It's more fun to learn how to do something, then
do it, than it is to
Exactly...
give Joe Bloggs down the street a fiver to do it.
There are certain exceptions... if I needed some mechanical component
machining I'd probably look for a local machine shop and ask them (my
You are lucky to have a 'local machine shop'/ There are, AFAIK, no such
places round here.
metalworking "skills" are sub-par at best --
I can drill holes in metal
equipment panels without damaging myself or my cheap little cordless
drill, but that's about it).
In which case you should follow your own advice and teach yourself
metalwork. I still have a lot to learm, and like many things it needs a
lot of practice, but I find it very enjoyable. And being able to make
spacers, rollers, pulleys, cpindles, etc certainly makes some repairs a
lot easier...
[Silly example/ I was cleaning up an old Epson printer nad dropped a
plastic bush from the paper feed mechansim. I looked for it for over an
hour and couldn't find it (I've still not found it). In the end I grabbed
a bit of brass rod and turned a suitable replacemnt in a few minutes...]
And as far as I'm concerned repairing things is a
no-lose game -- I'll
either not be able to fix it (in which case I'm still in the same
situation I was at the start) or I'll fix it and finish up minus a few
spare parts, but ahead one working $ITEM...
I never really give up. If I can't do a repair now, due to lack of skills
or parts (particularly custom parts), I put the thing aside and come back
to it in perhaps a few years. And many times I manage it then (having got
more experience, etc).
-tony