this post was submitted on 15 May 2024
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Right to Repair

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Whether it be electronics, automobiles or medical equipment, the manufacturers should not be able to horde “oem” parts, render your stuff useless if you repair it with aftermarket parts, or hide schematics of their products.

I Fix It Repair Manifesto

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Summary video by Marques Brownlee

Great channel covering and advocating right to repair, Lewis Rossman

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Basic blender went bad (motor ran but spindle wasn't rotating). I wanted to disassemble to see if it could be repaired. Three of the four screws were Phillips head. I had to cut the casing open in order to discover why I couldn't unscrew the fourth. It was a slotted spanner.

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[–] [email protected] 69 points 3 months ago (3 children)

hahahahahaha, about three years ago now, I bought a hunting knife from Amazon that came with a sheath which had a belt clip that was held on by one of these fucking screws.

at the time, i couldn't figure for the life of me what it was or if there was a tool for this so I went to Home Depot, bought a .99 cent flathead our of their bargain tubs, took it to their tool rental department where they also will cut metal for you if you ask nicely. had them make a notch in the top of the flathead, brought it home and after some filing got it to get in there and loosen up this devil screw top.

now i know it's called a U or H type screwdriver. my way was cheaper, but nice to know the real solution now.

[–] lettruthout 39 points 3 months ago

Wow, doing a MacGuyver with corporate assistance. I like it!

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago

That belt clip is there to make the knife technically legal in some areas. A 3"+ blade can't be concealed by putting it in your pocket, so the workaround is to have the clip showing on the outside of your pocket, making it visible. That's why they use screws like that. At least that is my understanding - I could be wrong.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

a belt clip that was held on by one of these fucking screws.

Wow. This needs to be shown to all "ThIs Is FoR yOuR sAfEtY" idiots.