How to Fix Absolutely Anything: A Homeowner's Guide

How to Fix Absolutely Anything

Kitchen

Fix a Broken Kitchen Cabinet Hinge

Free Hanging-Glass Rack

Fix a Broken Refrigerator Door Shelf

Stripped Knobs and Pulls

Fix the Seal on Your Oven Door

Rescuing Cast Iron

Oven Element Repair

How to Re-Tip a Knife Using Dremel

How to Make a Bread Knife Handle

Multi-Purpose Holder from Kitchen Whisk

Easiest Cupboard Pan-Lid Organizer

Refresh that Old Plastic Cutting Board

Magnetic, Under-Shelf Spice Rack

Universal Knife Block

81-Can Dispenser and Organizer

Roll-Out Pantry

There are always things needin’ fixin’ in the kitchen. It’s a room used daily, sometimes three times daily! If it isn’t the stove causing you problems, it could be a dull knife or a broken glass.

Everything in your kitchen needs to be in working order to keep the household running. Don’t let your cast-iron cookware rust and your cutting boards get torn to shreds. Learn how to fix these problems and keep everything in tiptop shape so you can keep your family fed!

Fix a Broken Kitchen Cabinet Hinge

By sdbigguy

http://www.instructables.com/id/Fix-it-Kitchen-Cabinet-Hinge/

I currently live in a home that was built in 1957 (the same year I was born) and, like me, some things are just getting old and having issues. We have a very functional kitchen with lots of cabinets, but occasionally a hinge here or there will become loose due to a stripped screw hole. I am going to show you how to do a quick, easy, and inexpensive fix for this problem.

Step 1: The Tools and Supplies

Tools needed:

•  Screwdriver

•  Utility knife

•  Hammer

Supplies needed:

•  Toothpicks (round or flat) or bamboo skewers

•  Glue (wood glue or white glue)

The screwdriver head should match the type of screw you have (normally a flat or slotted head or a Philips head).

Step 2: First Step

Remove the original screws and hold on to them; you will be reinstalling them at the end.

Step 3: Apply Glue and Wood

You want to apply glue to the end of the toothpick or skewer that you are going to insert into the existing screw hole in the cabinet. I like to use wood glue, but white glue will also work. Push the glued end into the screw hole. Take the hammer and tap the toothpick/skewer into the hole. Run the utility-knife blade around the protruding toothpick/skewer and snap off the excess. Tap the cut area with the hammer to make sure it is flush with the cabinet front.

Step 4: Reinstall the Screws and Pat Yourself on the Back

Align the door and reinstall the screws (the screws you removed and kept) into the cabinet face, and your project is complete. I do not wait for the glue to dry before reassembly because I feel that the new wood and the glue will both help keep the screw secure.

Remember, just because something is broken doesn’t mean it needs to be thrown away or trashed. Fix it and reuse it.

Free Hanging-Glass Rack

By Polemic

http://www.instructables.com/id/Free-Hanging-Glass-Rack/

In an ever-expanding quest to transmogrify, modify, customize, or hack everything in my daily life, I decided that my tiny apartment required a bar built into a bookshelf. I chose to fabricate the racks from scratch because they would be:

1) Be cheaper (free)

2) Have the correct dimensions (10 ½ deep for an 11 deep shelf)

3) And have that obvious Instructable feel

Step 1: Materials

You will need:

•  One wire coat hanger (per rack; I used dry cleaner’s hangers)

•  Two pairs of pliers

•  Drill

•  ¼" drill bit

•  About two hours

Step 2: Wire Contortionist

Most of this is self-explanatory and varies based on your desired dimensions, style, etc. All bends are 90 degrees unless otherwise provided.

Main Rack:

1. Straighten the hanger, leaving the hook at the end.

2. Bend 3" from non-hook end.

3. Bend 2" from last bend along the same plane.

4. Bend ½" from last bend along the perpendicular plane.

5. 10 ½ from last bend, bend 1, ½, 1 to make the square tail.

6. Repeat steps 1 to 4 in reverse order to make the rack symmetrical.

7. Bend the excess with the hook until it breaks off.

Support Piece:

1. Take the remainder with hook.

2. Curl the end into a tight circle.

Step 3: Joining Main Rack and Support

1) Slide the support wire’s loop onto the main rack.

2) Slide the support wire to the rear notch.

3) Tighten.

4) Remove excess hook.

Step 4: Mounting Rack

This step is highly dependent on your mounting location. In the event of a top shelf, it’s easy; in other, more unique mounting locations, you may need to mount the racks onto a thin board and then, in turn, fasten the board to your mounting location.

