Our dryer stopped working. After some investigation I discovered our motor pulley exploded. The motor pulley (not idler pulley) is screwed onto the shaft of the motor and makes the belt turn. It kind of looks like a oddly shaped bobbin with screw threads. A replacement part is only $8! Hopefully it will work.
if my 18yo dryer has had every part of it replaced, is it still my dryer?
Right to Repair bills become law in Canada. This one particularly intriguing;
"Bill C-244 creates a new exception allowing for circumvention of TPMs for the purposes of “repair, maintenance and diagnosis.” And Bill C-294 creates a new exception allowing circumvention to make any computerized device interoperable with any other computerized device or system."
#AnthonyDRosborough, 2024
#HatTip to @norightturnnz for the link.
Special shoutout to the repair site iFixit who are now on the Fediverse, you can follow them at:
They provide repair forums and free repair guides for phones, computers, consoles, kitchen equipment, tools, medical devices, cars etc. They also review and tear down new gadgets to see how repairable they are.
Repairing your existing stuff is much, much better for the environment than buying replacements.
PSA: if you need to replace a broken clothes washer or dryer, the trick is not to buy a new one. I’ve heard this many times and it’s been true in my experience.
Instead find a Maytag or Whirlpool that’s at least 30 years old. They were built to be repaired, still can be, and rarely break down in any case. Anything newer is progressively crappier, even if they look fancy on the outside. Unrepairable, they’re designed to force you to buy new appliances frequently.
Although expensive to what I always paid for a mobile, the Fairphone seems an interesting option, mainly because of the *fair* part. If it is really a fairer phone, it has a cost.
Now deciding between the original Fairphone (@Fairphone), possibly 5, but still considering the 4, or the one with Murena (@murena), €50+ in this case.
The adult version of the kids’ game, Operation, where you remove “organs” from a patient is the game of smartphone repair.
I just replaced the battery on an old iPhone 7. I probably spent half my time just trying to seat the microscopic screws so I could put them back in.
Also at that size a Y000 screw is almost indistinguishable from a PH000 screw. The Y has a 3-way pattern and the PH is the Philips 4-way pattern. They both look just like dots to the naked eye.
Getting the case open and getting the screws back in was the hardest part of doing my own battery replacement.
Have Li-ion Batteries Gone Too Far? - The proliferation of affordable lithium batteries has made modern life convenient ... - https://hackaday.com/2025/03/13/have-li-ion-batteries-gone-too-far/ #lithiumbattery #europeanunion #righttorepair #batteryhacks #batteries #design #li-ion #repair #reuse
@midtsveen I've just recently installed Linux and begun the long process of switching all my computing off of Apple. Loving everything about getting free of them and the others.
On the issue of cars and repair, I've long despised cars. BIKES are the ultimate in easy repair, low maintenance, low resource use. The ideal transport in a better DIY solar punk future where humans are empowered and the big tech monolith is a nightmare of the past.
Update. "Years of hard work have made it possible for us to celebrate the #RightToRepair movement time and time again. It's a group effort —folks like #iFixit, who provide repair guides and repairability scores; the #RepairAssociation, who’ve helped lead the movement in state legislatures; and of course, people like you who contact local representatives, are the reason this movement has gained so much momentum."
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/03/right-repair-prime-example-grassroots-advocacy
Well electric cars, hell, cars in general these days come with proprietary software that totally screws over the buyer's ability to fix their own damn car. It's bullshit, plain and simple.
Right to repair isn't just some fancy slogan, it's a fucking right. Period. I'm all in on open source software and the freedom to dig into the code, learn from it, and yeah, fix it if I need to. That's how it should be, not this locked-down crap they're pushing on us.
Sadly, this is the world most people are forced into with big tech companies owning and operating most of the software we and many companies use today.
I would recommend anyone reading this to give #Linux a try if you haven't already used it. It's open-source, customizable, and gives you the freedom to really make your system your own.
In short: I love the right to repair my own tech!
My brother had been using wifi battery monitors on his, his girlfriend's, and my cars for the last few years since we don't drive every day. Apparently they were dependent on a cloud service that the company discontinued, bricking them all! 
In looking up if anyone has found a way to use them without the cloud, I just found vendors still selling the now useless devices. The Deltran Battery Tender 081-0172. 
(1 of 8)
#enshittification #InternetOfShit #cloud #RightToRepair #car #wifi
The right-to-repair movement is growing as wins stack up https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/innovation/right-repair-movement-growing-wins-stack-rcna195230
Laws protecting consumers’ ability to seek out independent repairs for their appliances are spreading across the United States. #righttorepair #uslaw #uspol
#Automakers Sue To Kill #Maine’s Hugely Popular ‘#RightToRepair’ #Law
A little over a year ago, Maine residents voted overwhelmingly (83%) to pass a new state right to repair law designed to make #auto repairs easier and more affordable. More specifically, the law requires that automakers standardize on-board diagnostic systems and provide remote access to those systems and mechanical data to consumers and third-party independent repair shops.
https://www.techdirt.com/2025/02/07/automakers-sue-to-kill-maines-hugely-popular-right-to-repair-law/
Hackaday Links: March 9, 2025 - It’s been a busy week in space news, and very little of it was good. We’ll start w... - https://hackaday.com/2025/03/09/hackaday-links-march-9-2025/ #hackadaycolumns #hackadaylinks #righttorepair #blueghost #bricking #firmware #starship #brother #firefly #printer #saturnv #slider #legday #spacex #warner #moom #nasa #drm #dvd #rud
Just not possible under #capitalism
Our St David's Day/birthday repair café numbers are in and they're huge!
65 repairs in total 
.
36 fixed 
.
10 repairable & 5 still in repair 
.
11 end of life 
.
3 mysteries 
.
We're back at Barry Library on Saturday 5th April - mark your calendars!
I just fixed a zipper that had derailed.
Feeling pretty intrepid! 
#rightToRepair
@hackaday I really love this!
At the #RepairCafe I go to, there's always at least one broken toaster to repair. These are indeed (electronically) simple devices. Just sometimes hard to open.
By far the most common problem: a broken heater wire. Those heater elements/plates should definitely be available as spare parts and easily accessible...
#righttorepair
Flat Pack Toaster Heats Up the Right to Repair - The toaster is a somewhat modest appliance that is often ignored until it stops wo... - https://hackaday.com/2025/03/02/flat-pack-toaster-heats-up-the-right-to-repair/ #kitchengadget #righttorepair #cookinghacks #repairhacks #kitchen #toaster #repair
Could we agree that #worldBicycleRelief 's #bicycle is not really #solarpunk ?
https://worldbicyclerelief.org/a-better-bike/
Sure, it's nice it's durable and given to people in need.
But it's not really repairable. Custom, copyrighted components designed to keep the company afloat, available only through controllable humanitarian channels.
I'd take well-standardized open source any day.
waiting for summer 
solarpunk prompts