Frequently Asked Question’s
If you can’t see the answer to your question below please get in touch using the contact form.
“How can I be part of the fixing movement?”
Great question! You can volunteer if you are a tat experienced with fixing household items, or you can participate at our fixing events. Or you can simply come to us on Thursday so we can help you fix your broken appliance so you don’t have to buy a new one, simple!
“What are the locations of volunteering?”
At Queen's Crescent Fixing Factory - which is based in a high street shop unit in Camden, and is open to fixing a wide range of portable appliances - pretty much any household item with a battery or plug (except microwaves and items larger than you can carry)
There's a weekly community repair session every Thursday from 11am till 2pm and we're always looking for fixers and organisers for this.
We are currently looking for volunteer admin assistants, interested in joining us? See more details here
“I think this is a great initiative, but I don’t feel competent enough to join. Is there anything I can do to jump start my fixing track?”
Yes! We rolled out new FREE modules for our Volunteers. If you want to volunteer with us, sign here!
Free courses:
Ohm's Law and Electrical Prefixes
“What items can I bring for Community Repair at Camden Fixing Factory?”
You can bring one item that you can carry, from air fryer to hairdryer as we like to say - we cannot fix microwaves, phones and have limited capacity to fix laptops. If you’re not sure, send us a message via the contact form.
FAQs
What is a Fixing Factory?
It's described as a 'community repair hub' with the purpose of 'restoring repair to the heart of our community'
Website
Legal structure
FF is not a legal entity - Camden/QCFF was up by the climate action charity Possible and legal responsibilities rest there. Possible is the trading name of The 10:10 Foundation, registered charity no. 1157363
Overall Fixing Factory project
It's a partnership between Possible and the Restart Project. The original idea for Fixing Factory came from Possible who offered partnership to Restart who have pioneered Restart parties all around the world.
Tell us a little bit about the history of Queen's Crescent Fixing Factory
Operations on site started out quietly in August 2023…a few posters went up locally and the call went out on London workshop and repair networks (Restart Project), and Dermot trod the pavements speaking to local business and telling anyone who would listen about the Fixing Factory initiative. The low key start was intended to allow FF to integrate with the local business and residential community
The first community repair session was held on (check and insert date) with two tables set up in the market and just Dermot as host and fixer, but people came along to have things fixed and luckily brought their own skills - so someone with a dodgy solder joint was able to help someone else with a misbehaving laptop…and things grew from there
The first Repair Club was on (insert date) and although only one attendee came he was a retired electronics engineer and a productive time was had erecting shelves and fixing a kettle
Our official launch was on 27 October 2022 - which was a fun affair involving the Mayor of Camden and a toy baby (among many other things). Also The Guardian newspaper sent a photographer and a journalist down to do a feature - when that hit print it really kicked off publicity wise: a mini hurricane of media interest followed that saw FF on TVs, phone screens and radios across the globe
Staying healthy and safe
We're dealing with electricity, tools, physical objects and chemicals - all present risks to our health, including danger of death and life-changing injuries
Risk Assessments and inductions are the foundations for safety
A Risk Assessment (RA) has been prepared for the workshop which is reviewed yearly or whenever a new risk is identified (link to be added). The RA informs all our activites and is a fundamental document
If you are using the workshop you must have a safety induction. This takes you in broad strokes through the fundamentals of safety related to our regular activities at FF. You'll need to confirm in writing that you've understood and agree to uphold our safety procedures. Everything in the induction is covered in bullet points in the 'Always' and 'Also' lists on the workshop door. The Always List relates to danger of death and life changing injuries, and the Also List covers all other key points. It's recommended that when you arrive at the workshop you always read the Always List, and regularly check through the Also List. A slide presentation of the induction is available (link needed)). Members of the public engaged in one-to-one fixing do not need an induction under normal circumstances
Day to day procedures are how safety is maintained:
Every public event needs at minimum:
Safety leader
First aider
RA covering hazards
PAT testing
Everything with a mains (240V) connection needs to be PAT tested before any other testing or diagnosis. The same items need to be PAT tested after any maintenance or repair work beyond routine cleaning is undertaken
- Who can perform PAT tests?
