Return to Trade

[Restorer79]

Hi All: Been away from the trade for a quite while due to Accident / Illness.
Want to get back into things now but looking for advice on anything i might need to get Equipment wise, that I have'nt thought of. Already have the following:
Good Analogue & Digital Multimeters. 50Mhz Dual beam scope. Frequency counter. 50 Mhz Logic probe. Signal / Pattern Generators.
Variable power supply. Illuminated Bench Magnifier. ESR Meter. Desoldering station. Hot air Re-work / SMD soldering station. CRT Analyser/ Rejuvenator for older stuff.
Large stock of General components inc SMD.

Any Advice welcome: Andy
Also any thoughts on the Viability of in home service ?

[Turnip]

Hi Andy, and welcome back,

Personally find service calls are a matter of plugging plugs, pressing buttons and writing help charts. Always suggest that mild thought and following OSG info is an easier way but they always get me writing - useful, but not when they press the wrong button and nothing else on the crib sheet works.

Otherwise, seems to be PS caps (ESR meter) Eeproms (with all that involves) and Ebay - best of luck - Chris.

PS - Avoid plasma unless you intend to spend a fortune in spare panels and have customers where cost isn't an issue, as there's little useful reclaimed stuff about - cheapish.

PPS - These days we are technicians at best (engineers have the math) Was worried when 'Television' mag folded for the second time and lost some cash, but Quuq arose and sorted most of our problems with pertinent feedback - but still starving.

[Restorer79]

Hi Chris: Thanks for the reply & welcome mate, hoping to ease back into things over the next Month or so & no doubt going to be asking some bone questions along the way and ending up but hey sometimes you've just gotta take the plunge.
Got a lot of reading to do on LCD & Plasma first. Wish we had this Forum years ago, might have made life easier. Although I prefer to be a 1 man band, It's nice to have other Engineers to bounce ideas off when your stuck on a fault. Seems the Trade is changeing for the better & Engineers are realising we're all in the same boat and need to help each other out if we can.
Thanks for the Tip on Plasma, customers around here are tighter than the proverbial Ducks so may well give them a miss.

Enjoy your weekend: Andy

[tv tony]

Hello,
         Good to see you on the forum, been away long? My new toy is the GQ4X Programmer, bought from a similar site to this, arrived yesterday from Canada, didnt do a single repair yesterday, too busy playing with it.very versatile.



Reading this post it looks a bit spammish, but its not, take care all and stay lucky.
Tony Walker

[Restorer79]

Hi Tony & thanks for your reply, this seems to be a nice friendly Forum.    I've been away from full time repairs for nearly 10 years now altogether. So got a lot of catching up to do Plenty of light bedtime reading to put me to sleep Lol.
Gotta be honest i hate DVD's, VCR's etc so will probably end up just doing T.V & Vintage stuff.
You sound a bit like me, get a shiny new piece kit & ya gotta play with it  

P.S: Just had a read up on the GQ-4X, looks like a useful bit of kit.


Andy

[Keith]

Hi Andy,

As long as you don't expect to get rich doing it, you should scratch a living.

I opened my shop in 2010 in a totally new area after being out of the trade and the UK for 8 years! I hope to be in profit next year, maybe even this year. Which isn't bad as I started from scratch in an area where I wasn't known. If you are good and reasonably priced, word soon gets around.

As for test equipment, stick with what you have for now. You won't know what you need until you see what equipment you are getting for repair.
I set up as an electronics repair shop, with a view to repairing LCD's, Plasma's and some high end hi fi stuff. Didn't go that way! Most of my work is electrical, vacuum cleaners, espresso coffee makers at the moment, microwave ovens, even table lamps easy stuff no one else wants to repair. I actually find repairing this more profitable that TV's! I no longer take in plasma sets for repair because of the hassle trying to get parts, and I found my customers didn't like the thought of having used parts fitted.

Vintage repairs are nice, but would you get enough? Or is it to be more of a hobby?

Good luck, and there plenty of people here to help you on your way.

Hi Tony,

I've seen the GQ4X on the other site, what's so special about it?
I use a cheap Chinese jobby!

