In this week’s column, Fixperts Resident Maya Alvarado shares another day looking for fixes at British furniture manufacturer Benchmark – this week she hunts for puffball mushrooms, makes a new handle for the fridge in the workshop kitchen, and meets up with local resident Mrs Ellis to talk about her first fix in the community.
06:45: I wake up, take a shower and eat breakfast. I have homemade mint tea with honey, Turkish style.
07:40: It is a misty morning. On my way to work I go on a search for puffball fungi. I had tried some cooked by Sean [Sutcliffe – co-founder of Benchmark] that he picked on my induction day in August. They were incredible and I have wanted to find some ever since. Sadly the only puffball in sight had seen better days. Sean recommends to keep searching for the little ones and to check their growth.
08:30: Now with the correct stainless steel rod, I make the new handle for the fridge. Jo, the chef, checks my dimensions and as a result I make the handle a little longer to fit her hand better. There is a manual tube bender and I have success creating a half radius against the quarter-circle die (a block for shaping). I shape the rest with a hammer. Using polystyrene packing material as a protector from the sharp edges, I place the rod in a vice and hit it with the rubber end of the hammer until the U-handle is formed.
9:00: Having wheeled the fridge into the welding area, I TIG-weld (welding using tungsten inert gas) the handle in place. It feels secure and the handle opens and closes easily. I use an angle grinder to clean up the weld and wipe it down with a scourer.
10:00: Break time – tea and toast. Max from the workshop invites me along to a canoeing trip on the weekend with some of the other guys. Five of them made their own canoes, cutting plywood layers on the CNC (computer numerical controlled) router.
10:15: I make a list of tasks related to the samples system. I assign who would be the best person for each item, considering necessary movements, communication and actions on parts. With this brings more questions, so I head over to the workshop to speak to Spider in the spray room. He creates the bespoke samples for Benchmark. We discuss sensible changes for the spray room storage of both master control samples (all finishes that are currently available at Benchmark) and blanks for new samples as they are created.
11:30: I sort through the master samples that are stored in the spray room. There are several that are unlikely to be referenced again, so I start to clear out old samples. In the end we fill a small skip with all of them.
13:00: Lunchtime – Jo makes a swede and cabbage bake with an amazing light breadcrumb top. It is the tastiest thing ever! And the fridge handle is working well – I make a short film to share with other Fixperts. Sharing fixes is a really important part of the Fixperts ethos.
13:30: Spider and I agree on a good size for the remaining samples that need to be stored, and I cut them to size being selective about varying grain size and colours. There are probably over a hundred, so I make trays to sit them in to ensure that they are all easy to access.
15:00: I venture back into the large attic cupboard in the design office and consider the possibility for sample storage in there. I do some sketching of shelving that could provide a good display of finishes and a stock of samples for each one. I realise that the management of this will be difficult, so it would be best if it could be self-sufficient.
17:00: I research into load sensors with Arduino (open-source computer hardware and software) and the possibility to detect a low stock of samples through weight change. This is definitely possible, but I consider how easy it will be to implement a secondary action. I would like to have the data enter a programme, which would send a notification if more samples are needed.
18:00: I head over to Mrs Ellis’ house to see her and Mireya. It is a lovely walk through the churchyard and I see the sun starting to set. It’s great to see them both. We look at NASA’s newly released photos of the moon from the Apollo Missions and talk about the Eclipse – Mireya woke up Mrs Ellis to see the red moon the other night. We got on to the topic of film and Mrs Ellis can’t remember ever seeing one. It will be so amazing to show her the FixFilm of her project once completed. The main problem seems to be walking out to her garden. A good fix might be a type of ramp to assist the travel from sitting room to patio, but I will have to make sure it blends in well with her beautiful 17th century furniture.
