Cost saving modding built from experience

[bacteria]

Building skills at soldering, modding and hacking work can be very useful for other reasons about the house.

I have two recent examples - what ones do you have?

1) Our telephone answermachine was very crackly and distorted, so I opened it up, removed the speaker and replaced it with another one, also while I was at it, added more solder to the joints. Works great - saved me buying a new one (answermachine and three linked phones about £80-100 ($160-$200)).

2) PSU on my main computer died and needed replacement. Fine, got a new one for £23 ($55) and 600watts (old one was 505watts). It didn't have enough power plugs, so I cut wires from the old PSU (one which linked up to 4 extra connectors), cut the wires on the new PSU to one of the same 4 pin component plugs, heavily soldered and tinned the wires, protected with shrink tubing and covered in electrical tape too for good measure. This gave me longer connectors (the ones supplied were too short to get to my three hard disks and four extra plugs, all of which are now being used). All works fine. Saved me having to drive to buy a different PSU, which would probably have cost me more than double this price. After all, I needed longer wires and more plugs.

[Life of Brian]

Well, not really a mod but I fixed my fiancee's favorite necklace this weekend when it broke by soldering it back together. I've never soldered jewelry before but a tiny bit of flux and a 15 watt iron had it good as new. That's good because it was one I gave her and it wasn't cheap!

[Bibin]

I fixed a friend's flash drive, which had had the USB connector ripped off by accident. The traces were still there for most of the connections, but the ground connection's trace had been ripped straight off, forcing me to use a microscope to scrape the board to expose the copper traces and solder to it, risking the various surfacemount components next to it.

[bicostp]

I had a power supply with a defective fan, and had to solder in a new one. (The original fan had a manufacturing defect and nearly shattered the first time I started it up.) But that's okay, the PSU was pretty inexpensive and it got a thermal-controlled fan.

I'm also going to have to replace the capacitors on my SE/30's analog board. The screen's really dim and almost impossible to see with the lights on. (Hey, the machine's almost 20 years old and still works. I'm not complaining.)

Of cousre there's also the metal ductwork floor in the old truck, and custom-made aluminum exhaust bracket on my car. (Both are replacements for completely rusted-out parts. )

[Sharp Sapphire]

2) PSU on my main computer died and needed replacement. Fine, got a new one for £23 ($55) and 600watts (old one was 505watts). It didn't have enough power plugs, so I cut wires from the old PSU (one which linked up to 4 extra connectors), cut the wires on the new PSU to one of the same 4 pin component plugs, heavily soldered and tinned the wires, protected with shrink tubing and covered in electrical tape too for good measure. This gave me longer connectors (the ones supplied were too short to get to my three hard disks and four extra plugs, all of which are now being used). All works fine. Saved me having to drive to buy a different PSU, which would probably have cost me more than double this price. After all, I needed longer wires and more plugs.

You have balls messing with a power supply...

[Tibia]

I can't think of anything I've done for myself, but I've sure saved my Boss and BF with my skills. Just today, on my day off, I fishtaped cable through the wall and hooked up the office internet. The boss would have had to call a private contractor to do that. Man, I can't even count the times my BF's broke something and I've fixed it for him.

Then there was the opera we did. I rigged up a blinking LED for the witch's wand, as well as battery-powered flashing lights and a full-stage fog machine. Fun times.