1. Measure the spacing and location of your hangers.

2. Mark drill spots.

3. Drill holes.

4. Insert rear support rod and bend to secure.

5. Repeat for all rear rods and then all forward rods.

Now you have hanging glass racks.

Fix a Broken Refrigerator Door Shelf

By desertsniper

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-To-Fix-A-Broken-Refrigerator-Door-Shelf/

This is how I repaired the shelf on my refrigerator door. The hook on the right side busted off and spilled my soy sauce! No need to buy a new part when this is easily fixed.

Step 1: Materials and Tools

•  Broken shelf

•  Plexiglas or other plastic

•  Sandpaper

•  Two-part epoxy

•  Slamps

•  Saw

Step 2: Fix It

1. Clean and rough up (with sand paper) the broken shelf piece.

2. Cut out a piece of plexi or plastic to fit in the broken area.

3. Rough up the plexi with sandpaper.

4. Mix epoxy and apply to the area the needs to be fixed.

5. Add clamps and let it cure.

That’s it! It’s a very simple fix. With the epoxy and Plexiglas you can’t even tell it was broken, and it is now much stronger than before. Plus there was no money wasted in buying a replacement part!

Stripped Knobs and Pulls

By Phil B

http://www.instructables.com/id/Stripped-Knobs-And-Pulls/

It is not fun to deal with knobs and pulls with stripped threads so that the knob or pull come off of the drawer or door when grasped, yet it happens frequently.

Many at Instructables have dealt with this often in their time. This is for the person who has the problem, but does not know what to do about it.

Step 1: The Problem and One Solution

The threads strip out in the first ⅛ inch or so of the threaded post on the backside of the knob or pull. Many simply insert part of a paper matchstick into the hole and twist it back onto the screw. This may last for a very short time, but eventually fails.

Step 2: The Real Solution

The entire length of the post on drawer hardware is threaded. Push a toothpick into the hole and pinch it with your fingernail to indicate the length of the threaded portion inside the post. The distance from where your fingernail pinches the toothpick to the end of the toothpick is the ideal amount of threads to extend beyond the finished surface of the cabinet wood. You really want to shorten this distance by about a millimeter or two in order to allow a little free space for tightening the knob on the screw. Add to the amount of thread extending beyond the finished wood surface the thickness of the cabinet door or the drawer front. You may also need to add the thickness of a washer. See the next step.

Step 3: Small Head?

The screwhead on the left is the screw removed from the knob or pull. The screw on the right is a standard screw from the hardware store. Notice that its head is smaller than the original screw. Adding a washer gives it better support against the wood on the back side of the door or drawer front and is a good idea, but it also adds a little thickness that needs to be considered in preparing a screw for your knob or pull.

Step 4: A Handy Tool Worth Having

The photo shows a wire stripper tool for household electrical work. These are available in many tool departments, particularly in the electrical tools at a big box store. They are not expensive to buy.

Although useful for stripping wire sizes commonly used in homes and for pinching crimp connectors, this one also has five holes on each side of the tool for cutting screws of different common sizes without damaging their threads. The screws for cabinet hardware are 8-32 in thread size (#8 diameter screw, 32 threads per inch).

Step 5: Insert the Screw from the Proper Side

You will not likely be able to buy a screw the exact length you need. Buy a screw that is a bit longer than you need and plan to cut it. Twist the screw into the proper hole on the threaded side of the tool. That would be the side with the threads, not the side that has smooth holes. Notice that there is even an instruction to the user that says, Insert screw here.

If you were to insert the screw from the other side, the threads would be damaged in cutting the screw to length.

Step 6: Cutting the New Screw to Length

Twist the screw into the tool so the screw will be cut at the proper length. This is indicated by the yellow arrow. Try to be as accurate with this as possible. If anything goes wrong, you can always buy another screw and try again, though. When you are ready, firmly squeeze the handles on the tool and the screw will be pinched off. Turning the screw back out of the tool will make the threads at the end of the freshly cut screw as factory new as possible.

Step 7: The Results

On the left you see an original cabinet hardware screw. On the right you see a freshly cut replacement screw. It is just enough longer to catch fresh threads in the stripped cabinet knob or pull. See also the second photo, which shows the original screw in the cabinet door; and the third photo, which shows the new freshly cut replacement screw. Some of the old stripped threads are only partially stripped and will add some additional gripping power.

You will have saved your knob or pull, which may no longer be available new in the pattern you have on the rest of your cabinets. Cutting a new, longer screw can get you out of a difficult situation.

If your knob is still too loose after cutting to length, you could add extra washers to the head to take up the extra and make it tight. If the screw does not grab enough threads after cutting, you could drill out the back of the door or the drawer front using about a ½ inch bit to gain some length. But, both of these are desperate measures for getting out of a special, very difficult problem.

