One reason repair/maintenance/DIY home handyman stuff is such a yakshave is that you have to deal with vast amounts of reality detail for even the smallest, cheapest things, which is why unless you have other motives, it is almost always radically cheaper to replace than repair.
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And this includes replacing an abstraction level above repair level (ie, you replace the whole rather than the part)... the effective cost difference is so radical, that it's cheaper to replace a $100 thing for a $1 broken part, rather than replace the part, let alone repair it
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Like, this apparently simple repair job of what's probably a $0.50 wholesale part of a whole worth like $100 had me scrounging around for a clamp, looking up superglue drying times, spend 20 minutes doing a tiny jigsaw puzzle...
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...and it's possibly still not enough. What I've done so far is within what I already know. and now it looks like I'll have to learn about nylon thread weights, how to tie a whipping knot, bobbins, possibly how to apply epoxy/lacquer... none of which I've done before.
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Repair I'm talking about
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Most complex superglue surgery in my life. Mending a cracked leg sleeve on a tripod. Had to glue 3 shards (still imperfect) and get glue in crack in front, then apply a g clamp while it dries, since it’s in tension and would pull apart.
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So far, I've spent $0, 1 hour, and learned nothing. But if I do the whole thing @DavidRalin suggests in the replies to make it a solid fix, I'll probably end up spending $20, and 2 hours more. In the process I'll acquire a new skill, and $18 worth of inventory for future repairs.
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Plan B would be to play phone tag with the manufacturer for an hour, and maybe pay $6 to get just the part. I'd learn the much less valuable lesson of how good a company's customer service is.
Plan C would be to replace the whole thing. A 2 minute, $100 task.
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Incredibly, the incentives are radically stacked to make that last option the financially rational one unless you're extremely cash poor/time rich by US standards.
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Almost all my home repair/diy attempts stall out at "right idea, wrong materials/tools" and a choice between Plan C (replace the thing) and Plan A (more yakshave than I have time for and accumulate more skills/inventory than I want to)
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Kind of makes you wish every apartment building could have a person who could accumulate the tools/know how to repair your stuff and run a service doing so for like, $2-$5 (even accumulating a library of 3D models!). But, regulations etc.
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There's a startup business here for sure. I don't think regulations etc would get in the way... I bet 80% of repairs that crop up are doable without violating any warranties/IP rights. It's kinda just an extension of the apartment maintenance guy's job.
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Is it rational to buy another whatever rather than retrieve the old one from the mansion's attic?
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Totally... the whole mask sewing chapter of the pandemic was very revealing. My wife sewed a couple at fairly high cost in the early days... now streets of LA are full of poor people running $3-5 mask vending stands
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Should be called the Globalised Manufactory Tax (GMT)... parts are so self-contained/independent to discourage break-fix knowledges.
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