Mildly Infuriating

That and there's no supply chain for parts, just the machines. They don't want to pay to warehouse parts that may or may not be used.

Aliexpress tends to have stuff like this. There's a particular switch in the joysticks of valve index controllers that wears out pretty easily. Once the warranty is over you can either buy a new controller for 150 bucks, or buy the switch for a literal dollar from China and cannibalize the tiny pieces that wear out.

This is actually part of planned obsolescence, where it is difficult and costly to repair things even when parts are available by constant minor cosmetic tweaks dueing production.

For sure! We need stronger laws that prevent this. Lump it into some environmental protection mandate, and expedite it!

Yeah, I've been far more conscious of whether the stuff I buy can be easily repaired or not, and it often makes or breaks my purchase decision.

I wish consumers had more resources into what parts might break on which product, so they can actively make better purchasing decisions.

Had I known this part could be treated like a consumable, I may have spent more on a better model that supports easier repairs.

Which reminds me, my expensive blender has a jar with a built-in blade. Eventually, the blade will need to be replaced (actually, it's the bearings), but since you can't disassemble it, you have to purchase an entirely new jar with the blade! So, I sourced out compatible jars that have removable blades that can be more easily serviced!

I had to replace my RTic insulated travel cup because the lid broke. There are no replacements that I could find for it. They have a redesigned version with a screw on lid. All around better, but still nothing wrong with the cup I have, only the lid.

I finally gave in and bought a new cup. After a month and a half the lid broke (the previous lasted about 6 years). I contacted Rtic and they happily sent me an entire new cup… now I have multiple cups with broken lids.

To be honest, I've 3d printed parts for other things before, but I don't think it would work here. Great idea, though!

This is a high-heat part that needs to be some kind of silicone/rubber. The seal itself is shaped (not just a round washer), but there are other metal parts that appear to have broken/deteriorated. I don't actually think my seals are broken, but the "seal kits" you usually find have all the parts I'd want to replace.

We have printed seals before and it seems to work great.

(I don't remember the name of the material)

A rubber gasket might have to be fabricated, but I bet it's still doable

The fact that companies don't even care bothers me more than not being able to fix these items myself! 😱

Don't even get me started with vacuums! We have a Shark vacuum that was gifted to us. It works great, and I have no complaints... except for this one thing:

The hose had split one day, and having looked at a few videos on how to fix this common problem, I got to work.

Shark, with their engineers, made it so that the hose has a wire running through it, making it impossible to fix this very simple problem.

I call up their service, because the machine was still under warranty. They wanted me to VIDEO CALL showing the issue with the hose, then claimed that the hose was a consumable item and not covered under warranty! Like, WTF?? I argued with them, and they finally agreed to replace the hose with shipping at my expense.

Infuriating.

I do remember older vacuums being way more serviceable. My only real complaint about older vacs is that they tend to use disposable bags, which I hate (another consumable!). But when it comes time to replace this, I will be shopping around for the most repairable models.

As much as I love baking and making bread by hand, we use the bread maker (two, actually) so often that the convenience factor alone saves us many, many hours a week and has a much lower energy cost compared to our oven.