Broken lamps and blenders get new lives at the Repair Advice Clinic. Exploded jeans, not so much.
Held monthly on the Oakland campus, the fix-it event is open to the campus and community offering repair advice from volunteer experts
OAKLAND, Calif. — Lunging for a wild badminton shot over the weekend, Sam Stowe felt (and heard) something rip.
“They just exploded,” says the technician of Northeastern Oakland’s MakerSpace, examining a pair of badly damaged jeans. “But I made the shot.”
Major tears along the inside seams, broken zippers, burnt-out electrical cords, malfunctioning kitchen appliances — they all got a second (and third and sometimes fourth) pair of eyes and hands at a Repair Advice Clinic held in the campus MakerSpace.
Every month, volunteers with fix-it expertise and the tools to make things right huddle around broken-but-hopefully-fixable items brought in by students, faculty, staff or community members in need.
“We’re all very good at taking things apart. Some are better at putting them back together,” says Charles Glorioso, a retired electrical engineer who brought his own toolbox. “I like these events because I get to learn stuff.”
When it came to fixing the cord on a vintage lamp, Glorioso already knew just what to do. Brought in by MakerSpace director Suzanne Schmidt, the lamp went dark two years ago after the cord blew out in dramatic fashion.
“I brought this lamp home from Wisconsin in my luggage,” says Schmidt, who was visiting her parents when she spied the item in a vintage store. For years the lamp worked fine. “We’ve had the puppy for two years,” Schmidt says, holding the old cord, scarred with evident toothmarks.
The clinic followed the model of FixIt Clinics that started in the Bay Area in 2001. Launched by engineer Peter Mui, FixIt Clinics are staffed by community members who like to help make things work again.
“We’re giving people the opportunity to get to know their stuff and how to keep it running,” says Mui. The first clinics tackled the problem of specialty fasteners, Mui says, that can’t be removed with ordinary flathead or Philips head screwdrivers. But once an appliance that’s sealed with proprietary screws is open, Mui says, it’s often fixable.
Which leads to less waste, he says.
“We’re not paying the true costs of the objects we buy,” he says. “We’re using up resources faster than we can replenish them.”
Alongside all of the broken but fixable items that end up in the landfill, Mui says, there are plenty of people who want to resist the impulse to simply toss clothes with holes or appliances on the blink.
“People come to save money, save the planet and to connect with other people,” he says.
Jenny Odell, who lives near campus, brought in a Beast Blender that was only working intermittently. When the top half is connected properly to the bottom, which holds the motor, an amber light should turn white.
But that wasn’t happening.
“It only works half the time,” says Odell.
FixIt experts converged on the small appliance and speculated that the magnets in the top section weren’t making complete contact with the screws in the bottom half. At their recommendation, Odell set about cleaning the screws with vinegar and a Q-tip.
“Scrub it a little,” says Glorioso. “You can see the corrosion.”
Odell, an author at work on a book about repairing objects and environments, brought a broken electric water kettle to a previous FixIt Clinic and was able to repair it.
“We have a different relationship with that kettle,” she says. “It’s special now.”
But scrubbing the blender’s screws didn’t do the trick, leading to a troubleshooting huddle. Upon re-examination of the blender’s innards, Glorioso realized they were cleaning the wrong parts.
A little more scrubbing and the blender light turned white and the motor purred away.
“That was very satisfying,” says Odell. “I’m looking forward to a smoothie.”
Following FixIt Clinic tradition, Mui rang a bicycle bell to announce that a repair had been made. The room burst into applause.
Moments later, Schmidt’s lamp glowed and the bell rang again.
But not all who visited the Repair Advice Clinic leave with the advice they wanted.
“I need to do some soul-searching,” says Sam Stowe. His jeans were too damaged to repair with a straight-forward patch job. “I’ve got options, but it’s going to be a long road.”