saved money = earned money = bike parts...

Think it was Ben Franklin who said "a penny saved is a penny earned".
When I was a kid I never understood what the heck he meant.
Somewhere along the line I figured it out.

So this week a 25 year old Record vise on my workbench crapped out suddenly.
You could spin the handle all you wanted, but the jaws didn't move.
I figured I had stripped the drive threads and the vise needed to be replaced.
Checked the prices for a replacement... >$100 for similar quality new vise.
Hated to plunk that money down. Thought about it. Tools didn't use to be disposable.
And stripped drive threads... not really likely... I'm not Hercules after all.
Could it be repaired?

So I disassembled broken vise and took a close look. Threads were fine.
Culprit was a simple broken retaining pin in whats called the 'tommy bar' on a vise.
Fix was drive out old pin, replace with a new $0.50 roll pin, clean and grease all, reassemble.
Vise works fine.

Very satisfying to fix rather than replace.
And the $100 saved is $100 earned... which can now be spent on bike parts.
My guess is Ben would approve, especially if the money goes towards batteries.

footloose said:

Think it was Ben Franklin who said "a penny saved is a penny earned".
When I was a kid I never understood what the heck he meant.
Somewhere along the line I figured it out.

Click to expand...

When you're running a business, you VERY QUICKLY figure out what ben meant, lol. income = revenue - expenses

The more you minimizes expenses, the higher your income.

Of course, the higher your revenue, the higher your income.

Running a business successfully means doing both simultaneously and not falling for the "Penny wise, pound foolish" pitfalls. (Don't skimp on rent if doing so means killing your foot traffic if that's what your business depends on, like fast food franchises and the such. Essentially, don't skimp on marketing and advertising if it makes you money.)

Hear you, false economy costs more in the end.
Just glad I could fix this vise for 50 cents to
good as new condition and save $99.50
in the process. Plus the vise got a good cleaning
in the process, now operates butter smooth.
Will probably spend the savings on a pair of
those new brake sensor switches from Grin.

Had a small business for about ten years.
Spent freely where it counted (top quality tech),
tightfisted where it didn't (used office furniture).
Never got rich but but the approach made for
good money in good times,
kept the doors open when times were tougher.

Last time that happened on one of my vises, it wasn't nearly that easy to fix:

https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=67833&p=1260615&hilit=*vise*#p1260615




Fixing things that break instead of replacing them, and fixing things I get used from others, stuff somebody else didn't want because it was broken, is how I can afford to get things...costs me a lot of time, but my time is "free" in that it isnt' worth anything to anyone else, whereas new stuff that doesnt' need fixing costs money I don't have.