Fix the Seal on Your Oven Door

By tim_n

http://www.instructables.com/id/Fix-the-glass-seal-on-your-oven-door/

Step 1: What You’ll Need

•  Silicone sealant—has to be high temperature and costs lots more than normal sealant. You can get it online but I’ve yet to find a store that sells this over the counter. I’ve seen special kits, but they claim to be glue and you need the actual silicone sealant.

•  Sealant gun

•  Clamps or a brick, depending on whether you can remove your whole oven door. If you can, you’ll only need a brick!

•  Screwdrivers—to remove screws

•  General cleaning stuff like washing-up liquid, scrubbing sponges, cloths, etc.

•  Glass scraper for removing baked-on grease (optional)

Step 2: Locate All Screws

To locate the screws I had to remove the bottom oven tray drawer. Did that make sense? Good. Ovens are designed by evil men. Once removed, you need to get down on your knees and get out that screwdriver. I removed two screws under the door by the hinges and the second set down the sides of the oven. Unexpectedly, the front of the oven door fell off, which was glass. The inner bit was also glass and as this had also fallen through, I was juggling for a few minutes. Fortunately I caught both, but be aware. Generally it’s a good idea to remove the screws on the hinges so you can remove the whole door, but one of the screws on my oven is threaded. Bless those oven designers, so I had to do my oven fix in situ (hence the need for clamps).

Step 3: Remove the Sealant

The old silicone sealant has to be removed completely before you can reapply it. I first used an old flat-head screwdriver to peel the sealant off. Be very careful when you do this; it takes a little pressure to get the screwdriver under the old sealant, and if you slip you’ll have a screwdriver in your hand. You could also use a craft knife or similar, but whatever you use try not to hurt yourself. You can pretty much take the stuff off in one go. Once you’re done you can carry on using the screwdriver to remove the last bits—any scratches at this point will only give the new sealant extra places to fix into so don’t worry too much if you take off any paint. I also used an old, many times reused sponge to remove the last of the rubbish and clean round the oven.

Step 4: Cleaning the Glass

You’ll also need to clean the glass. If you’ve got old sealant or old burnt-on oil and stains, you probably want to give it a good clean. I have a window scraper—not an ice scraper—that’s basically a razor blade on a plastic stick. It takes off all sorts of stuff off windows such as burnt-on oil, superglue, and sealant. It’s rather handy really. Best to do this over a sink. Put a cloth at the bottom of the sink to rest the glass on so you don’t chip or scratch the glass or sink. The picture looks really disgusting. Sorry.

Step 5: Applying the New Sealant

You need to slice off the end of the sealant tube with a sharp knife. I used a kitchen knife because I was too lazy to bother to go find a proper work knife. My particular sealant came with a warning to wear gloves as the sealant can cause allergic reactions. I read this after I was scrubbing the black goo off my hands. I’m not dead yet, so I assume I’m not sensitive to it. Probably a good idea to wear gloves.

Load the tube into the gun. To do this, press the metal safety catch at the back, and the long bit of metal slides easily out. Put the tube in, with the beading nozzle on, into the gun, then press the catch again and slide the metal into the base of the tube. You’re loaded and ready to go.

Practice first to make sure you know how much pressure you’re going to use, ideally with a bit of old card or similar. It’s difficult to take a shot at doing beading, but as you practice you need to run right round the oven with the sealant so that it is thick enough to form a seal around the glass and the oven. Since I had extra and I never wanted to use the stuff again (plus it dries out), I went round it a second time once the glass was clamped in place to make a full seal.

Step 6: Put the Cleaned Glass Back in Place

There’s no need to rush about putting the glass back in place—sealant takes a while to set.

Get it roughly lined up and put it back in place. If you’re doing this on a flat surface, something simple like a house brick put gently on the glass will probably do just a good a job for putting pressure on, but I had to use clamps.

As you can see, the glass cleaned up nicely. Once in place I ran a second line of beading round the glass to make sure the seal was complete.

The sealant needs to set for 24 hours! Then you can reassemble your oven and you’re done!

Rescuing Cast Iron

By Mark Zielinski (theabion)

http://www.instructables.com/id/Rescuing-Cast-Iron/

Cast iron is an amazing cooking surface. Heavy and thick, it acts as an amazing heat reservoir and is excellent for searing steaks and other fine meats at your disposal.

Many a time, an unskilled, forgetful, or uninformed aspiring chef will let the pan soak, leave it in a moist place, or even accidentally run it through the dishwasher. Lo! Ruin and shame! Avert thine eyes!

