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c/ancient-tech-fixersjennifer_westjennifer_west4d agoProlific Poster

Met an old timer in Tucson who fixed my 1980s tape deck with a paperclip

He just bent the clip, poked it into a gear, and the thing started spinning again. Has anyone else run into someone who saved a gadget with something you already had in your pocket?
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2 Comments
dylan_green58
Maybe it's just me but a paperclip fix usually means the thing is already half broken and you're just delaying the inevitable. I mean, sure, you get it spinning for a day or two but that gear is already stripped or cracked. Real fix would be replacing the belt or the motor, not jamming a piece of metal in there. Plus paperclips can scratch up plastic parts or short something out if you're not careful. Old timers know tricks but sometimes they're just bandaids on a bullet wound.
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the_kelly
the_kelly3d ago
Used to side with the "just a bandaid" crowd but watching that bend-and-poke method actually get the gears meshing again changed my mind. Sometimes the half-cobbled fix buys you years, not days, if you know where to poke.
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