Keith

[Restorer79]

Hi Keith & thanks for the reply. Good luck with the Business mate, hope it goes well for you.
I actually like repairing small appliances & things like that, I don't do White Goods as such anymore I just don't see the point. But things like Kitchen Mixers, Microwaves or Hairstyling stuff etc is fine by me, i'll look at most things Electrical within reason. Restoring Vintage stuff is hopefully going to be part of the Business, apart from anything else cabinet restoration makes a nice change from Electronics from time to time & i still repair CB radios as well & that can be profitable but seems to go in cycles, So hopefully i won't get bored & as you say may be able to scratch a living from it

Andy

[Turnip]

Hi Andy,

Hate to be down'ish but most stuff you mention is available new from Tesco at a groat  - A new microwave costs less than a repair magnetron so suggest contact with Council recycling sites, for cheap spares.

There's always cash to be made from odd, non mainstream stuff - have a cust who repairs duff Greyhounds with magnetic resonance - not a believer meself, but mend his gear and take the cash.

Scratching (Fleas) - All true and paid, though it seems totally sad for us WW2 surviving heros  - Chris

[Restorer79]

Hi Chris: Your not putting a downer on at all mate. It's nice to have other peoples input & ideas, But i think maybe we're thinking of different qualities of stuff mate. There's quite a lot of pretty expensive gear floating about on the Domestic side that needs repair from time to time & there seems to be quite a bit of it around here (e.g: A friend of the missus bought herself a new Mixer the other day & that was £350). But I was'nt actually thinking about Domestic stuff, I used to repair Light commercial & Catering equipment as well. You might get 1 or 2 of the local takeaways buying cheap Micros but most of them use good quality stuff & things like commercial Microwaves, Mixers, Slicers, Scales etc are easy enough to fix normally & apart from the test equipment listed in my first post i've still kept all my test equipment & tools for doing that sort of thing as well. (Can't stand getting rid of tools or test gear)

Andy

[Turnip]

Hi Andy,

Appreciate your thoughts - In the early days there were folks who mended things in every village around here - at a price, using new bits when there were stacks of good reclaimed stuff at the tip.

Eventually it came down to cost, and as I had many friends in low places, became the only repair chap left in the district.

Don't know if was good or bad, but I liked mending and didn't want to change career as I mend from home and spend most summer time growing tasty vegetables and wine for the winter.

Admit - never, ever, get expensive stuff to mend - Norfolk, perhaps- Chris.

[Restorer79]

Hi Chris: That's how things used to be around here actually, we had a big Electrical / TV shop for sales / repairs in the village. Then there were about 4 shops within a 5 mile radius of us & all doing a reasonable trade, the shop in the village the old couple who owned it passed away & their son just did'nt seem to have the heart to keep it going & I think the others were more sales orientated than service so lost out to Tesco / Lidl etc. To be honest i'm not that interested in selling stuff, i'd rather spend the time repairing it. I'll take a look at just about anything Electrical / Electro mechanical really, whether it's Commercial, Domestic or Industrial. But i'm seriously thinking of doing things from home the same as you rather than the expense of premises when starting off & i think the nearest TV repairer to me now is about 16 miles away, so you never know. Have to admit I leave the Gardening to my missus, She loves it & reckons i'd kill everything off. Never tried makeing Homebrew but may well give it a crack over the summer. (Any tips greatly appreciated).

Have a good weekend mate: Andy

[Turnip]

Hi Andy,

Realise this isn't Quuq core stuff, but there's a book by 'Bravery' where one can make wine from most everything.

Discovered that roots are always crap, tending to smell of mice, leaves likewise - Birch sap gives different problems, although our Russian chums decimated forests for a glass of the stuff.

Fruit with acid is the biz - Apple - Blackberry - any berry fruit, though Strawberry and Blackcurrent is for newbies with no taste buds.

Usually three metric pounds berry fruit and a bag of sugar per Demijohn, with 100% pressed juice for apples and all with general wine makers yeast.

Pouring a glass - Chris.

[Restorer79]

Cheers Chris: May well be giving that a try very shortly, so watch this space.



Andy

[Keith]

Hi Andy,

 I have a couple of easy recipes for 'Turbo' cider and wine using carton juice. As the name suggests it's ready quite fast, drinkable in 2 - 3 months, but it's not a brew for storing, should be consumed within a year, not that it ever stays around that long!

Invest in a hydrometer and thermometer. the hydrometer will tell you when you have enough sugar to get the required alcohol level and the thermometer ensures your water temperature is correct for the yeast to get started.

I will look up the recipes and post here. Off to the super markets now to try and get some cheap juice just going out of date!

Keith

[Keith]

Here's a cider recipe I made for a friend to try, they never got round to it as it's easier to go to Tesco!

It is better  to use a container larger that 10L if you can as the primary fermentation is very vigorous and it will come out and make a lovely mess!

If anything is unclear, just ask!

Good luck

Keith