But no longer!

Bring out the maimed and sad pans from deep within your cabinets! Cast (iron) away your shame! We can fix this. It’ll take some elbow grease and time, but you’ll be back on the cast-iron horse in no time.

This particular pan met its rusty fate when a wet mixing bowl was left on top of it and ignored for a week or so. View my shame, and learn from my mistake!

Step 1: What You’ll Need

You’ll need a solution to loosen the dirt/debris, something to buff away the portions where rust has eaten away at the metal, and something to restore the cast-iron seasoning.

•  Vinegar

•  Lard or shortening

•  Scouring pad

•  Cast-iron pan in need of restoration

•  Elbow grease (now with 100 percent more elbow!)

Step 2: Soak

If you have a self-cleaning oven and a pan with some serious gunk or buildup, run your pan through the self-clean cycle. Any debris will be annihilated, and you can continue on with the following steps to restore your pan to its former glory.

Depending on the extent of rust damage to your pan, you’ll want to soak just the inside, or the whole pan, in a vinegar solution. Anything from an hour to about six hours or so will work wonders to release any caked-on muck and loosen the surface rust/damage. Leaving your pan in an acid soak for any longer than that may start to eat away at your pan, so be careful. I used a 50/50 vinegar to water solution, but I’ve seen solutions that go with a lower vinegar solution and a longer soak. I don’t mind the smell, personally, so I went with the 50/50 solution.

Step 3: Scrub

Let your pan dry before getting to this bit, or you can try scrubbing in the solution as well to pick up any debris. The main idea of this step is to get rid of all the rust that has eaten away at your pan. Scrub like mad until you can’t make out the region of damage on your pan. I used a copper scrubber, but depending on the severity of damage, you can use anything from rock salt for spot touches to a drill-mounted metal scour for those heavy-duty jobs. Try to be as thorough as possible—you’ve already lost the seasoning in those patches, so scrub to your heart’s content.

Step 4: Grease

Time to fatten your baby up. Get a nice thick and even coating of your fat of choice all over your pan. Since my pan only had damage on the inside, I didn’t coat the bottom of my pan, but if it’s necessary for your job, do one surface (inner/outer) at a time. Pay attention to the smoking point of lard or the shortening you’re using! Lard can stomach from 370 to 400 degrees Fahrenheit, while many vegetable-based shortenings will only tolerate a lower range, say 350 to 370 degrees Fahrenheit. Use a higher smoking-point fat if you can.

Step 5: Bake

Pre-heat your oven until about 275 degrees Fahrenheit and place your pan in. Use a baking sheet to catch any drippings—you may find that flipping your pan upside-down and putting the cast iron directly on your oven rack (dripping pan underneath) will work better, depending on the extent of lard-ification you sent your pan through.

After letting your pan warm up for 10 to 15 minutes or so, crank up the heat to near the smoking point of your fat. This gradual heating allows for the iron to slowly expand, preventing any cracks or fractures. Let your pan bake at full temperature for 45 minutes, and then let cool.

Step 6: Repeat?

Depending on the appearance of your pan after this baking cycle, you may want to repeat the scrubbing process once again. Repeat the greasing and baking as needed. Ideally you’d repeat the reseasoning step at least four times to let the seasoning take hold, but if you’re feeling good about its appearance, it should be ready to go after one cycle. If food proceeds to stick to the bottom during use, you’ll definitely know that the seasoning layer did not properly form, and you’ll have to repeat this process.

Restoring cast iron is a pain, but maintaining it is quite simple—remember to scrape any food debris away, dry, and coat with a layer of fat while still warm. Stay away from detergents, metal scrubbers, long soaks, and dishwashers and you’ll have a great, heavy-duty pan for all of your frying or baking needs. Have fun!

Oven Element Repair

By Josehf Murchison

http://www.instructables.com/id/Oven-Element-Repair/

My wife was making potato wedges when, in the middle of cooking, the bottom oven element caught fire and started to sparkle like a party sparkler. I ran for my camera and when I got back to the kitchen it was over. My wife turned off the stove and when I turned the stove back on nothing happened.

This repair usually takes about twenty minutes if you have the parts.

A point of note: know your stove. I can’t count the number of times I went out on a service call for my father on a long weekend just to turn on the oven so a customer could cook their turkey. They only used their oven once or twice a year and the timer had the oven turned off. Minimum charge: one hour for emergency calls and with the holiday double fee it was $250 an hour just to turn their stove on.

