Spare Parts and Rants

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< rant >

Here is a little brain teaser:

If a fridge costs 250€, and a spare door handle (that broke from normal use) for it costs 67€, how important is the handle?
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Not at all important. Can live without it. Useless piece of plastic.


Stuff like this pisses me the right off! With electronics these days, from computers to phones and household items, it’s like the lightbulb conspiracy all over again. First of all they are not build to last, second, even the most simple spare part costs an absurd amount compared to the price of the whole item, and third, if you are not handy, paying someone to repair stuff costs even more.

What ever you want to buy these days, there are a million brands and varieties of said item, and of course their parts are not interchangable so you absolutely have to buy that 67€ part. A simple plastic item, northing special, but since it’s designed to fit that exact fridge, you can’t buy one that is 16€ because that one fits only for some other brands doors, and only certain models at that. I’m 99% sure that manufacturing said item costs no more than 2€. Fucking ridiculous.

Oh and of course if you happen to find a suitable spare part from some random Chinese retailer on Ebay, your warranty will be lost because you can only use the original brands parts and their authorised repair shops. Which will cost you an arm and a leg. Most of us can’t afford that reasonably, no matter how environmentally concious one might be and believed in repairing items rather than buying new immediately.

This leads us to evaluate that it’s more reasonable to upgrade the whole thing, rather than have the old one repaired. The old item ends up shipped to a landfill in India where little kids disassamble electronics and sort out the different components in hazardous environment to be sold for pennies. Most of the plastic components end up polluting the planet more and have no further use, while new ones are sold every day.

The system is broken.


What I think everyone can and should do is do the proper research and have the knowledge about materials and the possible life expectancy of said item before making a decision to buy it. Repairing shoes, clothing, electronics and furniture, or donating to someone that will actually have use for your old item, should be done when ever possible. If you use a bit of google and ask around from friends and family, you can breath new life to things you thought needed to be trashed. MacGyver that shit and make it work.

</ rant >

Anyways, Gorilla Glue, my ride or die, the real OG, to the rescue. I don’t care how ugly it looks, I’m not gonna feed the monster that sells simple parts for an insane amount of money.



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24 comments
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That handle has been bust for ages! What has made you get the glue out today?

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The one on the freezer was broken when I moved in, but the fridge one broke yesterday and since I regularly use it, I finally had to do something about it.

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Ahh OK. Sounds like shit design, good luck!

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The handle is hard plastic and long, so when you grab it a bit towards the other end not exactly in the middle, it’s very prone to fractures. I’ll report back tomorrow to tell if my glue worked 😂

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I am itching to find out! 😂

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I should start a stream where we watch the glue dry!

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This applies to cars as well. The upfront cost of buying a new or a used car is surprisingly low these days. The cost of buying a car has come down significantly relative to income. But much of the cost of owning a car has been buried into the cost of repairing and insuring them. Trivial plastic parts that cost maybe $10 to manufacture may cost hundreds.

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Oh for sure! Dad actually had a friend 3D print him a some sort of valve or something for a forestry machine since the original part was insanely expensive.

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A metal part? I'm not surprised agricultural and forestry machines are part of the same racket.

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All is 100% true what you say. 👌👌👌👌👌👀

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Glad I’m not the only one who feels like this!

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I’m 99% sure that manufacturing said item costs no more than 2€

Less, I am quite certain.

People who have access to a half decent 3D printer are creating items that fit :)

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3D printers are fantastic for small plastic pieces, but I think the bigger ones must be pretty darn expensive.

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Depends on who you know :D

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And that's how the world works, doesn't it? :D

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"Hey, you know that 3D printer you have at work..."

Real friends with benefits

Anyone can get laid - not everyone has access to an industrial 3D printer. :D

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Anyone can get laid - not everyone has access to an industrial 3D printer. :D

If you are the person that just happens to manage that industrial 3D printer .. The challenge is to get laid for as long as it takes to print the part ....

You have exceeded expectation if you hear the phrase ... " Oh my GOD ... how much filament is on that spool???"

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Hey, my fridge's handle has been broken and off the fridge for a while now, too! :D

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That is insanely expensive for a plastic door handle. I would whittle one out of wood, or just do without.

It's funny. When our fridge stopped working last year I looked behind it and found the condenser fan had stopped turning. Thank God we were able to find a replacement motor for $26, and there were videos of people doing the job on YouTube. The fridge is this ugly big beast that my grandfather bought, but replacing it was going to be $2000! Then there's the added expense (and time) of renting a truck big enough to throw it away...

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Yeah I might need to make a wooden one soon-ish. I don’t expect the glue to hold for long.

I’m glad you got it fixed up for so cheap! Hopefully it’ll last you several years more.

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