Here's mine for today!
Not long ago we bought an Energiser rechargeable battery unit from Tesco. At only a tenner, including four AA rechargeable batteries, I suppose I should have expected poor quality and that's what I got.
After only three uses, two of the four springy bottom contacts disappeared into the body of the unit, thus making contact impossible.
I wondered if there was some way of stopping this happening, so I unscrewed the unit and saw that there was a small space between the plastic case and the offending pieces of poor quality metal. Just room enough for something to go in and stop the pesky contacts dropping down.
Appropriately enough, as the unit was made (where else?) in China, I snipped a thin section of bamboo cane from SWMBO's tomato plant supports, trimmed it to size,(with HER secateurs, of course), inserted it and screwed the thing back together.
Result!
A functioning charger, currently (geddit?) working to "Energise" four AA batteries.
What horrid bodges have other forum members done?
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The hinges on a kitchen unit door at Iffy Towers came away from the unit.
I replaced them with strips of parcel/carpet fitters' tape.
Quite a good bodge, because the strips are all on the inside of the unit, so the exterior appearance has been preserved.
Lasted a couple of years so far.
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I dont bodge, I adapt and improvise.
I am looking at one in my garden right now. My Japanese Fish windsock/weather vane.
Its mounted on top of a two inch wide strip cut from a 3 metre long decking board. Into the top of that is a three inch decking screw. The decking screw is holding in place two nut/washer combos.
Between the nuts, with the screw through one of its holes is a ICE installers flexi strip, the type with holes in. Attached to one end is my Japanese wind sock, and the other a pointer.
The whole lot is happily working as we speak. I have a N/e wind with the fish out at about 45 degrees.
The fish is about one metre long and brightly coloured.
Last edited by: Zero on Sun 5 Jun 11 at 12:20
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>> I dont bodge, I adapt and improvise.
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>> I am looking at one in my garden right now. My Japanese Fish windsock/weather vane.
>>
I prefer subtle bodges not tacky ones. :-)
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Yeah, Jocks (even naturalised ones) dont do art.
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The best bodge DIY I have done is rewire the house with Audiophile speaker cable to improve the sound quality of my HIFI*
I do not bodge anything electric, everything is done by the rules, I do have some unusual bodges for plumbing though (water). I prefer to call it being resourceful rather than bodging though.
Done plenty of bodges on cars such as using terminal block to replace the damaged wiring to the TPS on my first Fiesta. Although to be fair it was a low current circuit and the car was soon to be scrapped anyway. I know I should have heat shrinked it.
*Of course that is a joke :).
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>> I dont bodge, I adapt and improvise
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That is my general approach too.
I guess I may have bodged by not keeping to strict regulations and elf n safety.
I have seen some very dangerous "workmanship" and terrible DIY efforts over the years.
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Think back to a 1965 Mini that jumped out of third on the over-run. Fixed a flat plate to the heater housing on which I fitted a spring-loaded, solenoid operated hook that automatically secured the gear lever when third was engaged. Released with a push-button on the gear knob.
Must have had me in mind when MoTs were invented.
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Way over the top, the rest of us learned to lean your knee on it,.
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Not a bodge, but a good time-saver wot I invented.
My garage/workshop has four padlocks and the shed has one too. The main lock for the garage is a Kryptonite but the secondary lock, two on an internal door, and the shed one are all the same..........
Chinese from the autojumble tool men. The keys all look the same.
I hit on the idea of wrapping the body of each lock with a different coloured insulation tape and attaching the keys to the key ring with coloured tie-wraps to match.
Black for the shed, red and yellow for the workshop. The spare keysare tie-wrapped accordingly.
No more fumbling misery.
Having locked myself out once I've also put spare outer door keys on a wire inside the garage which can be pulled through a hidden hole in the wall. A crosspoint driver is all that's needed to reveal the small hole.
Ted
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>>
>> Not a bodge, but a good time-saver wot I invented.
>>
Are you really sure that you invented colour coding? :-)
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I once filled a hole in the floor of an original FIAT 500 with a metal pot lid. Sealed round the edges with Gun Gum, painted it red and covered it with a stuck down rubber mat.
Then we sold it! (pre MOT's I think)
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I might try that with the Fiesta, I wonder if I could solder a metal plate to the holes in the floor?
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Cable-ties might do it :)
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>> I might try that with the Fiesta, I wonder if I could solder a metal
>> plate to the holes in the floor?
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Try blu-tack?
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Chewing gum sets hard and looks like welding.
Tip for bodgers: don't paint the bit you have bodged a week before the MOT, do it well in advance to allow road dirt to build up.
If you have to do it just before the MOT, scrape and paint a few other sound places as well.
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Long after the MOT was introduced my friend flattened out a lot of baked bean tins, pop riveted them to the remains of the strut tower tops of his !05E Anglia and gave them a skim of filler and paint. It worked.
Don't get me started on what we used to find in the sills of old Jaguars.
Last edited by: Mike Hannon on Mon 6 Jun 11 at 09:11
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>> Don't get me started on what we used to find in the sills of old
>> Jaguars.
