Bring the broken thing.

Volunteers fix it with you at the bench — and you leave knowing how it went wrong, so next time you might not need us.

Come this Saturday See what we can fix

A repair bench along its length: a soldering station, a wall of small component drawers, spools of solder and hand tools under a lamp.

Practical

When: Saturdays, 10–2
Where: 1712 Bagley St
Cost: Free
Booking: Not needed

On the day

It is less formal than it sounds.

No appointment, no charge, and nobody minds if the thing is filthy or if you have no idea what is wrong with it.

First — you arrive

Sign in at the door and say roughly what you have brought. If there is a queue you get a number and a coffee; most Saturdays there is no queue before eleven.

Then — you sit down together

You are at the bench with the volunteer, not waiting in another room. That is the whole point: you see what they open, what they test, and where it had failed.

Then — it gets diagnosed

Sometimes it is a fuse and takes four minutes. Sometimes it is a proprietary part nobody sells and it cannot be done. We tell you which, honestly, and we tell you early.

Last — you take it home

Fixed, or with a written note of what it needs and where to get the part. Roughly two in three things that come through the door leave working.

What we can fix

Most of it. Not all of it.

Small appliancesKettles, toasters, lamps, fans, vacuums, blenders. Cables and switches are the usual culprit and the usual easy win.≈ 8 in 10 fixed

Clothing & textilesSeams, hems, zips, moth holes, straps. Two machines and four people who are better at this than they let on.≈ 9 in 10 fixed

BicyclesBrakes, gears, punctures, bearings, wheel truing. Bring it in whatever state it is in.≈ 9 in 10 fixed

FurnitureWobbling joints, split rails, drawer runners, re-gluing and clamping. Large pieces — call ahead so we keep the space.≈ 7 in 10 fixed

ElectronicsPhones, laptops, radios, games consoles. Batteries and ports usually yes; a failed board usually no.≈ 4 in 10 fixed

Not thisAnything gas, anything mains-wired into a wall, microwaves, and car work. Not squeamishness — those need a licensed trade and we will point you at one.Referred out

Who turns up

Retired engineers, a seamstress, and whoever else is free.

Eighteen volunteers on the roster, six or seven on any given Saturday. Nobody is paid and nobody is credentialed — they are simply people who already knew how, and did not want that to go to waste either.

Volunteer with us →

Close view of hands opening a mobile phone at a workbench, the battery and board exposed.

Shredded electronic scrap in close-up: thousands of fragments of circuit board, metal and plastic sorted to a uniform size.

Come along

Saturday, ten till two.

1712 Bagley Street, Corktown. Turn up with the thing. If you would rather we expected you, leave an email and we will hold a bench.