Only designated PAT testers
We encourage everyone to become familiar with PAT testing procedures as they cover safety fundamentals of our activity, and this spreads safety awareness widely. However only designated individuals should sign off on PAT tests. This is for legal reasons as well as to reduce the risk of 'diluted knowledge'. A table supervised by a designated PAT tester can process items, but the PAT tester must have sight of all tests
Manual handling
We have some heavy boxes, tables and tools that present risk when being moved, so safe manual handling procedures must be followed. Only people confident with safe manual handling should move the tables, heavy equipment or boxes over 13L in volume
What if I have a concern?
If it's around safety or safeguarding raise it as quickly as possible - with the people involved in the activity if you feel comfortable to do so. The safety leader or staff member on the day should always be informed without delay
You should expect all concerns to be given due attention. If you do not feel your concerns have been addressed you can escalate the issue. The order for escalation is: shop manager > project manager
A volunteer agreement is laying out what is expected from volunteers and what volunteers should expect
A code of conduct is based on Possible's existing policy
The Discord workspace - our place for online chat
What is Discord?
It's like WhatsApp but with multiple channels for dedicated subjects.
It's currently intended for people engaged with furthering QCFF
This is the place to find out what's happening, coordinate activites, share repair challenges/resources etc.
You may want to also consider joining Restarters.net to engage with the wider repair community (see section further down for useful external links)
You can join our Slack either by direct invite or by following a link. If you would like to join ask an existing member to recommend you or contact Dermot or the shop manager
Mailing list
If you want to be kept up to date on Fixing Factory events and activities the best way is to join our mailing list via our website (scroll to bottom of page to sign up)
Our social media accounts
We currently have two active social media accounts covering our activities
Instagram: @camden_fixing_factory
Twitter @CamdFixFactory
You can help our social media presence by:
following us and sharing/liking/commenting (but comments should be genuine)
Taking and sharing excellent photos and capturing stories
Volunteering some time to dedicate to content creation and running the accounts (professional support available for anyone making a commitment to this)
We also have reserved the domain name repairclub.org for future use, as well as some Twitter handles relating to Fixing Factory
Survey link
We have a survey which helps us to discover people's experience of and attitudes to repair. If you enter your email you will entered into a £50 prize draw
https://tinyurl.com/fixing-factory
What happens at Queen's Crescent Fixing Factory?
Right now there are several regular activities;
Community repair sessions (every Thursday and first Saturday of the month) 11am to 2pm
Repair Club (Tuesdays, all levels)
Repair Club (Wednesdays, experienced fixers)
Note: more Repair Club sessions are due to roll out. We're looking for people to run them and very open to suggestions
Repair as a service - volunteers meet up to tackle customers' repairs (various times)
Expert fixers are also welcome to attend at other times to repair customer items (arrange this with shop manager)
Ad-hoc sessions to develop systems, tackle backlog or sort/rearrange the workshop itself
Small group skills workshops - coming soon
Cosmetic upgrade sessions - creative and funky repairs that elevate everyday appliances - imagine Kintsigi for Kettles - coming soon
What gets fixed at QCFF?
We're focused on the 'repair gap' - small domestic appliances you generally can't find anyone to fix. We describe it as 'from hair dryer to air fryer'
We generally don't work on mobile phones (there are many excellent local businesses proving repair services - including our friends at The Crescent Connect)
Laptops
We have some capacity to help with laptops (but only during community fixing sessions, as we do not take them in for repair) but if you are keen to explore your laptop's issues we will endeavour to pair you with a suitable fixer to try and get to the bottom of it
What about microwave ovens?
We currently don't allow work on microwaves - this is due to the very high level of danger of death they present. One of our messages is 'fixing things is simpler than you think', and we do not want to give the impression that microwaves are something all of us can fix - they should only be serviced or repaired by professionals following strict safety protocols
What equipment do we have in the workshop?
