At work this week, someone dropped and broke our cordless drill. Accidents happen, and we had to buy a new drill. Right after that, the tape measure wouldn’t retract back into the case. So what do you do with these things? Possible repurpose?
Luckily I work with some very resourceful people. The tape measure is now fixed, and retracts into the case, however it does not have a lock mechanism any longer. It still measures stuff, and although it doesn’t work perfectly, it still works and still measures stuff. The important thing is that it’s not in a landfill.
As for the drill, Jerod and Jeff seem to have plenty of ideas of things they can repurpose the motor into. Knowing Jerod, he will make it into a motorized camera tripod, an electric door for his dog’s house or a gadget to make his car more fuel efficient. 
If Jeff wins the battle of the broken drill, he’ll probably make a motorized bin that picks up recycling, a transformer ladder or a robot that organizes the messes we all make. 
If the Wonder Twins get together here… Wonder Twin POWERS – ACTIVATE!… they could probably invent the long awaited flying, self-driving hover cars that were promised to us back in the 50’s. As soon as someone fixes the paint and tool room door lock, I’m locking them both in there for a few days and see what they come out with. :)
ooohhhhhh, I’d be really careful here with repurposing. Much of what I see on the A&E’s Hoarders show are the piles of good intentions to fix things. It might be good to mention setting a limit on the number of projects/broken items to keep and assigning them an hourly estimate. If someone has more than they could possibly accomplish in 15 or 20 hours, something needs to be thrown away …
I agree on not keeping it if you don’t need it, but I would find a home for it before putting it in a landfill. The cool thing is Jerod and Jeff already started the process of creating a motorized camera movement thingy. :) BTW, I love that hoarders show! I can’t stop watching it…
I have a Dewalt 14.4V cordless drill with two batteries and a charger. It works great and is in great condition except for where you insert the drill bits. I was putting a bit in the drill and the three pieces of metal that crimp down on the bit one of them is stuck and will not retract. I took it to a shop to have it fixed and the worker told me that I could almost buy a new drill for the amount its going to cost me to fix it. Any idea’s would be greatly appreciated