to continue with City of Vincent and all local guidelines for Western Australia. Thank you to all for complying with directions.

25.01.2022 At the very beginning of our September morning Repair Café Perth event Jason brought in his edger. It had a starter problem. Our general volunteer Tom, who deals with lots of different issues, including motors and bikes and metals, took on this task. Jason, our visitor, learnt from Tom how to quickly check if the spark plugs were actually creating their spark and this seemed to be OK. ... Next Tom explained how the carburettors sucks fuel with air. And how there needed to be the correct relation between air and fuel. It turned out that the setting of the choke may have soaked the plug with fuel and could not attain ignition. A quick check was done of the cleaniness of the filter over choke. They took the machine outside to see if it could be started but after several attempts the machine still wouldn't kick over. Possibly the choke was still flooding. The video shows the energy needed to turn the engine over! More pictures, of this assessment, are shared in the comments. Unfortunately it needed more than could be dealt with at our Repair Café Perth event. But Jason was pleased that the basics had been checked and he knew it needed more detailed attention and possibly parts. It is reassuring to get expert advice in an unknown area and learn a bit more about the machines that we use.

24.01.2022 At our last Repair Café Perth event a visitor, Uta, brought in a battery operated transistor Short Wave radio. Our electronics volunteer, Simon, took it apart to find there was a corroded battery leakage. He cleaned the compartment and found a loose wire, which he re-soldered. A quick test with new batteries and it was Fixed! A successful morning's repair.

24.01.2022 Our Repair Café Perth recommendations are that if you can bring it in with two hands, our volunteers will try to repair it. And it mostly works. Sometimes it is two times two hands. With a little bit of help our visitor, Lisa, did manage to bring her 10 year old Blanket box in for our volunteer Bruce. The furnished edge had come loose. She used it for storage of her handbags and hoped to give it a tidy-up.... Bruce tackled this with a stapler. A very sturdy woodworker's tool. Pull, tuck, secure! All around the inside edge of the piece of furniture. See the video in comments. Then to finish off the job, he covered the staples with the ever-useful duct tape. Lisa was very happy to have her handbags storage back in working order and looking neat. It shall once again keep things tidy at home. Well done, Bruce. Though we do ask that items are kept to a manageable size.

24.01.2022 The music box that Simon repaired this morning at our Repair Café Perth September event.

21.01.2022 We had a couple come to visit our Repair Café Perth event last Saturday; Uta and Martin. Martin had brought in a single element of his surround sound system, a speaker which had had an 'accident'. Simon, our electronics volunteer, opened the back and inspected the circuit board.... It appeared that it needed both a small soldering job for a loosened connection, as well as some glue to fix the circuit board, which was cracked. Simon fixed the connection with his solder equipment then the board was transferred to our gluing volunteer, Ella, who did what was necessary there. Martin will have to test it at home. But it seemed to be a successful fix. Uta also brought in a repair which will be described in the next Repair story, soon. It is safe to say that they both rang the FIXED bell with big smiles as they left. Repair Café Perth was back in the North Perth Lesser Hall again and we were careful to only allow a limited number of visitors in at any one time. Our visitors were all very understanding despite being keen to see what exactly all the other volunteers were tackling at their stations. We really can't allow sightseers to wander in whilst we are still maintaining the COVID-19 restrictions. Our next Repair Café Perth event will be on Saturday 19th September 2020 and we will be complying with the City of Vincent's advice, and all government restrictions, at that time. Thank you to City of Vincent for your support.

21.01.2022 The first job last Saturday was an innovative one. Our visitor, Lionel, had a wooden horse statue which had an unstable wooden base. Lionel had brought in the brass lid from a glass peach jar. He wanted to have it secured to the base of the statue. ... He had thought about it and the lid needed to be heavier. So he had added two cut off tin lids inside to increase the weight. They fitted perfectly! Bernie, our volunteer for all things different, drilled a hole through and secure the solid base into the statue and inserted a screw. Taa daah! A display that Lionel was very pleased with. All fixed with the cooperation of visitor and volunteer.