We aspire to have everything you might need to carry out repairs, maintenance and testing on common small domestic appliances - from iFixit kits, to digital multimeters, to electrical connectors…and a lot of different screwdrivers
The collection is growing almost weekly - if we find deeper screws we buy a longer screwdriver, and suggestions for new tools are always welcome
We don't currently have an inventory of our workshop equipment, however this should be a mid-term goal, and it will be super useful to to have a digital record of what we have
If you're interested in working on cataloguing our tools, spares and consumables let us know. Having this in a database will allow us to link user manuals and safety guidance as well as user experiences, and 'essentialness rating', and can form the basis of a shopping list for future Fixing Factories
I'm an experienced fixer/engineer can I come and repair my own stuff?
This is something we want to support, and aspire to have Repair Club sessions with dedicated capacity for this - in fact this kind of social repairing was one of the inspirations for Repair Club
Whatever your level of experience and competence you'll need to be inducted into the workshop so that you understand our ways of operating. You must also follow any direction from the safety leader and staff. For this reason it will generally not be possible for you to turn up spontaneously and repair you own gear at a public repair event - it's unlikely our safety leader will be able to dedicate time to run through the induction with you while keeping an overview of the session
Can I drop my broken electricals off with you for recycling?
We don't have facilities to take in electronic waste (e-waste) at the moment. We would have to transport it several miles to a commercial waste transfer station. For this reason we will always direct you to Regis Road Reuse and Recycling Centre where local residents can easily recycle end of life items
https://www.camden.gov.uk/reuse-and-recycling-centre
Donations of items to Fixing Factory
We are currently not accepting donations
(We are currently only taking in donations in of high ticket items and tools useful for the workshop)
With a small workshop we often have to politely turn down donations - we just don't have the space. We've also experienced 'virtue dumping' where people donate items of low value or little use to us to try to avoid the guilt of recycling them. We need to be honest about the current repairability and reuse options of modern products, which Is often due to manufacturers decisions
Donations of money to Fixing Factory
We accept cash, donations via QR codes (printed on window to right of workshop door) and card payments via our SumUp machine
Donations at community fixing events are not payments for the support around the repair - this is given freely. However donating helps us to provide more future fixes!
For 'repair as a service' we do ask that people strongly consider donating and we have a list of suggested amounts. These figures can be seen as conversation starters with customers to tease out what realistic future charges might be. There's some rules of thumb out there that suggest the cost of a replacement is strongly in people's minds when considering repair and figures of 20 to 25% are physiologically acceptable to us as charge for repair. In reality we will accept whatever a customer is prepared to offer
We also want to explore the concept of 'Fix it Forward' - the opportunity to pay for a future repair either for someone in need of for an item to be repaired and donated to a worthy beneficiary
Cash donations should be put into the tupperware box in the COSHH safe and logged in the 'money in' sheet of Camden Fixometer spreadsheet (link needed). It's important for donors to see that the money is logged and deposited. Note: the orange 'Grafitti Toaster' is lined up as our donation tin, and needs someone to take the conversation of it on as a project
Onward donations of items repaired and renovated at Fixing Factory
From time to time we have items for onward donation, these are usually to charity or not for profit organisations rather than individuals. If you represent such an organisation please get in touch
We are planning to trial a 'request list' - if you represent a beneficiary organisation we will hold a 'wedding list' for you and notify when items become available
Sale of items repaired and renovated at Fixing Factory
We are looking for volunteers to set up an eBay account.
I want to set up my own Fixing Factory or Repair Club - can you help me?
We'd love to, and the plan is to create models and blueprints for others to take and adapt to their specific locations and needs. At the moment we're not quite ready for that and capacity constraints mean we have to choose carefully which projects we can support beyond our own - so drop us a line but be aware of the above
In the meantime it's worth searching out local community fixers in your area via Restart Project, Hackspace Foundation, MensShedsUK and the Repair Cafe foundation
We'll open source our materials once we feel they're at a useful level of maturity too, so look out for what we publish
We should have some 'Factory Foundations' - the principles and key elements of a Fixing Factory - ready in the near future - these are the high level bullet points that will underpin our own new Fixing Factories in 2024 anf we think every similar initiative should consider them at the planning stage
Can me and my team drop in and visit you to see and hear about your operation?
