Repair Cafe – Fix Your Broken Items

Like others, I love this idea. A related idea I had was a library of 3d models of parts. Like thingiverse, but specifically for repair/replace components and not limited to plastic. My thought was if it's plastic you could 3d print whatever little busted plastic part was going to send your household item to landfill. But also models of things like automotive parts that you could have made by somewhere like xometry. I thought of it as an "international component database."

I love this idea. A lot of repair knowledge is buried in non-English forums or unsearchable Discord servers (grr Discord). We need to localize it and rebuild community expertise.

I've been involved for several years. If you don't yet have one in your area, are handy at fixing things and have the inclination - contact them for info on starting one up.

TIL there are people who throw knives away instead of sharpening them.

I have been a "repair mentor" at our "repair studio" for 3+ years. It's very rewarding. We did have to set some ground rules: (clean your fan/vac, bring batteries, etc). Collaborated with our local library.

We have one in my town, meets once a month at the local community centre. I've only been there once, but It's pretty awesome seeing all the stuff people bring in to get repaired.

Is it growing? Is anyone in Austin TX starting one up?

We have at least one in Portland, and they do both clothing and electronics repairs. It's great to see a repairability movement!

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