Appreciation post: Found a box of old camera parts in the back of the shop
Sorting through it reminded me how we used to fix things with whatever we had on hand. I mean, now it feels like everything is sealed up or needs a new board, which just adds to the junk pile. Do you ever keep old parts around for repairs instead of ordering new ones?
Honestly, my buddy Steve is the king of this. He has a whole shelf in his garage just for old electronics bits. Last month, his vintage radio died, and he fixed it with some capacitors from a broken TV he saved years ago. It saved him a ton of cash and kept another thing out of the landfill. Tbh, seeing that made me start hoarding my own broken stuff for parts.
Totally get that, my garage is starting to look like a parts bin too. Just last week, I used an old laptop charger to fix my desk lamp, saved me buying a new one.
Capacitors from a broken TV saved for years? That's crazy. I would have recycled that TV the day it stopped working. Keeping it around just for parts seems like a lot of clutter, but I guess it's worth it when you fix something vintage.