We love to welcome guests, but please contact us to arrange this in advance so we can be sure to be able to give you our attention - things can get very busy around here. The best contact is dermot.jones@wearepossible.org
I see the names Queen's Crescent, Camden and Brent Fixing Factory used - what’s the difference?
Camden Fixing Factory is the project name for Possible's side of the Fixing Factory project, and leaves scope for future Fixing Factories to spring up across the borough (potentially as a connected set of small workshops with different specialisms…but who knows?)
Queen's Crescent Fixing Factory is the name of our workshop at 179 Queen's Crescent, and the main physical manifestation of a Fixing Factory
Brent Fixing Factory is the name for The Restart Project's laptop renovation workshop at Abbey Road recycling and reuse centre in Brent, currently operating until August 2023
How is it funded?
Fixing Factory is funded by grants and donations from members of the public
On the grant side the majority of funds provided by the National Lottery Climate Action Fund. We also have funding from CAST (link needed).
We currently have funding secured for operations until December 2023, and to some extent until March 24 (covering shop manager role), and are in the process of applying for funding to cover 2024. The longer-term plan is to develop income streams so that QCFF can be self-sustaining and have a long future as part of a thriving local repair ecosystem
The grant funding covers premises, equipment, setup, running costs, staff costs,and operational overheads
Upcoming side projects are funded separately:
Five Weeks of Fixing
Funded by North London Waste Authority (NLWA)'s North London Climate Fund
An initiative to seed three Repair Clubs across Camden/North London boroughs from August 2023 to March 2024
Over five weeks a team will come together around fixing our everyday small appliances. We'll provide the broken items, a lead fixer who will guide you in techniques and electrical safety, a coordinator and all the tools you're likely to need
You'll be tasked with identifying a local charity (or other beneficiary) to donate the fixed gear to at the end of the programme, and of course fixing as much stuff as you can! You'll have a small budget to buy spares (which you decide how to allocate) and an assortment of commonly used parts
We are looking for three community groups to participate in this. They ideally will have access to premises to run the scheme for 3.5 hour sessions for five consecutive weeks (with storage for six plastic crates of tools and items to fix). We can support with finding venues and making connections
Fixing Fast Track
Participating in FF
Volunteering
Talented and energised volunteers are the driving engine of Fixing Factory
Volunteering at Fixing Factory is work, and of course it's work without financial reward, but many people have found it to be rewarding in a range of ways: from learning and sharing skills, enjoying repairing stuff, meeting new people and playing an active part in the new repair revolution
We have a wide range of opportunities beyond fixing stuff. We will map these out in the coming weeks. If you have a skill/enthusiasm/interest you think would compliment FF let us know
Opportunities include:
As a fixer
As a trainee fixer
Sorting, logging and testing donated items
Retail - online and in person
As a host for public events
Customer service - phone calls and updates about fix progress
As a workshop sorter
On the admin/data side
Social media content creation and posting (support training available from Possible comms department)
Artistic upgrading of cosmetically challenged appliances (think Graffiti Toaster and Kintsigi Kettle)
Outreach in the community
Roles we don't yet know we need yet (but you might)
To do:
Create a volunteer pack with all the guidance and materials in one place
Create webpage as potential volunteer first port of call, with image and quotes from volunteers on the benefits of putting time in at Ff
Gather volunteers testimonials - please add your 'why I volunteer' comments here
One-off workshops?
There are opportunities to participate in and also run a range of workshops designed to impart the basics of electrical repair
Volunteering is most effective for an organisation and most rewarding to an individual volunteer when it's a regular commitment - you get to know systems and people and in a new group such as this have a chance to make your mark
Volunteering sessions are usually 3.5 to 4 hours long - this is not a small commitment, so we ask you to imagine being able to commit this time either weekly or fortnightly (equivalent of 2 hours per week). You are of course welcome to volunteer more time, which is much appreciated
As a member of the public you can visit our community repair sessions
Where is the to-do list of tasks that need doing?
