We always ask people to tell us what they’ve been up to so we can include it in WeekNotes, and it’s great to be getting some longer-form updates. Here’s another, this time from Becka Lawson, also about repair. Please get in touch if you’ve got something you’d like to share!
“I brought my well-used Earthworm caving light to the last DoES Maker Night on Thursday 21st May. The wire to the battery had been abraded by being scraped against cave walls over the past few years and was now severed. So no light! Julian had previously tried to solder the wire back together, but that had immediately broken, so it needed better protection (and better soldering). After some head scratching and advice from Paul and J.R., the soldering station was freed up and Mike kindly agreed to try to fix it. Some snipping, a worryingly large spark and a fair bit of fancy soldering later, it was working. Then there was jiggling and prodding to get the wire back through the nut that sealed it into the battery pack to make the battery watertight. And off I went for two back-to-back 8-hour caving trips in the Yorkshire Dales at the weekend. No blackout! The light functioned perfectly (unlike the survey equipment, sadly). The photo of me about to go caving shows the repaired helmet ready to go underground, with everything taped and cable-tied into position, Ingleborough on the horizon and the entrance to Crescent Pot behind me. Thanks again to everyone who helped me out, but especially to Mike.”
