Odd Tinkering

In this week’s episode I will restore this broken Xbox controller S. The cable is broken, and the shell is yellowed. Also the thumb sticks need some restoration. When I tested it I was able get it working briefly but then the cable seemed like it was completely done. The footage of the controller connecting briefly was the last time I was able to see any signs of life. But luckily, I was able to pin point the issue so I could still repair the old cable and not change it completely giving it a few more years. The shell was also not properly closed and after opening it I found some pieces that held the screws had broken off.

This mini lighter in missing some parts and it is in general very dirty and in need of full restoration. The lighter is very small only an inch or 2.5 cm tall. It’s the smallest lighter I’ve ever seen. It used to be nickel plated but the plating has worn off. The plating has to be restored. I also need to make a new screw for the flint because it would be very hard to find one.

I got this ancient looking can opener for just 1€ to restore it. While restoring it I found out it was not a worthless vintage item like I thought… The can opener is pretty rusty and the old paint is partially gone. Also the wooden part is pretty bad looking and there is a bit of mold on it. Sometimes looking for items to restore I make similar finds which I could flip fast for good profit. My typical projects are so laborious and require me to buy expensive parts so they are not usually good for making profit. So far I’ve kept all the items to myself. However it would be interesting to occasionally post videos doing restorations for business and flipping flea market finds for profit. Would you be interested in such videos?

After a while of searching I was able to find bad enough Game Boy for my restoration videos only for $2. Usually I have to pay a little extra for the worst items. The console was sold as junk and for spares but pretty much everything except the speaker is broken. The mother board doesn’t power on. The shell is badly yellowed. Stickers are in terrible condition and the screen is badly burned. I will try to restore this fully rather than use it as spares for easier projects because I’d still have to fix most of the parts.

I got my hands on this old Beattie jet lighter. It was specifically designed for pipe smoking. It has a second wick in horizontal pipe which creates pressure and a jet flame when heated. These are rare and collectible lighters.

In this episode I will restore and repair this extremely yellowed Sega Saturn Vintage console. The console is broken. It doesn't read CD's which is common with these retro consoles due to several reasons.

In this episode I will restore the yellowed Sega Saturn controller which was seen in the last episode. The controller was even more yellow than the console. It's actually one of the most yellowed items I've restored. I think the previous DMG Gameboy was quite close and The Sega Saturn was probably the most yellowed item I've ever seen.

I bought this lam which is from and abandoned German bunker, to restore it and make it into an industrial style lamp for my home. I completely rebuilt the lamp making it safe to use and installed a smart bulb to be able to control if remotely. I'm very happy with the results of this restoration. Would you have this in your home?

I received this Batmobile from based on the Tim Burton's Batman movie. It was basically trash, nothing worked and there was a lot of corrosion and other damage. Many parts were broken and the car wasn't even connected to the (previously) wired controller anymore. Mary of the screws were damaged or missing which could mean somebody tried to fix it but gave up.

In this episode I will restore this Nintedo 64 (N64) which is very yellowed and doesn't show any picture on the TV. This model was originally transparent blue/white but now it's more transparen green/yellow. There seems to be also some damage from water or other liquid.

In this video I will restore this Nintendo 64 controller for my restored N64. The controller is badly yellowed and very dirty from years of use. The joystick is badly damaged which makes it impossible to play with it.

I will restore this small jewelers's anvil. It's quite rusty and the paint is coming off. It's also very small but it would be still nice to be able to hit it a bit harder if needed without the anvil moving or me having to bolt it to the table. I decided to solve the problem bu making a stylish base for it. Inside the base I will hide almost 3kg of steel to add some weight to the anvil still keeping it movable and compact.

I bought this retro Formula racing game for restoration. It's called Grand Prix and it was made by CGL. The LCD screen badly damaged and one of the levers has been broken.