DIY
When things break I don't tend to have time to repair them and since we don't have a lab technician I simply put the broken stuff in a box and buy a new one. Today I felt inspired so decided to have a look in the broken things box and to see if I could fix anything. Over the years I have had several Pasco photogates stop working so there were 3 in the box. Since they were broken there was nothing to lose so cracked one open to have a look. Loose wires is as far as my trouble shooting goes and nothing was loose so that was that. I remembered that before they stopped working they worked for a while if the cable was tied down so I reckoned that the cable was the problem. On closer inspection I found that the cable clamp was very tight and could be the problem so I cut the squashed part out, soldered the bits untidily together, stuck it together with duct tape and now I have 3 extra photogates. The moral of the story being, never throw anything away.