Yesterday’s New York Times had an interesting piece about a group of people in Amsterdam who help people fix things instead of throw them out; like an old iron that doesn’t steam or a skirt with a hole in it.

Founder of the Repair Cafe, Martine Postma:

“In Europe, we throw out so many things,” said Martine Postma, a former journalist who came up with the concept after the birth of her second child led her to think more about the environment. “It’s a shame, because the things we throw away are usually not that broken. There are more and more people in the world, and we can’t keep handling things the way we do.”

Exactly! This is how Makers see the world. Sure, something breaks, but that doesn’t mean it’s ready for the trash can. Look at all the things that have been saved with the mindset that Ms. Postma talks about:

 

Thingiverse user Renosis saved a family member’s beloved wrist watch by making a replacement for the lost battery cover. He wrote, “I don’t expect anyone has the same watch and if they do, I wouldn’t expect that they lost the back to it. This is more of a proof of concept. I wanted to post it because I was so amazed that it worked and hopefully, it will inspire someone else to use this temporary fix one day if their watch breaks.”

 

rbckman made a replacement lock mechanism for his buddy’s dishwasher. The manufacturer of the dishwasher wasn’t shipping that part anymore, so they either had to fix it with a custom part or throw out the dishwasher. The choice is clear!

 

 

 

lazlo‘s blender broke, and the solution was to simply make a new gear. Why throw out an almost perfectly good blender? Good as new.

 

 

 

The other day, Brendan Dawes saved a mop from going to the garbage by just making a couple new clips.

 

 

 

 

 

Annelise talked about her own fix to the drain plug in her kitchen sink. If you don’t have a handle to remove that plug, it’s gotta go. That handle broke, so she just made a new one, and avoided a trip to Home Depot.

 

Even better: these are all available for free for anyone! Sometimes people wonder, “why should I make more stuff out of plastic?” But a lot of times it’s more about the waste you’re not creating by keeping old things in good condition!

What have you revitalized with a MakerBot?

 

If this isn’t the most perfect MakerBot companion accessory, I don’t know what is.

 

Yes, that is a lasercut, open source, DIY custom cell phone, from the researchers at MIT’s High-Low Tech group. Those are all the things we love. These are the questions those guys and girls are asking themselves as they go.

How close can a homemade project come to the design of a cutting edge device? What are the economics of building a high-tech device in small quantities? Which parts are even available to individual consumers? What’s required for people to customize and build their own devices?

This looks like a great start. I really just want to see this being held by a MakerBot Arm.