21.01.2022 And now a textile repair on a shirt with a tear on the pocket. Jasmin, our sewing volunteer, discussed with Gary, our visitor, that she could reinforce the damage on the inside and stitch it to hold it together. In a patterned shirt the repair is less visible. Jasmin checked the whole shirt and near the collar found another tear and fixed that, too. ... Gary was thrilled to have his favourite shirt repaired and ready to wear. He rang the fixed bell!

20.01.2022 At our August Repair Café Perth session, we were visited by young Alistair plus his mum, Alison. She'd left Alistair's younger triplet siblings at home. They'd brought in a push-along toy duck. Which, Alistair explained, "Just broke!" Our glue, string and tape volunteer, Lynda, glued and screwed all handles together and yet it still had a bit of a wobble, even though all joints seemed secure and fixed.... It was still usable now for all Alison's children, and maybe even more exciting with the extra sideways movement to allow for? Little Alistair was very patient as he had to wait for the glue to dry. It took all morning. Great job and thank you to all the volunteers who generously give of their expertise and time. Next Repair Café Perth event is on Saturday 19th September at 10am to 12 noon. We are in the larger North Perth Town Hall on View Street this month. Thank you to the City of Vincent for their continued support.

20.01.2022 We had a successful morning at Repair Café Perth today. All our volunteers were prepared and waiting for the 10am start. One of the first items for Simon, on our electrical station, was a vintage music box. Our visitor had been given this new as child of 6-7 years. It was a present from her mum's close friend who had bought it for her.... The box no longer played music and the dancer has lost its twirling movement. She remembered it had played the Blue Danube and another tune. It was possible that her own children may have fiddled with it. Simon dismantled the brass movement and investigated. He cleaned out some gunge and metal shavings, then applied a bit of oil. And it started working. A final adjustment of the musical cylinder which was sightly rotated, put back in place and the music and dancer were back in action. Our visitor and her friend were delighted that this was restored to working condition. And rang the 'fixed' bell. Our following post shows the video of the movements and spinning ballerina.

19.01.2022 One of our visitors had joined us late for our September event. She had brought in a stapler which no longer worked. This was one of 20 staplers that she and her co-workers used to attach labels, onto shoes for sale, in a shop. As they failed, they accumulated. She couldn't bear to just throw them all out. Every time one stopped working they bought another one. She left one of the staplers with Bruce, our general fix-it volunteer, who took it home to investigate. ... He dismantled it and a pin fell out! Bruce looked it up online to find the exact metal strip placement. But this wasn't the problem! It turns out that this was a good quality Swedish make stapler which needed a regular maintenance drop of oil and a clean. Our visitor returned for our October Repair Café Perth event and learnt how to manage the 20 other staplers that she had saved in a box. What a great outcome! Such a savings in both cost and materials. A little drop of oil and maintenance. So simple.

18.01.2022 Just wanted everyone to know we are celebrating our Repair Café Perth's THIRD birthday this month. Yay! Come and join us celebrate on November 21st at North Perth Town Hall, 27 View Street. We are so thrilled to have the support of all the volunteers and visitors who thoroughly embrace the spirit of sharing. We all care!... And thank you to #cityofvincent for their environmental grant. Let's spread the word, that we can make a difference, one item at a time, one repair at a time and constantly learning from each other. Every single event has been a revelation for both visitors and volunteers as we share the knowledge that we all bring. It's a two-way conversation. A big Happy Birthday to you all! Toss it? No way! At our previous October event our reception staff were found fixing a loose leg on a chair. They uncovered the problem at the door; a loose and a missing bolt. Our visitor Mark didn't make it to a repair station! Our volunteer Stu advised on a second bolt to stabilise the chair's leg and Mark was thrilled at the service. Ring the bell!