Good question! It doesn't exist yet. We need something that can list the tasks clearly, but also have ways to discuss the task, track progress, approve task ownership etc…the kind of thing that's commonly done in workplace settings (ClickUp, Trello?)
What is Repair Club, and what is the real first rule?
Repair Club is a place for people interested in repair as a regular activity
It's a place to share, learn and embed fixing and maintenance skills, and develop new approaches to repairing the things around us
Repair Club comes in various flavours, which one is right for you will depend on your level of experience, ability, and particular interests and enthusiasms
Repair Club is also an experiment - we're discovering as we go what works well and what needs more work - we want to hear suggestions for new flavours, and activities: if you join a RC your input will be welcomed into its future development
Currently we have two regular sessions:
Tuesday evening from 6.30 to 9.30pm
This is intended as a semi-structured session where fundamental repair and maintenance skills are shared and.practiced. One week you may be cataloguing donations, another joining the PAT test team, or functional testing, and another getting items buffed up and 'showroom ready'. If you are an experienced fixer you may be asked to take on a supervisory or support role during these sessions.
Wednesday evening from 5 till 8
This session is aimed at more experienced fixers, and is intended as a session to repair customer items. Attendees are generally self starters, with high electrical safety awareness, and less experienced fixers who may be there as part of a buddy scheme. This is a more Makerspace (or Hackspace) flavoured RC
Another RC we don't know about yet
As we said above: we're open to suggestions and people who want to set up their own sessions at Queen's Crescent
We know the first rule isn’t that you don’t talk about Repair Club, so what do you think it should be?
Disconnect the power?
No microwaves?
Repair Club FAQ
I just need to repair one item, can I come along?
RC is intended for those interested regular fixing, but our regular community repair sessions might be just the thing for you.
Are there any other Repair Clubs around?
Yes, our friends at get details from Lisa) are running their own flavour of RC
I hear there might be opportunities to set up short term RCs later in the year?
You heard right - we have some funding from NLWA for three separate 'Five Weeks of Fixing' programmes in local communities in Camden (and potentially other North London boroughs) - contact us is you're interested
what is the Regis-Road-and-the-Rescued-from-Recycling-initiative ?
An experimental programme where local residents arriving at the Recycling centre can donate unwanted items to Fixing Factory instead of sending for recycling (crushing, shredding and sending abroad for materials extraction)
We log, test and repair, and either sell or onward-donate items as appropriate
Are there any Hands-on workshops?
We are developing a range of workshops to impart the fundamentals of electrical and electronics repair
We are planning to adapt these for different audiences: our trainee fixers, curious members of the local communityand beyond, and also as an offer for workplace team outings/awaydays
Current workshops starting in November:
The Toaster Teardown
A half day dive into the humble pop-up
toaster. From safety testing to opening
the case and diagnosing common
faults and failure points
Close Up with a Remote
A one hour workshop taking you through the testing, dismantling, repair, cleaning a reassembly of a typical TV/AV remote control
We are also looking for suggestions for future hands-on workshops
What are Community Fixing Sessions?
When?:
Every Thursday 11am-2pm
What it is:
These sessions are an opportunity for the public to bring items that need to be fixed, and an opportunity for experienced FF volunteers to help members of the public diagnose, provide advice or fix their items. The ideal is for the public to work on their own items under supervision of FF volunteers.
What it isn’t:
These sessions are not repair clubs. Volunteers should not attend with their own items to fix, and should be willing to be fully engaged in helping members of the public. While we are always learning, this is not a session for volunteers to learn in the same way as our repair clubs. The focus is on members of the public learning how to fix their items.
We unfortunately do not have capacity to support ‘repair club’ style activities and customers during these sessions. Due to supervision (and space) constraints, we may ask you to leave FF if you are unable or unwilling to help members of the public during these sessions.
Booking in items:
We DO NOT ‘book’ items into the shop to be worked on by FF volunteers during Repair Clubs. Due to space and repair capacity, volunteers should refrain from booking items in unless absolutely necessary. Always it’s better for members of the public to return with their faulty item once a spare part has been ordered.