Now most repairpersons would come into your kitchen, open the stove, look at it, and say, yep it’s broke. Then they would take out the two screws holding the burner in place, pull out the burner, disconnect the wires, and go out to their truck to retrieve a replacement burner. They come back, connect the wires to the replacement burner, screw it in place, close the oven door, turn the oven on, and start to fill out the bill as they wait for the oven to heat up to confirm it is working. A lot of work for two to three hundred dollars, isn’t it?

I’m not most repairpersons; I have all kinds of salvaged spare parts, so I just have to find out if I have the right oven element.

Step 1: Safety First

I cannot express this enough: safety first. This stove runs on 240 volts at 30 amps, which is 7500 times what is needed to kill you, so turn off the power before you do anything inside the stove. If your stove is hardwired, turn off the breaker or remove the fuses. Don’t just loosen the fuses, take them out. It may be a pain to go back and forth from the breaker box every time you want to test something, but it is not as painful as being fried at 240 volts and 30 amps.

I am lucky my stove plugs in, so all I have to do is unplug the stove when I want to do a repair. First I pull the stove out and unplug the stove; if you don’t get back there often this is a good time to clean behind the stove and retrieve your pet’s toys.

Step 2: Remove All Damaged Parts

Before testing, remove all visibly damaged parts and render all lines safe; they are a hazard that can be rendered safe, and safety first!

Elements are connected by crimp-on connectors that ether push on or are screwed on; either way, disconnecting the wires is easier from the back.

Remove the back cover of the stove and inspect all the wires, remove all damaged or burnt wires, and cap or wrap in electrical tape. In my case, this part was easy. Nothing was damaged in the back of the stove so I disconnected the leads from the bottom element and covered the crimp-on connectors with shrink tube.

Step 3: Removing the Element

Now that the wires are disconnected from the bottom element it is time to remove the bottom element inside the oven. On this stove the bottom element is held in place with two screws. I take out the two screws, remove the element, and put the screws back in so I don’t lose them, as they will be needed to install the new element.

Once I have all the damaged parts removed I sweep away all debris before testing.

Step 4: Testing

Now that you have all the damaged parts removed, test what you have left. Start by connecting your meter to the element leads; safety first, so do this before you plug the stove back in or turn on the power. Set your meter to the highest setting and only lower the setting if you need to. My meter only has two settings for AC, 750 volts and 200 volts, so I set the meter for 750 volts.

Then plug in the stove and test all the oven functions. When on bake, the bottom element leads should register source voltage, in my case 240 volts—much higher than the 200-volt setting on my meter.

When on broil the bottom element should show 0 volts and the upper element in the oven should get hot. Close the oven door and wait for the oven to reach temperature and for the broil element to turn off, this tells you the thermostat works.

Once you have confirmed everything works, unplug the stove and disconnect the meter from the bottom element leads.

Step 5: The Oven Element

The oven’s element is a steel tube filled with white powder and a filament like the one in a light bulb running through the center. This one got so hot it was throwing sparks like molten steel, electrical arcs, and flames. The bubbling on the element you see is the melted outer tubing of the element.

An element should be black and smooth with no marks; on some blown elements it may be as subtle as a small crack or swelling in the element.

So I went through my spare parts and found three oven elements, of which only one was close to the one I needed to replace. I could have used this element but I wanted one closer to the original, and it gives my wife a chance to clean the oven without the element in the way.

I decided to put the stove back together so my wife could use the stovetop to cook, and when my local appliance store opens on Monday get a better matching element.

A good repairperson will tell you when he is substituting a part for one that should work.

Step 6: Monday’s Here

Well Monday came and the appliance and music store is open. The good thing is they have the exact element I need, $35.00 with taxes.

You can see how the new element is smooth and uniform compared to the damaged one.

Step 7: Installing the Element

Now that the oven has been cleaned, I unplug the stove and remove the backing as well as the two screws that hold the element in place. I put the new element in place and screw it to the back of the oven, then I remove the shrink tube and attach the wires. I next put the backing on the stove. Once I have the stove assembled, I plug the stove in and push it back in place before testing the oven one last time.

Step 8: Final Test

You can just turn on the oven and see if the element gets hot; however, I like to check the thermostat one last time. You do this by placing an oven thermometer in the oven and watching it go through a couple of cycles while checking the temperature to see if it is the same as the setting on the oven control.

Step 9: The Repairperson

Whether the repairperson is a half-blind, grey-haired, fat S.O.B. like me or not, don’t expect them to clean the stove, and at $100+ an hour, that is an expensive maid.

I spend a little more time testing and checking the stove, and the oven element costs $35.00; total cost to me: time, parts, and taxes 30 minutes and $35.

How to Re-Tip a Knife Using Dremel

By JFabor

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Re-Tip-A-Knife-Using-Dremel/