14.01.2022 Sometimes you need to accept that a repair might not be successful! So when Mel brought in her old "Thermomix type" blender she knew that she would let Bruce, our general fix-it volunteer, tackle her kitchen appliance any way he needed to. She had brought in a new, small rubber replacement part, because that part had been warped and destroyed during the appliance's use over the years.... It took some determination on Bruce's part to wrangle the mangled rubber cog off the central spindle. Pliers twisting and pulling, it finally came away. It looked like a holding screw had held it. Bruce used a hammer and chisel to try to turn that screw. It would not shift. The expressions on onlookers' face was a sight to behold. There was some serious banging occurring! Mel was resigned to failure. In the end, Bruce cut a slot into holding screw with his dremel drill in order to use his screwdriver. The screw disintegrated. But it wasn't needed. The drive shaft itself transferred all the power. The new rubber cog was for positioning only and did not experience any sideways pressure, so the screw was not needed, in daily use. With care during cleaning, it only need to be glued in place. The screw was excess to needs. Mel was very happy that the blender was ready for use again. It took Bruce some elbow grease and grit to get that old cog and superfluous screw out, but he never wavered in his attempt to fix it. It is often surprising how well it turns out when you are prepared to give it a go. Another survivor from landfill. Toss it? No way!

14.01.2022 We had a very successful and busy Repair Café Perth event last Saturday. As it was our THIRD BIRTHDAY anniversary, we hoped to have lots of support from our visitors and they didn't disappoint. Lots of excited and positive vibes could be felt as people offered their individual repair expectation to the appropriate volunteer. ... When the numbers were counted there were just under 50 items brought in and 78% were fixed. This is a solid achievement in just two hours! The diversity of repairs is always enjoyable to see. We encourage all our visitors and followers to spread the word about Repair Café and the ethos of Toss it? No way! One way to build and build on this, is to enjoy the stories on our Facebook and/or Instagram page. AND THEN to react or interact with each post. The power of this media can really reach far and wide. Also for positive outcomes. Oh and the huge inflatable Minion? Unfortunately we didn't have a water bath big enough to find the leak!!!

12.01.2022 It's Repair Café Perth morning! We are celebrating our 3rd BIRTHDAY today! Bring along your items and share in this milestone as our volunteers will be ready for you from 10am to 12 noon. ... HAPPY BIRTHDAY and thank you to everyone who help to make this such a success; all our visitors, volunteers and the support of #cityofvincent over the years.

09.01.2022 Here is the working stapler video! Just think, 20 of these will have been saved from landfill!

09.01.2022 We had such a great Repair Café Perth a fortnight ago. It is wonderful to be able to have almost normal activity in these COVID-19 times. We are so grateful for the use of the North Perth Town Hall by the City of Vincent for our next event. It has more room to comply with the social distancing that we need to see all the lined up visitors and their interesting repairs. We had one visitor, Kingsley, who brought in a 1937 mantle clock. It was his Dad's and may have been a wedd...ing gift. It wouldn't run properly. Our general fix it volunteer, Bruce opened the back door and found the pendulum and key tucked inside. He tackled the job with a basic touch up clean and check. He used a multi purpose lubricant spray. The clock was working perfectly and it wasn't until Bruce put it all together that Kingsley realised that pendulum weight needed to be on the hook for proper functioning. A wonderful fixed clock and a definite learning experience.

08.01.2022 Sometimes a partial fix is good enough. Our visitor Anle brought in a hand held, cordless leafblower which had a variable speed on switch. But it just wouldn't stay on. It was unstable.... Our electronics volunteer, Alex, took it apart and fiddled with the switch components. Alex managed to get it working but at high speed only. And Anle was very happy to use it like that. Yay! Another happy customer.

08.01.2022 We had such a great Repair Café Perth a month ago. It is wonderful to be able to have almost normal activity in these COVID-19 times. Tomorrow Saturday 19th September is once again our monthly event. The address is North Perth Town Hall, 27 View Street.... Have you got your things ready? Textiles (hand or machine sewing repairs); Electronics (but not 240V, only battery operated or DC), Glue, string, tape; Bikes; General fixits. We are so grateful for the use of the North Perth Town Hall by the City of Vincent for our events. It has more room to comply with the social distancing we need to see all the lined up visitors and their interesting repairs. Toss it? No way!

