We were really chuffed to have Dave and Faraz from the Restart Project join us for the mendathon to help with electronic repairs – but they soon turned their hands to help with a range of other repairs too.
Dave got started by fixing a hedge trimmer.
The head of one of the screws was stripped so it was tricky to get into.
Once he got in a multi meter was used to check for any breaks in the circuit as the motor wasn’t working.
A loose wire connection was found and adjusted
which did the trick and brought it back to life! 
As the day got busier we tallied the repairs on our chalk board.
One lady brought a well loved bag and Izzie showed her how to fix it.
First the seam was sewn up by hand…
and then the handle.
Before the shoulder strap was turned into a belt!
Mattia brought along a second-hand digital thermometer,
the LCD panel wasn’t displaying information properly.
Once it was opened up he found out the corner of the glass display was chipped. 
This meant some of the contacts could not work properly as the circuit was broken.
Handily one of the other stalls at the Mini Maker Faire was selling liquid copper, conductive ink (a smart material)
This was painted on to the chipped corner to build it up so that the circuit could be complete again.
Once the ink had dried and the thermometer was re-assembled the display worked like new!
Ali got to work on the Edwardian cake stand his girlfriend’s Grandmother had given her.
The leg had snapped off
so after gluing and bracing it
he reinforced the join with a screw
and then clamped it and left the glue to set.
Faraz diagnosed the source of the problem with an old iBook G4 that wasn’t charging up. 
It needed a new battery to be sourced from ebay and installed.
Tom demonstrated his wonderful darning
repairing a moth eaten jumper with contrasting thread to create a new pattern.
He also showcased his visible mending on a sample jumper
and darned the frayed cuff of a jumper.
Ali completed the mend on Victoria’s kitchen chair by fixing the arm back on and reinforcing it.
He then tested his handy work!
After trying to find out whether we could 3D print a new leg for a table with one missing
we decided to make it a design feature.
One young maker brought along his explorer kit with a broken strap,
Dave showed him what was wrong
and he and his Dad fixed it with a new fitting,
ready for more adventures!
Mattia, as busy as usual, fixed some speakers by cleaning the connection points.
The Restarters took a look at Victoria’s printer power transformer that had stopped working although it was very new.
After cutting through the heat sealed plastic casing and prising it open the fuse was tested to see if it had blown. This was diagnosed to be the problem, unfortunately as with many electrical goods, the part that needed replacing was sealed in and not readily available to replace so it couldn’t be fixed.
However, over the course of the day our fantastic team managed to save twenty two items from landfill!
Brighton Repair Café 
