Frequently Asked Questions

*Please note, these FAQs relate specifically to Camden Fixing Factory. We will update as and when new Fixing Factories are running.

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: there’s an ever-increasing range of grassroots activity in community repair, and it’s not all mapped out, but these are great resources:

Find a local Repair Cafe: The Restart Project or The Repair Cafe Foundation

But if you’re local why not volunteer with us? If you are experienced with fixing household mains or battery powered items, or you’re interested in getting involved in some other way - there’s a lot more than fixing to running a Fixing Factory. Or you can come drop in on us during out Thursday Community Repair session, so we can help you fix your broken appliance

Click here to find out about volunteering

“What items can I bring for Community Repair at Camden Fixing Factory?”

You can bring one item, “from air fryer to hairdryer” as we like to say: there’s too many appliance to list but as a guide; if it will fit in an IKEA bag, we’ll take a look - 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.

Participating in Fixing Factory

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).

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.

“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!

Other 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'.

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 in August 2022 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 in September 2022 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.

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. 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 will have at minimum:

A safety leader.
A first aider.
A risk assessment covering hazards and how they are mitigated.

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 people designated PAT testers by the Fixing Factory management team

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 can sign off on PAT tests. This is for legal reasons as well as to reduce the risk of 'diluted knowledge'. under some circumstances a table supervised by a designated PAT tester can process items, but the designated PAT tester must have sight of all tests and their results.

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 Queen’s Crescent Fixing Factory - but if you’re interested in e-repairs in general you might enjoy the chat!.

This is the place to find out what's happening, coordinate activities, 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 Discord group 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 - click the icons at the top of this page to visit them:

Instagram: @camden_fixing_factory
Twitter @CamdFixFactory
Facebook Group: - which you are invited to join

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.

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) - public session - 11am to 2pm.

Please contact us in advance for a place at any of our Repair Club sessions:

Repair Club (Wednesday evenings, all levels) - 18:30 to 21:00.
Repair Club - self learning session - Thursdays - 14:00 to 16:00.
Repair Club - Project Night (Thursdays, experienced fixers, £15 per month subscription) - 18:30 to 21:00.
Repair Club Saturdays - a range of activities, including ‘3rd Saturday £5 Sale’ - 11:00 to 16:00.
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 customers’ items (arrange this with shop manager)
Ad-hoc sessions to develop systems, tackle backlog or sort/rearrange the workshop itself

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.

Donations of items to Fixing Factory

We are currently only taking in donations in of high ticket items and tools useful for the workshop - check with the shop manager.

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’ design 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 taken by the session host and logged in the petty cash spreadsheet . 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 have an eBay account and regular ‘3rd Saturday of the month’ sales of discounted items

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.

How is it funded?

Fixing Factory is mainly funded by grants, with donations from members of the public and income from sales and events providing the rest.

On the grant side the majority of funds has been provided by the National Lottery Climate Action Fund. We also have received generous funding from CAST, Virgin Media O2’s Time After Time Fund, and NLWA for specific areas of activity, which are described below.

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.

Side projects

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 which ran from August 2023 to March 2024

Here’s how it works:

Over five weeks a team of local residents comes together around fixing our everyday small appliances. We provide the broken items, a lead fixer who guide the team in techniques and electrical safety, a programme facilitator, 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 partners to fund future rounds of Five Weeks of Fixing. 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

An experimental programme to develop training around repair of laptops and small domestic appliances, funded by Virgin Media O2, via Hubbub

This funded our three Laptop Repair training courses (for 16 to 24 year olds) from September 2023 to January 2024, as well as our Future Fixers training modules and Future Fixers one-off workshops

Participating in FF

Talented and energised volunteers are the driving engine of Fixing Factory.

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).

One-off workshops?

There are opportunities to participate in and also run a range of workshops designed to impart the basics of electrical repair.

As a member of the public you can visit our community repair sessions.

Tell us a little bit about the history of Queen's Crescent Fixing Factory

The first Repair Club was in September 2022 and although only one attendee came he was a retired electronics engineer and a productive time was had erecting shelves and fixing a kettle.

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 Forest Fixers and Kilburn Repair Club are running their own regular sessions, based on the Repair Club model

what is the Regis Road 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 community and beyond, and also as an offer for workplace team outings/away days.

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.

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.

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.

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.