08.01.2022 We almost always have a repair story that catches everyone's eye during our Repair cafe Perth event. Last Saturday, Alex, one of our electronics volunteers, was faced with a not-so-happy Elmo. He used to sing and dance but now he just sat there unresponsive. Taneeta had brought him in for repairs. It was for her one year old granddaughter, Mariah.... Initially Alex thought the battery connection seemed a bit stiff but it might not be the problem. The batteries were good; always a good first check. All the visitors and volunteers kept an eye on this repair as the morning progress. It was without a doubt the most popular repair of the day. Then the wires were exposed in Elmo's left hand (having stripped his covering off that arm) and connected. A switch was broken and repaired. Everyone cheered and Elmo began to sing again. Good work, but would he dance again? Now it became a more serious operation. Elmo was skinned down to his waist. We all keep our eyes on what was happening in that corner! It turned out that the pulley belt had come off the spinners in his innards. Once replaced the whole room was excited about the naked, singing, dancing, weird looking toy! Elmo was given back his dignity, re-clothed and stuffed. He needed a few stitches to sew back his covering and Alex's wife Cat, volunteering as chaperone, did it for the team. Our textile volunteer, Sharon, was single-handedly managing her sewing station; so Cat wielding a needle and thread was a big help. Elmo was returned to Taneeta, who enjoyed every single progress step of this repair. This is a story to share when her granddaughter is old enough to understand. Yay, what a great outcome! Success! We hope you enjoyed reading about this successful repair and we would appreciate it if you could like, comment and/or share this post to spread our efforts to the wider public. Thank you.

05.01.2022 At our last repair Café Perth event in October Todd brought in his bike. The wheels were dragging and causing friction. Our very versatile volunteer, Dougie, was on the bike station that week, as a change from the electronics area.... Dougie set the bike onto the bike work stand and adjusted the bearings and tested that everything was moving freely. Todd and Dougie worked together to solve the problem and the bike was once again operational. Check out our website for any frequently asked questions about Repair Café Perth. www.repaircafeperth.org.au We are grateful to #cityofvincent for their support of Repair Café Perth and helping with our North Perth Hall venue.

04.01.2022 Also at the August Repair Café Perth event, Alison waited in line a second time (with son Alistair) to see if the electronics team could help with a non-functioning, large Bluetooth speaker. It was used for the children to listen to music. This was a fun repair to watch develop over the morning. Our electronics volunteer, Dougie, wriggled off the snugly fitted fabric cover so he could get into the working electronics.... He searched but couldn't discover a way in. Did it need to have some brute force applied to break the glued base? He waited to get the help of a second pair of hands from Kim, another of our electronics volunteer experts. As Dougie waited, he examined the speaker closely. Then he saw the small diamond shaped, but very flush plugs. Ah ha! He realised this was the way in, popped them out and found access to the securing screws. Inside the glued on magnet had dislodged from the base. There was a bit of a wait for the gluing team. Ella our 'glue, string and tape' volunteer used a strong glue to reposition and secure the magnet connection. And then it was back to Dougie to reassemble. Alison was instructed to wait until the glue dried properly, for 24 hours, before testing. We are all hoping that the combined efforts of the volunteer's teams has sorted the speaker problem for Alison and her family. Our next Repair Café Perth event is next Saturday 19th September. Gather your things and come along. It's at North Perth Town Hall, View Street.

04.01.2022 Come this morning with your items for repair. Repair Café Perth is open from 10am to 12 noon. At North Perth Town Hall 27 View Street. At our August event it isn't always a repair that was needed; just some assessment and suggestions. ... Our visitor, Anle, brought in a dehydrator. And Dougie, our electronics volunteer, opened it up and tested the circuits. According to Anle, it had stopped working halfway through use. All the connections were good, and the determination was that it was probably a fuse that needed replacing. She will order a new fuse and have it replaced. Just knowing that there is someone who can test your equipment and advise on the probably cause of an issue is reassuring. And it saves us from being unsure. This is great! It saves unnecessary waste. We cannot always fix things but when you leave you will know why!