How I fixed a broken washing machine

[Paul Sandhu]

The washer would fill, agitate and then not drain.  I moved it to different drain positions but still nothing.  So I opened the control panel and removed the timer assembly.  That's the thing where you rotate the knob to the appropriate cycle and pull out the knob.  I opened it up (while breaking the locking tabs) and removed the portion that has about 24 copper leads for a plug to plug in to.  It has 24 strips of copper that move up and down to make electrical contact on these little tabs.  Some of them were discolored.  I took a piece of sandpaper, folded it in half, inserted it between the contacts, pushed the contacts onto the sandpaper and started sanding.  You can do 4 at a time.  I sanded them all until they were shiny, then reassembled it.  I held the 2 halves of the case together with welding clamps and used expoxy to hold it together.  Today I put it in the washer, plugged it in and set it on the spin cycle.  It worked.

[Paul Sandhu]

@Joe Splitrock I saw an almost perfect 4 burner grill with a side burner by the side of the road.  Stainless steel lid too.  I asked the lady of the house if she was getting rid of it.  She said the wind knocked it over and now the lid doesn't close.  It took it home, spent about 5 seconds doing a tack weld, and now the lid closes properly.  It was probably a $300 grill when new.