Just mended W's hairdryer, one of those magic wand things where she can turn it round and round and the wire stays still as there is a rotating contact inside.
For a long time it has been a bit iffy in that she'd turn it on and sometimes it would stop but then start again.
Anyway it refused to start so.... she bought a new one!
I wouldn't dare try to fix it without her, and I, being sure of me being able to fix it. Me and electricals and all.
So I just found a YouTube which didn't show me how to take it apart, which isn't obvious as there are no visible or hidden screws.
So I adopted the poop-or-bust attitude of prying the rings at both ends of the handle apart until they slid off and the two halves fell away. One ring had already a crack in the plastic which for some reason didn't lead to it just falling off, and the other ring stayed intact.
The rotating plug had a lot of carbon on it, running all around the two points of contact, cleaned it off with my fingas. And got rid of a couple of tiny balls of hair.
Put it all back together and tested it, bingo works fine. bit of tape over where the tiny crack is. Bob's your auntie.
Lickle secret, before taking it apart, after testing the fuse, I then switched it to the on position and measured for resistance between the positive and the neutral prongs of the plug. No dice, so I then fixed it and did the same test, got a reading, so then I knew I had contact.
This was a trick taught me when I was about 18 by a girlfriend's father, RN commander but with a degree in Mech Eng from Cambridge. Never seen anyone else do this simple test. Either everyone does it but never shows it or it is a rare thing. You can all tell me!
The HD will be going back to blighty as she doesn't have a good one over there!