We used our maintenance skills to repair some well-used items. This repair will extend the life of these tools for another 10 years. They are important tools in our missionary work in rural Zambia. They have already served us well for many years. Now they’ll continue to serve us for at least another decade. We fixed the drawer slide of the 4×4 Toyota and a LED headlamp. Unfortunately we were not able to fix the coffee machine.
Extend the life of an old 4×4 Drawer
The old drawer on this 4×4 was jammed in the closed position. It would take 2 men (sometimes more) to open it! We were able to find what was holding it back. Here’s a video of the repair process, hope you enjoy it:
I would have preferred to use 20mm marine plywood. But there was a shortage in South Africa and I wasn’t able to find it in any of our hardware stores.
The vehicle belongs to WayMakers Mission Africa and has been working very hard in Chavuma for the past 5 years. This newly repaired drawer should work for at least another 5 years.
Extend the life of: A Broken Headlamp
We’ve had this headlamp for more than 10 years now. It is a great torch and has served us well. Unfortunately the switch mechanism got damaged by leaking battery acid. I was able to extend the life of this headlamp by replacing the switch. Renee found the perfect switch that ‘fits like a glove’. See how we fixed it in this video:
Renee is a Coffee Mechanic
We bought this coffee machine second-hand about 8 years ago. It has also served us well. We’ve enjoyed many cups of coffee from this machine. It started leaking water all over the counter recently. So Renee – the beautiful coffee mechanic – decided to dismantle it to fix the leak.
Unfortunately, we were not able to find spare parts for this coffee machine. So it’s life has come to an end. We will not be able to extend the life of this tired machine.
Rural Repairs
We expect to do much more of this kind of maintenance and repairs in Chavuma.
Michael.
