DIY Repair Guides

If you don't want to wait for the next Repair Café you can, of course, tackle the repair yourself.

For some items you might find a service manual is available.  This applies to major appliances and complicated things like radios, laptops etc.  But a service manual is written for a professional engineer and most people need a bit more hand-holding.

We've identified a few starting places on Internet that you might find helpful.

Primark - some videos of basic sewing skills.  Announcements of self-repair workshops.
https://www.primark.com/en-gb/love-it-for-longer

IFIXIT - repair guides for many items
https://www.ifixit.com/

YOUTUBE - Lots of repair videos.  Type the name of your item and add the word 'repair' or 'teardown' or 'dismantle' to target the kind of video you are seeking.  Youtube has so many videos, it can be hard to find just what you want.
https://youtube.com

Repair Café (Official website)
Plenty of repair guides written by members of other repair café's
https://www.repaircafe.org/en/community/repair-guides/

User and Service Manuals.  These can sometimes be found on manufacturers' websites or ordinary Google searches.  One site we have found very helpful is elektrotanya.com/keres and as with other efforts to find the right information you have to know the make and model number of the item you are looking for.

Vintage electronics.  There's a lovely website called The Radio Museum covering more than just radios from the earliest days of valve equipment up to the advent of microchip stuff.  It can be fun just to look at the old 'wireless' your parents had even if you aren't looking for circuit diagrams or maintenance instructions.  radiomuseum.org/