Author Topic: Becoming Kenmore Repairman  (Read 2112 times)

~otter~

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Becoming Kenmore Repairman
« on: September 11, 2015, 07:18:28 PM »
Last month: clothes dryer stopped working. A little Google, 3 minutes with a screwdriver, and my handy multimeter (wedding present from a fellow engineer) proved it to be a $7.95 fuse I could buy on Amazon. Success.

This week: sewing machine seized up. Twenty minutes of randomly removing screws, some light swearing, some Googling, a desperation smack with a small hammer on the end of a screwdriver, and all better! Some heavy oiling and a lesson for my wife and I on the importance of oiling BEFORE you start using it should keep this one solved. Success.

Assuming we need these two items in our lives, I saved us at least $120. I dare the toaster oven to stop working!

detroit_johnny

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  • Age: 52
  • Location: Detroit, MI
Re: Becoming Kenmore Repairman
« Reply #1 on: September 15, 2015, 09:08:46 PM »
At least that much saved!  Congrats! 

I am always trying to fix my own stuff and use places like repairclinic.com to find replacement parts.  This week my DW had been putting up with a clothes dryer that was occasionally marking our clothes with what looked like burn marks... although if afterward putting detergent on the stain directly and rewashing it would disappear.  Well the frequency was becoming more and more often until she got fed up.  Said if I can't fix it then let's get a new one.  Well this dryer, built in 2001, I felt still had some life so I took it apart and looked around youtube for ideas.  I ended up getting replacement felt and plastic "glide" for the drum.  Felt replacement was easy, it came with a tube of adhesive too but the plastic glide part was an issue.  An issue because the original design didn't have plastic glides, the metal drum just rolled on the felt so I drilled a bunch of holes in the drum to accept the glide's clips, my own personal "design improvement".  Everything is working fine and instead of spending $300 or much more on a new dryer I'm into this repair with $60 in parts and hopes that I get another 10 years (maybe?) out of this dryer!