I had a vast amount of welding done to a '72 Chrysler 180 when it was about six years old, and the chap doing this work found a pair of man sized jeans in one of the sills.
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...found a pair of man sized jeans in one of the sills...
I guess the mechanic went home in his overalls.
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Like finding a skeleton in the double skin of Brunel's Great Eastern. An unfortunate plate welder sealed inside by accident during construction.
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Look like an urban myth I'm afraid.
"Whilst it is rumoured that a human skeleton was found inside Great Eastern's double hull, the same thing has been said of RMS Titanic and the Hoover Dam (among others); and inspection hatches in the inner hull would have provided an easy escape. "
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...Look like an urban myth I'm afraid...
I'm sure it is.
If there was a skeleton, it could have been a way of disposing of the body of a murder victim.
Even then, a concrete overcoat in the foundations of building is more likely.
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>>Even then, a concrete overcoat in the foundations of building is more likely.
Rumours and Urban Myths state that there are several of Glasgow's underworld in the Kingston Bridge concrete supports.
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...Rumours and Urban Myths state that there are several of Glasgow's underworld in the Kingston Bridge concrete supports...
Same in London.
I heard the phrase: "You'll end up under a flyover," used a few times to warn someone who was upsetting the 'wrong' people.
Last edited by: Iffy on Mon 6 Jun 11 at 10:04
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>> Same in London.
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>> I heard the phrase: "You'll end up under a flyover," used a few times to
>> warn someone who was upsetting the 'wrong' people.
Yeah, reputed to be in the concrete supports of the Westway Flyover, the M4 elevated section.
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Having left Penzance that morning, and delivered to Newquay, I was on my way up to Bideford and Ilfracombe when I was going down this hill just here
tinyurl.com/3s5y8cl
It was my turn to go down when I lost all the air in my lorry which in turn puts the brakes on and stops you until the air can be built up again.
It caused chaos in Camelford as the traffic had already started to come up the hill and no-one could get past or round me.
I eventually revved the nuts of it and built up enough air to roll down the hill to the wider bit on the left with the traffic reversing out of my way and got out to see what was wrong.
I could hear air escaping from the near side front of the cab and assumed it was a diaphragm on the front brake chamber gone, so I took a calculated chance to try and get up the hill and out of Camelford as I was still in the way, and get to the lay-by at the top of the hill to have a proper look.
I thought if I didn't touch my brakes and use any air that way, I just might make it.
When I got there the leak took some finding and turned out to be the front o/s cab suspension air bag that had got a hole in it, and was obvious that I wasn't going anywhere.
I rang the nearest Scania dealer who was at Fraddon, where I'd passed earlier that morning and he hadn't got one in stock. He located the nearest one in Bristol and decided he would have to go from Fraddon to Bristol and then to me at Camelford and fit it. He said he would be leaving in 15 mins and would be as quick as possible.
I put the phone down and had a think about this.
I had a roll of insulation tape and a pair of nail scissors.
I cut the plastic pipe to the air bag and turned it back on itself and used a whole roll of tape to tape it up.
Fingers firmly crossed I started it up and the air built up and stayed up, and she went all the way to Bristol like that calling at Bideford and Ilfracombe on the way.
Not recommended but a lot cheaper than the call out fee would have been!
Pat
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My motoring bodge was to fix a snapped throttle cable on a Lada Samara.
I found a piece of narrow packing strap in a rubbish bin and tied the strap to the carb.
I routed the strap past the bonnet hinge and in through the driver's window, giving me a hand throttle.
It worked OK, although smooth control was all but impossible, it was either full revs or tickover.
Got me home.
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>>My motoring bodge was to fix a snapped throttle cable on a Lada Samara.
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That reminds me of a similar event.
I am not into bodging but I quess this is one.
I had a hired Avenger in Malta when it suddenly just lost momentum on an incline.
After flooring the gas pedal eventually the penny dropped that the revs were not rising.
I discovered that a nut had fallen of the rod linkage to the carb. The whole world had stopped for lunch so it was DIY time. I finished up winding a long piece of string round and round the two parts and it worked OK.
On returning to the depot the response was " we have had several with that fault. Doh!
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Chain cam Ladas had a metal ' slipper ' with a rubber face. The chain ran against this on the nearside. The other side had the adjustable spring tensioner.
The slipper wore away and if neglected , the chain wore two nice gooves through the aluminium head. Oil splashed out of these holes and the loose chain sounded like a bag of nails. I suspect most Ladas ran for the rest of their lives with two or three old slippers in the sump...it didn't seem to harm them. A modified slipper was supplied which the chain ran through rather than against. It was quite easy to fit a new one with the cam cover off and re-tension the chain but what about the holes ?
I would clean the head metal around and in the holes with thinners and let it dry. The area could be built up with body filler, smoothed to a rough profile by MK1 thumb. A few licks of silver paint and it was almost invisible. I always told the customer as most expected to have to have a new head, not a good, oiltight repair for a few quid.....always satisfying.
Ted
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Bodges I have done........................ - Iffy
