Next Repair Café

Thursday, January 23 from 14:00 - 17:00 (afternoon).
For further opening hours, look here.

Sometimes we need two or more times

Do you also repair tape recorders, a visitor asks, while I am working on his DVD player. Depends on what's wrong with it, I answered. For example, obtaining new parts can be a problem for these old devices. He would like to give it a try. He still has old recordings that he would like to play back and possibly digitize. It was an Aristona of over 40 years old, of which the drive belts went completely bad. This in itself is something that could be solved successfully. There is a company on the Internet that supplies the drive belts for these devices. After some e-mails, the “visitor” ordered the drive belts for the recorder from MFBFreaks. Not long after, the recorder is on my table. Together with colleague Cor the drive belts were replaced, 4 in total, the tape path was cleaned and finally we adapted the device to 240 Volt. Nowadays, the mains voltage is higher than the 220 Volt that we always talk about. The device got a final check and was handed over to its owner.
About a week later I received an e-mail that the repair of the "recorder mechanics" went well. However, there is a new problem, the sound left and right drops, while the tape continues to run. The sound returns when the device is tilted forward. The latter is very inconvenient when using the recorder. It is agreed that the recorder will be brought in again. The following Thursday afternoon the device is back on my table. After some analysis, a switch turns out to be the problem. Replacement is not an option since the switch is no longer available. However, with some contact spray, the problem seems to be solved and the device can be reassembled. During the repair, the visitor told me that he had come across some nice recordings from a distant past. He also found a tape where “dom bandje” was written on the reel. This may translate in English into “stupid tape”. When playing back, it became clear to him that “stupid band” was meant by “dom bandje”, an alternative meaning of the phrase.

Practical assignment Ebru Janssens Kayan

Ebru Janssens Kayan is a fellow Blixembosch resident who, in addition to her day job, is studying “Photographic design” at the Photography school (Fotovakschool). One of her assignments was to do a photoshoot, on the theme of "human interest", for a club, community center, theater group, thrift shop or similar establishment. She came to us for this and spent two afternoons recording our activities. Below is an example of the result from one of the afternoons. More of Ebru's work can be found on Instagram.

Peter van Leeuwen 1945 - 2021

Today we received the sad news that our colleague Peter van Leeuwen has passed away. Peter was an enthusiastic technician who visibly enjoyed his hours at the Repair Café, where he made many visitors happy. We wish Anneke, his children and grandchildren a lot of strength to deal with this great loss.

In the media

Brussels: repairing broken stuff must become easier. Press release European Commission 22-3-2023.

There are now 700 Repair Cafés in 18 countries; explanation by founder Martine Postma of Repair Café Nederland and a small demonstration in 'Tijd voor Meldpunt' by Omroep Max on April 3rd, 2015.

In Tros Radar of February 2nd 2015, attention is paid to the by manufacturers planned (short) life span of devices. The program can be viewed here on the Radar site

Our press release about the opening of the Repair Café will be published in Groot Eindhoven of 15-10-2014

In the ED of 10-10-2014, a piece is written by Yolanda Neijts in the City section about the announced opening of the Repair Café.

In the September 2014 issue of Blixemflitsen! Carina Oosting dedicates a redactional piece to the Repair Café in addition to a call for tools and volunteers. The start date of October 16 is also mentioned.

In the July 2014 issue of Blixemflitsen! a call is made for volunteers